my third attempt x640

[antslake]

This is my third try at sharpening and balancing. I removed quite a bit of material too.

[G-UNIT]

Looks nice.

[sanyijr]

ANTSLAKE,

what do you mean by third attempt? Where are the other two? Do you have a prop thief on the loose?

Sean

[G-UNIT]

I take it that the first two were eather butcherd by trying to detoung and took to much off or thined way to much and filed a hole right through the blade, ect. ect pratice makes perfect, at least he is trying and that last prop shown looks good to me but again you can't tell how well its balanced by a picture, only antslake knows for sure
how does it run?
good job imo.

[sanyijr]

Don't get me wrong. I mean no insult by my joking... I am honestly curious what happend to the other two?

But I agree G-Unit, looks good. How does it run? I have about 4 to do myself...Not looking forward to it....

[antslake]

No insult taken! It was my third prop that I sharpened....ever. One of the ways I judge how well I did is by the reflection , and this one came out looking pretty smooth. It balanced up very well, and actually was smoother than any other prop so far on my KOS P1. But sad to say, I did not trim my wire drive correctly, and the whole thing let go out the back of the boat in 6ft of water. I tried to find it but no luck. I have a large magnet on order, and the location marked on gps and I will try again to find it. I lost another one in another cove off another boat too, I hope to find that one also. Oh well, live and learn. I just purchased a bench polishing machine, and a few more implements of sanding destruction to hopefully make sharpening these props easier. I might not do as good as some of these guys here with all their experience, but I am enjoying trying to learn about it. I've been prop testing on that boat for a year now with the eagle tree data logger. It's amazing how much difference a prop can make, amps speed etc. For me that's the fun of it. Prop sharpening is such an art, and I would love to get good at it.

[6BOOST]

I started polishing and sharpening props for the first time last week actually so I hope you don't mind my input to your thread antslake. I have found a dremel (mine is an ebay cheaper style one) with a flexible drive on it to be perfect, I use the little drum rolls to remove the material until close to where I want it, then 280 grit wet and dry pretty much makes them spotless from there, and finish with 400 and 600 grit w&d and a polish with the dremel and a polishing attachment and some coarse metal polish. I don't know that a highly polished finish is really any benefit, I know some people have experimented with even shot peening the surface after completion, I will back to back some props just be test the theory.

Sucks that you lost one of your best props yet, with time you get quicker, I'm a fitter and turner by trade and have done countless hours of die grinding with my business cleaning up ports inside manifold runners so I picked up working the prop pretty quick, I can't tell you how invaluable the dremel and flexible drive were tho, there is no way I'd ever work a prop by hand! Next step is to make a jig to hold the props over a plasticine block to rotate and check blade shape, and then a cupping block and pitch gauge for modifying them. Oh the joys of the hobby=P

[Gencat]

if your props are half as good as your exhaust manifolds id say they would be decent

I started polishing and sharpening props for the first time last week actually so I hope you don't mind my input to your thread antslake. I have found a dremel (mine is an ebay cheaper style one) with a flexible drive on it to be perfect, I use the little drum rolls to remove the material until close to where I want it, then 280 grit wet and dry pretty much makes them spotless from there, and finish with 400 and 600 grit w&d and a polish with the dremel and a polishing attachment and some coarse metal polish. I don't know that a highly polished finish is really any benefit, I know some people have experimented with even shot peening the surface after completion, I will back to back some props just be test the theory.

Sucks that you lost one of your best props yet, with time you get quicker, I'm a fitter and turner by trade and have done countless hours of die grinding with my business cleaning up ports inside manifold runners so I picked up working the prop pretty quick, I can't tell you how invaluable the dremel and flexible drive were tho, there is no way I'd ever work a prop by hand! Next step is to make a jig to hold the props over a plasticine block to rotate and check blade shape, and then a cupping block and pitch gauge for modifying them. Oh the joys of the hobby=P

[properchopper]

I started polishing and sharpening props for the first time last week actually so I hope you don't mind my input to your thread antslake. I have found a dremel (mine is an ebay cheaper style one) with a flexible drive on it to be perfect, I use the little drum rolls to remove the material until close to where I want it, then 280 grit wet and dry pretty much makes them spotless from there, and finish with 400 and 600 grit w&d and a polish with the dremel and a polishing attachment and some coarse metal polish. I don't know that a highly polished finish is really any benefit, I know some people have experimented with even shot peening the surface after completion, I will back to back some props just be test the theory.

Sucks that you lost one of your best props yet, with time you get quicker, I'm a fitter and turner by trade and have done countless hours of die grinding with my business cleaning up ports inside manifold runners so I picked up working the prop pretty quick, I can't tell you how invaluable the dremel and flexible drive were tho, there is no way I'd ever work a prop by hand! Next step is to make a jig to hold the props over a plasticine block to rotate and check blade shape, and then a cupping block and pitch gauge for modifying them. Oh the joys of the hobby=P

Here's a nifty gadget to insure that your blades end up equal in length as well as meausuring diameter. ( bought it from a D19 racer, not sure where they're currently available but I could find out if anyone's interested)

DSC02810.JPG

[dasboata]

Keven Shenen (spelling ) IMPBA Pres make them

[antslake]

I started polishing and sharpening props for the first time last week actually so I hope you don't mind my input to your thread antslake. I have found a dremel (mine is an ebay cheaper style one) with a flexible drive on it to be perfect, I use the little drum rolls to remove the material until close to where I want it, then 280 grit wet and dry pretty much makes them spotless from there, and finish with 400 and 600 grit w&d and a polish with the dremel and a polishing attachment and some coarse metal polish. I don't know that a highly polished finish is really any benefit, I know some people have experimented with even shot peening the surface after completion, I will back to back some props just be test the theory.

Sucks that you lost one of your best props yet, with time you get quicker, I'm a fitter and turner by trade and have done countless hours of die grinding with my business cleaning up ports inside manifold runners so I picked up working the prop pretty quick, I can't tell you how invaluable the dremel and flexible drive were tho, there is no way I'd ever work a prop by hand! Next step is to make a jig to hold the props over a plasticine block to rotate and check blade shape, and then a cupping block and pitch gauge for modifying them. Oh the joys of the hobby=P

Yes, I have a dremel, but without the flex shaft. I was using a 80grit flap wheel to remove material, and a hand file to make sure it wasn't getting grooved, or dimpled. Then I started with 220 wet sand, 320, then 400, then polish. I just bought a bench polishing machine, and ordered a large 80 grit flap wheel from harbor freight. I bought for my props, and to polish a bunch of stuff on my 3 wheeler. A cupping block and pitch gauge is in my future for sure. Does anyone still sell a cupping block?