Its happened again......

[Raptordude]

Well I did it again. Went flying Sunday with my trusty Evo 50. Flew one really good flight, came back and flew a second one a little harder and lower. I climbed up and thought I would do a few piro flips and a chaos or 2. No problem. Next I get some more altitude and try a 4 point tic-toc. I tic-toc nose up first then rotate the nose to the right. Next thing I here a hit, like a boom strike. I immediatley go into hold. I look at the machine and both blades are now folded back and not spinning. It falls quick.LOL Go over thinking its a total loss, like my last boom strike was. The main shaft is bent bad,spindle, broken frames, servo tray, broken vertical fin and canopy, boom is straight but here is the kicker a small dent behind the horizontal fin. My thunder Tiger 600mm blades are still in good shape with no nicks cracks or signs of contact with the boom. I did strip out the fore and aft cyclic servo gears, but I dont know if that was do to impact or not. This canopy took all the impact going nose in, and it hit so hard it broke off the throttle servo horn and servo splines.

My question is what could have happened? I have carbon extreme dampers, so I didnt think I would be able to hit the boom? Could I have bent a spindle in flight, causing the blades to go out of track? or cause a boom strike? Even f I had a strike, I would think it would hurt the blades.

Is there a point when you can fly a 50 size machine too hard? Just wondering what could have happened......

[Data]

.......... Could I have bent a spindle in flight, causing the blades to go out of track? or cause a boom strike?............

very likely.
elvis (the top gun at our field) flys an evo50 and can bent the spindle every time in just one flight.
he uses the xtreme carbon dampers and a raptor spindle to solve this problem.

[capebob]

Elvis does use a Raptor spindle but be aware that it is not as long as the Hirobo spindle so the end screws don't snug down on the end of the spindle. I believe he uses thread lock and a prayer to keep the head together. So far one or the other is working. :D

Bob

[blakka_1]

thread lock and a prayer


:rolling

[blakka_1]

Raptor dude, try a quick uk spindle next time, i hear that they are stronger. :)

[Raptordude]

I have use the quick UK spindles before. Wasnt Clay Smith bending those ?

[Helodad]

Well I am almost in the same boat pushing the evo to it limits, not as good as you James but ok. I did change my spindle to a HHI one there only $4.00 and so far working good I have an extra one if you want to try it? If you are flying any thing that loads the rotors with a stock spindle you are asking for it. I have seen Elvis’s set up. Looks good but the TT spindle is shorter. You can not use the stock head spacers. Let me know if I can Help Jim.

[Kinger]

From what I've been reading, some folks have been seeing success using the SD-G head yoke which allows you to run 4 dampners instead of 2.

[elviswl]

With almost 200 flights on the EVO, no boomstrike to date. If the main blades are pretty tight, you should not have any boom strike issues.

Initially used CX dampeners and original spindle for first 60 flights with no bent spindle issues. I used the TT muffler and the OS 50 engine. Once I switched to the OS Hyper and MP and started doing tic tocs, well I had issues.

If you slow the headspeed down while doing your maneuvers and the blades are not tight, you risk getting a boom strike.

[Raptordude]

My blades where pretty tight, not super tight though. I also run a Hyper and a Muscle pipe, and was bogging it a little bit, hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[claysmith]

I had something like that happen once, we think one of the links on a blade grip came off. That will cause a boom strike.

[Joel Mann]

James
did you figure out what was wrong?