03 July, 2009

My 'old' Prop is fixed.

It was hard work indeed ! No kidding. Although the local workshop has all the tools one could think of, still lots and lots of 'hand work' goes into a prop not to mention the know-how. I was fortunate to be able to use a proper aircraft workshop (they are building the 'whisper' motorised glider on the same premisses). I want to thank to Stuart and Dr. Russels (aeronautical engineering) for allowing me to use the premisses and advice. The prop you see is probably one of the most efficient Snap-100 props around ! At 122cm tip to tip and 1013mb air pressure (sea level)) 22deg C and 75% ambient humidity, it has a static thrust level of 56kg ! At 2400rpm it converts almost 78% of the mechanical energy put into it in static trust ! And its best efficiency should go up if it moves at 36km/h ! (is tuned for that speed) The prop is made of a fairly thin layer of wood covered in thin layers of fiberglas. It has a disadvantage though. Is slightly heavier than a composite prop, which means is not suitable for competition flying. One nice side effect of the 'perfect' aerodinamics is the fairly low noise level at full thrust. And that counts for me a lot :-)

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