Arbortech Turboplane Projects – Propellor – Wood carving

January 22, 2021

Angle grinder woodwoorking project for you to make using the Arbortech Turboplane power carving attachment, a propellor! The double curve on it takes a bit of head scratching but once youve started it almost just comes out of the wood. Made from pallet wood, very chunky pieces from the air-conditioning supplier.

WIth thanks to Axminster for the unit https://goo.gl/VM3Q66

Arbortech attachment on Amazon https://amzn.to/2EPlywS

Clamp your wood together and leave for 24hrs. I used titebond on this one for its strength and adhesion.
Sand and plane down your wood so its smooth and then start drawing. I marked the center out and using a couple of circles and lines marked a rough center boss and shape of the blades. I defined these first using the drill and the router as its more stable as a block than to try and carve out the blades and then do the center.

A lot of turning and flipping to carve out the blades, youll need to spend some time looking at how its turning out, getting them thin and fairly uniform was a bit tricky, a Vernier measuring calliper is worth investing in. https://amzn.to/2OV3fuV

Working with the crain leaves a better finish, however this isnt always possible and going across it can tear up the timber a fair bit especially when its soft white pine.

After roughing out the shape i switched to flap disks for sanding and finishing of the contours. Flap disks in the lower grades 40,60 are highly aggressive and can be used to further refine the design, just be aware that they can take a lot of material off v.quickly.

Final rounding off and finishing was done with my trusty Makita finishing sander. https://amzn.to/2JlmoQR

Painted using emulsion paint tester pots from B&Q, the exact colours of the RAF couldnt be matched up precisely so do the best you can. A stippled wax finish with a brush and leaving time to dry between further layers gives a nice antique finish. Leave to dry and then polish up with a soft cloth.

For the mount i used a military antenna base I picked up from ebay a while back for about £10. Cant find any on there at the moment that arent eye watering, keep your eyes peeled for one or alternatively make a bracket using a thick backing piece and a length of one inch dowel.