"THINGS THAT FLOAT"
creations by David Bosworth and friends
Smack!
Here are a few pic's of the repair of my first 26/14 lift fan. This is the same method used to repair tip erosion due to abrasive materials such as dust and sand and the occasional pebble coming in contact with the leading edge of the prop (while running of course). Unfortunately in this case the fan blades were eroded by an engine mounting bolt falling through the fan whilst spooled up in the mid 2,000's OUCH!. Of course this happened during the first 20 minutes of the UH-12T4's maiden hover! This is a real testament to the strength of this type of prop construction and the plywood and two part foam poured duct wall! Which contained the shrapnel well. If this had happened out in the field somewhere? I would have maid it back!
Above we have one of the two damaged blades on the lift fan, there was also a slice across the top of another about a 1/4 inch wide and two inches long. The next pic shows the edge tape removed and the glass cut away to expose and remove the splintered wood.
As you can see there is not really too much to this, you mix up some Bondo or epoxy filler, easy to sand and shape is good here, slather it in the damaged area, let it set, then sand to shape and cover with a light weight fiberglass cloth and epoxy and walla! prop repaired! Of course the prop or fan will need to be painted and rebalanced before putting the prop back into service.