How To Make Helicopter Rotor Blades At Home

Flying high above the ground, helicopters have always captivated our imagination with their graceful maneuvers and unwavering ability to conquer the skies. While most of us look up in awe, a brave and creative few have dared to ask, “Can I make a helicopter rotor blade at home?”. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, fuel your curiosity and ignite your inner inventor, because in this article, we shall unveil the elusive secrets of crafting your very own helicopter rotor blades from the comfort of your humble abode. Delve into the realm of ingenuity and learn how to transform ordinary materials into extraordinary wings of rotary flight. With innovation as our guide and determination as our fuel, let us embark on an extraordinary journey, where the ordinary becomes the extraordinary, and the impossible becomes the achievable. So, fasten your seat belts and prepare for lift-off as we embark on a captivating journey into the enchanting world of DIY helicopter rotor blade construction.

Rotor blades are what define the helicopter. It was once said by BJ Schram that you built a helicopter around its rotor assemble, not a rotor assembly for a helicopter. This was how much importance he placed on the right marriage of the components it takes to build a successful helicopter. Rotor blades come in many different styles and materials, not all of which are suitable for the homebuilt helicopter.

Main Rotor Blade Options

Profiles: One of the most common helicopter blade profiles is the NACA 0012 symmetrical blade still popular to this day for its broad range of performance. Being symmetrical, it becomes the most practical to construct for the home builder. There are many different profiles now available including the trailing edge reflex design used at one stage on the Mosquito helicopters to the newer asymmetrical designs promoting different performance abilities in hover, and/or transitional flight. To add to this there are individual manufacturer specific trademark designs and additions that claim to improve flight performance for given situations.

Materials: Historically, helicopter rotorblades were made from laminated wood shaped to the profile required, with the addition of a balance weight for correct center of ballance. This later evolved to variations of wood core and ply style skin type blades with high tensile steel main spars. One of the downsides of the wooden blade was its suseptability to moisture causing imbalance between blades and on occasion, swelling of the wood which altered the airfoil shape. To counter this, high-tech coatings wrere applied including fibreglass type coverings for both strength and protection.

It wasn’t long before metals were considered the most practical as the primary construction material. They offered a more consistent and uniform finish and while overcame the moisture absorbsion issue, were susceptable to corrosion and metal fatigue. Today, aluminum/aluminium is still the primary construction material for many commercial and homebuilt helicopters. It becomes the most practical choice for its price and availability. There are a few options on the market that come and go, for blade “kits” consisting of a lead edge spar of aircraft grade aluminum/aluminium along with the trailing edge skin and attaching rivets. It is imperitive that ALL MATERIALS are of aircraft grade, NOT commercial grade.

Finally it was the advances in composite technology that bought us to todays modern helicopter rotorblades. Composite rotor blades offer many advantages with increased fatigue life being the most significant. Molding processes keep a high degree of uniformity along with being able to manufacture complex shapes and airfoils never before possible. The flexibility of the composite blade allows for rigid fitting, in some cases, doing away with the need for complicated flapping and/or lead-lag hinges. Composite rotor blades are not only for the larger commercial helicopters, they can also be found on many of todays kit built production helicopters. There are also a few select manufacturers producing composite blades available to the public the expect to pay heavily for them.

Tail Rotor Blades

Tail rotor blades become slightly less critical in requirements allowing for more construction options. You can build or buy them in wood, sheet stainless folded over a metal spar, sheet aluminium/aluminum folded over a spar, shaped and formed solid aluminium/aluminum and many variations of kevlar, carbon fibre and other composites.

They generally stick to a simple symmetric airfoil that acts as a directional fan with equal pitch changes changing the deflection of the blades. The simplist is the two blade teetering type suitable for most performance requirements and ranging up to multi-blade and fenestron shrouded type tail rotor assembly offering quiter and safer blade operations.

