Prop Guards for Drone Propellers

Many of my coworkers are into drones, and they talked me into buying one. Once I got my drone, I noticed that the propellers are not protected as you’ll see in the image below. I don’t trust myself to not bump into objects and tear or break the props, or both. So, I decided to 3D print a prop guard to give myself some peace of mind. Besides, we want to keep the hallways scratch-free if we turn the corporate office into a racetrack after hours (don’t tell my boss).

Figure 1: Drone with unprotected propellers

Designing the Prop Guard

Figure 2: Sketch of drone dimensions

I decided to design my own propeller guard. I pulled out my calipers and measured my drone and was able to get a close approximation of where the propellers would be spinning. See figure 2 above. To verify my measurements, I printed a template of my design. The joy of having a 3D printer when designing; is the ability to print test pieces from the beginning stages to see, handle, and check the fit. As you can see in Figure 3, I went through several iterations and adjusted some dimensions until I was happy with the fit.

Figure 3: Templates to test the size and fit

Time to Break It

Now that it looks and fits fantastic! It’s time to go fly and hopefully not destroy anything.

Figure 4: Completed prop guard on drone