Trip to Catto Propellers

So a couple of weeks ago, I saw here on VAF that Catto Propellers was having an open house in June. I had to check that out. Making a propeller is magic to me and I was hoping to learn some of secrets to this black art. I did check with Craig to make sure that he was OK with me posting pictures of his shop.

Riding shotgun on this short flight to the Gold Country is my friend Anthony. Anthony is another plane fool like me who loves to fly and learning new stuff.
Our first stop was to gas up over the hill at Livermore which still has relatively cheap gas:




After topping off, we launched over the Central Valley. Here is a shot of the Delta. This is the maze of waterways that connect the run off from the Sierras (when we have one) to the San Francisco Bay and finally to the Pacific Ocean. Much of this is dredged and large cargo ships frequent the ports of Sacramento and Stockton:




This is what is left of Camanche Reservoir (yep, that?s how they spell it). The drought has really taken its toll. I?m thinking that those islands you see are usually underwater:




It was pretty busy in the pattern there at Westover Airport. I think I was number 4 of 5 for landing. I was a bit busy to take pictures.
We tied up and took a short stroll to the east end of the airport where we found the Catto facility:




They had a nice BBQ and drinks for all who threw in $10 but the best part of the trip was poking around.

I was thinking that Craig would give a little talk but he was pretty busy fielding questions. Towards the end of lunch I noticed an impromptu tour in progress so I quickly joined that in mid-stride. Some of what I?m about to describe is a mixture of what I heard and what I surmise. If I?m wrong, let me know.

Here are some future three blade props that have been glued together. On the wall behind them, you?ll see some two bladed patterns. I heard that the pattern is transferred to the blanks and rough cut on a band saw. To the right of the picture, you?ll see some rough cut three bladed props:




Here are some props after being rough cut I assume:





At some point, the blanks are loaded onto the CNC machine and the airfoil shape is routed in:




The wood is first covered with carbon fiber cloth. Here are some two bladed props that are curing. Evidently they employ guard flies to watch over the cure. If you look closely, you'll see one on the job:




I?m finding out that woodwork requires a lot of hands on labor. I visited the Fender Guitar Factory recently as well and there seems to be a lot of similar processes: gluing, sanding, cutting, more sanding, more smoothing, etc. The props need a lot of sanding filling and smoothing along the way. The next layer is fiberglass. These are ready for more sanding with a low tech tool:

Part 2-Final

Here one of the workers demonstrates a fixture that holds the prop during prep:




So, in order to protect the props while flying in the rain, you can add nickel leading edges. I really thought that the prop was routed for the installation of these because the fit is so perfect but they are glued on. Then they are vacuumed bagged while the glue dries:




There is some filling and more sanding. I believe these props are in for repair. You can see the peel ply on the leading edges of some of them:




Here is a pile of scraps:




I?m not sure what?s going on here. I think he?s playing around with a new prop design perhaps. He had a cool video that many of us were fascinated with. He rigged up a camera to record a prop blade in flight. He had tufts on the back of a blade and we watched as the world spun while the blade stayed stationary. It looked like he was testing a prop like this:




Well, we had bellies full of BBQ and it was finally time to head on home. I still think prop making is magic and there is no use in me hurting my brain anymore thinking about it. It?s magic and I?m happy with that explanation.

We flew past the other side of Camanche:




Once again, we had a nice trip in the RV.

Let?s see, I?ve seen how they make wooden props, then wooden guitars, what?s next? Anybody know of a wooden spoon factory somewhere out west?

Kelly,

Thanks for the report. Somewhere in there is my prop that should be finished very soon. It's nice to see where it was born.

Thanks Kelly,
As a Catto prop owner and a wood worker, I really enjoyed this report.

Michel

Great trip report!

In that picture of the 3-blade mounted on the RV, it appears as those are fences to stop span-wise flow. I'm totally dense when it comes to figuring out fluid dynamics so I can't even begin to guess at the effect such devices might have. Even with those "protuberances" that's one heck of a pretty prop.

Prop me up, again!

ArVeeNiner said:

So a couple of weeks ago, I saw here on VAF that Catto Propellers was having an open house in June. I had to check that out. Making a propeller is magic to me and I was hoping to learn some of secrets to this black art. I did check with Craig to make sure that he was OK with me posting pictures of his shop.

Click to expand...

Nice report Kelly!
My visit to Catto propellers in 1998 was quite different than your experience. After a rudimentary description of the nearby landscape I landed my RV4 on a 1200' one way mountain airstrip near Mokulumne Hills with a wrecked Stinson ominously parked near the approach end. Craig picked me up in a 4WD and took me to the "shop"( his Cabin) where new props were hanging in the front yard drying in the sunshine.
Our meeting would launch what would become the first series of RV specific props and fortunately for me, my RV4 would be one of the test aircraft.

Thanks again for sharing!
V/R
Smokey

PS: Great name BTW, my Dad worked on the U2 program at the Skunk Works in the late 60's/early 70's. A relation of yours?