MetallicaJunkie

My trusty welders glove went missing.... and found this online.... this ought to me much safer than a think leather welders glove? your opinion? http://cgi.ebay.com/Youngstown-Cut-R...item27bbe598be

i used to start bare handed till i had an ill advanced timed 80 backfire and give me a good whack(12-24-10) that left my index finger tip numb for a few months..... good thing Biela props arent sharp, and even better i had the choke on

378

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I used the handle of a large screwdriver as a chicken stick.

MetallicaJunkie

i have a chicken stick... but never like using it on my gassers... i scratched a really nice prop... no biggie when it comes to saving my fingers though

Tired Old Man

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Might want to get away from that screwdriver. The handle is harder than most wood props and can cause blade damage. Not much of a cost issue with small engines but as engines become larger props get expensive. May I suggest a new heavy knap paint roller?

378

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I'm starting a .46 sport motor with an 11x5 composite prop with that screwdriver. I don't think I'm going to hurt it

captinjohn

Think again....I had a Glow engine about that size and it broke the screwdriver handle clean through. A flooded engine can cause that. Capt,n

378

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I don't try to crank flooded engines. Odd habit from cars I guess, where trying to start one that's flooded breaks pull starters.

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

I'm not sure any glove is really going to help much from the standpoint of actually getting whacked by a prop.... [X(]

Now I do use a padded leather glove to start mine but it has to do with the fact that I only use two fingers to start mine and the trailing edge of the Mej props can be hard on two bare fingers. Just can't seem to get that using four fingers thing down. I did get a little complacent one day with my 50cc gasser and when it started it came around and "kissed" the backside of my fingers. I had a similar "hurt a lot" and fingers went numb for some time, but I'm not sure if the padded glove really did much to lessen the trauma in that case. Cuts would be a different story and as for your proposed solution, seems a bit spendy to me for a glove but then as I note I just use a padded (winter insulated type) leather glove.

majora

Take a standard welders glove to the local saddle shop or shoe repair and have them glue a piece of saddle leather across the back of the glove with slits for the fingers. Glove can only be used for engine starting but that's what it is for.

Gordon

tkg

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With a glove you know where your fingers are after you get wacked by a big engine. It makes the doctors job easier

MetallicaJunkie

[:'(] eww, it hurts just think of that

bgw45

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That is a good idea! What I use is a bad idea. I use a motorcycle road racer's glove. I has kevlar on the back of the fingers but if I get it on the unprotected part of the finger it will get cut. I started using it as a joke and it caused such a stir at my field I just kept using it. Plus, no one else is foolish to use one so I have no trouble recovering it. I guess I'm lucky, but I have never had a gasser backfire or pop back. Not so with my 1.80 glow stuff.

Tired Old Man

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Of greater issue is the number of people that fail to secure their planes when starting them. I've seen it first hand and in some cases it's been deliberate. Watching a plane crawl through someone's body gets real ugly, real fast, and a glove isn't going to help.

I don't use a glove unless the traling edge of the blade is sharp. I don't use a stick, don't generally use a starter unless it's a special application. There's no need for any of that except to assuage people's fear.

apalsson

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+1
I don't use a glove either. I used to have a welding glove that had been cut down to shorten it down to the wrist but found it cumbersome and in the way. Then, I have been lucky and never been hit by a backfiring engine. If the prop is properly set at 2 o'clock, the fingers are out of the path of the prop anyway. Check timing and needles before attempting to start anything big enough to scare you and it is most likely to be a non-event excercise.

I never start big 4-stroke glow engines with my hands. I don't know why but they scare me and I have found them prone to unpredictable starts. Maybe I simply don't know well how to handle them ...
For those (and I don't have many), I have an electric starter

Tired Old Man

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Personally, I have more trepidation around small glow engines with all the razor sharp prop blades they like to use. From 30Ccc to 350cc, where's the problem?

Just have to be smarter than the engine and have learned a little about them before first use.

dogshome

New 40cc engine had a big backfire and split the 20* 8 woodie end to end. Once it had the setting dialled in and some fuel through after that it was a nice engine. Splitting a prop like that would equally split fingers, glove or not.

Sooooo I always use a chicken stick. It's a bit of wooden broom handle with a sleeve of silicon tubing (like you find on turbo cars which is quite thick with woven layers). No prop damage using this and I'm perfectly safe.

Small ones - electric start.


Glove? I don't fink so!

Tony Hallo

I use the Bennet Starting glove bennettbuilt.com/page7.htm, mine's about 17 years old, bought it back when mag's were the norm, not today. Using the glove is like wearing seat belts, hard hats, fall protection and the like. Hope you never need it. My ZDZ 80 bites once in while, wish I knew why?

MetallicaJunkie

i went to the local welding shop and they didnt have any gloves i would want to use... they dont make them like they used to or dont carry the "good stuff"

tony would you happen to have a pic of the B&B glove, if it's not an inconvenience to ya?... the pic on the website isnt very good, im a visual leaner

*edit i dont think the kevlar cut resistant glove would absorb blunt force trauma as well as a thick leather reinforced glove..

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

Not even with those Kevlar gloves I will put my fingers in the path of a prop.
I got a good whack some time ago with a 40 size glow, there was no blood but it hurt for a week.
That is why I have 2 chicken sticks and 2 electric starters in my flying box

hanko

prop this girls, geared 540 Lycoming

hanko

Thats a Ratsrepus is case any one was wondering

MetallicaJunkie

imagine mistepping... instant decapitation

378

My Feedback: (4)

Way safer than propping an RC plane. You have a couple hundred precious milliseconds to get your hands clear of the prop on my trainer, but that lycoming gives you way more time before it bites your head off. Between the length of the prop blades, the gear reduction, power to weight ratio and the fact that it always starts at idle, it gives you plenty warning that it's about to fire off.



Honestly I'd rather prop the Lycoming by hand than stick my fingers in my OS...

crash1ace

Starting by hand?? Using gloves?? WOW You do know that there is this thing called an "electric prop starter" right? ie: sullivan.... Why would anyone be crazy enough to put their fingers in harms way? Thankfully at my field, no one starts with hands,screwdrivers,or chick sticks ever. Even the guys with the big gas
models know enough not to do that!

378

My Feedback: (4)

Electric starters are for people who have crappy, mis-tuned or worn out engines. [&:]