• Great success!

    RobG • 04/18/2020 at 20:07 • 0 comments

    It works! Had great fun flying around, no problems at all resulting from using the hacked props. Happy days.

  • Official disappointment

    RobG • 04/17/2020 at 18:59 • 0 comments

    Word back from Propel customer support:

    "Unfortunately, the product you're contacting about has been discontinued and we have since stopped the production of spare parts for it, this means that we won't be able to provide you with the spare parts, even for purchase."

    Or, in other words, your new toy is junk before you've even played with it. Why am I not surprised any more...

  • Yay, the first parts arrive!

    RobG • 04/17/2020 at 15:35 • 0 comments

    I picked up some props for the Parrot minidrones (Ariborne, Mambo and Swing) from eBay, that claimed to be the same size - about 66mm long. The hole diameter is only 0.8mm, so won't fit without drilling out to the required 1.2mm (or a smidge under for a tight fit).

    But of course, they're puller props (designed to go above the motors in normal flight), and the Batwing needs pushers. No problem, just fit them to the opposite motors so that they turn backwards and push, or so I thought.

    Nah. It's surprising how little thrust you get from a prop running backwards.

    Puller prop fitted upside-down!

    So next I drilled straight through the prop so that I could fit them upside-down. Success! Enough thrust to get the thing airborne at least. Now just need to wait for a calm day so go for some 'exercise' to a nearby field. :)