Do I detongue?

OK, let's get the first few things out of the way. I am a newb at boating (not RC; that I have done since the 80s), and have never detongued, sharpened or polished a boat prop.

I now have 2 FE's, a 30" cat and a 24" Mono that I scratch built during the quarantine to race with my son once we get to go out again (read more about the cat - read more about the mono). Mono is not yet finished (still needs all the hardware installed and some lettering added to the sides).

Anyway, I got some props from OSE, but they are not yet detongued, sharpened, balanced or polished. Now, I live in Panama (not FL, but the one in Central America), so it is not like I can just send out the props to someone here and have them do the work for me, so I will have to do it myself. No biggie, I got the tools to do all of this at home. Now, I am sure I will sharpen, balance and polish, (and most likely, chamfer the boss) but I wanted to ask if you guys recommend I detongue as well?

The CNC props I will leave them be as they are (it says they come ready to rock), but the Optura ones certainly seem so need some work.

Attachment 168989 Attachment 168990

So, my question is, do I detongue or not?

As you can see, I more or less marked the area to detongue (at least what I understand I should take out from what I have read!), as well as removed the casting marks from the body. Is my understanding right?

Attachment 168993 Attachment 168994

For your first few props, concentrate on balancing and sharpening, not reshaping. Removing the tongue makes only a small performance improvement on most boats, but balance and sharpness always matter. Once you can successfully balance and sharpen, then try blade modification.

Important note: beryllium copper dust is highly toxic. Years ago two boating friends went to the ER (not at the same time) from breathing in just a tiny bit of the dust when grinding on their props. Make certain that you wear a good respirator when grinding the props, or use hand tools. Really.


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You can also do your filing/sanding work with water to keep the dust down. There are some good you tube videos that demostrate the process of balancing and sharpening props.

I imagine it is similar to carbon props; carbon fiber is also pretty bad to breath. I was planning on using mostly hand tools anyway (except for polishing, obviously). But thanks for the heads up!

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Originally Posted by jfrabat

I imagine it is similar to carbon props; carbon fiber is also pretty bad to breath. I was planning on using mostly hand tools anyway (except for polishing, obviously). But thanks for the heads up!

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Beryllium Copper dust is worse than carbon fiber. It's a listed carcinogen when in dust form.

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Originally Posted by fweasel

Beryllium Copper dust is worse than carbon fiber. It's a listed carcinogen when in dust form.

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N95 mask and gloves good enough for this? Or do I need something special?

jfrabat,

Not even close, 2yrs ago spent 10 or so days in hospital with beryllium copper poisoning (per Doctors and just recently 11 more days from it, still left over from 2yrs ago). Hospital put me through the ringer (thought it was covis-19, negative thank God) only had to be on breathing machine for a just a few days this time, but it will be with me the rest of my life and will only get worse.

Best to get a hold of Dashbota and orderprops from him. He has the knowledge, equipment to do props, and does a wonderful job as well as shipping asap.

John

Forget it! I suffer from asthma, so I got enough breathing problems as it is... I will just run the CNC 43 1.4 I got and test with that (they are supposed to come balanced and ready to go out of the box). I doubt it will be THAT much of a difference with the X442 as far as amp draw. And this is just a sport boat, so I will just use that for testing. No sense in risking my health at this stage in my life!

:hornets_nest:I?m surprised California hasn?t banned propellers yet. I can only imagine a Dremel would be best for getting a prop ready in short order. I don?t see why a shop vacuum pulling close to the prop area you are working in conjunction with a N95 mask wouldn?t be sufficient. You could ad a exhaust hose to the vacuum and sink that in a bucket or drum of water for extra air filtration . Also being clean shaven with a good mask is ideal. I?m thinking of doing my own propellers also so thank you for the guys who selflessly help others here :tiphat:

I've got asthma too and is one of the reasons I don't bother with it. Sure, I could teach myself to eventually do a decent job, but it's just not worth my time or hassle vs. what I pay Dasboata to do them for me with spectacular results. Yes, a cheap CNC prop will get you where you want to be. They work fine, but can be fragile. Once you sort out what size works best, order up a stronger version from Dasboata.

Does anyone know how to order a propeller from Dashboata for a Traxxas M41? His website says it's suspended.

Thanks
Robert

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Originally Posted by robertsgt3

Does anyone know how to order a propeller from Dashboata for a Traxxas M41? His website says it's suspended.

Thanks
Robert

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PM him on here

Dasboata