XOAR props

CMS said:

Yes, the top part of the hub needs to be made wider so the prop shaft can go through the hole BUT the bottom will need to be reworked also. The bolt hole on the motor side of the hub has a shoulder. I suspect they did this in order to add another thread for the prop bolts to grab. The way it is now it will not work with my version because half of the "shoulder" is sitting on the edge of the motor. This will cause the bottom plate to "bow" downward when the two mounting screws are tightened. Refer to my post #53. The fix in my option is to simply make the entire bottom plate thicker and make it flat all the way across the face of the motor. If they keep the same design then they would need to make the hud wider so it would fit the older motor mounting plate like mine. Of course, this would cause a problem because it would move the bolt holes out further which would cause the overall width of the props to increase and could cause clearance issues.

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From my understanding, the lower hub will be made to hold props higher and will also allow the props bolts to clear the motor top. Basically a bottom hub that adds thickness equal to the adapter plate to resolve the crnter motor shaft issue, and narrower than the current prop lock base plate to resolve the piviot bolts contacting motor. If it’s how I’m describing, it’ll resolve both issues with 1 part modification.

dougcjohn said:

From my understanding, the lower hub will be made to hold props higher and will also allow the props bolts to clear the motor top. Basically a bottom hub that adds thickness equal to the adapter plate to resolve the crnter motor shaft issue, and narrower than the current prop lock base plate to resolve the piviot bolts contacting motor. If it’s how I’m describing, it’ll resolve both issues with 1 part modification.

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Smaller hub so the props fold tighter and closer be awesome too

Continuation of the Folded Xoar Props. Weather has warmed... lot of high wind or rain for Spring but there are a few days to experiment.

Haven't performed a accurate comparison Db, Inertia, etc. of various props yet, in the plans in near future.

A quick look at the Xoar Foldable compared to the Xoar fixed.
There was a issue with clearance of motor housing & prop hub; which Xoar was quick to provide a short term solution by providing a nice set of spacer plates. From my understand, Xoar is intending to provide a new prop mount that consolidates the additional space for clearance.

That mentioned, I elected to mount both the Fixed and the Foldable Props in the Xoar Quick Detach (QD) Hubs, this eliminates any concern for clearance and allows quick swapping between fixed & foldable. In my usage, these QD hubs are excellent, they provide a solid mount and a secure tension on the prop that breaks loose and releases the prop with mild applied force for take down.

Visually observing and controlling RC; the fixed & foldable both responded, accelerated, braked and ascended about equal. To my ears, it sounded like the fixed were a touch quieter than the foldable props, and both have a different audible pitch/tone than the stock props, wouldn't call them quieter but less noticeable pitch that doesn't attract the same attention below. Hmmm, Kind of a moving from a buzz of a bee to the blowing a leaves... a lower pitch.

As indicated previously by several threads, the rigidness of the carbon props does provide a noticeable improvement in stick response.

One concern I noticed on 3 separate flights. On the foldable props, there was 1-3 prop (halves) that became very loose after a single battery flight. The first time noticed, I assumed I hadn't equally tightened all the 8 prop halves. On the 2nd flight, it became noted as a concern to verify and the 3rd flight confirmed that they definitely will loosen. A drop of LocTite would correct this problem but it would be a maintenance point / pre-flight to check prop pivot bolts.

As indicated above, these were observations. I do intend to perform some comparison tests with actual data values per instruments mounted on Inspire and Audio Db readings. At this time, the props I've collected for the instrument comparison are DJI Standard, DJI High Alt, Xoar Ridgid, Xoar Ultra Light, Xoar Foldable, and T-Motor Carbon. I may attempt to get a set of Heliengadin Folding.

The attached shots show the mount, the QD hubs, and an overhead view of the folded props for possible storage. My opinion, with the QD's I don't see a reason to leave mounted and modify the case. My "thoughts" for folded were: 1) quick transport carry without packing up, 2) possible prevention of total failure and crash if experienced a small prop strike. In theory, the prop should flex on the pivot bolt instead of stalling the motor. It may break it's tip but that would be better than sky drop.

