Please Please Please Remove Your Props! (Caution Graphic Content)

BankNYank!

New member
Mentor
Well, I have some embarrassing news to share that caused some bloodshed. Today I was rushing to get out the door. Don't most bad stories start with "I was in a hurry" or " Hey ya'll, watch this!"? Anyway. We have now covered mistake number one. I was in a hurry to get one of my planes out the door and as a second thought I decided I should plug it in and check it real quick. I plugged the battery in and this is when I realized I hadn't plugged the v-tail mixer back in that I had been using for differential thrust. So I grabbed a v-tail mixer off the workbench and plugged it in. Mistake number two. I never unplugged the battery. When I plugged the v-tail mixer in I plugged it in backwards, meaning the plug that should of went to rudder I plugged into throttle and vise versa. When I plugged into the rudder channel one of the motors on my plane went ballistic! I instantly started trying to unplug the battery while at the same time trying to hold down a plane that had suddenly gone rabid and leaped forward and was now throwing pieces of prop and cardboard everywhere! Somewhere at this point it also registered that something had been hitting me in the arm. I never got the battery unplugged in time. As the prop beat itself against my workbench it caused the screws holding the motor mount to the firewall to strip out. So now I have a motor and whirling blade of fury dancing around my workbench. Lucky for me the prop hit the ESC wires a couple times and caused it to come unplugged. Which leads us to mistake number three which actually could of prevented all this if it would of been done in front of mistake one. REMOVE THE PROP! If your at home or doing any testing or repairs which require you to plug a battery into your plane (or any craft that has whirling blades of death) PLEASE remove the prop first! I have added some pictures below of what happened to my plane. Below that is a link if you want to see what the prop did to my arm. Just keep in mind, I made that picture a link and didn't post the picture for a reason. The link is not for those who are squeamish. You have been warned!



As you can see one prop is a little shorter than the other now. I have to say it held up surprisingly well given all the dancing around it was doing after it came loose!



Just a shot of where the prop smacked the esc wires and unplugged itself.



The prop actually cut all the way through the top side of my FT Elements firewall.



Just a shot of the back of the firewall where the prop went through.

So thats what happened to my plane. It got off lucky! Below is what happened to me. It's not absolutely horrible but horrible enough in the fact that it actually happened to me. You can see one gash laid open to show the muscle under the skin. There are actually three cuts there that are that deep. Now I've described what you will see if you click on the link. Last chance to change your mind before clicking!

http://s325.photobucket.com/user/frostgp/media/DSC_4462_zps6b5f75d5.jpg.html

Now that you've seen what happened to me, or even if you haven't, I want to explain my reason for this entire post and the reason I posted the picture of my arm. PLEASE learn from my mistake and remove your props when not flying. I know this could of been a lot worse. But I also know this could of been easily avoided by simply taking the time to remove the prop's!
 
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Kurt0326

Your ADD Care Bear
Mentor
Well, I have some embarrassing news to share that caused some bloodshed. Today I was rushing to get out the door. Don't most bad stories start with "I was in a hurry" or " Hey ya'll, watch this!"?


I thought they were famous last words like "Hey, what's this thing do?" lol. But really thanks for sharing dude. how many stitches?

I'm always telling my son "watch out! twirling blades of death." and now I have a picture to show when they start to get cocky again.
 
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Ron B

Posted a thousand or more times
I chopped my arm up on the very first hookup of my receiver of an electric motor.
All I can say is always SAFETY FIRST!!!
 

BankNYank!

New member
Mentor
I thought they were famous last words like "Hey, what's this thing do?" lol. But really thanks for sharing dude. how many stitches?

I'm always telling my son "watch out! twirling blades of death." and now I have a picture to show when they start to get cocky again.

"Hey, whats this thing do?" is famous last words and another that could be used to start a story where things went bad! I'm from the south so where I live, "Hey ya'll watch this!" is more common. lol

No stitches. I don't have insurance so I didn't go see a doctor. Whatever I would of paid out of pocket for a doctor would of taken away from buying parts that make things fly! :) So I went to the store and got some peroxide, neosporine, gauze and a couple wraps.

Yes, please share the picture. I posted it so people can see how serious you can be hurt and how quickly it can happen!

I chopped my arm up on the very first hookup of my receiver of an electric motor.
All I can say is always SAFETY FIRST!!!

Man first time huh? I think I may have reconsidered getting into the hobby had my plane attacked me the first time I plugged a battery in! I don't know anyone in the rc hobby so for me it has been learn-as-you-go. This has been an epic learning experience!
 

Montiey

Master Tinkerer
Doesn't peroxide explode when it touches blood? (Saw a video of an exploding tick that was injected with the stuff..)
 

Balu

Lurker
Staff member
Admin
Moderator
I had my first swappable pod "fly" around the room after connecting the battery and before having the ESC calibrated. So I broke my first prop without even having wings built.

Props off. Always.
 

Kurt0326

Your ADD Care Bear
Mentor
Doesn't peroxide explode when it touches blood? (Saw a video of an exploding tick that was injected with the stuff..)

Well out expands, foams up. The tick I'm sure just exploded due to pressure build up. Like feeding birds alkaselzer.
 

BankNYank!

New member
Mentor
Doesn't peroxide explode when it touches blood? (Saw a video of an exploding tick that was injected with the stuff..)

Hydrogen peroxide's chemical makeup is H2O2. So when it breaks down it turns into H2O and O2. When anything goes from liquid to gas it expands greatly (oxygen expands 1:861 - thank you google). So I'm guessing with Kurt0326, it exploded do to internal pressure buildup.

I had my first swappable pod "fly" around the room after connecting the battery and before having the ESC calibrated. So I broke my first prop without even having wings built.

Props off. Always.

Thats crazy! I hope no one was hurt!

