ORIGINAL: JoeEagle

ouch!!! good thing i don't take this hobby stuff personally!!! a boxcar full of smashed buttholes?? hmmmm


fwiw, when i crashed my H9 1/3 scale CAP 232 flying the reduction drive, with a DA 50 and the 4 blades you see on the site, the steel frame of the drive did bend, but then the only thing left was the round parts of the drive and the motor (which was ok, but still sent back to DA).

To date, we have had no failures of the Gates Polyflex JB V-belts. we use a 2 strand belt and have tested a 3 strand belt. they are joined and so no slippage.

i have detected no excess or destructive vibration on the cantlevered design. no bearing wear or failure. i can tell you that there has been wear within the blade actuating pin that we find unacceptable.

not sure what your concern on mounting directly to the firewall is. we were trying to make it fit a particular footprint and i can tell you (but you probally know this) there there is not much room on the stock firewall to spread the load and still fit it within the cowl.

the concerns about cooling are legitimate, and when I get some additional items back from my partner, then i will be able to resume testing. we have also made some changes regarding dealing with vibration (for a totally unrelated reason) that should help with vibration related issues.

i agree with dick, a twin would be a WHOLE lot easier to deal with, but then, it won't fit in that darn narrow cowl.

Lee, we havent sold any because its not done.

i always appreciate constructive critisism, and certainly would take it under advisement for a design change.

what we won't do is try to sell something before it is ready and proven. not interested in going down that hole!!

oh, btw, this is a Constant Speed, Variable Pitch propeller, not a fixed pitch prop like some other designs i have seen (Eddie Weeks non-withstanding, but i think he has left the VPP hobby biz and is concentrating on UAS stuff).

fire away guys!!