Propeller Shop Floor Tour 

Quick Wahay - it’s a real man or woman who knows their own limitation and willing to admit it! Great post! Not that job but the same result.

I met a similar fate at a different location. 5 weeks of learning but decided mechanics was more my thing. Still good to be ubertrained on prop inspection.

Sedona ATX I flew for several years on the US Navy P-3 A,B & C model aircraft and burned some prop boots & spinners in deicing conditions and worked R&D as an Mechanical Engineer and learned prop & engine balancing from the Hamilton Standard factory school. Mainly dynamic balancing of prop on engine setups some with shafts usually using accelerometers on mounted units. No overhaul experience on props.

What if i need to by the propeller and I'm in Kenya how can i get it ?.

Rotich the Legend - call them and make arrangements to purchase one and have it shipped DHL or FedEx. Or contact a local maintenance repair facility for your type aircraft.

Your mechanic must be clairvoyant !

That’s hilarious, I own a 175 and noticed that instantly

What do you mean by A&P ticket where they gonna pay your schooling fees?.

@@caridabaptiste9878 A&P license. I was going to university full time for mechanical engineering degree but was broke so was working as a mechanic to pay for school. I didn’t go to school for A&P license. I had the necessary experience and took the test to obtain the license.

Likewise. I would have opted to not put that in there, but the reality is, that kid would not be around long

Tool abuse and working hard not smart.

Living is scary.

I’m gonna assume you meant that sarcasticly

john wrycza also a pencil on aluminum 😯

At an airline where I worked in engineering, my colleague found that it was occasionally cheaper to replace simple tools like Verniers than to get them calibrated (wasn't done in-house). Maybe these guys just replace the whole shop-full of tools at the required interval. But I'm just speculating, of course.

And your credentials for making that statement are?

@@TheOwenMajor 14 years as a cabinet maker using hand tools. The angle and stabbing motion he was using the scraper would tend to gouge.

Yes he seem like he was struggling with his tools.

And the fact he was using a metal 5-in one tool for painting didn’t help either!!! Ops!!

I understand where you are coming from, it looked pretty aggressive, but removing the anti-ice boot from some props can be very difficult. The "tape" he was removing is a painted on rubber dressing used to seal the edges after gluing the rubber boot on. Any small nick made from the scraper would be dressed out during blade refinishing and not be a problem.

i know. everytime i hear him i try to work out why they speak the same. do they come form the same town? are they brothers? i cant figure it out

Lol. Confidence is high. Or someone is.

@@rocktakesover The man holding the screwdriver

@@planespeaking can you imagine having to clean the floor after the pee test. Full disclosure, I don't work in health care.

Such a small amount of graphite, especially when it will be removed, poses no danger. People need to learn to stop worrying about every little thing.

Graphite is not lead. They no longer make lead pencils.

Owen Major Here is an FAA certified repair station worker, using a graphite pencil on a highly stressed Aluminum propeller. Those of us that have bothered to read the FAA Publications such as AC 43.13-1B (acceptable methods of aircraft maintenance) and AC43-4B (corrosion control), know that Graphite (from a pencil) acts a cathode and serves to accelerate inter-grannular corrosion in aluminum alloys. It is possible that this repair station’s overhaul manuals allow the use of graphite pencils on aluminum propellers, but it seems unlikely given the decades of engineering studies on the subject that clearly demonstrate the detrimental effects of graphite on Aluminum alloys. The simple solution would be to just use two different colored sharpies. One black for the blade station and a blue one for marking pitch angles. This is hardly a situation of “posing no danger”. I am surprised that this was published, since it will most likely bring FAA scrutiny on this repair station’s procedures.

@@Stepclimb And if spent less time with your nose in regulations and more time in the real world you would know that is concerned with the use of graphite lubricants, not a couple pencil marks. There is a bit of a difference between the constant use of graphite to lubricate your moving parts, especially when water can interact with the graphite, and less than a gram of graphite in a dry environment that will be quickly wiped away.

