SpectraG open tail gearbox

[hyflyr]

Just put the first 2 tanks on the new SpectraG FAI. Man it hovers sweet. While doing the post flight inspection I noticed the tail gears have some slight wear on the edges where they mesh. Nothing major just curious to know what others have seen with the new open gearbox. Can't wait to finish the break-in. :D

[Rob Stump]

Hyflyr, what your seeing is probably some light dusting and is normal. If the gears start to develop a lot of slop then something isn't right and requires immediate attention. Just keep an eye on it which is easy with the open tailbox. Sounds pretty normal at this point.

Regards,

[furydriver]

hi there my open gear box broke intwo this after noon totalled both gears in tail
which then jammed with the broken bits which in turn stripped 8 teeth on auto gear :dontknow

[Rob Stump]

furydriver, sorry to hear that. Can you explain what happened prior to the accident. How many flights/any prior incidents with the tail and the ground etc. What part broke into two pieces. Was this a Spectra G?

Regards,

[bigrcr]

I read your post in Miniature's forum as well. As I read your post, I take it that you ran the motor up to "1/4 to 1/2 throttle" without blades fitted. :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: . Please do not do this! :bomb: :bomb: The motor without load more than likely hit 8,000 to 11,000 RPM nearly instantly taking the gear train with it. This is VERY dangerous to do and detrimental to your model and motor. You are lucky that the only damage was to the gearing.

If you run the motor without blades, only bring the throttle up enough to JUST engage the clutch at most as really bad things can happen. I do this often to ground check a suspect receiver for lockout but I NEVER let the motor run up at all., only letting the clutch just barely engage.

Please be safe!!

[furydriver]

hi there i had head loader fitted to the spectra g the two gears in the tal split in to two halves so jamming it

[Rob Stump]

Well then, problem more than likely using head loaders on a gasser. The gasser engine has lots of torque and like John said combined with head loaders probably caused an instant on and off state with those gears causing them to explode. IMHO there is no need to use head loaders. If you set up everything correctly ie. failsafes, curves etc. then you really shouldn't have any problems that head loaders would prevent from happening anyway ....except for the heli flying away :shock: .

If your wanting to check for lockout you can always use Ray Hostetler's technique of locking the heli down but this is very dangerous if you don't know what your doing and not advisable unless you have the supervision of someone experienced in the procedure. I personally have always used this procedure for the initial engine vibration/radio lockout test prior to the first flight of all of my machines. The big thing to remember is that this is just an engine vibe test so you shouldn't be banging the throttle stick around and loading up the disk or revving up the head speed. Just do your checks and be done with it. Again, this is NOT recommended without the supervision of someone experienced with this technique. Many bad things can happen if you don't know what your doing!

Many of the things we do are inherently dangerous but when done correctly you can reduce the odds of having an accident.

Regards,

[whirlyspud]

All the talk about tail gears blowing out and shafts breaking is making me nervous.


Mike

[Rob Stump]

Don't be nervous, just fly it like you stole it! As long as you don't stick the tail in the dirt or try to fly w/o blades :wink: you should be fine. Seriously though, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I know many of these new boxes are flying on various machines with no problems.

One of the good things about this forum is the flow of information especially on new products. If there is a trend of a problem with a part rest assured Tim will get to the bottom of it and do his best to take care of it.

Regards,

[whirlyspud]

I know they are good about taking care of problems if they come up. My Fury Extreme had one of the tail tubes that came from a bad batch of tubes. It broke after a couple of easy, little old lady flights. I called, and they said they had never heard of them breaking in a way such as I described. They offered to replace the parts that were damaged in the crash. They were happy when I told them there was no crash. Just one ugly looking Auto. :mrgreen:

Mike

[Bonsai]

Guys Im here to tell ya these gears are tough as nails.. I fly in the sand every day and I mean every day!!!!! my gear box has eaten tons of sand and shows very little wear..I have drug my tail thru the sand and chewed the ends off tail baldes and the gears still look NEW... I have 6 of MA metal gearbox's I'll trade for 2 more open box's any day.... They are the CATS A$$... :noteworthy
Dean