TIP OF THE DAY | ALWAYS REMOVE PROPS

[bunnygirl80]

Hi all,

As you know, my thumb had an intimate moment with one of my props a few weeks ago which ended up in a trip to casualty. Lesson learnt!

This morning I was up bright and early at 6am and sorting out the final adjustments to my gimbal ready for some flying today. After completing my six axis calibration, I started shutting everything down. Firstly, I turned the transmitter off and WHISSHSHH the motors went to full chat again. Luckily this time, I';d removed the props!

Lesson learnt and nothing broken! SO PLEASE PLEASE BE SAFE AND REMOVE YOUR PROPS WHEN WORKING ON YOUR FRAME.

[ChrisH]

Glad it was incident free this time 

You sure your multis aren';t possessed and you really need a priest? 

[Ross]

Aye Steph..
but no matter how much you say it...it will happen again to someone.  The World Champ in Scale fixed wing did it...nearly severed all the fingers of his right hand and he had been flying for years and years..he was no youngster at it.

A standard sized model diesel, glow or petrol will usually come to a stop if you hit with your hand or finger   (been there many times)...(certainly not a biggy  such as strimmer types used today!!)

People forget...Electric motors keep on going and with carbon props like a razor blade..........

First aid box as part of flying equipment is recommended!!

[guest325]

Very true, I think there are still a lot of people out there who don';t realise how dangerous electric powered models are; if the prop hits something it will just draw more amps until something gives - quite often a digit or flesh!
Don';t underestimate them, even relatively small ones can do serious damage!

[Brian]

Allways switch the TX off last!!

Brian :)

[pheasant_plucker]

Basic rule is and always has been.
TX on, RX on
RX off, TX off.

Gerry

[teslahed]

This is why i have my props set to always spin on idle / armed in multiwii. If the props are spinning at idle at all times it';s obvious when it';s armed. You wont forget and turn the TX off first. If you turn the tx off whilst disarmed the props will not spin up - it will just sit there.

I still take my props off when working on the quad and if i';m feeling nervous when just unplugging the thing (props on) i place it on the ground upside down first so that if it does somehow throttle up, it flies down into the ground rather than up into my face.

Another handy tip is - if in doubt, carry a towel (thanks HHGTTG!). If the motors wont stop spinning and the quad wont disarm (or you suspect a technical fault and the quad looks like it';s about to power up for no good reason) throw the towel over the motors and props. If the motors spin up the props will catch the towel and nothing will move. I';ve had to take my jumper off and throw that at a quadcopter before when the props wouldn';t stop spinning on the ground for some reason.

[firey1]

think that starting on helis got me into the habit of working with blades off all the time and the sequence of the TX  a 600 size heli blade does alot of damage

[Hands0n]

Every now and again I forget the TX/RX rule and, frankly, poop myself and say two dozen Hail Mary';s that I got away with it that time.  It was one of the first things that I ever read coming to this hobby.  But its just so easily done!

[Ross]

Rules...no matter how many....somebody will forget them or ignore them.......

[Tony Campbell]

Doesn';t setting the TX/RX failsafe to low throttle save this from happening? Always following the cardinal rule eliminates it of course, but all the same, if you drop the tranny, or the battery falls out of it etc etc, doesn';t the radio failsafe kick in? I';m having doubts because of the FC being in the middle between the rx and the esc';s....... must check that.

[ChrisH]

With the Naza unless the motors are armed the RTH will not activate on tx signal loss. The Naza failsafe doesn';t take account of the throttle position either. I don';t know about other FC';s. Safest to follow the recommended sequence anyway.  I expect they all have their foibles!

[robshaw]

I like the sound is that always spin option. Is that unique to multiwii?

[teslahed]

I don';t know if it is unique to multiwii or not really - but i like it. It gives a massively obvious visual indicator of whether your quad is armed or not and it means if you throttle down to 0% in a dive you still have spinning props for some control.

On the other hand if you let your props stop at 0% throttle you can do some pretty insane tumbling maneouvers in mid flight then start them again and regain control (hopefully) so for stunt flying personal preference is a factor here.

[amxen]

It so scary so may people fly multicopter that have never flown anything before so have never used a TX and RX before. Remember everyone do not turn your TX off before you unplug your battery';s from your multi/copter/plane or that ever it is you fly.   No matter what it sez in your comptroller/ receiver instructions.

[bunnygirl80]

Yeah, thanks for all your comments and advice everyone.

This happened to me with a naza v1 on latest firmware. It wasn';t armed, but I did notice afterwards that the return to home switch on my tx had been flipped! Either way, with it being disarmed, I wouldn';t have expected the motors to spin up!

At the moment, I';m removing the props all the time which is starting to become a nightmare and time consuming and I';m sure I';m going to damage the threads in the long term. So, I';m really liking Chris';s idea about putting a towel over them. Is this safe? This won';t damage the motors will it?

Thanks. xx

[teslahed]

Another suggestion is to get some ski socks - long ones. You can tie the props down onto the arms so that they will wobble backwards and forwards (not so tight as to break anything) but wont spin up. Any long bit of soft and slightly stretchy (but strong) fabric would work fine. This leaves the centre section clear for working on, as opposed to the towel method.

You still have to be careful of course. If you forget to tie a knot it could go horribly wrong.

[eyeflying]

Another handy tip is - if in doubt, carry a towel (thanks HHGTTG!). If the motors wont stop spinning and the quad wont disarm (or you suspect a technical fault and the quad looks like it';s about to power up for no good reason) throw the towel over the motors and props. If the motors spin up the props will catch the towel and nothing will move. I';ve had to take my jumper off and throw that at a quadcopter before when the props wouldn';t stop spinning on the ground for some reason.

I thought it was only me that did this! - I always carry an old teacloth for the same reason - I also drape it over the props if I fiddling with the quad - just in case