Atom 500 - Skookum Users

[TallPaul]

If you have a SK-720 (or 360), what have you done to reduce your vibration?

I seem to spend too much time chasing vibrations on my Atom 500, and I hope to compare notes on how to reduce those vibrations. Once vibrations are reduced, I really like the flight characteristics, but dang its hard to get them down.

Where are you mounting your SK720 - if on the normal Gyro tray, do you mount it above the frame? Have you tried strapping it down?

My motor has been the greatest source of problems, with bearings being replaced once (actually the whole motor, but that is another story..:face) and I believe I have the problem again.

Tail vibrations have been an issue and the very last time, it turned out my flange bearing was broken (benefit from SK720).

Where do you first look to find your vibrations (for those that don't have a Skookum - it does have a graft to tell you "where" the problem lies - head/tail - but this can still leave you asking lots of questions).

Yesterday, it was flying GREAT, but I was getting inconsistent vibration reports and it dumped itself on one spool up..... :mad: My fault for not stopping to find out why it was flashing red.

I'm posting this here (as opposed to the Skookum boards), as I want reach more Atom 500 users.

[Jeff_Barrett]

Honest, Paul ... I haven't had too many vibration issues with mine when it comes to the Atom 500. The one or two times that I can think of, it was due to bad blade tracking (doh!) and another due to a poorly balanced set of tail blades.

I mount mine on the stock plastic gyro tray behind the swash guide. It's not strapped down, but I am using a metal plate and some zeal tape.

The only other time I've had major issues, it was on my Gaui 200 (which runs head speeds in excess of 4000rpm) - all I did was turn my throttle curve down a little (the darn thing screams like a banshee at about 90-95%!!) and it all worked great! Lots of power still and flies like a dream.

Good luck.

[TallPaul]

So Jeff, what vib level are you getting and what freq. Does it show?

I'm sure I should know this - but did you place on the gyro tray and what cushion did you use (I think I remember you use zeal tape - did you use a steal plate?).

[Jeff_Barrett]

I don't recall the vibration level, but it was fairly low (3ish??) .

As mentioned above, I have zeal tape on the gyro tray, then the steel plate, then a thin double sided tape to stick the gyro to the plate. :)