Warp Drive pitch settings

[Dave S]

Hey Kenny,

That is great news. There is that little thing about instrument calibration - those of us who responded obviously made some assumptions about the original reported indicated RPM; but you got 'er now!

FYI - I sort of decided through experimenting that measuring a few inches in from the tip and interpolating the difference between the protractor reading and the pitch the tip is supposed to be set at helped a bit with the accuracy of the setting from one blade to the next - since I have the tapered tip - it seemed a bit awkward trying to get a consistent reading from blade to blade at the tip since there is such a short chord to work with - figured that would be less of an issue with the non-tapered blade anyway.

Really great hearing you got the airworthiness certificate - that is a major milepost to your progress.

Do good on that first flight now!

Sincerely,

Dave S
k7 Trigear
912 ULS Warp

[wadeg]

Have you flown yet and if so, how do you like the 13 degrees setting on your prop. Might reduce my pitch to help me get down steeper. At idle it really wants to keep going and going. Would love to get it to the point where I can "cut and plop".

[the Drew]

I have flown and find like you, that at idle power, it carries me too far. What would you suggest if anything? Perhaps reducing to around 11.5-12? Aside of that, it's got plenty of scoot, and having a blast.

[wadeg]

Reduced my prop to 11 and tried it out. I like the sling-shot acceleration on takeoff and the ability to bring it down really fast. Cruise is slower. At 5300 I was getting about 105. I might try 11.5 out. 12 was just a little too much pitch for me I think.
I did notice that at 5300 in cruise it was a little rougher with the pitch at 11 than it was at 12. Anyone notice a difference? Using a digital level so got the pitch within .1 degrees for each blade so I don't think I have a aerodynamic imbalance. Sure wish LSA would allow for in flight variable pitch!

[Slyfox]

sounds like you have a rotax, if it's the 912, do what I did and lower the idle down a half turn on the stops. This puts the idle down to about 600rpm. Eeeek you say, well if you are on it right, you can pull the throttle all the way back on decent and have a nice little brake. As you are flairing to land push the throttle slightly in and you now have a normal idle. I've done this for hundreds of hours it it works real slick. On shut down you run around 2000rpm and than kill the switches and pull back on the throttle, makes a nice smooth shut down. On start up, I run without the mags on for a few seconds to circulate the oil, I don't do any pre turning of the prop but a few turns to make sure it's not oil locked and than start it mags off for about a count of 6 at least while watching the oil pressure. Than I pull the throttle all the way back, it's usually already there and turn the mags on, than slowely increase the throttle and a nice start up. With my 912uls, if I don't do this it will lock up because of compression stroke and fire. I guess my little battery isn't enough. But starting with throttle closed off, idle 600rpm remember, it starts fine. Even in the winter, in that period, I run throttle closed with about 6 seconds with choke on, mags off, than mags on throttle closed, choke off, fires right up. Sounds complicated, but not really, my lycoming is much more work.

[kitfox812]

Hi

I have a SS 7 / 912uls with the same problems. My prop is a Powerfin 3 blade. My takeoff RPM does not get above 4700 till about halfway down the runway then it starts climbing above 5000 depending on my departure angle. After numerous pitch changes, I ended up with a pitch that tops out at around 5600 WOT when level. I can still get off in 150 ' or less and climb at 1000 fpm right after liftoff but I hate to be lugging down the engine.

Rich