This thread is, as the title says, all about props. What prop do you run on what motor? What diameter? What type of redrive or direct drive? Belt, gear or chain redrive? What ratio reduction? What pitch worked best..... any thrust figures etc....

It will be great to have this place to see what others are using, have used successfully, even what didn't work

This thread is open for all discussions of all props, even home made.... it doesn't have to be all numbers and provable facts.... even peoples opinions are relevant. Someone may have tried a 'brand X' prop and changed to a 'brand Y' prop.... even tho they were the same diameter and similar performance, one or the other may have 'felt nicer' to fly with or produced less P effect.... Some are supposed to be awesome on paper, however you might not have liked it for whatever reason.

The idea of this thread, is if someone has, say, a 582 and wonders what prop would work best, they can come here and see what others have used successfully (or not) and we can find out from different pilots using different props on similar machines, as to which one might be the 'sweet' one.... or which to avoid.

All aspects of props are up for conversation, which are better performing, which suffer from damage more..... how best to repair damaged props

Please don't be afraid to offer opinions.... everyone might love 'brand X' but you found something better.... Please say so.

Everyone's opinion is valid, so there need be no arguing, what works for one (or many) may not suit everyone. Please try to keep the thread on the topic of props.... that is why I decided to place this in the factual room rather than elsewhere.

The link is to Warp Drive.... it has a tip speed calculator and blade pitch calculator in the page of the link.....

http://www.warpdriveprops.com/

I will start by saying, most of my direct drive EA81's so far, I have used local timber props, made by a gentleman, now retired, called Richard Sweetapple. He made fabulous timber props, I have used many of his.... in fact I still have one for a direct drive, it is a 52" x 44" but yet to run it. My last EA81 turbo had a 52" x 32" on it and it would happily rev past 4100rpm, so I think this one will be better.

Wood props need to be cared for, especially when first fitting, I have had several from other people where on removal from a motor, the alloy outer plate has crushed and sunk into the wood center, and have had to prise the plate from the prop. I recommend using 'Bellville' washers, which are cupped a bit like a breakfast bowl and go between the prop bolts/nuts and the alloy plate, with the wide part towards the plate and the narrow side under the nut..... once they are all finger tight, do the nuts up a turn at a time and watch for the washer flattening. If it is humid, you can squash the washers fairly tight, but aim for about 'half squash' this allows the wood to swell or shrink, but still maintain tension. If it is dry, but will get humid in the near future, the wood will be shrunk... so tighten the nuts a bit less than half squash, so when the wood does swell, it wont crush the wood. As part of your preflight, look at how squashed the Bellville washers are... if they are hardly squashed, the prop could be loose.... if they are squashed flat.... and it isn't humid yet, maybe back them off a bit.... change bellville washers at major services like every 200 hours or so.

On 503, 582 and 65Hp Hirths, I have usually used 3 blade Ivo or Warp drive, 60" for the 503 and 68" on the 582.... I found them both good props, the ivo damages easier, the warp drive are very tough.

Cool,
I like Warp drives like everyone else, but they are heavy, and have a high MOI
Moment of inertia, But they are bullet proof.
I was using the 60" warp on the Dom with the 582 it worked well but I was worried about the B box holding up. I switched to an IVO 3 blade 59" it worked fine too, BUT then I had to send the IVO back for a repair and they talked me into a 4th blade, the X prop, Man what a difference! better climb and top speed. I had the Dom over 96 MPH (gps) at sea level, chasing Greg Spicola around the cow pastures, The dom was open, He had an air command with 582 and 68" Kiev prop. and a pod.

The Arctic Cat 530 (suzuki) did not like the warp drive, for some reason it was very sensitive to climbs and dives, the engine would slow down when climbing and speed up when decending, Probably because of being a reed valve engine and being ported for higher rpm.. Same with the IVO X prop, so I have been running the A-C engine with the 3 blade 59" IVO and it seems to be very happy.

What reduction ratios Scott? I would have thought 68" was a minimum for a big 2 stroke? I never thought about using smaller? Did you choose smaller diameter for keeping the mast shorter? What was the difference in performance from a 3 to a 4 blade? Like, if you have 4 blades, does that allow the same performance as a bigger diameter 3 blade, or doesn't it work like that?

Running a 2.58:1 rotax B box, By adding an extra blade it helps soak up the HP and you can run a finer pitch.
Yes a Large 2 blade is always best...but sometimes you can't have a big prop for clearance reasons, or if you don't want a 12 ft tall gyro, or what ever...
the extra blades absorb the HP. I did try running the IVO as a 2 blade, but the pitch had to be set more coarse and the takeoff and climb really sucked bad. and the gyro is not fast enough to gain any real cruise speed with a short 2 blade.
Funny but all that prop theory stuff looks great on paper, but real world stuff sometimes tells a more complete story.

