This was one of those things that needed to be done, but just difficult to get around to. It actually turned out to be much more interesting that I expected. Here’s the problem: the EPP1045 propellers had a hole that was too small in the center. We needed to bore a wider hole so that they could slide onto the brushless motors. What good is a helicopter with no props? José and I went to the machine shop on campus and they were extraordinarily helpful. It turns out the brushless motors had a 10/32″ diameter and the attendant (appropriately named Angel) set us up with a drill press and a special vice and bit. We even went a step further and threaded the inside of the widened hole to match perfectly with the motor’s threading. Quite a learning process. It was very cool to see how the machine shop works, and it is good to know they are very supportive of our project. We’re going to have to go back soon to cut and drill into some carbon fiber. Now we can assemble the props to the motors, mount them on the frame, place the ESCs on the frame, and fire up some test code to see if we can successfully arm the system. Pictures are below. Click on any to enlarge.
Machine Shop
José on the drill press
Threading the props