Don't over tighten Props

by SGRacer | September 19, 2014 | (0) Posted in Tips

I am new to larger props and recently got new sunneysky x2212-13 980kv motors and 1045 props. I love this combo, it nearly doubled by flight time from my old inefficient setup, but I am new to the nut motor mount setup. 

I used locktite like everyone suggests but I tightened all of my props way too much, again this is new to me.

I learned that over tightening can lead to splintered of the hubs and even creation of weak points where the blade meets the hub.

 

 

Still easing into the new setup, I was taking it easy on some night flying when the quad suddenly drop out of the sky and landed up side down. Very forutnately for me, I was doing slow low manuvers and only broke the GPS stand off and a prop (which broke in mid air).

 

Initially I didnt know what happned.  Why would my seemingly perfect quad fall out of the sky? As I walked up to it, it looked as it the prop had exploded.  Knowing I didnt hit anything (except for the ground after losing a prop), my only conclusion must be that my props were too night and one in particular couldn't handle the stress in this fractured state.  This was confirmed when I looked at the rest of the props and they all looked like they had exploded.

 (homemade pan and tilt)

All in all a cheap mistake (could have been MUCH worse), but you should learn form my mistake... Don't over tighten your props!

COMMENTS

alibopo on September 19, 2014
Wow! That must have been tight. Sometimes it's difficult to judge how hard something has been tightened. I think some of the clue as to how hard to tighten is 'built-in' to most spanner sets. The smaller the nut, the shorter the spanner - which means less force can be applied. This goes out of the window with ratchet sets, locking pliers, or adjustable spanners, where the lever arm remains the same length, becoming progressively 'too long' for smaller and smaller nuts. People do come up with little empirical rules like - 'finger tight, and then a quarter turn more' - which works most of the time as long as there's no roughness to the threads. Bottom line, it's often just about experience - I doubt you'll repeat that mistake. Of course, one of the reasons for the need for 'excessive' tightening is the problem of counter-rotating props - normally the motion of the engine is 'tending' to tighten the nut by default, due to the way the thread runs. On counter-rotating props the opposite is true - the rotation is tending to loosen the nut. 'In theory', you only need to pay real attention to the ones that naturally want to unscrew. Thanks for sharing, I'm sure there's a few folks will be rethinking how much to tighten their props after seeing this. Cheers, alibopo.
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Trauma50 on September 19, 2014
Hi

In your case the documenting photos show its a cause, over tightening the prop's. When I first started flying Multi's my props broke from hitting the ground at high speeds, as I got better? They started snapping off at the hub from fatigue. We ask a lot of these little bits of plastic on a multi. Side loads, Constant flexing up and down, as you apply the throttle. Where a plane just ask's a prop to pull it along.

Then I moved on to the Carbon/Nylon Props. They with stand the loads much better and rarely snap at the hub? But the trade off is they are brittle, and will crack if you hit something. They are hard to find. Been ripped off on Ebay 3 times now. Even after emailing them to make sure they were Carbon/Nylon. So now I have enough props for a life time for my planes.

I fly mostly Carbon props on all my multi's. They are more expensive. but I trust they won't break in mid roll or flip. My 2 Cent's
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Flymann on September 19, 2014
Another thing to consider is that cheaper price sometimes means cheaper material. I bought some props this year and unfortunately the hubs cracked easily after I tightened the nut. I had to throw them out. It is sometimes better to invest a little more for props.
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SGRacer on September 19, 2014
I think I'm going to get better quality props on my next purchase and definitely check my prop hubs as my pre-flight check
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rcflyer729 on September 21, 2014
I have the same motors and I love them. I do not have to tighten my props above finger tight because I bought ccw prop adapters so two of my motors have those on them enabling my props to self tighten just from the torque. I can give you the link if u are interested.
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alibopo on September 21, 2014
AHA! Yep, obvious when you think about it. CCW prop adapters. They do the same with bicycle pedals - they have left and right threads to stop them loosening when you pedal.
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SGRacer on September 21, 2014
Yes please! I didn't know there was CCW adapters for these! Thanks in advance!
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rcflyer729 on September 21, 2014
here u go
http://www.buddyrc.com/sunnysky-x22-ii-bolt-on-push-prop-adapter.html
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donnyb on September 23, 2014
Good article. There is light flashing on the props that can cause problems also. On turbines sharp edges and scratches can cause failure. I imagine on anything spinning at 10,000 to 30,000 rpm can find weak spots. Lol
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Don't over tighten Props