Hear Ye!

The official newsletter of the :
Valley Forge Signal Seekers
Radio Controlled Model Airplane Club
November, 2000
No. 402

From the PREZ
Prez Sez, by Walter Pierzchala

ANNUAL AWARDS

At the November meeting nominations will be accepted for the Doug Davidson
and Technical Achievement awards. If you know of an individual deserving
of either of these awards, please nominate that individual and tell the
club why that individual is deserving of the award. At the December meeting
elections will be held of the nominees. The awards will be presented at
our annual banquet in February.

NEW BOG MEMBERS

At the October meeting there were new Bog members voted in for the term
2001 to 2002.
Warren Barrick
Rick Bruce
Al Campana
Jim Campana
Mario Chiarolanza
Bob Dolan
Mike Estock
John Matt
Dee Messina
Jim Myers
Joe Pasquini
Ed Snead

Congratulations gentlemen!

CLUB HATS
Ed Snead

Ed Snead who has ordering club hats for the membership for the last few
years, has finally placed his last order. After ordering hats from Ed, it
seems that he has to chase after members and plead with them to pick them
up. How long do people think that Ed should carry these hats around to
meetings and to the field looking for the owners to receive them? Ed has
hats for guys that join the club and then quit before their hats arrived
and due to his honest nature, never even paid for them. he has hats in his
house,hats in his car,and hats in his van In November at the club meeting
everyone who ordered a hat should be there to claim it as all hats not
picked up will be dropped in the #2 barrel to die just like all of the
others before them This is also to inform all club members: "DON"T ask me
to get you a hat as I am out of the hat business

from the editor:
I have watched the frustration that Ed has endured over the last couple of
years. I am sorry that it has come to this. Why wouldn't the people that
buy hats pick them up? Doesn't any of the lackies appreciate the fact that
Ed goes to the trouble of doing this service? If you don't realize the
effort that has gone into it, then you are just plain insensitive and you
can't smell the coffee in the morning. Thank you Ed for a job well done and
for the extra effort that you gave to make the program work.

NOVEMBER RAFFLE
Joe Yalove

The following items will be available at the November raffle.
1.Dremel multipro 2 speed cordless tool kit
2.Uproar funfly 40 size kit
3. X-acto knife chest
4. OSMAX 40 LA engine
5. Topflite striping tape tool

ANNUAL CLUB AUCTION
Ed Snead chairman

The club auction will take place at the Valley Forge
Middle School on November 4th. This is the first Saturday in November. This
is the same location as last year. There is a $3 admission. There is no
additional fee for sellers or buyers. Doors open at 9AM for sellers and
bidding will begin at 10:30AM. Refreshments will be available. No items may
be sold after they enter the building except at the auction. Personal
transactions can be made in the parking lot before the merchandise is
brought into the school. Bring whatever you have to sell. You can stipulate
a minimum bid for any item. Each item for auction must be accompanied by a
seller sheet which is published in this Hearye.

Propeller Size Comparisons
Jim Myers

I like to think of an airplane propeller as something that moves a volume
of air. That air has mass, and in moving that mass backward along the
plane, the reaction forces the plane to move forward.

As a propeller turns, imagine that it slices through the air with no
slippage, say, like slicing through Jello. Then, in one revolution, the
prop would advance a distance just equal to its pitch. For example, a
10X6 prop would advance six inches. The volume of the air (or Jello) moved
in one revolution would be equal to the volume of a circular cylinder, 10
inches in diameter, and 6 inches high. Mathematically, this volume can be
calculated from the formula

where VPR = "Volume Per Revolution" (cubic feet), D is diameter (inches),
and P is pitch (inches). Or, we can combine the constants to make this
equation easier to use:

Again using the 10X6 example, we would compute its VPR to be 100x6/2200 or
0.27 cubic feet. So, if your engine can spin the prop at a maximum of
10,000 rpm, it would theoretically move the air at 2700 cubic feet per
minute ("cfm"). However, no propeller is 100% efficient, and the prop will
not really move the air that rapidly. In reality, the flow rate would be
reduced to maybe 60% or 70% of the theoretical value.

Anyway, my purpose is not to try to compute the absolute volume flow rates
of propellers. Rather, I just wanted to use the equation above to
illustrate a comparison of most of the popular sizes of model propellers
available.

