Propellers are one of the most overlooked components on a drone. The simple piece of plastic or carbon fiber may be the cheapest hardware to replace on a UAV, but they are essential because propellers control speed, efficiency and even camera vibrations. There are already videos showing how drones are manufactured in factories, but here is a rare glimpse of how propellers are created through a YouTube video by Flyers District:
Flyer District toured a propeller factory that had about six injection molding machines. The YouTuber said the small factory produced around 200,000 propellers per week, which includes different propeller designs for FPV racing drones and even DJI.
Screenshots are all from Flyers District’s video.
Flyers District said the most expensive and difficult part in making a propeller is creating the injection mold. Just one half of a mold was described by the YouTuber to be “at least 40 pounds!”
Screenshots of how a propeller is made:
It all starts with plastic pellets.
The plastic pellets are loaded into the hopper and melted.
Melted plastic gets fed into a hole.
The plastic then gets sent straight into a propeller mold.
