Battery Plugs: Deans Vs XT60

I've been a life long user of the Deans battery plugs but recently having been fed up with them I switched to the newer XT60 style.


Here's my thoughts on each of them.

Deans

Pros: Never going to unplug them selves. Very strong connection and can easily transport a lot of current with out heating up. They also have little grip lines on the side to make them easier to pull apart.

Cons: You'll need super human thumbs to take them apart. Because of this the solder on the terminals tends to get a lot of strain put on it and eventually crack. They are not the cleanest or easiest so solder either. The worst thing about them though, is that they are very hard to plug together and you end up with a bunch of arcs and sparks as you try to join them. Not really good for your batteries or the electronics you're powering up and down several times while you try to plug them in.

XT60

Pros: Very easy to plug together and don't cause current surges while you try and plug them in. Very secure and won't come apart on their own. Very easy to solder. Have little + and 1 symbols on them so you don't accidentally solder one backwards.  Hobbyking batteries come with these plugs on them. They are very cheap to buy packets of them.

Cons: Can be difficult to unplug but not no where near as bad as Deans.

Conclusion: Well its pretty clear from the pros and cons lists above that I have become a big fan of the XT60 plugs. I've used the Deans for a long time in all kinds of flying contraptions but I've become a very big fan of the XT60 in a very short time. The only downside is changing all the batteries and ESCs over, but as I quite enjoy soldering, that's not so bad. 

Reaming Props The Fast Way

So if you're at all like me, you've probably bought some cheap props online and at some pointed needed to ream them out to make them fit on a multirotor or some such. So here's some of the approaches I've tried and the levels of success I've had with them. 

1. Drill: Don't do this. It seems like it would be perfect but the problem is that the tapered cutting edge of the drill grabs and pulls its self though the prop and will certainly not go through straight. I've done a few tests and even clamping the prop down doesn't help. If you can get a straight hole drilled with one of these you know something I don't. 

2. Prop Reamer: Right so this is what you're supposed to use. However I've bought a couple of cheap ones online and they just don't work. I couldn't ream out a cheese prop let alone a nylon or even carbon fiber one. 

3. Step Drill: I found one of these down at my local hardware store and thought I've give it a try. Turns out, Its awesome! Because it doesn't have a tapered cutting edge it doesn't pull its self through the prop. You can simply bore it out all the care and attention you need to make sure you do it straight. Also because its being operated by a power drill and its really sharp it will ream out a prop made of pretty much anything really nice and fast. So it may not be what the pros recommend but its sure worked for me. 

Note: If you have any other ideas or experience put them in the comments and I'd be glad to include them in this list of prop reaming tools.