I have just started working with Bob Godfrey to make a mold for autogyro blades. This is the same Bob Godfrey that has been designing and building large scale RC planes for many years. He thinks it should not be too difficult. After seeing all the molds that he has made, this should be easy. He's getting along in age but he is still working and supplies parts for customers that have bought his planes. I made the first plug and we are starting with the SG6042 airfoil. The blades will be 2" wide and about 24" long. I have a 7 lb gyro with this size blade and it flies very well. I have had a good week so far. Crashed two autogyros in three days but have repaired and back to flying. Both crashes were due to rotor failure, sort of!! One crash, a blade came off because the bolt that I was using wasn't quit long enough to reach the plastic in the lock nut and it came off in flight. The other was an experimental rotor that I was testing with hard balsa and the rotor bolt pulled through the wood. I actually landed that one with only slight damage to the landing gear. Oh well, when you retire you need something to keep busy.

Phil

Phil,
If anyone can make a mold it would be Bob. He invited me down to his place last winter and I was just amazed at some of his mold designed. For a guy who has a little trouble getting around sometimes he does wonders. Just likes to keep busy.
Jim

Hi Phil...

Hoping for a source of molded SG6042 blades, has there been any progress on this project??

Regards,
Bil

Hi Bill,

Welcome back from France. You don't set still very long do you. It just so happens that I now have three molded fiberglass blades as of this evening. I've got to do a little balancing and I may get a chance to try them tomorrow. I have them mounted on a hub and wanted to see if they would spin but didn't have any wind. So, for something different I put on the roller blades and headed down the street. I had them mounted on the end of a two foot board held in front of me. Amazing how hard those blades push when they came up to speed. I can see now why they lift the gyro.

On the negative side, the blades are heavy and the trailing edge doesn't come down to a thin edge. The mold came out pretty good. Bob Godfrey really knows his stuff. He wanted to make the first set out of fiberglass but he said that he could make them out of carbon fiber and they would be a lot lighter and stronger. These were made out of 2 layers, top and bottom, of 6 oz cloth with epoxy. Bob has several ideas for improvement. One is to fill with some type of expanding foam like you suggested but it's not urethane. I don't think we are there yet but gaining.

Phil