Hot pinion!

[th3tick]

with butter and salt, please.

So, I had my first three "real" flights today, an it was awesome. I turned up the stability a bit, and turned down the roll and yaw rates, and it flies much better to my skill level. Still incredibly powerful and nimble.

I was removing the pack, and bumped my finger against the pinion, and YOW it was hot. I went back to my 450 for a pack, then flew it again once it had cooled.

I'm assuming this is an indication of the pinion being too hard against the main gear, but was unsure what I should be doing to adjust it better. When I set it the first time, I did as the instructions said, and pushed it up against the main gear using the pinion with one screw set, then tightened the other screw.

Does anyone have any good descriptions of better methods? Am I right in that the heat is an indication of the two being mated too well?

TIA,
John

[Raydee]

I found having a very SLIGHT and I mean slight backlash on most of the main gear to be perfect. The best way to do it is to tighten your motor down enough to make it hard to move and then rotate the main gear and check the lash in 4 or 5 different spots. The main aren't always perfectly round so there will be some spots that are tighter than others. On my logo if I leave just a small amount of backlash then in the tight spots it won't be bad enough to heat up your pinion. When I first set my Logo up I set it with no backlash and after the first flight the pinion was hot enough to burn my finger.

[OICU812]

Something else to note. I see you are running the 1910(H)-1Y. As you already know the core of this motor gets very hot. Being an Ork that translates into the shaft, into the pinion. The gears are much more resitant to heat than you might think, I to was worried about the pinion, even after perfect mesh the pinion was very warm on the NEU, was not a big deal but was bothersome to me at first as well. As mentioned, do indeed make sure you mesh is good and a slight bit of backlash is good for sure.

[th3tick]

I actually didn't know the core of this motor got very hot. So the pinion is a little heat sink!

When I touched it yesterday, I'd estimate it was up in the 150-160 range. I didn't have my temp gun with me or I'd have found out for sure. The top of the motor didn't feel hot at all, but I didn't check inside.

I've adjusted the mesh to have a small amount of backlash. While feeling it all the way around, there was one spot I could feel the gap, but really couldn't see the main gear move, so I think it's about the minimum it can have.

I'd go give it a test today, but unfortunately, after one of the most beautiful days for flying possible yesterday, we have the first snow of the season today :bawl

John

[Raydee]

SNOW....that stinks. We are getting ready for it here too. I haven't been able to fly my Logo for 2 weekends now because of rain and wind.

[MrMel]

On my .90 electrics I have to use some siliconspray on the pinions, even with backlash, its just too much power :)

With just a spray of silicon they stay ice cold.

(Or you could use Klotz or something really sticky, thats one of the benefits from a greasy nitro..)

[OICU812]

Fredrik, silicone spray on pinion for real man? First I ever heard of that man, neat.

[MrMel]

Yup, Well needed on .90 sized machines, else you strip the maingear quite easy.

[OICU812]

LOL cool Fredrik, where were you and this answer when I was melting Ion doubled gears? :smokin:

[Doug101]

I'm running the Neu 1910 1.5y, 212/19 on 12s A123. I have NO backlash, use silicone spray on the gear/pinion and it has always run cool.
Doug

[th3tick]

I've got three packs to go and get a break-in cycle on tomorrow. I plan to try the first two dry with backlash, then put a few drops of silicone oil on it and measure temp of the motor and pinion after each. I'll report back the results.

Snow has melted, and tomorrow looks like another great day to fly...

John

[th3tick]

Well, things didn't go quite as planned. I think that the ambient temperature was so low, it negated any testing I might have done. Here's the results:

before flight: 47.2
after 1st: 65.3
after 2nd: 86.3
after 3rd: 74.6

I didn't end up putting any lube on because it was so cool to begin with. I'll keep after it, and if we have another warm day, I'll do the lube.

The other possibility is that the less-tight gear mesh has completely resolved it for me...

John

[th3tick]

One other note about moving the pinion back a bit - my headspeeds have jumped.

throttle 65%/75%/85%
headspeed prior 2074/2200/NA
headspeed after 2240/2400/2500

Time to dial that down! I never ran at Idle2 prior to this change, thus the NA.

John