World's Lightest Propeller Guards for Estes ProtoX Proto X Quadcopter

This "Thing" is a set of 4 super-lightweight propeller guards for your Estes ProtoX quadcopter. I believe they are the lightest prop guards in the world...at least right now. I designed them in Autodesk Inventor, and printed them out using MakerWare.

The most popular prop guard on Thingiverse currently based on download count is the "Proto X Rotor Saver" bylazlowcv (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:244019). It is a GREAT prop guard, but it weighs nearly 2 grams including the guard and the clip, plus you have to glue the guard and the clip together before you can use it.

The set of 4 guards in this "Thing" weighs a total of only 0.92 grams, which is less than half the weight of the other guard...and more than a full gram lighter!

These guards simply press-fit down over each motor mount and protect the prop in the event of crashes.

Note that there are two "left" and two "right" guards based on the orientation of each motor mount. After you print them out, make sure you are putting the correct guard on each motor mount. Each guard only will fit on two of the motor mounts.

I printed mine out on a Replicator 1 using black PET filament from our friends at MadeSolid. PET works really great on the MakerBot and I use it a lot instead of ABS. I printed these at 250c head temperature and 60c heated bed temperature. However, I'm certain these would work fine if printed in ABS or PLA.

I printed a set of these guards for my youngest son (he is 13), and he had an issue where in a very hard crash, the guard turned the motor mount a little bit. Watch out for this issue...in his case it turned the motor far enough to dislodge the power wire. My son was easily able to re-solder the wire, so he was back flying in a few minutes. I have crashed mine very hard many times and have not had this happen to my quad.

If you look at the photos, you might notice a few mods I have made to my ProtoX quadcopter. They are as follows:

1.) Remove the body shell: This will save you about 0.54 grams of weight, and the shell really is only cosmetic.

2.) Stick the battery on the bottom: You can just pull the battery off using the adhesive, and stick it right to the bottom in the very center of the circuit board. Route the wire around the charging connector, and you are all set. This will improve the stability greatly because the battery provides more of a pendulum effect and makes the quad less top-heavy.

3.) Print out the controller stick extensions from our friends at Local Motors (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:243859) and install them: This will make your controller much more stable!

Enjoy!