AW: REFLECTOR: Aerocomposite Prop

Rene Dugas dugasd at bellsouth.net
Thu Apr 6 17:04:53 CDT 2006


I still get some oil but I did move my breather exit about 6 inches
outside of the cowl through the wing to get it away from the belly.

Rene’

 

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of davedent at comcast.net
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 10:01 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: AW: REFLECTOR: Aerocomposite Prop

 

I'm surprised that you all have such problems with grease coming out of
your MT props.  I have had these props apart a number of times now and
each time I have found so little grease in them it's a wonder they move
at all.  The bearings are the only things that are greased.  There may
be a little bit of oil on the slider for the pitch changer but that's
about all.  There are two bearing retainers, 25 ball bearings and 27
plastic spacers for each blade. It takes very little grease to work.
There is a single  "O" ring and one plastic spacer under each snap ring
of each blade.  Very simple construction.  Very little to go wrong.  

Any oil you may find on your prop most likely comes from your engine,
not your prop. If it's your prop that means the inner prop piston seals
have failed.  This should show up in a sluggish pitch control.  There is
a lot of psi on the prop piston from the governor. So if you see oil
coming out of the blade shank, I wouldn't fly it.  Have it fixed.  There
are not many pusher piston aircraft flying that don't get oil on their
props.  A little goes a long ways.  You may eliminate it if you move
your engine breather way out on the wing some where, just kidding.  

Dave

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Ueli Christen" <governor at christen-air.ch> 

I have 223 hrs on my M-T prop – also no damage, no problems.

XL RG , IO 540

 

Ueli

 


  _____  


Von: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] Im
Auftrag von Velocity_AZ
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 5. April 2006 13:18
An: 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'
Betreff: RE: REFLECTOR: Aerocomposite Prop

 

I have 212 hrs on my M-T prop - no damage, no problems (outside of the
grease leak which was fixed by M-T around 180 hours - and they did work
with me on the price of this repair).

 

Knocking on wood now.

 

Kevin

 


  _____  


From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Rene Dugas
Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 10:04 AM
To: 'Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list'
Subject: RE: REFLECTOR: Aerocomposite Prop

Sorry you have had such bad luck and service.  I have the hydraulic MT
and IO-540 260 hp.  I have hit a few things and repaired a 3 inch gouge
-probably from a ¼” bolt I lost from the engine plenum that went thru
the strainer.  Balancing mine helped the vibrations a lot.  Mine has not
been off in three years except to originally paint the plane.  No grease
leaks.  Numerous small grooves in the SS leading edge are present.  I
have landed on turf only once so limited rock exposure so far.  330 hrs
so far and ok.  All can look at the symposium if interested.  Engine oil
is always on prop.  I expect overhaul this next annual only because the
prop is now six years old and is near TBO by years  not use.   I love
the design of the Aero Composite prop.  I have been em! ailing and
visiting at Oshkosh for three years supporting the development from the
stands.

Rene’ 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of HYTEC45 at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 3:35 PM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Aerocomposite Prop

 

In a message dated 4/4/2006 11:10:53 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
ajlz72756 at yahoo.com writes:

haven't purchased my prop yet and am interested in hearing more about
your problems with your MT prop. I thought this was the best prop that
you could buy and know that this is the suggested prop to use by
Velocity. If others are having the same problems that you are, I sure
don't want to invest 11K on a piece of crap. Please tell us what kind of
problems that you are having.

After I purchased my prop in 2000, I developed a fatigue crack in one of
the blades.  mt said that there is now a AD that restricts the operating
RPM on non-counterweighted engines like mine between 2250/2550.  Even
though mt never sent the AD out to owners on file, I had to fight tooth
and nail for them to repair the crack.  After that, even though I
operated the propeller out of the "restricted" range, I developed
massive grease leaks.  American propeller who services mt told me that
mt has a big problem with grease leaks, and now has a another
modification that is needed to be done to address that.  I had that mod.
done, and continued to have grease leaks, along with bearing wear
requiring the replacement of bearings twice.  My average operation of
the prop between "return for re! pair" is around 44 hours.  I have under
290 hours of operation on the prop, and it has been off five times.  mt
admitted that the blade design as shipped on mine in 2000 is not
applicable to my four banger, so I have to PURCHASE new blades otherwise
I will continue to have bearing/seal/cracking problems.  This cost me
5K, as I had to pay for installation, along with of course new bearings,
and a pitch change yoke even though the prop was just overhauled 45
hours prior.  After I ran those blades for a little over one hour, they
developed almond like blisters on 2 of the three blade tips.  These were
decided by mt caused by sap trapped within the wood core.  The fix was
to drill holes in the blisters, fly it a while to sling the sap out,
then seal with 5 min. epoxie.  This still left these blisters (de
lamination areas) on the top side of the airfoil where the airfoil is
critical.  Even though the prop only! operated for a little over one
hour, they will not pay to remove the blades, but will fix them if I pay
to have the prop once again disassembled ($700.00) to send the blades
back.  This of course does nothing for my time of installation and
removal of the prop, or the down time on the plane.

 

My prop is also an electric controllable pitch, and probably 75% of my
additional problems are due to the electrical mechanism.  This includes
three pitch change motors replaced, three RPM sensor replaced, plus my
time troubleshooting and installing these items.

 

As I sit, I am developing grease seal leaks again with the "new and
improved" blades, along with RPM sensor problems which I was assured
world not happen with the new blade design.

 

mt now tells me the problems are related to either that I am running 10
to 1 pistons, and or I am running a light speed electronic ignition.
They only tested the prop on a "standard" lycomming and since mine is
not standard, I'm on my own.

 

The reason that Velocity recommends the mt is because it's the ONLY
constant speed prop that will fit due to weight.  With the standard
Velocities, you could get away with a fixed pitch prop.  With the XL and
/-5 a constant speed is a must, and they (Velocity) would not have a
viable/safe product in the XL line without one.

 

I know that Velocity is very interested in the aerocomposite, and
another option may be soon available.  I hope so.

 

TEC

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