News:



  • June 17, 2025, 11:57:19 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Author Topic: Falcon F2B E-Power Three Blade Carbon Prop - 12 X 5.5  (Read 1387 times)

Offline Jim Hoffman

  • 25 supporter
  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Captain
  • *
  • Posts: 618
Falcon F2B E-Power Three Blade Carbon Prop - 12 X 5.5
« on: May 28, 2025, 02:13:07 PM »
I purchased one of these 8-gram props from a Falcon representative at the US Nationals / WC in Muncie in August 2024.  I finally got around to some testing this May.

Although it performed beautifully, it failed when I attempted to simply remove it from the airplane. Photos attached. The prop is incredibly fragile.  Too fragile for me.

Here’s a summary of events:
•   It was perfectly balanced as received and the three prop blades were pitched very closely.
•   I was cautious when I installed it on the prop shaft.  I used a sandpaper washer to add some axial compression compliance and torqued it carefully with a minimum of torque.  (No torque measurements made).
•   I added 9 grams nose weight to keep the CG exactly the same.   No other changes were made.
•   I took two or three short flights to get the lap time dialed in and did some hourglass maneuvers along the way.
•   I then flew a full pattern. 
•   So far so good – great performance. 
•   Next step was to swap props and do a back-to-back flight with my baseline set up, an Igor Burger three blade 12” prop weighing 17 grams. 
•   To remove the Falcon prop, I carefully un-torqued the prop nut as I held one blade at the root to react the wrench torque.  The prop cracked at the blade root with a very minimal torque applied.

Observations
•   This prop is too fragile for use (IMHO)
•   I felt the corners were excellent with the lighter Falcon prop.  In theory the gyroscopic precession is reduced along with associated yaw due to the lower inertia of the lighter prop.
•   The Igor active control system came on harder and faster with the lighter Falcon prop.
•   The blade core is some foam like material

I will likely section the prop to see its construction.

I shared this info with the manufacturer yesterday.  Hopefully they will respond.

Offline Igor Burger

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Admiral
  • ******
  • Posts: 2200
Re: Falcon F2B E-Power Three Blade Carbon Prop - 12 X 5.5
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2025, 01:26:26 PM »
Lighter prop is for sure better because of less inertia, means smaller precession and also quicker acceleration when timer asks for it. Our props are somewher at 16-17grams, means almost twice heavier (they are completaly hollowed, no foam inside). It is possible to make it lighter, but I was not happy when ground strike on concrete means broken blade at root. Those thicker blades at root mean that instead of broken blade at root it simply damage all tips uniformly and prop stays aproximately ballanced. For now, we will not go to lighter construction.

Tags: