3D printed propeller - Will it perform?

9 x 4.5" prop printed in eSUN PLA+ and compered to an APC 9x4.5"
Mini Talon 1kg flying weight. Sunnysky 2212 1100kV, 3000 4S.
Max current draw 15A
Cruising current 6 to 7A
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#AndrewNewton #3dprintedpropeller #minitalon

[Athiril]

Given the much lighter weight, you could print it a fair bit thicker, to give more to work with for sanding smooth. Solvent Vapor polishing too might be ideal. Any roughness on the leading edge is gonna cause issues, same with wind power generators after a few years etc. interesting idea since you could try any kind of design you wanted

[Burn]

I'll admit it performed better then I expected.

[Moonsauc]

Very cool. Especially if your unable to buy or break your last prop. It could get you back in the air for the end of the day flight.

[WeAreTheTrueMedia]

So interesting to see the friction from layer lines not affecting amp draw. Great while waiting for an order to arrive.

[lasersbee]

There's also a lot less Jello in the video with the APC prop.

[EleanorPeterson]

Not really a relevant Comment for such a high-tech video, but I remember hand-carving props for rubber-powered planes in my free-flight days. It was just a normal part of the process - you'd get a plan, buy the balsa, build the airframe, carve the prop... Tricky but lots of fun.

Although they were huge and had wide, high-pitched, paddle-shaped blades, they weighed almost nothing. Most were whittled from a single block of wood, but a few really fancy ones were laminated from several sheets. If you picked the wood carefully (contrasting reddish and yellow-white balsa) they looked great - just like the stripy full-sized ones from WW1 biplanes.

They were fragile but I don't think I ever broke one; even the biggest rubber-powered models only weighed a few ounces so things happened very slowly and gently. Yay for long grass! :-)

[hambone]

You should try to bake the print to add strength, plenty of videos about it. I'd also try PETG.

[wordreet]

Interesting, and although I would never want to have a 3D printed prop as near my face as yours was in this video, here's Angus's view on strengthening any 3D print.

[rcpowres]

Tried the version 3 of it. Works fine for a spare propeller!!!!👍

[typxxilps]

noise is a product of inefficiency ...
same speed, more energy consumption, less range

good to know to save the effort.

[loc]

I've wondered what the result would be if a prop was 3D printed, so thanks for the video!

If you were going to do it again though I'd be interested in seeing it in ABS with the acetone treatment to smooth out tge surface. This is probably where a lot of the noise & drag is coming from so it would be interesting to see if that makes a difference.

Also I must mention please wear safety googles whilst doing these tests! A slashed eye or buggered retina is no good for your depth perception...

[AdrianoCasemiro]

Nice experiment. Balancing is certainly much harder on the homemade prop. It shows vibrations are all over the rpm range.

[josephrossman]

Ive been 3d printing folding props from thingiverse and they are great for experimenting! If you print in abs acetone smooths it out as good as a real prop. I've also printed them with nylon.

[JoshWeaverRC]

Awesome. I think I'll give this a shot. Thanks Andrew.

[szajba]

Talon: *getting down for landing*
Andrew: "I'm sorry, brittle one"

[Robbedoes]

Printed some 75 mm 5 blade edf fans in pla, 3400kv on 4s is still not enough to let them explode. Good thing is printing is cheaper than buying a new fan and now I can just print ccw and cw fans for my hovercraft. Okay, they draw a bit more current when adjusting the pitch to achieve the original thrust and the responsive is a bit worse, but yeah it saves me around 5$ (new one is like 7$?) every time I break one. I had less luck with thingiverse props tho.

[DrDisintegrator]

ABS or PETG (or ideally Nylon or Polycarbonite) would give you more strength. One nice feature of the Original Prusa's with the E3D v6 hotend is they can print these materials out of the box.

[EnglishTurbines]

I knew someone years ago who lost an eye to a prop which shed a blade...No, I'm not kidding..

[georgeaura]

I wonder if some thicker ninja flex print would still work but be more durable

[R.B_B]

Detail about the APC props. They have a metal wire in the prop for stiffness.