Spinner help?

[steve pagano]

Hi All


     I am trying to find a plastic 2 1/4 inch 3 blade spinner I checked tower and they only have 2 blade in 2 1/4 and every body else i checked goes from 2''-2 1/2'' but no 2 1/4. Any body know who sells one?

[Bootlegger]

  Steve, ya' might check with dubro, seem's that I saw some there..

[steve pagano]

  Steve, ya' might check with dubro, seem's that I saw some there..

 Checked 2'' and 2 1/2'' but no 2 1/4''

[Rob Killick]

Hi Steve ,

This isn't plastic , but is all I could find on Brodak's website ...

BH-956  Alum. 3 hole spinner .

Sorry , it's the best I could do 

Rob Killick

[Greg L Bahrman]

Steve,
Randy Smith sells a 2 1/4 spinner also, but it's not plastic. I also checked around and could not find a plastic 2 1/4, 3 blade spinner.

[Ward Van Duzer]

Steve,

Seems to me that C.B. Associates used to make plastic spinners on metal back plates. Good Plastic spinners. They also used to make blank plastic nose cones for use on their back plates. Cut you own slots! 2 blade, 3 blade, 4 blade, pusher props, etc.. In fact I have a black plastic C.B. with a 3 blade cutout I made myself. Hunt them down. If they are still in busines you might find what you're looking for...

Try this...

http://www.mecoa.com/cb/spinners.htm

Ward

[Steve Helmick]

The Great Planes plastic spinners with the aluminum backplate are easily the best plastic spinner you can get (unless you include CF spinners), and they are available in 2.25" diameter. Light, too. They have an electric version that's lighter still, and some of our guys are running them on their carbon burners. Mike Haverly modified the backplate from one of the regular ones to accept the 3 screw pattern for a plastic cone (DuBro, I think) for his cool Freedom 45. It was a 2" unit, however, so your results with the 2.25" size may vary. Plastic spinner backplates are much too thick, some have "setback", and they're heavy.

That said, it seems to me that a lot of folks want to run 3 blade props. That is, until they run 3 blade props, and find out they don't seem to work as well as 2 bladers. Neither Mike or I have seen anything made better with an extra blade...fairly close isn't that good, IMO.

I like Randy Smith's spinners, but the Brodak spinners are fine, and less $. I am pretty sure they're not made in USA, however. I rather prefer aluminum, but whatever helps the CG situation is generally more important.  My Mutant Magnum came with a CB spinner...plastic cone with screw in tip, aluminum backplate. Worked ok, but amazingly heavy! Might be useful info if your plane is tailheavy. I Googled for "CB Associates", and it looks like they are still in biz. Tho I didn't see anything about 3 blade versions, you can see them at:
http://www.quicktechhobby.com/Airplane_Accessories/CB%20Associates.htm     Steve

[Matt Colan]

Grandpa has taken a Randy Smith spinner and retapped the backplate for a plastic spinner, so he ended up with an aluminum backplate and a plastic spinner cone, since there are none that I know of that have plastic spinner cones and an aluminum back plate for 3 bladed props.

[Ward Van Duzer]

Don't know what you guys are missing on the Mecoa site above...

2 1/4 black, Standard, 3 blade #J7031 - In Stock, Complete Spinner $8.95

2 1/4 Red, Needle nose, no cutouts, CB5031 - In Stock, Complete Spinner $$9.95, Replacement cone $4.95

2 1/4 Black, Needle nose, no cutouts, CB5033 - In Stock, Complete Spinner $$9.95, Replacement cone $4.95

2 1/4 White, Needle nose, no cutouts, CB5035 - In Stock, Complete Spinner $$9.95, Replacement cone $4.95

Btw, if you haven't used the C/F 3 blades you (usually) don't know what you're missing. On the high RPM engine runs (pipes, etc) a 3 blade will usually give you much more control on speeds through the manuvers! Regarding the 3 blade PLASTIC props, I agree with Steve H.

However, FWW, I do prefer the Aluminum Spinners, myself.

Ward-O

P.S. If you don't care for the "flat nose" look of the CB's you can replace the cap screw with a round head machine screw with a couple of washers beneath the head to pull the rounded portion of the screw outside of screw hole!

W.

[Steve Helmick]

Ward-O quote: "Btw, if you haven't used the C/F 3 blades you (usually) don't know what you're missing. On the high RPM engine runs (pipes, etc) a 3 blade will usually give you much more control on speeds through the manuvers! Regarding the 3 blade PLASTIC props, I agree with Steve H."

The only PLASTIC 3 blade props we tried (didn't like it) was the Tornado 10-4 black glass/nylon ones. The rest have been Bolly props, and they just didn't work as well as 2 blades. It could well be that we're not great at working with CF props, but pitch tweeks didn't help us much. Dunno what Mike started out with, but mine were "pre-finished" 12.25 x 4 nominal, if I remember right. I cut them to 11" dia. (3 blades) for the .46LA, with two different tip designs, sharp LE & TE, and balanced. Then repitched to about 4.25, for the last 1.5", if I remember right. If either had worked, I'd have taken notes. I'm not done with tweeking & testing them, either. Launch rpm's were 10k+, so I guess they were in that high rpm bracket.  Steve

[Bill Little]

Hi Steve,

I ain't tryin' to stir up any feathers, but some *old guy* named Werwage uses three blade props to pretty good advantage.  Seems he just won another Team Trials.  That old fella Bobby Hunt also uses them quite often along with some of the other WC and NATS Champs.  My own personal usage is not important since I am not close to their flying abilities, but I really like what they do to my planes, usually.  Plenty guys were using them back in the '60s (Grish props) and the NATS.  Of course I am dealing with Pipe set ups when I am using them except for a few Classic planes with modern engines.  As to the other type of engines like the LA 40-46, I can't say, I only use those engines on planes that I am really not that serious about, but I know the best prop we used on a Magnum XLS IIA 36 was a 10-3 Bolly..  More penetration, better up high, slower down hill.   As Billy said to me, they can really help to change the turn characteristics of a plane.  And some things about helping out in other parts of the flight hemisphere.  Then again, it ain't MY experiences, I just steal from the best......... 

Mongo

[Ward Van Duzer]

Thanks, Big Guy!   

[Trostle]

(Clip)

That said, it seems to me that a lot of folks want to run 3 blade props. That is, until they run 3 blade props, and find out they don't seem to work as well as 2 bladers. Neither Mike or I have seen anything made better with an extra blade...fairly close isn't that good, IMO.

(Clip)

Over the years, I think we have seen a number of top fliers use 3-blade props quite successfully on a wide variety of power trains/model designs.   My experience is that if I have a complete array of applicable/suitable 3-blade props and a complete array of applicable/suitable 2-blade props for my model/engine combination, I will find a 3-blade prop that works better.  At least I prefere the way the model flies with that 3-blade prop in terms of turning ability/smoothness/controllability.

Keith

[Ward Van Duzer]

FWW,

I am running AT .36's & TT .36's almost exclusively. 2 - w/stock timing on Randy pipes. 2 - Aero Tigers on chip mufflers.

1 - TT retimed by Hampshire.

Generally, the piped engines run better on 3 bladed Bollys. The AT's and re-timed TT's Run on 2 blade 12 X 4 Bollys cut to 11.5 X 4.  Some even like the 11 X 4 Pro Zinger.

Just got a Majic "Billy" prop from J Randall, but haven't tried it yet.

Ward-O