1. Crafting Magic in Your Garage: Unleashing the Power of DIY Helicopter Rotor Blades

When it comes to exploring far-flung places or simply creating some backyard fun, a DIY helicopter can be the perfect companion. And one of the key components to master when building your own flying machine is the rotor blades. Crafting your helicopter rotor blades in your very own garage allows you to unleash the power of your creativity, while also saving costs and enjoying a hands-on experience like no other.

But where do you start? First, gather the necessary materials such as carbon fiber sheets, fiberglass, or even sturdy wood. Ensure you have the required tools, including a jigsaw, sandpaper, epoxy resin, and a vacuum bagging system. Remember, safety first! Wear protective goggles, gloves, and a mask throughout the process.

Design: Begin by outlining your desired rotor blade shape and dimensions. Consider the airfoil’s curvature, blade length, width, and the desired angle of attack. A sleek and efficient design will maximize lift and minimize drag.
Material Selection: Choose the material most suitable for your rotor blades. Carbon fiber sheets offer excellent strength-to-weight ratio, while fiberglass is more cost-effective. Wood is also an option for those looking to embrace a retro charm.
2. Taking Flight from Scratch: A Step-by-Step Journey into Crafting Helicopter Rotor Blades at Home

Anyone who flys mini R/C helicopters breaks blades. My blades were running around $10 or more per pair, and the local hobby shop never seemed to have them.

To save money, I build new ones from the stubs of the broken ones. In this Instructable, I’ll show you how to do that.

In addition to saving money, I found my new blades to be both more durable and to lead to a more stabilized hover (at the expense of high rotor speeds).

Step 1: What’s Needed?

Basically you will be taking the stubs of broken commercial blades and creating new ones from them.

You need the stubs, because they have the mounting hubs formed in them and they help set the correct pitch of the blades. Once the new blades are cut and shaped, we’ll cover them with Monokote for a sleeker finish and to add additional strength.

Materials:

(2) Plastic blade stubs, cut to the same length (about 1″ or so of blade remaining)
(4) Pieces of 1/16″ balsa wood (or 3/64″ if you can find it)
Glue – CA or Gorilla Glue
Sandpaper
Monokote covering or similar material
Covering iron or a small household iron

Step 2: Cut Everything to Size

For my heli, I used stubs that were 1″ to 1-1/2″ inches long and balsa sheets that were 9″ long by 2-1/4″ wide. You may need to adjust these sized based on your own helicopter.

Step 3: Glue and Clamp Sheets to Stubs

Now just glue the sheets to the stubs, making a sandwich with the stub in the middle , using two bals sheets per blade.

It’s important the the blade be glued securely and clamped well, especially at the stub end to get good adhesion of balsa to the stub.

You should end up with a nice curvature at the stub end, that becomes less curved at the tip end.

Step 4: Cut Balsa Blade Down to Original Blade to Size

Using one of your store bought blades as a guide, cut the balsa to size.

I cut my new blades a bit shorter than the originals, but left the chord (width) of them be a bit wider. I found that the design resulted in requiring high rotor speeds for hovering, but was more stable in the hover as well.

You will need to experiment for your particular helicopter. For first blades you can cut them larger and longer and mount them uncovered. You can then adjust the size down until you reach optimum size for your machine and flying style.

Step 5: Sand to Make an Airfoil Shape

You’ll want to sand the blade so that you have a rounded off shape and the leading edge with a tapered, thin trailing edge (sorry, no good way to show this). You can also sand in a slight rounding at the tip like the commercial blades.

During this step, you’ll also want to make sure that you end up with two blades that have the same weight and balance. If not, you’ll get a disturbing vibration when flying.

Step 6: Cover Your Blades

I used white Monokote to cover mine, but any of the typical R/C covering will work. Of course, the lighter the covering is, the better it will perform.

Using your iron, follow the directions with your covering, but make sure the covering is absolutely smooth. Also, make sure you keep the amount of covering used consistent, else you will affect the balance of your blade pair.

Step 7: Finished!

Now just install the blades as normal and you are ready to fly!