Thrust Stand for RC Motors

thingiverse

This is based around 10mmx10mm square carbon fibre and M3 bolts. The motor pulls up, so the other end pushes down on a set of scales. You can cut the length of the tubing with the foot to suit the height of your scales. Full assembly instructions and other details are available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/kxEvHfJ-6a4 The lever arm should be neutrally balanced, so the counterweight piece can be slid along the scales side of the arm and will fit a 1/2" socket for the weight. For a 1:1 thrust reading you would make it pivot in the middle of the main length of carbon fibre, however you can change this ration to avoid saturating your scales. For instance if the pivot has 1/3 of the length on the motor side (to the centre of the motor mount) and 2/3 on the scales side, then multiply the thrust reading on the scales by two. The ArduPilot website has a spreadsheet for calculating useful parameters from the thrust stand data: https://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/motor-thrust-scaling.html Needless to say, rapidly spinning motors with propellers attached has obvious hazards, and you should always conduct a test like this so that you and others cannot be injured if the test apparatus suddenly structurally fails.