Prop guards????

[jerseywizkid]

Hello all,

Soooo, I would love to get my hands on some propeller guards for my Karma but find zero available.
Not even from a 3rd party!

I had my karma operating in cable cam mode, going from about 2 feet up to 20 feet while I was capturing some footage of dog training outside.

My 2.5 year old made his way outside and ran straight for the drone.
His head made it to the drone before I made it to the controller.

ER visit and 7 staples later (luckily just above the hairline..... we were very lucky, a few inches lower and he could have been blinded, or worse.

Prop guards would have made this situation a non issue.

Anyone know of any solutions? (Besides being more mindful of controller location and surroundings obviously) Tough lesson learned, but lesson learned none the less

 

[Rambler358]

I've been looking myself, but no luck.

 

[DoomedPhantom]

Karma drone does not have a means of adding guards to the propellers. Mainly because each individual arm and components are replaceable. I would not recommend any guards on the propellers; mainly due to the fact that it will affect the weight factor and the aerodynamics of the blades.

 

[CRXPanda]

If any of you would like to donate your broken and/or used-unbroken-rejected props, I may be able to construct something with my 3d printing friends.
I am into costuming (hard armor) and know a few 3d printer people.
Anyone interested? PM me and we will work on a plan.
My props are still pristine and unused.
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[wolfway1]

I too would love to be able to find prop guards for the Karma.
shredded leaves and small twigs as it flew through a tree i did not see on the view finder. I can only imagine what it would do to flesh. My friends Mavic Pro has clip on guards and would love to find something for the Karma.

 

[CRXPanda]

If any of you have any broken parts (props/arms) you would like to donate to this cause, please pm me. I put in a request with my friend who 3d prints, but he needs something to work with. I am in North Florida, he is in Atlanta, Georgia.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[JasonMellet]

I have some broken propellors..

 

[WallyWallWhackr]

Hello all,

Soooo, I would love to get my hands on some propeller guards for my Karma but find zero available.
Not even from a 3rd party!

I had my karma operating in cable cam mode, going from about 2 feet up to 20 feet while I was capturing some footage of dog training outside.

My 2.5 year old made his way outside and ran straight for the drone.
His head made it to the drone before I made it to the controller.

ER visit and 7 staples later (luckily just above the hairline..... we were very lucky, a few inches lower and he could have been blinded, or worse.

Prop guards would have made this situation a non issue.

Anyone know of any solutions? (Besides being more mindful of controller location and surroundings obviously) Tough lesson learned, but lesson learned none the less

3-D CAD design a set and 3-D print them to proof the design, and then move to formal manufacturing and sales. I am sure you would profit nicely. Attachment method is the only issue I see.

As an edit and with a bit more thought, I notice that the arms on the drone are not the same shape, nor are they the same length from their respective attachment pinions. So, a front left and right and a rear left and right are needed. Have to keep everything on the underside too. Even a tie wrap presents a high profile hazard for the props. Maybe have to stick them onto the underside of each arm with a high end adhesive strip. Oops... there goes the suitcase. No easy solution. Maybe if they were to mold attachment loops for a thin metal strap on the underside of each arm. Oh and how 'tall' must the shroud 'ring' portion be to really be a protective element?

I still want to make a set though.

I guess the ideal guard would be a surround made of Twinkies. They are virtually indestructible yet at the same time are quite soft. One could probably lifeboat pad their entire drone with 'em. I think I am on to something here! Massive battery life and airflow issue and flight time hit too.

 

[WallyWallWhackr]

If any of you would like to donate your broken and/or used-unbroken-rejected props, I may be able to construct something with my 3d printing friends.
I am into costuming (hard armor) and know a few 3d printer people.
Anyone interested? PM me and we will work on a plan.
My props are still pristine and unused.
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Just so you guys know, and I am sure you do ;-) These guards would be nearly eleven inches in diameter.
That is almost as big as a record album.

That said, I did some preliminary 3-D CAD renderings and measurements on the two arm types and came up with a guard.
Remember that a 3-D print of one of these would likely cost you several dollars in plastic wire, and a hard mold would only really be worth it if one had many thousands molded.
Anyway, what I came up with works on either arm, so only two versions need to be made, A left side guard and a right side guard, so four total per craft.
It amounts to a short "cup" that the arm end sits in with a hole for the lights and motor bottom vents that the user Velcro straps or tie wraps onto the arm after deployment. Note that these cannot be made permanent installations without the owner losing the capacity to fold the drone back up. So they are to be field installed at flight time and removed afterward... each time.

I am going to render the ring and spline shapes as a modified teardrop cross section (rounded off point). I should be able to get the weights from the CAD package for a few different polymer choices. I do not think it needs the strength of say a fiberglass filled plastic would provide, though I wish that some parts of the Karma Drone were.

This guard will reduce total flight time per fresh battery. It will reduce top flight speed. It will reduce max altitude, and slightly reduce slew rate performance.

I will post some screen shots and maybe a 3-D PDF for folks to look at as an edit to this post in a bit. I have to get back on my Windows box. Gimmie a few hours.
I would sell these things in proper molded form for $20 to $30 each, so a set of four would not be cheap, but hey... what GoPro part is, right?

OK, you dopes. How is one supposed to post an image here or a link to an image without being accused of spamming?

 

[WallyWallWhackr]

If any of you would like to donate your broken and/or used-unbroken-rejected props, I may be able to construct something with my 3d printing friends.
I am into costuming (hard armor) and know a few 3d printer people.
Anyone interested? PM me and we will work on a plan.
My props are still pristine and unused.
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Remembering that this will require a huge 3-D printer to make...

 

[WallyWallWhackr]

Remembering that this will require a huge 3-D printer to make...

Let's see if they allow you guys to see this... It is a 3-D Pdf, so some viewers will not
allow you to view it.

 

[ploppy]

This looks awesome, any chance you sould share the STL?

 

[Billybob]

Keep us posted!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[WallyWallWhackr]

No news for the others arms?

Thanks!

My 3D CAD system is not up right now. It will likely be after spring settles in before I get back to it and make a serious version.

 

[WallyWallWhackr]

Ok, great!

Did you print and use the guard that you shared?

no I did not.

 

[WallyWallWhackr]

doesn't fit? the prop is bigger than the guard?

That is a printed 3D cad rendering image on paper with props and things like that next to it. The cad work is correct I don't have a 3D printer. It is 10.5" in diameter inside.

 

[ArthurChaves]

Guys,
I am a Brazilian architect and I have a newly acquired karma, one of those refurbished ones, and on a first careless flight I broke all four propellers. So I started looking for prop guards and saw that they do not exist for karma as there are for several other DJI models. Since I saw here the possibility of printing in 3d, I have worked on the design for printing in the vacant time, now I am ready to do the first test. Here is a sketchfab link with the model for viewing.

Sketchfab - Propeller Guard - Gopro Karma

sorry for my bad writing

 

[Ironspear]

WOW! Looks amazing mate.

Keep us posted as to how it goes.

 

[Shon]

Looking forward to hearing how it works.

 

[ArthurChaves]

I will have news until next week