Prop Tape

Gary Carr · Post by **Gary Carr** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 9:53 pm

Hi All,

Is ther anybody on here that uses prop tape on the leading edge.. because i am trying to find out.. the.. for and the.. agaist.. as to tape on the prop..good and bad points welcomed! ....I am All ears!

gary

GRF7R7 · Post by **GRF7R7** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:08 am

Hi Gary
I have used prop tape for years. Ever since I got caught out in very heavy rain and it ruined my prop. It also tends to stay cleaner as the bugs tend not to stick to it. If you have a wooden prop I think it is a good investment.

Graham Hammond

Gary Carr · Post by **Gary Carr** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:42 am

Hi GR,

Did you ever come across any isues with ballance using the tape!

GARY

MikeGodsell · Post by **MikeGodsell** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:36 pm

My Robin ATL has an MT prop. A new AD requires prop tape to be fitted to ensure security of the metal armoured leading edges. However a few years ago I had carefully rubbed down and painted the prop leading edges. So the prop tape was mainly stuck to the new paint. No matter how sticky the tape adhesive, it depends on the adhesion of the underlying paint to stay on. Result gradual looseness of the tape as the paint peels off from the prop. So make sure that the surface of your prop is unpainted, or has very secure old paintwork. Having a piece of prop tape fly off in flight will upset the balance quite badly and could spoil your day!

Bill McCarthy · Post by **Bill McCarthy** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:22 pm

There was an article on prop tape in an old issue of the PFA mag. Prop tape (it said) can degrade the performance of the prop by upsetting air flow over the blades. The author had noticed a marked improvement in performance after it was removed along with all traces of adhesive.

Gary Carr · Post by **Gary Carr** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:24 pm

Hi Mike,
Thanks for this info!
I have the ivo 3 bladed and some people are sayingthat this would be better with taped leading edge..and other people are saying.. dont bother its not really needed!..if the tape comes off there is a ...terrible vibration this has been agreed i think with everybody i have spoke to..what about replacing the tape and rebalancing has this got to be done by ivoprop..??and what are the benifits of getting the tape fitted.......

Gary
LAA.BRA.PRA.

Gary Carr · Post by **Gary Carr** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:29 pm

Bill McCarthy wrote:There was an article on prop tape in an old issue of the PFA mag. Prop tape (it said) can degrade the performance of the prop by upsetting air flow over the blades. The author had noticed a marked improvement in performance after it was removed along with all traces of adhesive.

Thanks for this bill!
To Fit... or not to fit....This is the question!.....good points bad points??

Gary
LAA.PRA.BRA..

Bill McCarthy · Post by **Bill McCarthy** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:37 pm

Depends if your blades are thrashing away close to the deck where debris and grass can cause damage. The only tape that an Ivo-prop needs is the "tell tale" strips at the hub - across the blade segments. The metal tape will crack to indicate blade movement between the flanges.

Gary Carr · Post by **Gary Carr** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:34 pm

Sorry bill,......

My fault the prop.. in question is a Eco Airplat carbon fibre 62inch dia and it is on a CH.II. I am intending to fly this from a private grass strip!

GARY
LAA.PRA.BRA

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Sun Oct 25, 2009 9:44 pm

With a wooden prop, I doubt if the bolt holes can be drilled with much better than one mm accuracy, so there is a good chance that the blades vary in length by more than 1mm.

Given that the moment of that 1mm of wood at the tip is probably greater than the moment of the tape. I would not be too concerned.

I applied prop tape to a 3 blade wooden prop I had on my KR2 it seems to adhere well to polyuraphane varnish. It only did about 10 hours before I changed the prop, so I cannot comment on it's longevity

gasax · Post by **gasax** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 11:50 am

I used prop tape for a while. Eventually I sent the prop to Chris Lodge and he put metal edges on it.

It 'went' significantly better without the tape. The tape was easy enough to put on and generally lasted for a couple of months (15 - 20 hours?). But long grass, any sort of light febris or heavy rain would wreck it. But it never came off as such.

But all this was on a 72" wood prop - which has a reasonable weight. Putting it on a light composite prop would mean the tape is a larger proportion of the overall weight - and so great care would be needed to endure the balance was OK.

But on a Challenger the prop is well clear of pretty much everything except heavy rain. Much easier I would have thought to fly around heavy squalls?

Gary Carr · Post by **Gary Carr** » Mon Oct 26, 2009 9:09 pm

gasax,
thanks for the info..Here is some info that was sent to me to look at interesting stuff...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBF9bR997fo

Gary

Light Aircraft Association

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