What are some of the changes that have occured from the original release to now? I think they’re all still R1, but I’m pretty sure some minor changes have occured. The old props didn’t have the ribs inside and didn’t have CW/CCW molded in? Do the older ones have more of a physical magnetic resistance when spinning by hand? Old ones were serialized? Anyone know all the changes?
Hi @corndog,
The thrusters have changed pretty substantially inside, but the performance and external appearance have remained unchanged so we have not changed the revision number. We would only change the revision on a whole product when there’s a major change to form, function, or if it breaks backwards compatibility.
The coatings on both the rotor and stator inside have changed a few times but have been constant for a few years now. The rotor and shaft collar used to have a lot of aluminum but those parts are completely stainless steel now. We’ve strengthened a lot of parts, including adding a metal tube in the middle, which used to be plastic. The injection molds have also gone through multiple revisions to improve surface finish and strength.
The propellers had CW and CCW indicators added. We will continue to make some changes to improve quality and reliability but the overall design and performance will remain the same.
-Rusty
I picked up an old sub-200 S/N and can see it still follows the same fit, form, function, and was just curious about the little stuff. I took it apart last night and I think the collar was black and aluminum, but I think the shaft was stainless. I can also see the improvements with molding, the older one has some light streaking and the new ones are very smooth. How about the motor magnets, did anything change there? The newer ones turn really nicely by hand, but there’s more resistance with the older one and it feels like the magnets are more pronounced.
Sub-200 serial number is really old! The rotor and shaft collar are aluminum on that one. The rotors were hand assembled and coated. The new ones are machine assembled and have much better consistency, concentricity, and a better coating.
-Rusty
Ahhhh concentricity, yeah I forgot to mention that. One blade juuuuuust barely touches the housing. No biggie though, I used the Thruster Commander to test it in a tank and recklessly held it by hand and the thing had tons of power even on 3S and it ran smooth. Thanks for the replies!
Also, please do another run of clear nacelles!