CMS said:

I purchased a set of folding carbon props made by KopterMax and sent them back. Absolutely beautiful set of props. The ability to fold them was great but I had some issues. First, they were louder than the stock props. I could hear them from several hundred feet away. I have been flying in the area for over 2 years with the same UAV and never heard a dog bark until I went airborne with these props. Second, I could touch the bottom of the legs and you could clearly feel some high harmonics happening in the airframe that were not present with the stock props. Third, I got no better flight time with the carbon props than I did with the stock props although the flight performance was maybe slightly better. The other issue I had was the front props touched the top of the gimbal mount when the legs were down so I had to loosen the main arms and tilt the motors outward. Not sure why that was happening other than the fact they were mounted lower on the motor shaft. I also called a well-known UAV supplier and ask them why the blades were so close and they couldn't tell me BUT he suggested not to use any other props than the stock ones. Their reason was that some aftermarket props can set up some unwanted harmonics in the airframe and they believe it has caused some unexplained crashes and flyaways. He said the harmonics in the airframe can cause issues with the IMU. I'm flying the Inspire 1 pro and would love to try another set of carbon props but I'm a little hesitant based on my first experience. I am familiar with XOAR props, I have used them flying giant scale RC for 15 years and they are top of the line. Of course, the XOAR is a different manufacturer and they are designed with different tips so these may not have some of the problems I experienced before. It would be interesting to see how these perform and get a good evaluation based on some issues I had.

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Hello,
we are the official distributor of KopterMax in Switzerland and Europe.This thread only came to our attention today.
We do think you received a defective set of propellers; the problems you mentioned are not common at all.
Also the front prop touching the gimbal mount is an issue with the aircraft legs alignment, as every propeller is the same length.
The folding propellers are specifically designed for the Inspire 1 and Inspire 2; they have been testing against harmonics at every speed, and they are hand balanced one by one.
A new design has come out recently for the Inspire 2, with the main improvement on looks:

Carbon Fiber folding propellers for DJI Inspire 2




Please contact us at info@heliengadin.com or KopterMax at support@koptermax.com so we can work on a solution.

HeliEngadin said:

Hello,
we are the official distributor of KopterMax in Switzerland and Europe.This thread only came to our attention today.
We do think you received a defective set of propellers; the problems you mentioned are not common at all.
Also the front prop touching the gimbal mount is an issue with the aircraft legs alignment, as every propeller is the same length.
The folding propellers are specifically designed for the Inspire 1 and Inspire 2; they have been testing against harmonics at every speed, and they are hand balanced one by one.
A new design has come out recently for the Inspire 2, with the main improvement on looks:

Carbon Fiber folding propellers for DJI Inspire 2

View attachment 23646
View attachment 23645

Please contact us at info@heliengadin.com or KopterMax at support@koptermax.com so we can work on a solution.

Click to expand...

Why cant you make the Inspire 1 folding Props similar to the Inspire 2? like i would deff buy a pair for my Inspire 1 if the hub and them folded looked like you have pictured for the Inspire 2. but on the Inspire one the hub is huge and them folded isnt nearly as nice and compact as seen above

TruGreen said:

Why cant you make the Inspire 1 folding Props similar to the Inspire 2? like i would deff buy a pair for my Inspire 1 if the hub and them folded looked like you have pictured for the Inspire 2. but on the Inspire one the hub is huge and them folded isnt nearly as nice and compact as seen above

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This is actually a good point.
The design for the Inspire 1 props is quite old, and at the time it was a quite standard one.
The required lift for the Inspire 1 is pretty low, so getting it from the carbon props requires a small area and low pitch.
Using bigger props would generate too much lift, resulting in a very nervous flight, and potential warning from the ESCs.
So the size of the Inspire 1 folding props is just right to be more efficient and snappier than the original plastic props, but not so much that it would disrupt the calibration of gains, ESCs etc.
It *could* be possible to make a new Inspire 1 design, similar to the actual Inspire 2, but the demand is not enough now (late 2018) than it was when the props were first created (2016).

