I've got a few different motors and each has it's own prop saver. However, Hobby King seems to enjoy sending out only one or two bands and when you buy more they're usually too thick/heavy and won't work. Buying o-rings from the hardware store will get expensive and the bands just don't last.
After a little research I found a thread about TheraBands, which are basically very durable rubber tubes used for therapy. The people who used 'em loved 'em, so I ordered a couple feet of the blue band on E-bay (turns out it is shipped about 6 miles from my house so I got the package the next day!). Supposedly this material won't degrade or stretch out like a regular band, so in theory they should last a loooooong time.
My first impression is that this blue tube couldn't be nearly as good as people were saying, but I gave it a shot since I was out of bands for my son's plane. The recommended method of cutting bands is to put a small dowel inside the band and then use a sharp blade to cut 1/8" slices. I just used a sharp pair of scissors.
The bands are very strong so I had to use a small allen wrench to pull the band up and over the prop so I could hook it on the other side. Once done I was impressed with how tight it held the prop to the saver. No slack at all! I took a couple planes out and tried the bands and had no problems at all. The biggest prop I ran was a 5x3, and I ran 4 batteries through the two planes. Heck, even if they don't last as long as a regular band they're dirt cheap! I paid less than $2.00 per foot including shipping. If each foot gives me around 70-80 bands I'll never need to buy another one from HK for the rest of my life!
After a little research I found a thread about TheraBands, which are basically very durable rubber tubes used for therapy. The people who used 'em loved 'em, so I ordered a couple feet of the blue band on E-bay (turns out it is shipped about 6 miles from my house so I got the package the next day!). Supposedly this material won't degrade or stretch out like a regular band, so in theory they should last a loooooong time.
My first impression is that this blue tube couldn't be nearly as good as people were saying, but I gave it a shot since I was out of bands for my son's plane. The recommended method of cutting bands is to put a small dowel inside the band and then use a sharp blade to cut 1/8" slices. I just used a sharp pair of scissors.
The bands are very strong so I had to use a small allen wrench to pull the band up and over the prop so I could hook it on the other side. Once done I was impressed with how tight it held the prop to the saver. No slack at all! I took a couple planes out and tried the bands and had no problems at all. The biggest prop I ran was a 5x3, and I ran 4 batteries through the two planes. Heck, even if they don't last as long as a regular band they're dirt cheap! I paid less than $2.00 per foot including shipping. If each foot gives me around 70-80 bands I'll never need to buy another one from HK for the rest of my life!
