Question - Bolly 13 x 4.5 3 blade prop?

[Curtis Shipp]

In a purchase I picked up 2 Bolly 13 x 4.5  3 blade props. What I want to know is how many people want a copy of this prop? If there is enough interest I can get a batch made by Steve Wilkes and he can sell them. Just fishing because a mold is going to cost about $500.00. So would this be something of interest to anybody.  As far as price Steve will have to chime in here. We have good props from Randy Smith but this seems to be a sought after item.  Just fishing. Any bites.


Thanks from Curtis Shipp.

[Bill Little]

In a purchase I picked up 2 Bolly 13 x 4.5  3 blade props. What I want to know is how many people want a copy of this prop? If there is enough interest I can get a batch made by Steve Wilkes and he can sell them. Just fishing because a mold is going to cost about $500.00. So would this be something of interest to anybody.  As far as price Steve will have to chime in here. We have good props from Randy Smith but this seems to be a sought after item.  Just fishing. Any bites.


Thanks from Curtis Shipp.

HI Curtis,

I would be in for a couple at least.  On another note: $500 for a mold???  I have done a good bit of resin casting, etc., but never had a mold cost near that including buying new mold rubber.  Guess things have REALLY gone up!

Big Bear

[Ron Hess Sr]

i'm in, maybe a 4 pitch would be nice. 

[Curtis Shipp]

The problem is he uses a bolly prop to make a mold. So you need a 4 pitch prop and $500.00 more to build a mold. I want to be able to buy a prop, set engine to run prop and not worry if I break it. I will have plenty of the same props in my box. Just finish and balance. I do this now with props from Randy Smith.

[Steve Schlesser]

Curtis,
  Check eliminator props in the vendor section click on new props. The Bolly 13x4.5 is listed

[Lauri Malila]

The problem is he uses a bolly prop to make a mold. So you need a 4 pitch prop and $500.00 more to build a mold. I want to be able to buy a prop, set engine to run prop and not worry if I break it. I will have plenty of the same props in my box. Just finish and balance. I do this now with props from Randy Smith.

 Yeah, but also with original Bollys, the finishing includes checking & correcting the pitch. So, propably the same applies to a copy. It's really a 20 minute job to re-pitch a carbon prop. You loose quite a lot from the fine-tuning the engine run if you are not willing/prepared to work with pitch. L

[Steve Helmick]

The problem (here) is in getting a pitch gauge. It would be cool if Curtis Shipp would make a batch of them. Steve

[Curtis Shipp]

Well shucks I started this thread for nothing. I did not read all the lists. Steve Wilk / Eliminator props is ahead of my curve. So who needs a pitch gauge? I could copy my Prather if there is a large enough demand. I will go ahead and get some of Steve's (Bolly) 13 x 4.5 props. I can buy 10 for the price of a mold. That way I can do a test between box stock Eliminator and box stock Majlik from Randy.   I like box stock, less fuss.


Try this link for pitch gauge plans.
http://www.nclra.org/Programs/Hooptee.html

[Bruce Perry]

FWIW, The Mez props that I got from Randy are vastly superior to the Bollys in several respects:

1. they are stiffer in flex and torsion in each blade.
2. They are pre-balanced and well finished.
3. They are accurately pitched from blade to blade.  Although I change the pitch to suit my needs.
4. They stay pitched.  I had all kinds of frustration with Bolly pitch changes.  The mez and to be fair later bollys were much better.

You may not know this, but the Mez props are "surprisingly" similar to Bolly... as if they were copied....

B

[Curtis Shipp]

Thanks for the info. I will stick to Magic props then and trim around them for my PA 65's motors.  I like the Eliminator props also and use them on my smaller motors like LA's and my Aero Tiger 36's .

[Bill Little]

Hi Curtis,

I have a spare Prather I can send you if you want to copy them.  I want to keep it, but would be more than happy to send it on loan.  And be sure to make the prop "holder" like Randy Smith and Jim Lee does them.

Bill

[Curtis Shipp]

I have a prather gage to copy but the link in the previous post will let anybody make a pitch gage. If the demand was high enough I would look at making  prather copies.