Metal Grips + Woodies = blade spacer/ washers needed

[bstock]

Hi Guys,

Just an FYI... if you have or get the metal grips... and you want to run wooden blades... you may want to get the blade/ grip washers by Gaui.

I got some wooden blades for my maiden/ first few flights on the Hurricane XES... just in case I happened to crashed early on. I didn't want to break the carbon blades that came with XES... as I was just getting used to flying it.

Glad I had the carbons... I ended up running those for my maiden anyways.

I hadn't read anything about this on the forums yet... so I thought I would pass this along.

In looking at readyheli's website... the part # is 204352.

It looks like these just came out... as they are marked as a "new" product in their website.

[odieser]

when I got my cnc blade grips these spacers came with the grips at the time

[Mikej]

I use the plastic grips and wooden blades - I need to use one of the washers with these.

Cheers,
Mike.

[BL]

My metal grips does not come with any washer.

Anyway, that washer came with the plastic grips are for 3mm screws but the metal grips are using 4mm screws. So that washer may not be usable for the metal grips.

[kgfly]

Can someone please clarify for me the washer stack for the CNC grips with the stock woodies ?

Mine came with an odd assortment of washers and at the moment moment I have it like this but I think it is not right:

Approx measurements
- WasherA = 8mm x 0.5mm brass
- WasherB = 12mm x 1mm steel
- WasherC = 16mm x 0.5mm steel (these are the official spacers I think)

Stackup
Bolt head->WasherA->grip->WasherB->blade->WasherC->grip->WasherB->nyloc

I suspect inside the grips I should have WasherC above and below the blade and am wondering if washers are required on the outside of the grips at all ?

[mjdee14]

[quote=kgfly;719453]Can someone please clarify for me the washer stack for the CNC grips with the stock woodies ?

Mine came with an odd assortment of washers and at the moment moment I have it like this but I think it is not right:


I always just used whatever it took to take up the space betwen the blade and the grip....

of the outside I use a washer on each end to keep from gouging the metal when tightening the bolt...

[Graeme67]

Can someone please clarify for me the washer stack for the CNC grips with the stock woodies ?

Kenneth,

My Hurricane came with the CNC grips as standard. My kit has 4 aluminium washers per bolt, 2 small diameter ones for between head of bolt and blade grip & nylock nut and blade grip. The critical "spacer" washers measure 16mm OD X 4mm ID x 0.8mm thick. One goes either side of the woodie, & makes a snug fit. I have seen them as spare parts here: http://flying-hobby.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=3_30_38&products_id=2060

Cheers
Graeme

[kgfly]

Thanks Graeme, that makes sense.

[jayrok1018]

quick question guys, the brass sleves that came with the woodies are a bigger diameter than the ID of the aluminum washers. They also are slightly longer than the blades are thick. Should I sand them down, or rather bore out the ID of the washers? Shouldn't they be the same length as the blade thickness?

thnx

[mjdee14]

Mine have always been the same thickness as he blades....that way the washers can slide in over the hole in the blade....so yes I would sand them down the same as the blade.

[kgfly]

Well it is odd. There seem to be two kinds of spacers,:
16mm OD X 4mm ID x 0.8mm thick
16mm OD X 3mm ID x 0.8mm thick

A kind person gave me a spare one but it turned out to have 3mm ID so is not suitable for the CNC grips which use 4mm bolts :( I don't really have a setup where I can drill it out but I might give it a try at work if I get a chance.

Does anyone know for sure whether the GAUI part "204352 Washer Pack For Wooden Blade" has a 3mm or 4mm ID ?

[kahn10]

don't know if it makes any difference but the very flash carbons i destroyed were set up with the spacer going thru the washers and blade

[jayrok1018]

I think I'm gonna go ahead and sand 'em. I just took a look at the inside of the grips, and was trying to figure out why I couldn't get the grips to tighten, a) I was only using brass spacers, b) they were longer than the blades' thickness by about 2-3mm c) the brass didn't fit through the alum washers. This all stacked up to marring the inside of the grips (plastic) and reeally loose blades.

Hope this helps track down my tracking woes too! Seems pretty calm out there this morning, maybe I'll get back out after all :thumbup:

On an aside, my blades haven't ever hit anything, but they seem to have hard/square lines (almost like spars, or even cracks --eek!) down the length of 'em. It could be the grain of the wood, but its almost like the bonding of the wood has split inside the wrap. Should I replace them? What could cause this? Hell, they've only been spun up once to check tracking etc. I'm not used to swinging such HUGE blades, and don't want anything flying off and hurting anyone -- or turning my hurri into a lawn dart for that matter...

[mjdee14]

Twist the blade gently and see if it appears loose in the wrap at the line your talking about....

Most likely it's just the point where they glued the harder leading edge wood to the softer trailing edge wood....

Most likely they are fine, I have never heard of anyone complaining about the wood blades...and if they are both like that......it's more than likely normal....

The leading edge wood is pretty hard compared to the rest of the blade.

[kahn10]

can only see marks on the first pic 95 percent sure thats wood grain.if in doubt gently hold your blade and check there is no flex across your blade. if in doubt after that...personally....new blades.and yeah the grips need to grip the blade root and spacers evenly otherwise tracking will be all over the show
marco
just checked one of my remaining woods looks exactly the same bro.normally the fronts hardwood with steel reinforcing the backs balsa just like mike said.also quite a few threads back there were reports of guys getting alot better performance out of the woodies with the plastic coating off..... something about drag i think?

[jayrok1018]

Well I'm not sure I'm ready to take the plunge with taking the wrap off, but thanks a LOT for the info. I've gently twisted as recommended, and there was no separation to speak of, so I think It'll be OK. The hurri also came with a pair of CF blades, same length @550, but about 10g heavier each. 73g (wood) VS 85g(CF). I'm not going to try 'em unless I smash the woodies, but wouldn't they spin slower with a higher weight & same length? I reckoned that they'd be faster -- again, I apparently confuse easily, my small brain is reeeeling over this monster bird!!

Did I mention you guys ROCK!! Thanks SO much for all the help! :noteworthy