This comparison is shown in the graph below. The legend at the right of the
graph identifies the symbols that correspond to four different pitches: 8,
7, 6, and 5 inches. Each marker corresponds to a propeller size that
should be commercially available. The 10x6 is denoted by a square symbol,
second from the left, at a diameter of 10 inches, and placed on the 6"
pitch curve. It is easy to see from this graph that increasing the pitch,
or the diameter, or both, will always increase the volume per revolution,
or VPR.Given the engine's limited power, it will be unable to drive the
larger propeller at the same maximum rpm. I have not tested this, but I
would expect that the max rpm would decrease by roughly the same ratio that
the VPR is increased. For example, an 11x6 prop has a VPR of 0.33 cubic
feet. Using this on your engine would probably reduce the rpm by the
ratio .27/.33. This will reduce the maximum rpm from 10000 down to
approximately 8200 rpm. This is very likely to reduce the noise of your
engine. But notice that it will still be moving the air at the theoretical
rate of 2700 cfm, and therefore, the thrust will not be diminished.

Now, I am sure that those of you knowledgeable about the power curve of an
internal combustion engine may find fault with this simplified analysis.
The reason is that the engine's peak power is attained at a particular
rpm, using the manufacturer's recommended prop. Therefore, the "wrong"
size prop will reduce the maximum power output. But, as long as you don't
make a really radical change, the loss in power should hardly be
noticeable.

See how this chart works for choosing alternate prop sizes. If you use
prop diameters larger than 15 inches, or pitches larger than 8 inches, you
can always use the formula and your calculator. Let me know if you find
this stuff useful.

Builder's Corner
Gerry Keenan

All of us have to deal with where we are going to work on our planes.
I've found that the most common areas are, the garage, the basement, the
kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, and last but not least, the
bathroom. Let's see what the ideal shop should have and then see what's the
best space for you.
The environment that you build in should be comfortable. Is it warm in the
winter and cool in the summer? I like to hear myself think. Are there
distractions where you're building? Isathere plenty of light, ventilation,
electrical outlets and room? Your going to be using C A and ventilation is
real important. I've heard that the government spent millions of dollars on
a study and determined that gluing your lungs together can be dangerous to
your health. Good lighting is a must. You can get workshop lights very
cheap and hang them over the bench. I would also take my model outside when
it's sunny and look it over, what looks good late at night doesn't always
look good in the sun. As for outlet's you can get strip outlets screw them
on you bench and you should be ok. Just don't run everything at once.
In the ideal workshop you will need a workbench. The only thing I'll
say is make sure the top is flat. Some guys use a card table and place a
ceiling tile upside down on it. The T-pins will push in to it quite easy.
One guy I know got a damage door at home depot and swears by it. I got a
hardwood workbench at home depot and I lay a piece of drywall on it.
Whatever you do just make sure it is flat by laying a straightedge on it.
Some other things you should consider are a chair, storage bins, shelves
for your tools, something to hang the blueprints on ( I use two hangers
that you hang pants on hooked to the ceiling), a vise, a file cabinet ( a
cardboard box will do), a coffee pot and or a beer tap, and a table or
place to put pieces that your not working on. There are plenty of things
you can add, but the workbench and chair are the heart of your shop.
Whatever your budget and room situation is, Just do the best you can,
You can make it as plane or fancy as you please. If you get stuck, there
are plenty of ideas out at the field. Next month: FRAMING

BOG MINUTES
Dee Messina

BOG meeting held 10/17/00 opened at 10PM
12 members present 9 new members present
`
1. Some old business cleared up about purchasing a
minimum of repair parts for the old lawn mower. About
$100 will be allotted.

2. A treasury audit will be performed before the new officers
convene.

3. The new BOG officers are as follows:
President: Warren Barrick
Vice president: Dennis DiBonaventura
Treasurer: Carl Sutton
Secretary: Dee Messina

The following are new BOG members for the year 2001:

Warren Barrick
Rick Bruce
Al Campana
Jim Campana
Mario Chiarolanza
Bob Dolan
Mike Estock
John Matt
Dee Messina
Jim Myers
Joe Pasquini
Ed Snead


Feedback or comments to: Ernie McGauley , HearYe editor
Michael Myers, Webmaster


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