One thing that we do at our field is to paint the tips of the props, white. Even so, you need to make a habit of moving your hand directly back & up from a running engine. A spinning prop is very deceptive, and one time I got caught by reaching directly down for the glow igniter and my ring finger still has an inch scar that probably should have gotten stitches. Our club president will even tell us to not adjust the needle valve from the front, but to stand behind the prop to adjust it.

Yes, always! It also teaches you good habits that are useful if and when you move into operating larger engines (1.0 cid and up).

A lot of the newer fliers at our club keep harping at us to do this too. Unfortunatly, old habbits die hard. It is a good idea to be behind it though. If you hit it from that side, it hurts like heck but doesn't cut as easy, from the front, your finger is gone.

It would be a good idea that after you paint the tips of the prop to re-balance it to avoid vibration transfered to the engine. I find that bright orange works good. It is not a pretty, but sure shows up.

I balance my props by painting them.
After painting the prop I check the balance and then add more paint to the light side.

Things change...

When we had wooden props, I used to finger start always, even on the 60 sized birds, because I was a "real man" and real men don't need no stinkin' electric starters. Now with the glass props, I find I cant even turn a cold engine over by hand without slicing my fingers a bit. I've gotten into the habit of always using the electric starter, even as I get disapproving looks from the oldtimers who think starters are for sissies or people that can't tune their engines.

What glass props are you using that cut your hands? I use the plastic ones (APC) on my smaller 40 size planes and I spend quite a bit of time with each one and a razor blade to make both leading and trailing edges very dull. I tell the newbies to always do this because if you do get hit, it will help to lessen the damage, and you will be able to flip the prop without cutting yourself.

I now know why people make such a big deal about props. I just got a used plane. I decided to fire it up just to hear it run and tune it a little. The engine fired up quicker than I expected and I got a prop right through my palm. It hit hard enough to kill the engine. I looked down to see my hand is stuck to the prop and 2 inches of it is buried in my hand. I had to slide it back out. Once I was finished unleshing all my fury on the prop I could only laugh about how stupid that was. Not a highlight of intelligence for me. I will now paint those prop tips.

APCs, Bollys, MAs. They are all made from glass filled nylon, and yes, you should knock the mold flash off of them. But even so, they are far sharper than an old Top Flite Power Prop ever hoped to be.

When they're spinning, they can hurt you whether they are sharp or dull. When they aren't spinning, it's pretty easy to avoid being cut. Aerodynamically, the sharper the trailing edge the better. Knock off the flashing, keep the trailing edge as sharp as is practical, and use an electric starter if you need to. The prop is used to fly the plane, and should be optimized for that purpose.

banktoturn

ctdahle,

What do sissies have that other don't?


Ten fingers

Tunning an engine from the front is a habit that I never got into. Guess because i needed to stand behind it and hold the plane down as i tuned it.

I did see a guy at our club with a OS .70 FS tunning in front of the engine. The engine came off the firewall the spinning prop tore into his stomach. He immediately collapsed and was rushed to the ER. He ended up getting over 250 stitches and had to over come a infection from the fuel also.

I know it is not very often to see an engine completely come off but can happen. Another thing to keep in mind is to check the screws before the each flight.

I must admit that I started this post by mistake, as I clicked the wrong button, but I'm glad it's going somewhere. Another area to be concerned about is that the elevator stays on when you crank up the rpm's in the pits. A couple of guys have told me the elevator can come loose, but I've yet to see it happen. Our club president had to go to the hospital ( sorry to embarass you, if you know who you are ) this summer because he got a bad prop cut in his leg. And, yes, I use light sandpaper to sand the trailing edge on props because if the engine's warm, I'll flip it, but lately I've been getting hit by the kickback, so now I use a chicken stick, but I have no qualms about using an electric starter. I rebalance my props, too, after I've painted the tips.

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