HeliEngadin said:

This is actually a good point.
The design for the Inspire 1 props is quite old, and at the time it was a quite standard one.
The required lift for the Inspire 1 is pretty low, so getting it from the carbon props requires a small area and low pitch.
Using bigger props would generate too much lift, resulting in a very nervous flight, and potential warning from the ESCs.
So the size of the Inspire 1 folding props is just right to be more efficient and snappier than the original plastic props, but not so much that it would disrupt the calibration of gains, ESCs etc.
It *could* be possible to make a new Inspire 1 design, similar to the actual Inspire 2, but the demand is not enough now (late 2018) than it was when the props were first created (2016).

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yea i get the demand factor i just hate how the folding ones are for the I1. the center hub is just so long not allowing a tight fold. would be curious to see if the I2 center hub would work with the I1 blades though

TruGreen said:

would be curious to see if the I2 center hub would work with the I1 blades though

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No. Apart from the hub thickness, the overall blade length would result smaller, highly impacting the performance.

HeliEngadin said:

Hello,
we are the official distributor of KopterMax in Switzerland and Europe.This thread only came to our attention today.
We do think you received a defective set of propellers; the problems you mentioned are not common at all.
Also the front prop touching the gimbal mount is an issue with the aircraft legs alignment, as every propeller is the same length.
The folding propellers are specifically designed for the Inspire 1 and Inspire 2; they have been testing against harmonics at every speed, and they are hand balanced one by one.
A new design has come out recently for the Inspire 2, with the main improvement on looks:

Carbon Fiber folding propellers for DJI Inspire 2

View attachment 23646
View attachment 23645

Please contact us at info@heliengadin.com or KopterMax at support@koptermax.com so we can work on a solution.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your information. Since posting on this forum and after returning the KopterMax props, I did try the Xoar folding props but had some issues with mounting them. After contacting Xoar they provided me with a shim that fixed the mounting issues. I have about 50+ flights with these props and I'm well satisfied with them. They perform as good as the stock or maybe a little better and I have the added knowledge that they will resist damage from minor prop strikes. I have had none of the flight issues I had with the original KopterMax props. As I said earlier, the KopterMax are beautiful props but the ones I received were not working on the Inspire 1 Pro. Thanks again for your reply.

CMS said:

Thanks for your information. Since posting on this forum and after returning the KopterMax props, I did try the Xoar folding props but had some issues with mounting them. After contacting Xoar they provided me with a shim that fixed the mounting issues. I have about 50+ flights with these props and I'm well satisfied with them. They perform as good as the stock or maybe a little better and I have the added knowledge that they will resist damage from minor prop strikes. I have had none of the flight issues I had with the original KopterMax props. As I said earlier, the KopterMax are beautiful props but the ones I received were not working on the Inspire 1 Pro. Thanks again for your reply.

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CMS, great to hear you’re using the Xoar folding. You mounted direct with the shim, I’m still using their quick disconnect.

Your I1 in pic, looks grey like a I2. Pondered if I2 at first til noticed XT and 13” props. Did you paint or is that just light in photo?

dougcjohn said:

CMS, great to hear you’re using the Xoar folding. You mounted direct with the shim, I’m still using their quick disconnect.

Your I1 in pic, looks grey like a I2. Pondered if I2 at first til noticed XT and 13” props. Did you paint or is that just light in photo?

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Pictures were taken with a cell phone. No painting. The I1 is the Black edition. Love the props. They have a flat finish like the rest of the bird. They really look nice and work great. Yes, they are mounted direct. Xoar provided the shim that fits between the motor and the prop. My motor version for some reason had a longer middle shaft so the shim fixes the problem.

CMS said:

Pictures taken with a cellphone. No painting. Love the props. They have a flat finish like the rest of the bird. They really look nice and work great.

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I'd agree, I got the folding props from Xoar last year... enjoy them too. On the I2, I added the T-Motor foldable with the little winglet.. not sure any benefit, but look great! LOL!

Love the XOAR props, I have been using them for a couple of years and honestly, I find them to be quieter, and improve performance in calm winds and gusty winds. I fly an I1 V2.0 and would not fly with anything else. If you check ebay at times, sellers have had them on sale for $138.75, I bought 2 sets at that price. Happy flying, and Happy New Year to all.....