Manual Procedure for Propeller Pitch Measurement
by Ramses Herrera
Based on a request from one of our clients in Ecuador, we elaborated a simple procedure to measure a propeller's pitch.
Necessary equipment to perform it:
- Protractor (angle measurement)
- Level
- Plumb Line (not necessary on small props)
- Square Set or Squadron (mm, in or ft)
- Compass
Procedure : |
Equipment
|
On a leveled surface, make a layout of: a center point, a circle with a diameter equal to the larger propeller hub diameter, and a circle with an approximate diameter that pass through the widest part of the blade to be measured.
Put the propeller with the pitch side up, and center it with the larger diameter previously layout. |
Leveled surface
|
Necessary Layouts
|
From the diameter that pass through the widest part of the blade, measure the perpendicular heights from the surface to the points located on both sides of the blade on the pitch side, that will serve to find the height differences between these two points.
In this procedure, layout on the surface and over the layout diameter , the two points that will help us to define the projected angle over the surface, which will be measured with the protractor as shown in the picture. |
 
Measuning heights from the layout diameter,
and marking the proyected points
|
Measured Angle
|
Finally, with the obtained data, the pitch will be determined with the following formula:
 |
|
