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Prop Blade Angle Matching

R

RFSchaller

Well Known Member
Many of you may know this, but I'm sure there are some less informed like me, so I thought I would post this. I had to repitch my prop today and put a prop protractor on the blades. I was surprised to find the blade angles differed by 2.5 degrees. I had been laboring under the misconception the cams would force the angles to match. They don't. Everything runs smoother now, but even when they were not matched there was no alarming vibration.

Just throwing this out to help anybody who thought the cams match the angles.
 
Tony,

I only posted because there is so much good stuff on this site that things settle into the background, and the old timers on the site tend to forget new guys are constantly joining. If it saved just one guy from making my mistake it's worth revisiting.

Rich
 
I have found that when setting the blade angles on the ground adjustable props, the cams often do not align them perfectly, as previously posted; however, you can help the cams do a better job of aligning the blades by simply lubricating the root ends of the blades inside the hub, since they can bind and rub and keep the blades form adjusting properly.
I use some Boelube on the blade sockets when installing and it seems to help quite a bit.
Using a protractor or other device to measure the final installation angles is always a good thing to do in order to verify the correct installation.
Good luck.
 
Can't believe it! I repitched the prop and hit a sweet spot right off the bat! I'd rather be lucky than good any day! :)
 
basic prop pitch advice needed

I need some basic help in adjusting the pitch of the prop blades. I mounted the blades for the first time today to fit the spinner. The instructions say to set the blades at the maximum pitch.

I got the blades assembled in the hub, but I can't twist the blades any significant amount to adjust the pitch. If I understand the design right, the white plastic cylinder in the center of the prop assembly should rotate around its axis as the blades are twisted. But, the notches in the back of the white cylinder engage with tabs in the prop hub assembly. As a result, I cannot change the pitch. The white cylinder won't move more than one half of one indicator mark. (it's stuck on the middle indicator mark.)

I feel like I'm missing something obvious but I can't figure it out. If anyone can enlighten me, I'd certainly appreciate it.
 
Been a while - but

I think you need to carefully install the white plastic hub into its position. It has ONLY a small amount of movement available. Make sure you did not miss the notch it is desinged to engage into. The 'plate' it engages into can get bent ( ya, I happen to know that ! )
 
I missed the cam hole on my first try, so I agree about checking for proper engagement in the hub. Once you get it engaged try moving the blades with the bolts loose. You should get a small amount of movement, but don't expect free movement from one extreme to the other. My prop is set about two marks from full coarse pitch and yields 5160 RPM in climb. My static RPM IS about 5050 which is higher than the PAPs call for, but in Arizona climb performance is very important.
 
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