Airplane Prop - How many times do you wander down the runway and see a regular jet engine that just stops you and says "Wow!" I mean, the plane can track you, but I'm talking about the engine itself being something special that makes you stop and take a good look.
I remember seeing heavy metal on Cub for the first time and going, “Wait! We'll have to see! ” Or the same as a complete work of art. You know the kind I'm talking about: the one with soft, shiny, dynamic, silky wood that seems to bend and float through the air even when you're standing still.
Airplane Prop
At this year's annual Pietenpol Reunion in Brodhead, Wisconsin, in the line of Piets, Dan Helsper's plane was nose to nose with the metal from the others. Its light caramel color highlights a large metal X on the nose. Combine that with the beautiful woodwork and vintage 1920s fabric in the home and it brings to mind images of Royal Air Force B.E.2s from more than a decade ago. As we walked around, we saw the light reflecting off the golden trees from different angles, and played with the rows and rows of giant samara trees. In case you were wondering, samaras are maple syrup that slowly descends like a small helicopter.
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Based on the path he trotted through the grass, we were far from the only ones interested in Dan's flight. Over the next few days we found our eyes returning to a black and yellow Piet with a unique prop. It sounded different than other Model A-powered Piets, with a lower hum, more of a purring up close, take off. Along with the Model A's brass engine mounts and vertical radii that limited the front view, it harkens back to a time when airplanes were more mysterious and exotic—when air evolution was a thumbs up that "looked good" instead of a page. . When the sun rose and the morning mist lifted, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a century ago.
Inspired by the nostalgia, charm and mystique of the original Pietenpol Air Camper, Dan decided to build one as close to the original 1929 plan as possible, including giving it a Ford Model A engine cooler. After 10 years of construction, the first flight took place in 2010. By then, Dan was living in Poplar Grove, Illinois, making the short annual flight to Pietenpol Airport in Brodhead, Wisconsin, and AirVenture. However, he later moved to Puryear, Tennessee, where he made long trips in a 50 hp airplane. He didn't mind traveling three times over the years, from Tennessee to Wisconsin and back.
During the construction of the Air Camper, in 2006 or 2007, Dan attended AirVenture and saw a conference called "How to Advertise", taught by Jerry Thornhill. “Engineering seemed like a black art and I was fascinated,” Dan said. He continued: “I camped for three days of the convention, attended all the classes and watched Jerry build the iron. I took lots of pictures and notes! "
After he got home, Dan made his first attempt at making a knife. "It didn't go well," he recalled. On reviewing the questions, he confirmed that his preparations were not as good as they should have been and that the adhesive material was not of the required quality, but he considered it a great learning and training experience. An important thing to learn was to avoid over-lubricating the chainsaw, as too much will cause the wood to become greasy and prevent the paint from sticking.
Are More Propeller Blades Better?
After a few training sessions, he tried again with greater success. It was curved in shape and built of ash. The shape came from a "dead drop" of metal he had seen on a vintage engine at Brodhead's booth years ago. He took a picture of it and scaled it to full size and printed that picture, traced the engine outline on a full sheet and scaled the dimensions to size to make a model. Dan painted an entire side and marked it six inches apart, made a pattern on each side, then transferred the information to the other side as it was slowly released from the wood.
When it was finished, Dan added dark mahogany to the finish to give it the right look that emphasized the overall look of the Pietenpol. Pietenpol himself made the first flight behind this prop and many more hours in the air over the next 10 years. Dan's skills soon had other Pietenpol lovers coming to him for advice or to repair their planes. He continued to experiment with different designs and continued to gain knowledge and experience.
That's all well and good, but Dan is not the type to go well enough alone. "I was very impressed with the four-engine WW-I aircraft. I just thought they looked good. As he gained experience building engines, he thought he would try to make one with more than two blades. In 2013, he tried to make his first design. "It was good, but not really what I wanted. It was very big, heavy and had a big platform. It just wasn't good enough. After flying it for 10 hours, it came and the two the knives went back.
During the winter of 2020, Dan decided to try and make another iron with an eye to making things more compact and lighter, with a smaller diameter and reduced pitch. Using 1×8 thick cardboard, he trimmed each board down from 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch. As with all his engines, the wood panels were glued together with Weldwood Plastic Resin Glue as recommended by Jerry Thornhill. Each piece of wood is leveled so that the heavy ends overlap. Once assembled, a blade shape template is drawn on each piece and the blade is cast to shape. At this stage it looks like a two-seater child's toy.
How A Propeller Generates Thrust
The lead and follow-up lines are carefully measured and marked with a pen, never ink or magic marker, which will contaminate the final product. More than one piece of wood is pushed right along with the line you have got up to the weather conditions. The sand carefully follows, carefully bringing the life iron from the wood. When the first metal is filled, the stations are set every six inches and templates are made. Using these parameters, the structure and airfoil were simulated for the following three dimensions. The placement of the laminations ultimately left Dan with a thickness of 3-1/8 inches, and he prepared each strip as thin as he dared. Finally, the pool measured 68 inches in diameter and 41 inches in length. When full, it was only 4 pounds more than the weight of his two swimming pools. That's very impressive when you consider the benefits of two extra blades!
How is his Piet doing with the new prop? "Well, I can't say much different, to be honest," Dan said. “It's very quiet. It has a beautiful sound, like the "thrum" of an Irish bodhran drum. I'm not sure if it's from breaking the exhaust but it sounds good. Using a fish scale, he measured static electricity. With his old program he weighed 285 pounds, with the new he weighed 240 pounds. However, he's not sure if that's really the difference because there really doesn't seem to be any difference in flight.
Pietenpol is not known for his work, and Dan has a forecast for high wind speeds, which he admits is more of a show than real data (but it looks good). He noticed no difference in height or speed. However, more attention is being paid to the fly-ins now, as everyone seems to be doing a double-take watching the special show!
The liquid cooling of the Ford Model A engine is served by a vertical radiator which restricts the forward view
Fundamentals Of Aircraft Propeller Design
Dan took all the notes, photos and experiences and compiled them into a book called Propeller Carving-The All Power Tool Method. His goal was to create an approach that would essentially take what he learned about engine building to interested people. "Most of the books I found when I started were based on math and a lot of math," he explained. “It was not what I wanted. I wanted a step by step guide for someone who knows nothing about metal building but really wants to do it. ” Dan's book is available as an e-book or on CD from The Technical Books Company.
Another good method is NACA Technical Note No. 212, which covers how to determine the wood to be used in engine construction based on the required RPM.
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