spinner fab

anyone have any experience with fabbing a large spinner; say 16" od and 18 "
long?

Dick

anyone have any experience with fabbing a large spinner; say 16" od and 18 "
long?

I haven't done it myself but I met someone who did. He made a mold or buck
that he mounted in a lathe and fixed a piece of soft aluminum to it. After
spinning it up he used a wooden dowel to lay the spinning metal against the
form. After getting the shape he welded the hole at the nose of spinner closed
and cut out the openings for the blades. Sounds pretty simple but it took him
more than 6 tries to get one he kept.

I understand that this is essentially the technique Cessna was using in the
1980s and at that time there was one old timer who threw all the spinners for
Cessna.

John Dupre'

(JDupre5762) wrote in message ...
anyone have any experience with fabbing a large spinner; say 16" od and 18 "
long?

I made one for a Soob in a Glastar, using 5052H32 and cutting two
circle segments that I rolled and riveted together. Could have done it
with one piece but a single rivet line would have imbalanced it. The
aft bulkhead was formed from the same stuff over a plywood template,
with notches to allow the compounding (see a 172's spinner backplate)
and the front mounts were welded steel brackets that bolted to the
blade bolts of the Warp Drive prop. It ran fine, still does.

Dan