|
|
|
|
These three pictures show the configuration I used for the flights with belleville washer 6-stacks under all of the six propeller bolts.
|
|
|
|
After 3.5 hours of flight with the previous configuration, I added two more belleville washer bolts for a total of six. I have now (as of 4/15/2007) flown 7 flights with this setup, for a total of 4.2 hours of flight time.
Again, prior to each flight I measured the large area washer spacing on each bolt, and then after each flight examined the prop/bolts again. In each case, there was no movement of anything. While there was a small difference (a few thousandths of an inch in a few cases) between flights or between takeoff and landing, that could easily be measurement inaccuracy. There was no OVERALL drift of the measurements.
I also measured the thickness of the prop hub, and it was always within a couple of thousanths of an inch of the previous measurement. Once again, there was no overall drift of the hub thickness.
I'm still very pleased with this experiment. Other than a few extra pounds of metal at the back end, there seems to be no downside to this installation. Obviously, I do NOT have very much time on the system yet - fatigue, corrosion, or other time-dependent issues may yet crop up, so I won't make any conclusions until I have at least 25 - 50 hours on the system.
Return to: Cozy MKIV Information
Copyright © 2007, All Rights Reserved, Marc
J. Zeitlin
e-mail: marc_zeitlin@alum.mit.edu
