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How To Test RC Airplane or Helicopter Propeller

I promised to discuss about "how to make RC airplanes" and we had already discussed few topics; RC Airplane Safety, Cessna 182 Pro Deluxe Electric RTF RC Plane, Hanger 9 - Cessna 40 ARF, Value Series, How To Make A Radio Controlled Toy Plane. Now you have some experience with radio controlled air planes and other types of airplanes. Most popular toy airplane model is RC or radio controlled airplanes which give you maximum fun. So that I will discuss little bit details about make your own radio controlled airplane. This topic might be little confuse than previous topics, but to make your own RC airplane or assemble commercially available RC airplane correctly; this knowledge is really important.

You know that there few common important parts in any RC airplane; engine or electric motor, wings, propeller, battery back, controlling mechanism ... etc. It is important to have good knowledge on each part before move into make your own RC airplane. Even you buy and assemble commercially available RC airplane this knowledge is important and knowledge about safety measures are equally important. So that I will discuss each part in detail before move into complete RC airplane model.

Today I am going to discuss about the Propeller of the airplane. Before introduce the Jet Engines for the airplane, normal piston engine and the propeller was the main driving force of the airplane. Now this method using in RC toy airplanes heavily. So that we will discussed about the propeller today. It is not easy task to make your own propeller for your toy airplane. So that I would recommend you to buy a propeller from the market. But how you decide which propeller to buy, size of the propeller, type of the propeller, weight of the propeller...etc.

Few commercially available propellers I have used:


Based on the size and the weight of your airplane propeller size would change. To decide which propeller to use, you can use some mathematical formulas to calculate the size of the propeller. But as a beginner you might find it difficult to solve these formulas and select your propeller. So that I will introduce some practical method to test your propeller before make your complete airplane.

How to test RC Airplane propeller

how to test RC Airplane propeller
 Fig 1: How to test RC Airplane propeller

As you can see in Fig 1, you need to fix your motor or engine and propeller to wood or plastic stripe. Then that stick should fix to a table or any fix location, but whole gadget should be able rotate around the hard axle. Please refer the Fig 1. Now give batter power to your motor or start the engine. If you fix everything perfectly and the selected motor and propeller is good enough to generate enough torque whole gadget should rotate around the fix axis. You can test and compare different motors/ Engines and propellers to select suitable motor-propeller pair to your airplane. Also you can get some idea about the speed and weight that your propeller can handle with this small test. This is actually basic test but you can get lot of advantages from this, I will you this test in future also to teach some important theories behind how you fly you airplane on the air surface.

How to test RC Helicopter propeller
wings of airplane generate the upward pushing power
Fig 2: How to test RC Helicopter propeller

Same mechanism we can used to test your RC helicopter propeller unit, but in vertical direction. Here you should understand that even though both helicopter and airplane fly on the air, the mechanism these two use is totally different. With airplane propeller is used to move the airplane forward not upward. Due to air pressure changes under and above the wings of airplane generate the upward pushing power to move the airplane upward. But with helicopter directly upward and forward pushing power both given by the propeller. I will later explain about these theories in details as and when necessary. I will more focus on practical things since most of us like to make our own airplane rather than learning about them. Back to our test, if you fix everything correctly once your start your motor/engine the whole gadget move up and rotate around the fix axle. You can test hang small weight and test how much weight your propeller can pull up. That weight should equal or less to the weight of other part of your airplane like battery pack, wings, body, tail...etc.

Now I guess you have some idea how to test your propeller without really making your airplane. This method is really effective and cheaper than you actually test your airplane. If you have any question feel free to write them on comment section.

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