ppkk

While balancing a prop tonight, I found that the 14x6 wooden prop from Master Airscrew did not "track" true, meaning that one side of the blade was 8 mm in front of the other side when turned 180 degrees. I tried another prop, this one a scimitar profile also from Mater Airscrew, which also was off by about 4 mm. In total I tried 6 props, 3 of them from Master Airscrew, 2 from Top Flite and 1the Turnigy brand from Hobby City and every Master Airscrew was off while the other 3 were dead on.

Questions I have are:

-) Anyone else having issues with Master A. props? These are props of different sizes and types (all wood though) that I bought through time from different sources so they can't be from a bad batch
-) How much "off track" - if any - is acceptable? I take it that 8 mm is too much, but is 2-3 mm acceptable? I have quite a few M.A. props and it would be ashamed if they are all bad

Thanks!

iflircaircraft

just my curiosity here but does the prop lie flat?
Is it the hole is not drilled straight?
I've never noticed this in any prop I've used.

Tom

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

I found quality control with MAS to be a bit lacking with there wood but it was quite a while ago, I thought by now things would have been corrected. The only MAS I use are there small plastic {?} props for trainers, they can take a strike like no other prop I have ever found and seem to last forever with student landings. I'm not sure how far off is too far off but why bother when there are other good props on the market. In wood props, these days I only use Xoar. They cost only a little more and so far I have never found a problem with them at all. I have only used there larger props though so can't say anything about there smaller sizes, only wood props I use start at 18 inches. I know you want wood for your Cub so I would give the Xoars a try. I have also never used the Turnigy you mentioned so have no idea. I still have some of the smaller Scimitars I used to use on some of my WW1 bipes, they worked out great, if you want I can look and see what make they are and let you know.

ppkk

Tom - the 14x6 lays perfectly flat, which suggests the hole is not drilled correctly. I started balancing it after I had already reamed it with a reamer and just to ensure I hadn't screwed it up in the process (very highly unlikely, I have done this many times before) I tried the other 5 that were not reamed. Interestingly enough, only the MAS had this issue. I have quite a few props and I intend to try them all to ensure this is (hopefully) not a widespread problem. For now, no more MAS for me!

Gray - my MAS props are at most a year old, so it seems the issues have not entirely gone away. Where do you buy the Xoars from? I will look them up. Also, I would appreciate it if you'd let me know the brand of your Scimitars. I too, am not comfortable using props that are off, but the problem is I already have quite a few of them. Let's hope the 3 I tried tonight are the only bad ones.

ChuckW

I buy Xoar from Chief Aircraft and Frank Tiano. I believe Swanys, the guy that makes profiles, sells them too. I've used Xoar wood props all the way from 12x6 to 22x10 and all have been excellent with perfect balance right out of the package and great performance. I like the Vess wood props too; I usually buy those from Chief but I hear East RC has a great selection too, including smaller ones.

For plastic props, APC and Graupner both seem to work well for me. I'd like to try one of the plastic Xoars one of these days also.

ppkk

I looked up Xoar, if truly 100% balanced right out of the box, that alone would be worthwhile to me. When would you use beach wood as opposed to laminated ply?

da Rock

Who uses laminated ply?

ChuckW

If I recall correctly, the smaller Xoars are just solid beechwood and the larger ones can be either solid or laminated as you go bigger. The laminated tends to be stiffer in the larger sizes.

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

Chuck is correct so you don't even have to think about it. I'm very lucky, my LHS has the Xoars in stock. Even with his slight mark up I save a bunch by not having to ship. I was using props like the power points on my gassers then gave the Xoars a try, WOW, it was like installing a bigger engine on my planes. The good thing about Zingers is they are in stock in most hobby shops and they are cheap, after that the good part goes away. Graupner is one of those props you don't hear enough about. They are as tough as MAS and work a lot better. My LHS has some in stock but it seems only in three blade. They are one of the brands everyone should try if they can find them, they work very well.