Vimana89
Legendary member
Like I said, I'm not the math guy. Others have covered that better than I could and I'm still learning. I have, however, taken the time to do some research to understand more about the inefficiency of three or more bladed props. @quorneng was correct that two bladed props are most efficient, and that any blades beyond that will have greater energy demands than the added thrust really compensates for, from a pure efficiency standpoint. So other than space or clearance concerns, or an absolute scale look for some planes, why even use a prop with more blades than two at all? Turns out there are some reasons.
A three bladed prop is a good option to train on some planes, because the inefficiency "tames" the plane a bit by letting it fly slower while still maintaining enough thrust for easy take offs and climbs(and I could see how it would make high alpha stuff easier too). You'll lose a bit of efficiency and your battery will drain a bit faster. In some cases, this actually sounds worth it to me. I'm a hands on kind of guy, so I will be trying this with my V Sliver. The three bladed 5x5.5 it has on now works very nicely with no complaints. This plane is a good testbed, as it does more than enough slow flying and high alpha. I'll definitely notice a difference if my climb ability and high alpha diminish at low speeds with a two blade prop. So I'll try a 5x5.45x2 and a 5x5x2 speed prop, and see what happens.
All that said, I can't see any real justification for that six blade prop. I have some of the exact ones in question, Raycorp 5x4x6, and have tried them on quite a few planes, and I'm pretty convinced they are just jank.
A three bladed prop is a good option to train on some planes, because the inefficiency "tames" the plane a bit by letting it fly slower while still maintaining enough thrust for easy take offs and climbs(and I could see how it would make high alpha stuff easier too). You'll lose a bit of efficiency and your battery will drain a bit faster. In some cases, this actually sounds worth it to me. I'm a hands on kind of guy, so I will be trying this with my V Sliver. The three bladed 5x5.5 it has on now works very nicely with no complaints. This plane is a good testbed, as it does more than enough slow flying and high alpha. I'll definitely notice a difference if my climb ability and high alpha diminish at low speeds with a two blade prop. So I'll try a 5x5.45x2 and a 5x5x2 speed prop, and see what happens.
All that said, I can't see any real justification for that six blade prop. I have some of the exact ones in question, Raycorp 5x4x6, and have tried them on quite a few planes, and I'm pretty convinced they are just jank.