Prop Guards for Drone Propellers

Article by Brandon Harris on Mar 26, 2019

Many of my coworkers are into drones, and they talked me into buying one. Once I got my drone, I noticed that the propellers are not protected as you’ll see in the image below. I don’t trust myself to not bump into objects and tear or break the props, or both. So, I decided to 3D print a prop guard to give myself some peace of mind. Besides, we want to keep the hallways scratch-free if we turn the corporate office into a racetrack after hours (don’t tell my boss).

drone with unprotected propellers

Figure 1: Drone with unprotected propellers

Designing the Prop Guard

sketch of drone dimensions

Figure 2: Sketch of drone dimensions

I decided to design my own propeller guard. I pulled out my calipers and measured my drone and was able to get a close approximation of where the propellers would be spinning. See figure 2 above. To verify my measurements, I printed a template of my design. The joy of having a 3D printer when designing; is the ability to print test pieces from the beginning stages to see, handle, and check the fit. As you can see in Figure 3, I went through several iterations and adjusted some dimensions until I was happy with the fit.

test templates drone

Figure 3: Templates to test the size and fit

Time to Break It

Now that it looks and fits fantastic! It’s time to go fly and hopefully not destroy anything.

completed drone

Figure 4: Completed prop guard on drone

 

About Brandon Harris

Brandon is a BYU-Idaho graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is an avid tinkerer, and consummate rapid prototype hobbyist with prior experience designing for the Architectural/Construction industry. Brandon is part of the technical support team for GoEngineer serving as a PDM specialist since August 2018.

View all posts by Brandon Harris