MT wood blade preparation...

[tomra]

Hi.

Work has it´s way slowing down my progress on finishing my first "real" heli. Anyway, time for me to prepare my woodblades. Manual says to use a felt tip marker around the bladegrips and then cut them 1mm on the inside of the markings. I assume the plastic covering is supposed to go under the grip or rest on the outside (1mm).

What did you guys do? Cut the plastic on the outside of the grip or cut them so that a "lip" of the plastic covering resides under the blade grips?

Also, is it possible to fly without the plastic covering removed althoghter?

Thank you for any assistance!

[Jim T]

Hi.

Work has it´s way slowing down my progress on finishing my first "real" heli. Anyway, time for me to prepare my woodblades. Manual says to use a felt tip marker around the bladegrips and then cut them 1mm on the inside of the markings. I assume the plastic covering is supposed to go under the grip or rest on the outside (1mm).

What did you guys do? Cut the plastic on the outside of the grip or cut them so that a "lip" of the plastic covering resides under the blade grips?

Also, is it possible to fly without the plastic covering removed althoghter?

Thank you for any assistance!

The plastic goes 1 mm under the grip. Then the grips should be epoxied onto the bare wood of the blade (that's why you remove the plastic under the grip). Don't skip this step.

Jim

[liaan]

Personnaly i cut them just smaller than the "blade grip" and glue blade grip on top of plastic lip.

you have to glue them on to make sure they don't break in flight and glueing on plastic cover NOT good idea.. also make sure you sand the plastic "grips" a bit so that the glue have something to "attach" to

L:

[tomra]

Gotta love this forum!

Thank you so much for the speedy useful help :-)

[Cym]

I have Align Pro Woodies & there is NO plastic covering on the blades, just paint. Can I just rough it up a bit with sand paper the plastic grips & the woodies then CA it?
Thanks
BD (Big Dummy) :)

[liaan]

actually i don't know... there no instructions with the blades..... ;-(
i'm flying mine without... but have not gone above 80 % throttle with them yet...

maybe post on trex forum

L:

[Cym]

UNBELIEVEABLE!!! Put Align Pro Woodies on my MT 325SE after I did this---removed the woody grips & sanded the GLOSS OFF where the grips contacted (painted area). Then I CA that area & reassembled the grips. Puting on the blades was tight with the plastic spacer of the SE, but a little bit of seliva slipped them on, they were tight. Mounted them with the bolt & nut, snug, but still farely tighy but OK,ON with the test flight.
It was amazing the heli was lack of vibration during spin up & spin down, which was prevalant with the CF blades(vibration) the ones supplied with the kit.
I'm a neewbe but I think I learned something I HOPE.
Go ahead guys shoot me down. :)

[dynodude]

Guys, find something more useful to use the stock wood blades for, like stirring paint or teaching your dog to fetch. Seriously, those are horrible blades. You will gain something like a minute of flight time, and your heli will be more responsive by switching to the Pro woodies. Not to mention, you don't have to screw around with cutting and glueing on the Aligns, and they're cheaper. Check aroun, this has been well covered.:DH

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

Guys, find something more useful to use the stock wood blades for, like stirring paint or teaching your dog to fetch. Seriously, those are horrible blades. You will gain something like a minute of flight time, and your heli will be more responsive by switching to the Pro woodies. Not to mention, you don't have to screw around with cutting and glueing on the Aligns, and they're cheaper. Check aroun, this has been well covered.:DH
:noteworthy I just didn't feel like rehashing an old subject. TT blades SUCK! Buy some Align 325 woodies or Carbons.

[liaan]

I would agree that the TT blades are bad.. but when you learning they more than fine.. very stable, no tracking issues and they free with the kit.

i only upgrade my TT blades after 100 flights... was one of those luckey people that only replaced blades once... now i sit with the tracking issues ;-(

my 2 cents ;-)

[dynodude]

I've used Align Pro Woods, Align CF's, RC TEC CF's, fiberglass, and no name woods and CF's, on both stock and full metal heads, with old and new style dampners and grips, with plastic and metal mixing arms and have never had a problem with tracking once it was set. Personally, I think half of the tracking issues that people experience are due to operator error, and not an inherent flaw with the heli or its design. Just my 2.

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

I had tracking issues forever and wasn't until I got rid of the plastic upper mixing levers and gen 1 bladegrips that my tracking issues left.

[liaan]

mine is stupid.. perfect after takeoff and normal hover.
do some hard turns.. tracking off by 1-2 blade thickness... land, spool down, take off, and fine.
mine just to must play in the head i think, busy replaceing ball links etc.. got about 100 flights on them now.. getting worn out

my 3 cents ;-)

[tomra]

Got them finished today. Manual suggested using CA or epoxy. I went with CA, somehow i believe epoxy is a better alternative. Got a spare set in the drawer, i´ll epoxy those.

Can anyone recommend a good set of GF/CF blades for the Mini? Preferably something that will need no modification other than spacers. Does the bolt hole dia differ from Align´s T-Rex 450?

[dynodude]

RC TEC has a very nice set of CF's and GF's and they are'nt very expensive. I use the CF's on both of my MT's. Also, HeliDirect has a very good selection of blades in wood, CF and GF. Any are an improvement over the stock blades. You might also want to try a set of K&B Dream Design tail blades. They are as good as stock, half the price, and come in really cool colors. And yes, the hole is the same size, and you will need spacers.