Owen Major Your response is typical of one who does not have data and facts to back their allegations, but instead resort to insults. I do live in the real world and have been around long enough to know that most procedures are “written in blood”. Any engineering handbook on the subject of corrosion will show that graphite is highly passive (cathodic) and Aluminum is highly active (anodic). So you are suggesting that purposely creating a mark (a stress riser) on a highly stressed Aluminum propeller with a substance that is well known to accelerate corrosion is “no big deal” ? It’s not just graphite as lubricant that is not permitted, but SPECIFICALLY PENCIL MARKS. Reference AC 43.13-1B, chapter 6-2 (a) 11 and 6-91 (c). The last reference reads “DO NOT MARK on any metal surface with a graphite pencil or any type of sharp, pointed instrument.” Your point on this matter is indefensible for several reasons that I have illustrated. It makes no sense using a pencil to mark a propeller when a sharpie would do the job better and not invite scrutiny as demonstrated by this video and the following comments.

John H - you put a balancing instrument on the engine. Accelerometer that indicates a “G” force indicating that a blade is pulling to one side. It’s a little more than this but without getting to deep that’s how you can balance large props on ships, wind turbine props, shafts and aircraft props. I have performed this on aircraft and ship’s.

@@MrWATCHthisWAY the what do you do to the prop, if the prop has been neutral balanced at the shop

John H - it is actually called a static balance but you don’t really need to perform a dynamic balance on the aircraft unless the manufacture requires it or if you experience a vibration on the aircraft. You will do the same thing by adding or removing weight to the identified location. But if you want to achieve the most accurate balance alignment coupled with the engine then you perform the dynamic balance usually with variable pitch props mostly.

I wasn't blown away by their "skills"

@@John-zv1hy I'm a city boy...for expecting a high degree of accuracy.. I wonder what "high quality" work you churn out with that attitude When these props are made, they use laser scanning tools...when manufacturers are building the aircraft itself, they're using laser measurement.. I guess it's a good thing "city boys" are in charge, I'd hate to be flying in an aircraft who's manufacturing motto is "good enough"

You are going to need a template for that blade to get the proper blade angle at the designated station of the blade. Yes a digital angle gauge could help but I’m not sure which one stays calibrated longer or drifts more!

@@daveshaw9344 I belive the caliper he was useing was Digital!

I'm surprised that measurements are still hand recorded on paper rather than at least data entered into a station iPad. Ideally laser/digital recorders would Bluetooth measurements to the iPad. This is an expensive prop shop that could afford modern data equipment.

@Ciaran Meh - I think he said they send the pieces out for Cad plating - so I'm thinking the vats had either alodine or die penetrant?

@@RickAtlantaPilot Right you are: I looked again and it seems pretty clear that the vat is Alodine (pretty toxic on its own, but I guess they're are doing whatever they're supposed to be doing).

bestamerica - not all aircraft spin opposite. It depends on torque applied. The V-22 has the most torque and uses this counter reaction because it hovers. Sorry.

Adding to John’s comment, yes, spinning opposite is best for adverse yaw etc, but most twin piston engine aircraft spin the prop in the same direction. This means that you don’t have to have right engines & left engines you just have engines, which is less costly. I’m not aware of counter-rotating turbine twins but they probably exist. Same principle applies; it requires left engines & right engines which adds to costs.

@@tedspradley hi T S... ' left spin motor and right spin motor musts be same currencys... left spin is a cheaper = right spin is a uncheaper are not fair... must be equal same currency

@@MrWATCHthisWAY hi J P L... ' thank explain about airplane motor with propeller

I was going to make that comment! I'm no engineer but I've read enough manuals about corrosion to know you never use a graphite pencil on aircraft parts!

Thomas Altruda - it’s lead pencils that shouldn’t be used on aluminum. They was off the props afterwards. I think the missed a step after bending the prop. There should be a dye-penn inspection after the bending to see if this action created and stress cracks in the blades??

@@MrWATCHthisWAY I was interchanging lean and graphite pencil, as "lead" pencils are usually graphite. Ill try to dig out the Tec paper, it had a nice pic of a pencil circle drawn on a piece of an F18 wing, stress corrosion had started from the pencil mark. This lead (no pun!) to a failure.

Mark Davis - oh come on, that was funny! Pun intended!! Take credit.

Also which came first. The crack or the pencil mark. Why draw a circle on a wing unless it was to identify a stress crack. Also was this a leading edge because aren’t military aircraft shot with poly paint? Mine was except for leading edges for deicing strips?