Prop Clamps

Task Description

Something to hold the folded props in place so that they don’t have to be removed every time the drone gets transported. The props in CAD are not accurate and measurements need to be made in-person. The position the props should be clamped in is shown below:

Open

Figure 1.

Constraints

Assignees

Task Progression/Updates

2023/11/04:

Task created by Nathan Green and assigned to Aric Quan.

2023/11/08:

Initial Ideas:

-Make a prop clamp such that it wraps around the propellers and attaches by clamping onto the carbon fiber tube on the bottom

-Have clamp wrap around motor area to hold propellers in place during transportation

-Have something wrap around propellers, then attach it with elastics or some sort of cord to main frame.

2023/11/12:

Open

Figure 2. Propeller clamp

Explanation of design:

• The propeller clamp gets put near the front of the the propellers in Figure 1.

• So the idea is that the propeller tube goes through the part circled in green in Figure 2., and gets clamped down with M3 bolts at each side

• The propeller gets put through the part circled in red near the top of the propellers, and once that’s done, then the top cover of the clamp in Figure 2. can be put over it to finally secure the propellers

• CAD files to be uploaded after discussion during WARG meeting (Idk where to put them rn)

2024/01/17:

Design 2.0 of the propeller clamp:

• Didn’t feel this design was the most intuitive, so I redesigned so that it’s only two parts

• This clamp gets put around the propeller arm, and the clamps are put on from the side

• The propellers rest within the rectangular cubicle above

• Clamp is secured by 3 M3 bolts, and has 3 guide slots with pins

1st Review Thoughts Author: @Alison Thompson Date: 2023/01/17

I like the idea of this, I would like to see if there’s a way we can do this with 0 bolts as they will need to come on and off the drone each time it flies, I like your pins and I think it may be worth doing a test print to see if the three pins will be enough to hold it together.

Just making sure that the dimensions of the IRL props were used and not the ones in CAD as these differ.

Looking good, let me know if you have any questions.

P.S. Check your file names! some of them have extensions twice

1st Iteration: @Aric Quan Date: 2023/01/21

Design Iterations:

-I removed the M3 holes, and added another pin instead

-The size of the holes are 10.25 mm, while the size of the pins are 10 mm

-From my test prints from my personal printer, I think they should be tight enough for transportation, though probably would be best to test them with the ones from the bay

2nd Review Thoughts Author: @Alison Thompson Date: 2023/01/22

Looks great! Happy to get someone to get a test print made. If you have photos of your test print I’d like to see them in these docs