The wooden pattern of a ship propeller is used to create a mold in the foundry. Huge! [thanks, Adon!]
6 thoughts on “How to Create a Marine Propeller Pattern”
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How to Create a Marine Propeller Pattern
The wooden pattern of a ship propeller is used to create a mold in the foundry. Huge! [thanks, Adon!]
Comments are closed.
While I love the craftsmanship involved (and I really like the wood grain effects from stacking the plywood!), from a cost perspective I wonder why they’re not doing this by some sort of CNC process? I would think the propellers are designed by computer (anymore I’d hope for ones of that size they’re doing a lot of flow modeling), why not just stack the plywood, then put it in a CNC? I can’t imagine it would require more than two setup with a 5-axis cnc mill.
You could certainly use CNC & the lost foam process to do it. I’m thinking that ship props don’t change as much so making a more durable master is a better idea. Plus it shows that not all of the pattern making skills aren’t lost.
I like how fast he was able to lay all that out with a compass and ruler. I suppose it would be possible to create a CAD drawing for every layer, then laser cut them. But I’ve done enough with my CNC machine, and enough furniture and boat building, to see that a pencil/compass/straight edge is faster and far more economical for a good number of things.