Repairs: Best method to repair fibre glass blades?

[olly]

These glass fibre blades for my Trex 600n have slight chips to the underside tips. Any advice please on best method to improve the look cosmetically?



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[LipolyGone]

These glass fibre blades for my Trex 600n have slight chips to the underside tips. Any advice please on best method to improve the look cosmetically?



[ATTACH=CONFIG]51812[/ATTACH]

Put foot on bins pedal allow bin to open deposit blade into bin.
Log onto Internet & select midland Fastlad, motors & rotors or preferred heli retailer & purchase Shiney & new pair of blades. Sit back all smug like & await postman or ups van driver. Attach new heli blades to helicopter. It is optional but to make new blades look really great apply a slight dusting of furniture polish.

[KevDavies]

Put foot on bins pedal allow bin to open deposit blade into bin.
Log onto Internet & select midland Fastlad, motors & rotors or preferred heli retailer & purchase Shiney & new pair of blades. Sit back all smug like & await postman or ups van driver. Attach new heli blades to helicopter. It is optional but to make new blades look really great apply a slight dusting of furniture polish.

Agree 1 bijillilion percent!

Never repair blades, bin and replace

[Gixxer]

Cut a piece of 3/4 marine ply to the same shape as the end of the blade and 2 inches long. Drill 2 holes and bolt your new blade ends to the blades - A little bit of Johnstones gloss will finish it off nicely.

[Baldie]

How to :-
http://www.rcheliaddict.co.uk/sale/8...ro-blades.html

[GravityKills]

do nothing.
It just shows they are properly broken in.

Chipped blades, like a whacked-up canopy, are the best guarantee for many hours of incident-free flying.
You think all the time "I'll replace them after the next crash". Which never happens ...

[helijohn]

do nothing.
It just shows they are properly broken in.

Chipped blades, like a whacked-up canopy, are the best guarantee for many hours of incident-free flying.
You think all the time "I'll replace them after the next crash". Which never happens ...

+1 As long as they are not split, bent or whatever.

[jimmyhorns]

you probably arnt going to get them a lot better than what they are.

Do you spend a lot of time looking at your helicopter?

[davec_7]

If its on the underside whos going to see it?

Any repair to blades is a bit doggy, you could apply some apoxy, smooth it off, paint and fuel proof, but is it really worth the risk? If a bit flew off and hit somebody it could be very nasty. I would suggest that you leave tham as they ared but try and source some suitable replacements asap

I have repaired blades in the past and not felt happy to fly with them so I broke them in half and binned them..... if that's of any help

Cheers

Dave

[jimmyhorns]

Well the gel coat is only epoxy resin, or worse polyester resin.

If you prepare the base of the chip properly, there should be no problems getting the epoxy to bind properly.

[Mark_T]

If you prepare the base of the chip properly, there should be no problems getting the epoxy to bind properly.

'If' and 'should' are the problem though, why risk it for a cosmetic flaw? The potential downside of getting it wrong could cost someone an eye.

[meggark]

Re: Repairs: Best method to repair fibre glass blades?

I have repaired the propeller on my microlight with aluminium epoxy before with good results (up to 6k engine rpm and close to tip, prop rpm will be less), never any problems and stayed very secure. It's a composite prop rather than carbon fibre. It's quite common practice for permit to fly aircraft.

Not sure how well it would work in a heli though, always had prop tape covering the repair too.

[pgkevet]

If I assess the blades as being safe to use then i;d float some epoxy in there too. For this sort of thing I use the slow set stuff..supposedly stronger and anyway it gets more chance to find it's level and set smoother. If you adjust the angle the blades sit while it's doing it's thing and drip the epoxy in carefully then usually no finsihing work required..float it level with the defect