flying tail blade

[kas4j]

Well, I started my newly built Titan yesterday. :) The TT 53 redline started great. Got my idols set. I had one intance were the motor was running backwards and I was so nervous that it took a minute to figure out what the heck was happening.:thinking I started spooling up the blades to near hover with no intentions of actually leaving the ground, just wanted to run a few tanks of fuel through the engine. I was standing about 15 ft behind it and about 5 minutes into running the enigne when one of the tail blades went flying up in the air.:shock: I lowered the thottle and killed the engine. When I looked at the tail I saw that the set screw snaped.:mad: I ordered the upgraded hub (pv0499) along with the aluminum sliders. I have read several post regarding hub failures and wonder if maybe the upgrade should be a standard?;)

[vandelescrow]

good thing you were on the ground or there would be alot more damage and I hope no one was injured. I know you are getting the upgraded hub, but I've read somewhere that one reason the standard hub breaks is people tightening the nut in the blade grip to tight. I'm not saying you did, just that is one of the causes.

PS. how do you put the smily faces and such in your post? what is the code?

[kas4j]

my father was watching but he was well away, so no one was injured. I dont think I had the grips to tight, but it's possible. they would stay in position when rotated, but slight resistance would make them fold over. How tight (or loose) should tail blades be? I have seen other post about the main blades but not the tail blades.

by the way, as i was taking off the other grip, the other set screw napped in the same place while i was backing off the lock nut. I had even made a full turn on it. When i first put them in i know without a doubt that I didn't over torque them. blue locktight and just enough to make it bite.

smilies are on the side bar of my message box. point and click and its there:)

[BarracudaHockey]

Usually its over torquing the grub screw into the hub, not the locknut that causes it and or smacking it in the grass or bumping it in the car or whatever.

Either way its a piece of crap and they should include the one piece hub in the kits IMO and this is coming from someone that likes my 4 Raptor 50s.

I had it happen about 100 feet up coming out of a 540 stall turn, near total loss so count your blessings.

[kas4j]

ouch!!
any suggestions on how tight to make the grips?

[ghtracey]

Sounds to me like you have them about right. I see a lot of the 450 owners have them set so that they fold under their own weight. Mine are just a little tighter than that.

[wolfejohne]

Get the pvo499 hub and the problem is solved. I would never use the stock hub, to many failures have been posted.

[SimonV6]

Yeah the PVO499 is far better, my std hub sheared while flying ending up with a bent Raptor :(

new hub seems far better and no problems so far :)

Simon

[robbin wilham]

hey now im concerned, im finishing on my 50se and using the stainless hub i threw the package away and dont remember the number,is the stainless the upgrade or is something else different,thanks

[SimonV6]

The PV0499 is the SS one piece hub.
if yours looks like this, then you should be ok :)

Simon

[robbin wilham]

hey, thanks alot thats the one i got, it doesnt have the black studs that can be removed, ive been thinking about getting alum. tail grips but i havent had any luck finding something that matches the TT alum. main head parts that i have,do you know if TT or mavrikk makes anything ,everything ive seen is colored and all my parts are silver,thanks

[kas4j]

check out quickuk.co.uk..... they have several dealers in the us..

[robbin wilham]

thanks ,you wouldnt happen to know anything about the alumi. TT collective/servo tray would you ,i cant get my servo to not bottom out the links and they dont come with directions,thanks

[kas4j]

Got my new tail rotor hub and alum slider today.:) I really like the new hub. It is one soild piece and fit like a glove.. i have alot more confidence in this one. :thumbup:

[vandelescrow]

I can't remember if mine are Maverik or Top Dragon but they are silver.

Also I noticed in an earlier post in this link that you used lock tight on the nuts. These are self locking nuts and do not need lock tight, In fact lock tight can damage the locking mechanism because it can eat away at plastics/rubber. The way to identify a locking nut is you will se a ring of blue plastic on the rounded side of the nut.

How tight to have the tail blades. At a fly-in about a year ago I was shown to have them loose enough to fall under there own weight. After a while of using this I did not like it because if one would stick in that possition and the rudder was not centered when I spooled up the engine, the blade would hit the tail boom. Probably wouldn't damage anything but I try to take as good a care of my tail blades as I do my main. Now I keep my tail blades just slightly tighter than falling on there own.

[kas4j]

i only used thread lock on the end of the set screw that goes into the hub, not the lock nut. sorry for any confusion. i set the tail blades just so they woudn't fall under their own weight. the new slider and hub are working great. now i'm having an issue with the tail drifting. it drifts very slowy ccw. i'm checking every thing from radio to mechaical linkages. i'm moving the servo to the back and using a carbon push rod. i dont like the guide rings and i think i may have just enough binding to cause some problems. weather sucks right now. 50's one day, 30's the next, but hopefully i can fly some this weekend.

[vandelescrow]

the heliproz web site has been down for a few days but for when it comes back up: they have a document for installing a carbon tail push rod with no drag. it entails putting teflon heat shrink on the rod where the rod goes through the guide.