my ignorance

I've been reading every post here for a few weeks. I am absolutely amazed by
the amount of knowledge that lives here!
With the butt kissing done, I hope you'll excuse my ignorance.

I was interested in the discussion concerning the weight of different prop
materials. Has anybody tried to make a hollow aluminum prop? What about
titanium? Carbon fiber?

What kind of testing needs to be done on a home built prop?
Are there prop styles that can be copied without patent infringements?

Has anybody tried making a flexible prop? My thinking is that it might be
possible to create a prop with a low angle of attack for high power take
offs, then have it flex to a higher angle of attack as the load decreases.
Could something like that give the performance of a constant speed prop
without the complexity and added weight?

If I were to play around with different prop designs, is there somebody
around here with the knowledge and time that might be willing to test them
for me?
--
"Don't be misled, bad company corrupts good character."
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