paint chips in propellor

[rvdave]

I have a Sensenich prop on my rv6, noticing paint chips on rear of blades, not into the metal, wondering whether to sand out chips to bare metal or fill with something before repriming and painting?

Dave Ford
RV6 in Cadillac, MI

[Russ McCutcheon]

Hi Dave,

I see you got no replies on this so I?ll put in my two cents. My airplane is a flyer, 200 hours a year, as such the prop has nicks on it like you describe, I don?t feel qualified to paint a prop, I can?t balance it and I can?t insure each blade gets the same paint, so as a flyer, not a hanger queen my prop lives with nicks and paint erosion between overhauls, it?s just the life of a prop that?s in use. Mine is an MT that has a 72 month or 1800 hour TBO, it has 4 years in and 840 hours, by all indications it will make it to its 72 months then the shop will make it like new again.

[664781]

Lightly sand and touch up paint. Don't go down to bare metal unles you have to remove high metal.

[Russ McCutcheon]

I agree with lightly sanding the spot/spots and touching them up, this is perfectly acceptable to do between overhauls.

[rvdave]

The chips I describe are crater-like so I'm thinking if I lightly sand the edges of the craters I will have "dips" or craters with rounded edges. Should I lightly fill with a sandable primer to make a smooth surface?

Dave

[Russ McCutcheon]

The touch up paint will fill the crater.