Titanium feathering shaft

[Spunjah413]

Saw this recently on Microheli

http://www.microheli.com/store/product_info.php/products_id/443

Not going to be out til the end of the month. Curious if any other brands are thinking about making them. IMO the feathering shaft is the most hated thing on the heli. The smallest bend will affect tacking and give vibe. They are also fairly easy to bend. I understand that as soon as you strengthen one part, you will see the weakness of other parts.

Im failry new to CP heli's, but was wondering if any other helis use titanium feahering shafts as upgrades, and how significantly strong they were?

[tommy217xxx]

I saw that yesterday and was wondering the same thing. I think u would be replacing heads instead but if your quick on TH you should be ok.

[FuntanaS]

Well for the price it's hard to beat it! :)

[RedOctobyr]

I saw that yesterday and was wondering the same thing. I think u would be replacing heads instead but if your quick on TH you should be ok.

Is that really true, though, that your head would probably break? I have, I *think*, bent a few feathering shafts. But if I have, the bends have been very, very minor, and tough to detect. I've replaced a few shafts, anyways :) Now being BL, the higher headspeeds seem to put them at greater risk.

Maybe a really-bent one shows up clearly. But mine don't seem like they could have dissipated much energy, and protected the head, etc. The main gear spinning will help save stuff, yes. The bent feathering shafts just seem like, well, slightly bent parts that are suddenly junk.

Personally, I'd be curious how a stronger one would work out. I think the flex of the plastic parts, the main gear spinning on the shaft, etc, will all absorb much more crash energy than putting a slight bend in a $6 part that suddenly must be replaced more often (at least in my experience).

[zeeflyboy]

Not sure how much better titanium would really be....

What we need is a memory metal feathering shaft that returns to its original shape when heated lol.

[gregg877]

I think that in something that small, the strength gain would be minimal with titanium, with the RPM's that the MCPx is turning, one good hit on a solid surface such as the ground or a wall is still going to bend it, regardless.

Redoctobyr's suggestion for a plastic unit wouldnt really work either, even with the high strength polymers we have in everything these days, a plastic feathering shaft that small would just snap under the centrifugal force put on it in an impact with a solid object.

Sadly, I think for now we're just gonna have to deal with keeping a good stock of spare feathering shafts...

[RedOctobyr]

Redoctobyr's suggestion for a plastic unit wouldnt really work either

Sorry, I obviously didn't word my post clearly. I wasn't trying to suggest a plastic feathering shaft. I was just thinking about the possibility of a stronger metal version. One challenge would be that you couldn't use something like hardened steel, because having it snap in half, rather than bend, wouldn't be an option. It's not acceptable to have the shaft break in two, and send the blades flying.

[babyuh1]

They should make it out of spring steel! That way it would bend and then just go back straight!
Nothing fancy required, just different heat treatment of the steel.

[spykez]

Frankly, I'm reasonably happy with the durability of the stock feathering shafts on the mCP X, say compared to a bigger bird. I've only bent one since I started with this and I crash a fair bit, admittedly, but (usually) over grass.

This and one canopy strut/frame and 2 tailbooms.

Maybe I'm not crashing enough? :P