How are props made?
10-10-2003, 11:25 AM
#2
Senior Member
My Feedback: (12)
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Pampa, TX
Posts: 5,133
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: How are props made?
ajcoholic made a prop milling machine that traces another prop, there was a poster here who worked for US Propeller who had access to a CNC machine. I would imagine the major prop mfgs would use automated prop machines, some guys carve them by hand.
10-10-2003, 12:10 PM
#3
My Feedback: (2)
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Hawthorne, CA
Posts: 5,839
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: How are props made?
Wait a second Chuck. Do you mean to tell me that the story my parents told me about the Elves that make props in a hollowed out tree is a lie?
10-10-2003, 12:34 PM
#4
Senior Member
My Feedback: (5)
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: An Iceburg in, ANTARCTICA
Posts: 6,747
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: How are props made?
ORIGINAL: BasinBum
Wait a second Chuck. Do you mean to tell me that the story my parents told me about the Elves that make props in a hollowed out tree is a lie?
Wait a second Chuck. Do you mean to tell me that the story my parents told me about the Elves that make props in a hollowed out tree is a lie?
10-12-2003, 08:01 AM
#8
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: State College,
PA
Posts: 316
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: How are props made?
I thought they start with a maple tree sapling, and using wires and stakes, impart a twist to the young tree. Every year tighten the twist to the trunk and when the tree matures, they just slice off prop blanks and drill a center hole.
That's why reverse pitch props are rare.... only grown in Australia.
Maybe I'm wrong.
That's why reverse pitch props are rare.... only grown in Australia.
Maybe I'm wrong.
10-12-2003, 12:46 PM
#9
My Feedback: (10)
RE: How are props made?
Some props are still made on "manual" equipment that is operated by a person. There is a master pattern, and a shaper-type machine that rough carves the blank, and then finish sanding also by hand.
SOme newer ones (like MSC for instance) are made on a CNC milling center (100% computer controlled). Then finished up by hand.
I dont believe any companies are making them with a copier like I have (basically a stylus following a pattern which guides a router to cut a new prop), its too slow. Maybe if you were cutting multiples at once.
When you look at a prop like the Zinger, the machine marks are clearly visable (on thelarger sizes anyhow) as they are not sanded all that well.
There are some brands (like the Y&O originals that Brodak now has the rights to produce) that are still made on the same equipment with the same masters that were used in the 1950's.
There are some funky machines out there that are designed to cut and shape stuff like golf club heads and queen anne style table legs, that could be easily adapted to cut/sand props if you wanted to. But these also rely on an aluminum master pattern, and I doubt they are fast enough either, for a prop to be sold at today's prices.
AJC
SOme newer ones (like MSC for instance) are made on a CNC milling center (100% computer controlled). Then finished up by hand.
I dont believe any companies are making them with a copier like I have (basically a stylus following a pattern which guides a router to cut a new prop), its too slow. Maybe if you were cutting multiples at once.
When you look at a prop like the Zinger, the machine marks are clearly visable (on thelarger sizes anyhow) as they are not sanded all that well.
There are some brands (like the Y&O originals that Brodak now has the rights to produce) that are still made on the same equipment with the same masters that were used in the 1950's.
There are some funky machines out there that are designed to cut and shape stuff like golf club heads and queen anne style table legs, that could be easily adapted to cut/sand props if you wanted to. But these also rely on an aluminum master pattern, and I doubt they are fast enough either, for a prop to be sold at today's prices.
AJC
10-13-2003, 07:04 AM
#10
Senior Member
My Feedback: (5)
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: An Iceburg in, ANTARCTICA
Posts: 6,747
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
RE: How are props made?
By golly, I think we have the answer;
ORIGINAL: TomM
I thought they start with a maple tree sapling, and using wires and stakes, impart a twist to the young tree. Every year tighten the twist to the trunk and when the tree matures, they just slice off prop blanks and drill a center hole.
That's why reverse pitch props are rare.... only grown in Australia.
Maybe I'm wrong.
I thought they start with a maple tree sapling, and using wires and stakes, impart a twist to the young tree. Every year tighten the twist to the trunk and when the tree matures, they just slice off prop blanks and drill a center hole.
That's why reverse pitch props are rare.... only grown in Australia.
Maybe I'm wrong.
