Powerup 4 Propellers become Brittle at Cold Temps.
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Just puttin' it out there to see if others have experienced similar issues.
I've been flying my PU4 on a regular basis, and in warmer months might break one propeller every 15-20 crashes.
Now that temps hover around 0 Celsius, every crash ends in a broken propeller. Even on soft ground, or when there's no throttle input. You can snap them pretty easily with barely any force when out in the cold. Indoors at room temp they flex a lot more, and will bend without breaking.
Anybody else having similar issues/concerns?
Would be great to see either or several of the following-
-Bulk packages of replacement propellers. Currently you have to buy an expensive accessory pack to get spares, which is kinda lame.
-investigate better materials that are more flexible and handle temperature extremes better.
-Source Biodegradeable plastics, so that when people do inevitably break propellers, they're not just littering the planet with more microplastics.
Best,
-J
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Official comment
Hi Jeff
Thanks for your input! highly appreciated!
Cold weather is known to affect durability of various types of plastics. For example polypropylene which is typically very soft becomes brittle below freezing point. This is just an example. We actually use fiberglass reinforced nylon in our props, this keeps them dimensionally accurate and durable, but I am aware that some people have complained about this issue and I think it is primarily caused due to the cold weather and flying over hard surfaces. We are looking into using softer plastics that can sustain sub zero temperatures and also more durable when the props take a hit.
Regarding our spare parts kit, we have lowered the price by 20% recently and also reduced the shipping cost as well, I think this will make this spare parts kit more approachable. We are also looking into adding 2 additional spares to the kit.
We are so grateful for receiving these kinds of feedbacks from our customers, it really helps us make our POWERUP's better!
Thanks again
Shai
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Thanks for the response, Shai!
As always, love the product and what you guys are doing!
Perfect timing that you should reply, as I made it a weekend project to CAD-up and prototype some 3D printed versions that I hope should work pretty well, and are inline with some of the ideas I'd been thinking. :)
They're of course printed from BioPLA, so in theory they'll break-down eventually, and I've dialed in the G-Code to be very reliable on a Prusa Printer.
The 3-blades have a bit too much air-resistance for the motors, but the two blades are actually lighter than stock, are fairly flexible, and put out a good bit of thrust from my indoor test-launches!
It's been quite windy here in Germany, so I'm waiting for better weather to fly to truly test them. :)
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