Add propeller post.

posts/best-propeller-cad-tutorial.md

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+---
+title: "Best Tutorial For Modeling a Propeller in CAD"
+author: "James Pace"
+date: "2024/02/03"
+---
+
+Most of the videos I've seen on YouTube that show how to model a
+propeller in CAD focus on building something that "looks" like
+a propeller.
+The videos ignore that the propeller's aerodynamic profile effects
+its performance and thus it is worth atleast trying to pick a profile
+that our understanding of physics would support.
+
+This is particularly bad with videos where people model and then print
+toroidal propellers after basically making up dimensions and then are
+surprised the performance isn't that great.
+Toroidal propellers got some buzz on the internet after a researcher at
+MIT pulished a paper showing a toroidal propeller design that was quieter
+and safer than traditional designs with comparable thrust.
+Most of the propellers I've seen people try on YouTube have dimensions
+that aren't supported by theory (other than they look like the ones from
+MIT) and most of them don't even do that.
+
+The best video I've seen on YouTube that shows how to model a propeller in CAD
+is linked below.
+The presenter is not very exciting, but he does a good job explaining what profile
+he is using and how he is "twisting" the profile to get the right angle of attack
+at different points along the propeller.
+
+The comments on the video by @gumbykevbo are also very informative.
+
+{{< video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGszDz0tlRY >}}
+
+