I'm thinking about having a shirt made that says "Take your prop off!". lol

This is like posting pics of a DUI accident.

I'm hoping it'll have the same affect. Arrive alive, don't drink and drive? Take your prop off, don't lose an arm! ;)
 
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TTMR

A leaf on the wind
Don't need to click that one, but I hope that it does help others remember to stay safe around props, they are no joke.
 

BankNYank!

New member
Mentor
Don't need to click that one, but I hope that it does help others remember to stay safe around props, they are no joke.

They are no joke for sure! I just wish I would of realized that before I got bit! I now have some nice scars to show from my oversight!

Here's how things look today which is now what, three months later???

100_0389_zpsf51e11d4.jpg

Please take your props off!!!
 

PhenomPilot

New member
I unfortunately learned this lesson too late as well. Back in June, the same thing happened with my versa and my arm. Unfortunately, my cuts weren't spaced out and so I lost a half inch by 2inch piece of my arm including some muscle and cutting one tendon. Ten staples later and some expensive bills, I never did get that plane flying (because I used heavy elmer's board and a heavy motor).
 

frogman

Member
Oh yes. Please remove them. I have 1/8" of a finger missing and it is still numb from the last knuckle to the end. It has no feeling. 11 stitches later I still have the finger but have learned to type with 9 fingers and have to play bass guitar with my middle finger instead of index finger. It was a big motor swinging an 18" prop. Was a moment I let my guard down. Didn't know what I was doing.

If you need to see the carnage here's a link. It has kinda been a small campaign of mine since then. Warning...it ain't pretty.

http://s94.photobucket.com/user/frogmanproductions/media/My fun stuff/IMAG0023-1.jpg.html
 

WhatDoesThisButtonDo

Junior Member
Yup, happened to me this week, and I did all the things almost right

First RC plane, foam Nutball I had converted to a Snowball as I did not want to make all my mistakes on a 'nicer' plane, and the ground was covered in snow. Sitting in my study I was going to check the throws etc were good before taking it out into the back garden for a wee spin around the snow, not even planning on 'flying' it yet.

Battery unplugged? -- check
Throttle all the way back? -- check
Tx powered on -- check
Plug in battery -- check
Wait for the Rx beeb? -- check
Controls good? -- check
Lean over in chair to pick it up from the floor and my gut nudges the throttle lever forward a wee bit as I was bending over -- check
Prop bursts into life and smacks into filing cabinet -- check
Grab plane to get it under control whilst grabbing to yank the throttle back -- check
Slashing pain in right hand side of index finger -- check
Run to bathroom gripping said finger flap of flesh on, leaving blood drops all over the floor -- all over it.

Lesson learned. I'll wait until I am outside to do this stuff. It paid me back by crashing on it's first non-flight, ... ingrate.

Notice the blood on the port wing.

100_0041.JPG

100_0038.JPG
 

bgfireguy92

Senior Member
Wow you got lucky not seeing a doctor but couldn't agree more. Did this just the other day slicing the back of my hand up on a blue wonder swinging a grey 8x4 after there was a short in one of the esc connections. Cracked it off the bones in my hand and all I could think was "phil (aka frogman) is gonna kill me when he hears this." (He was just warning me a few weeks ago at efest)
142376330624964975561.jpg
 

BankNYank!

New member
Mentor
Wow, thanks for sharing the carnage guys! This has become a little campaign of mine as well. I've always wanted to get some shirts made up that say "Take Your Prop Off" (as a play on "Take Your Top Off") to wear when I'm flying.

I think most people don't realize how dangerous a prop can be unless they've seen the carnage on a thread like this or until they experience it first hand.

When my plane went rabid I knew the rule to take your props off but I never respected it. My experience was similar to what happened to WhatDoesThisButtonDo. You can read it in the op.

Here is a photo of how things looked the day it happened.
DSC_4462_zps6b5f75d5.jpg
 

STFDAC20

Member
Guys I had near miss yesterday - but luckily I had the props off. I was working with a Flip 1.5 board and just added the Baro/Mag board to it. I had to setup my files and then configure it with the GUI. I had a heck of a time. It spooled up (still unsure why) when I was working with the arm set. It did not repeat the failure - but I said out loud by myself - thankfully the props were not on.

I learned last time, I was messing with settings in the kitchen. It launched unexpectedly.

Stay safe and thanks for sharing!
 

bgfireguy92

Senior Member
Guys I had near miss yesterday - but luckily I had the props off. I was working with a Flip 1.5 board and just added the Baro/Mag board to it. I had to setup my files and then configure it with the GUI. I had a heck of a time. It spooled up (still unsure why) when I was working with the arm set. It did not repeat the failure - but I said out loud by myself - thankfully the props were not on.

I learned last time, I was messing with settings in the kitchen. It launched unexpectedly.

Stay safe and thanks for sharing!

WOW!!!!!! Seriously lucky. That's the one set of props I am scared of more than anything. So much power in those electrohub motors and those props are so hard and sharp I'm always scared to death it's gonna be my undoing.
 

WhatDoesThisButtonDo

Junior Member
Actually the cuts were not too deep (to the bone), but it looks like BankNYank! caught it a lot worse than me. Only three scars for me. Poured it with Peroxide and wrapped it up. Hurt, but better than infection.
 

krinaman

Senior Member
Lean over in chair to pick it up from the floor and my gut nudges the throttle lever forward a wee bit as I was bending over -- check

Which brings up another safety rule. If your transmitter has a throttle cut use it and get in the habit of always having it on when not flying.

I was lucky and learned this without hurting myself. I put a battery in my 180 quad planning on flying. Then got to BSing carrying it around in one hand and the transmitter in the other. Until I bumped the throttle. The blades smacked my fingers a couple of times but could never get up to speed to do any real damage.