paddle fan

Re: paddle fan

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>Cedar? Spruce, except it's a royal unspeakable to work.

Re: paddle fan

R.J.Whelan

>Jack ... I used Philipean mahogany when I built new blade for my ceiling fans ... rj

Re: paddle fan

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>You didn't mention how many blades the fan has. The first problem you will have if you replace two of the blades, but not all of the blades, is balance. You will probably want to replace all of the blades, all with wood from the same tree. You will need to make them as identical as possible, mass, center of gravity, stiffness, and aerodynamic shape. When you are done, if the fan is not quite in dynamic balance, you can tweak the weight, angular momentum and drag, one blade at a time.

Now, to address your original question. You want to select a wood that is stiff and light weight. The first choice is Sitka spruce. That's what was preferred for the spars of racing sailboats before aluminum and later, carbon fiber, were invented. Quarter sawn is better.

Since you probably don't have a racing ceiling fan, you can probaly get by with lesser woods. Ring porous hardwoods are not a good idea, because, especially in thin stock, they can fracture along the growth rings. Since they are easier to work than softwoods, I would choose a rewlatively stable diffuse porous hardwood, preferably quartersawn.

Your choice then becomes limited somewhat by the color and figure your customer desires, but that problem might be addressed with stains or dyes, or even paint.

how many blades?

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I thought of that.If I'm going to take this on I'm going to have to make them all. I understand your reasoning for the wood choice and agree with you. However,could you give several examples of "relatively stable,diffuse,porous hardwood". I'm a carpenter by trade and I'm only starting to understand different wood species and their properties. Mostly by trial and error. I can probably find what I need at highland hardwoods.They have a good variety.---Jack

Re: how many blades?

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>You would probably find that cherry, walnut, mahogany, hard maple, beech, and even tulip poplar, if it meets your finishing needs, would work fine. Lots of exotics would also work well, depending on their availability. I would shy away from oak, ash, hickory, etc. on one hand, and very high density species on the other.

If you want to consider a softwood, such as the Sitka spruce I mentioned, for the same weight and stiffness, you could make it in a wider cross section, giving you more options when choosing the shape of the airfoil. Probably totally insignificant for moving some air around in a living space, but I figured I should mention it, since SS might be used for high performance air movement, like wind tunnels or prop blades :^) Paddle fans aren't subjected to high loads.

Re: how many blades?

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Thanks William,

That definitely cleared that up. I'm going to look into the spruce. I like it for lightness.

Jack

Re: how many blades?

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>Around here, those fan blades are apt to collide, violently, with a bug called a Greenhead. As spruce is quite soft, they're liable to leave a significant dent in the leading edge. :^) The spruce is a bit less expensive than things like cherry, mahogany and walnut. Also, it is easily found at lumberyards and home centers in the West, but not so prevalent in the East.

Basswood has been used

bill tindall

>

Re: how many blades?

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>There was a article on paddle making with spruce in PWW about 6 months ago. His tip was to look for long 2x10's or 2x12's as they usually are the best spruce and generally have fewer knots and defects. Come to think of it that paddle end would look alot like a blade.

OT-HIJACK: Greenheads! *LINK*

Don Thompson - Cutler Ridge, Florida

>They sure look like nasty critters! Look at the image at the end of this link:


Attack of the Greenheads

Re: OT-HIJACK: Greenheads!

Jack Guzman from Maine

>I made the acquaintance of those critters while doing a job on the Maine coast.They actually bite off a piece of meat you can see.At least that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.---Jack

GREENHEADS,we don`t need no stinking greenheads!

Bob Hackett

>WE have.... BLACKFLIES!!

Hey,where`d all the northern boys go?

Come on back fellas I was only foolin`,they`re not due back for at least a couple months.

What was I thinkin?

Mainely,Bob

Re: OT-HIJACK: Greenheads!

Richard Gillespie

>What a flash back. I lived in Brigantine, NJ as a young child back in the early 50's. We may have moved away but among the fond memories of that area are memories of the greenheads. Screened porch's were a godsend for little children.

Re: OT-HIJACK: Greenheads!

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>I've sailed in the Bonita Waterway at Brigantine, but the Mothies are smart enough to schedule their regatta before the greenheads arrive, usually around the end of June. They don't have any more greenheads there than on the Cohansey, just more city folks to complain about being bitten by them.

Re: GREENHEADS,we don`t need no stinking greenhead

Jack Guzman from Maine

>Bob,I saw a live housefly outside today,on the side of a barn. I think the little ones are safely away for awhile tho.---Jack