Back when I first got into gyros I wanted a Bensen with a rotax engine, no tall mast, stock Bensen....Well no one had one....no one I knew of had built one, the closest was the KB killer with the HTL and 60" prop...
I even called Power Fin and spoke to Stuart Gort the Guro of propellers and He said I couldn't do it and it would not work..
Any how I was at Bensen Days and Phil Paxton flew in from Lake Placid FL.
He was flying a stock Bensen with a 503 2.58 gearbox and a small 3 blade warp drive.. I was shocked and amazed....Fast forward a couple of years and Tim chick decided to get rid of his MAC so he could actually fly rather than spend the day trying to start the MAC.
He bought a 503 from Phil, I went through the 503 rebuilt it, etc and changed the gears to 2.00:1 Then Tim got a 3 blade warp drive prop I cut it down to 54" and balanced it, The gyro flew fine, didn't have to raise the mast, seat nothing, just replaced the MAC.
Now Tim is not a big guy, maybe 160 lbs.. Then He sold the gyro to Mo in Florida and Mo painted it and fly's it regularly, but Mo weighs about 130lbs.
BUT my point is all the experts said it would never work, but it did..

Then on the other hand, the gyronimo gyro would fly a 250 lb guy with a rotax 503 and a 76" 0r 78" 2 bladed prop and 25ft sport rotors, it was not fast, but it flew just fine and lifted a fair payload. Would the Bensen with the 503 and small prop and small rotors? probably not, but it does fly a small guy faster..
Lots of variables etc etc.


Then there was this big ol Hungarian guy..................

I have not flown my setup yet but Greg Spicola told me his AC had the best setup for speed and performance
according to him so that will be my base line setup.

That would be a Warp Drive 68" 3 blade. Original hub plate design w/spinner Pitch to be determined later.

Gearbox is a Rotax C Box 3:1 ratio RK400 Clutch

Engines are a modified 532 with all upgrades and a Rotax Rick 670 (same gearbox, clutch setup)

Greg's A/C was awesome It was fast and got great fuel economy.
Whe Greg was up here in Georgia for a while he and Chris Wilson would fly around some, Chris had a Monarch with all the G force landing gear hanging in the wind, and I think a rotax 582 with 60" warp drive, where ever they went Greg always used about 30 percent less fuel.

I have had to redo many a prop pitch job done bad. I also have several things damage props. Right now I fly an IVO prop pitched so at full throttle my 912 Rotax just hits top of the yellow. I have flown many a gyro that the engine will not get out of the green. This does not give the best climb or max horse power.
I have two pictures below one is of a powerfin prop that had a thin plastic lid hit the leading edge. It can from a McDonalds cup.

The second is a warp drive of Mike Burton's he was once shot at with a 30 30 and they hit his prop it stayed together and he was able to land

I guess if your are talking bulletproof the warp drive wins

Yup you can't beat a warp drive for durability.

I have a very nice 68" Prince P-tip prop for my honda powered 2 place,
The prince is the quietest prop I have ever heard.

Someone shot at him with a rifle?

I hope that fucker did time

Cheers
Erik

Yes they did he even sent a letter saying he shot at him the FBI was notified and did not do anything.

I'd sure like to hear the back story on that.

That is F-ed up!!

Me too!

Mike told me that he was flying and suddenly heard a whissling sound. As soon as he landed some guy came up and said you got shot. Mike said how do you know. He said that sound. I flew in vietnam and know that sound its a prop with a hole in it. Sure enough thats exactly where it was. He called police told him where he was flying when it happened. Then later a letter showed up saying he did not like that noise and he shot at him. The letter was turned over and not a thing happened.

So was Mikes prop blade repairable or is that sort of damage beyond repair? I cant believe the police or fbi did nothing about it? the tiniest difference in the shot could have hit Mike That is too close for comfort

Nope the prop hangs on the wall. You call warp drive with the serial number they sell you one blade

I have seen these props advertised for years but have never seen anyone use one, the reviews from the fixed wing guys say they work well but I have never seen one on a gyro, apparently they have no helical twist??
http://www.competitionaircraft.com/
I guess they only make them up to 59" then used to use brolga blades in the larger ones.


I still like my IVO..

I've seen quite a lot of pictures of gyros, especially AC, with Ultra Props.

Cheers
Erik

Yes they used to use them on AC's back in the day,but no one uses them now...just wondering why. or why not.

My air boat Prop is a warp drive and it has all kind of nicks and dings in it. when I asked the other air boat guys about it being safe, they said that is normal wear and tear on an air boat prop. looked at other air boats and sure enough almost all had nicks and dings in them.
I would not want to fly behind the prop on my boat, but on the boat it seems just fine.