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Sonny

Regular Member

Joined: 17/01/2010
Location: United States
Posts: 66

Posted: 03:10pm 13 Feb 2010

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I know, I know, you guys are getting tired of me asking stupid questions but here's one more for ya.
When I had my jet boat years ago I did a little weekend racing with it. I found if I waxed the bottom good I could pick up from 3 to 5 MPH depending on conditions.
I also do some wood working and have found that bowling ally wax does a real good job and comes out very smooth. I have also read that if you keep plane wings clean and smooth you get better lift out of them.
After going through all this, I guess I am trying to convince myself that waxing the blades on my turbine(after I get it up

) every few months will help it preform better. What do you think??

a complete novice

Tinker

Guru

Joined: 07/11/2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 1904

Posted: 03:43pm 13 Feb 2010

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I doubt it, clean and smooth yes but waxing? What material are you planning to use for the blades?

Perhaps it might be better to divert your energy to get the turbine up and running first and worry about minor performance reductions

later.

Klaus

Downwind

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Joined: 09/09/2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 2333

Posted: 05:32pm 13 Feb 2010

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If you waxed them, would you then call them Brazillian blades.

Pete.

Sometimes it just works

Gizmo

Admin Group

Joined: 05/06/2004
Location: Australia
Posts: 5124

Posted: 10:03pm 13 Feb 2010

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I'm inclined to say no, you wont gain anything by waxing your blades.

However, there was a Mythbuster episode recently where they put golf ball like dimples on a car and improved it mileage from 24 to 29 mpg. The results were surprising.

Not that I'm suggesting you put dimples on your turbine blades. But maybe if a technique is used to improve performance on something else ( gold ball dimples, wax on jet ski's ), then it just maybe might help with a turbine blade. It might be another case where the results are surprising.

You would need to do some testing before and after. If you needed to wax your blades every few months, then the gain in power would need to be worth the effort.

Pete, never seen a hairy blade.

Glenn

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now.
JAQ

KarlJ

Guru

Joined: 19/05/2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 1178

Posted: 02:16am 14 Feb 2010

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dimples like golf balls have been tried on aircraft wings too and it works!
problem is in manufacturing, aluminium structures would need to be drilled in or rolled in and the increase in thickness required causes a weight issue.

Also over the life of the plane the dimples would need to be maintained, meaning re-painting would be a problem as the dimples would get less every coat of paint.

rivets on the other hand are pure drag!

Luck favours the well prepared

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