Vibration

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Spinner
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First Name: Paul
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Re: Vibration

Post by Spinner »

I know that we clean the prop blades with soap and water. Diamond manual mentions doing this during inspection:
prop care.JPG
It probably helps to keep some of the bugs off and the water from getting in the tip area. Leaving the prop in the horizontal position when parked will sort of make sure that you don't get one heavy blade.

Paul
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RMarkSampson
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Re: Vibration

Post by RMarkSampson »

Pascal, ditto on talking with the factory. However the phone number above got me looking - turns out their Plant City FL factory is about a mile from my hangar (the other is in PA). Let me know if I can help.

I have an MT prop and that US distributor is over in Deland, FL which I have visited once - it was really helpful for me to visit them and ask questions like: 1. how much for a new propeller, 2. price of overhaul - time to overhaul, 3. loaner prop during the overhaul if you want to keep her flying. Anyway, they gave my prop a quick visual and said I was good to go and explained to me what they do during an overhaul. The MT has a metal leading edge and their overhaul seems to be mostly dealing with keeping that leading edge solidly affixed to the propeller. I also purchased some 3M leading edge tape and a couple of their MT decals. Then I flew back, and with my A&P supervision, about a year ago I "cleaned up my prop."

Prop Clean Up on my MT was sanding down to the primer paint which is gray (absolutely do NOT sand into the wood or fiberglass sheath). Any nicks would be seen at that time and you would probably fill them in with fiberglass 2-part epoxy and sand it smooth (not needed in my case). Covering the entire plane with sheets and blankets and spray painting a good hard two-part white paint with a spray gun, then painting the back side of the prop black, and painting on some prop tip red stripes. The black and the red paint was just your standard spray can variety. Then I applied the 3M leading edge tape and their decals. I have not had any vibration issues so I have not rebalanced the propeller. But if vibration is your issue - that might be needed. Of note, I never needed to remove the propeller to do this clean up and I did not repaint the prop inside the spinner. I neglected to take a picture of the final product, which if I say so myself, was quite "spiffy" - but here is a picture taken during the sanding process.
IMG_2403.JPG
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