It happened to me: Flung a tail blade!

[rob_jones]

You hear about it happening to others, but never think it could happen to you! I was doing a full power, full left climbing piroutte with my SWM EVO 50 and when I stopped the piro, all hell broke loose.

It made a loud buzzing noise, shook like crazy, tipped on its side and starting to piroutte again. I hit hold with the hopes of at least minimizing the carnage when it hit the ground. Somehow I got it hemmed up and on the ground in one piece with only bending the spindle. I took a step toward it and laying on the ground in front of me was a tail blade with the bolt still through it. Yup, it tossed a tail blade.

http://home.alltel.net/jshell01/tailgrip.jpg

I think that running the 17T Freya input pulley (speed up) and Freya tail blades is just too much for the stock grips. So I'll be going back to the stock 16T pulley. Total damage includes a bent tail rotor output shaft, broken tail case, broken tail servo mount, stripped 17T drive pulley, several teeth taken off drive belt, spindle, and of course a tail blade grip. Oh, and a permenantly stained pair of shorts! :WOW

[jhodges]

Hey Rob ... can't you use the Freya tail grips ?

[Hotshot Charlie]

Hey Rob,

Sounds like you made a nice save. Sorry for your woes with the tail. I feel your pain !

Congrats on the save !

[rob_jones]

... can't you use the Freya tail grips ?
I wish. You have to use the Freya hub and bearings as well. All the parts add up to about $80. It'd be easier and cheaper to just go back to the 16T pulley. :(

[Heli_Shuttler]

You didn't get it bad... My hole blade grip snaped... it was the metal one from Quick UK too... As i dont have the skill to react to such an event i stood there watching it fall.. got a boom strike, and going to cost me $200 to fix all..

[G MAN]

You should have used lighter carbon fiber blades. My new CCPM EVO 50 kit came with a set of MAH 90mm carbon fiber blades.

[rob_jones]

My hole blade grip snaped... it was the metal one from Quick UK too...
Damn, that's harsh! I guess it's a good thing I didn't "upgrade" to those metal grips. I've gone back to the 16T input pulley and so far, so good.

G MAN: Yeah, my HPM EVO has the MAH carbon blades and I also run a 17T pulley on that one. It's got a whole lot more flights on it without any trouble. So yes, using the carbon blades is probably the smart thing to do. BUT, I already had the 16T pulley and Freya blades. This incident cost me almost $100 and I didn't want to spend another $30 on tail blades. Besides, with the 16T pulley and Freya blades, the tail is just as strong and fast as the 17T with carbons.

[G MAN]

You mean the blue T/R blades that come with the EVO 50. they are shorter than the MAH blades,do they work good. i'm going to build mine stock and then make changes as i see that are needed to make it very responsive. I'll be using a JR 5000T gyro and a 8700 servo,i'm hoping the MAH blades will work with the 16 tooth gear.

[rob_jones]

Well, my HPM EVO has the MAH carbon blades that come with the US kits. I'm not sure what size they, but they're probably the same ones that you have. I also have the 17T input pulley on it (it's a Freya part). So far, there have been no tail problems with over 150 flights on this combo.

The SWM EVO has blue plastic Freya tail blades. The are not curved like the plastic Sceadu tail blades and are a lot longer and heavier than them. After about 50 flights with the 17T input pulley, a tail blade grip failed. I figure that the combination of a higher speed and the heavier blades caused the failure. Going back to the 16T pulley or lighter tail blades ought to prevent it from happening again. I decided to go with the 16T pulley so I wouldn't have to buy new tail blades.

[G MAN]

I have the new US SWM EVO kit,it came with the curved blue plastic blades and some 90mm MAH carbon blades. It also came with some fiberglass 600mm blades.
I will use the plastic T/R blades and the glass main blades to get it flying,and when all seems well i will switch to the MAH T/R blades and some good carbon Mains if the glass blades dont work good.

[Kinger]

Hey G Man, if you don't end up liking those glass main blades, shoot me a PM. Buddy of mine absolutely LOVES them and wouldn't mind picking up a second set.

[3Dgonnabe]

Same happened to me.... Tailslide into a left hand sideways loop- bang at 45 degrees of bank going like a train sideways - hit the hold but I think a pitch link popped off too as the cyclic did not respond and it was missing from the heap of wreckage..... :shock:

Big bill - including an 149DP......

I think I'll get the Freya tail parts.... Or maybe I'll just fly my Fury...... :D