Replacement Propellers for Eachine/JJRC H8 Mini Quadcopter Drone

thingiverse

# I needed some replacement propellers. ### Here's the backstory: I got a cool EACHINE (JJRC) H8 MINI DRONE QUADCOPTER for like 12 bucks. Delivered. In only 6 weeks. After purchasing, watched some videos and found out it is not a drone for beginners. I've not flown quadcopters before. They give you 2 (1 each CW and CCW) spare propellers. LO Frikken L. These propellers break VERY easily. One broke on a wall and the other broke on the corner of a cardboard box it was hurtling upside down toward. In less than an hour and lots of hurtling - often upside down - I was out of replacements. To order replacements is expensive (for a $12 drone) and also not fast. Apparently, these aren't in vogue anymore so replacement parts are far away from where I am. I thought I had to wait for 6 weeks-ish to attempt flying again, but I decided to check my options. The closest I found was from lukibob here on Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:273351) and with a bit of modification in Tinkercad, I had a relatively similar prop. Not an exact match by any stretch, but it WORKS!! WOOHOO! Note: if you are looking for a similar prop (a different quadcopter), I'd try another of lukibob's STL files and see if it works, or can be edited into something that does. ###Creation Notes: - Supports are required. And a bit of a pain to tear off. I gently scrape any leftover mostly off. It doesn't have to be (anywhere close to) perfect and it still works. - I was able to get working with .20mm quality, but definitely working well at .12mm quality. - I used a .4mm nozzle. - I used PLA+, would have probably preferred PETG, but my printer is a bit sloppy with the current PETG that I have. - Propellers are printed upside down from how they are installed. This leaves the ugly rough side up top, but makes for less support material used. ###Usage: - Before installing, I poke the hole (from the long side) with the pin point from a small safety pin. It's smaller in diameter than the motor post, since the propellers are press fit. I push it perhaps halfway in, but it's okay if the pinpoint comes out the other side - as I know from experience. This poking allows easier mounting of the propeller, it was a scary amount of pressure before doing that. Your printer may be different of course. - Two of the same (at least) are always needed - to be specific, if one of these printed ones is installed then for balance the opposite one has to be a printed one as well (it's the same style both CW or CCW, both A's or B's) - because they are different enough from the ones from the original factory supplied type. - The surfaces and edges can be pretty rough (knotty edges, leftover support) and still work great. <h3>BONUS</h3>- With these propellers installed, it seems to slow the reaction down a bit making flying the quadcopter more manageable. Or I was getting better at it that fast, but I doubt it. We'll see in 6 weeks or so when the factory replacements come in. <h3>BONUS 2</h3> - I haven't broken any printed propellers yet. They have, however, worn out and the press-fit no longer work - causing the propeller to come spinning off and UP.. To fix, I had to put a small amount of wood/craft glue into the hole (at the bottom) and let it dry and then it stays put (again) when installed. It's tricky getting the glue in the hole, I used a very small needle and sort of wiped off the glue inside the hole. Doesn't take much. It's not the stickiness of the glue that holds it, but the lack of space the glue creates. ### Thoughts.. - I don't know if this would be good for outside or in high heat unless PETG or stronger (not sure even then, please drop a comment if you have luck or not with this). I've had PLA melt pretty quickly in the sun. - It would be cool if there is a better way to "renew" the grabbiness of the hole without trying to get bits of glue in there - any ideas? Copyright note - Copyright format inherited from original.