My pins just wanna come out.

[genovia]

Hi Gang,

While flying two successful tank in FF with minor aerobatics. Roll, loop, 540 turns, flips and practicing low alt. nose in hovering drills. Basic newbie stunts. I was happy went home with a big smile:D

Earlier, I discovered while cleaning my Raptor .50V2, that one of the washout pin came off while I transferred the Raptor from one table to the other and the other pin on the opposite washout link, is about to fall out:eek: ...

Man, I was really shocked and started sweating, thinking about danger that I could of gotten myself into.:(

To avoid this from happening how do I correct this and prevent the pins from coming out in the future? The manual it doesn't talk about gluing these pins in and I think it's best to glue them in place. Before I proceed, how do you guys keep your washout pin in place?

[ImRich]

Hi Genovia,

I noticed when I was building my R50V2 that one of the pins for the washout arms installed with very little friction as compared to the other. This concerned me greatly!

I contacted thunder tiger (ACE) and ordered a replacement washout assembly.

When the replacement arrived, I found that the new one had one pin which also went in with very little friction.

I ended up using the two arms which had the greatest friction when installing the pins.

I have heard of people trying to use some CA to secure the pins. I felt that this was a work around. I believe they said that they would drill a very small pin hole in the center portion and then add a tiny amount of CA there to hold the pin.

Others have gone to the metal 'upgrade' washout assembly which has captured pins.

The best thing is to check these pins (and the ones on the tail rotor) before and after each flight during your normal safety checks.

Can you check your pins and see if one slides in easily and the other with more friction and let us know what you find?

I find it very curious that the two that I received both had the same issue.

[tauscnc]

Hey Genovia,

Glad to hear your raptor did not meet mother earth! After reading about this on these forums I went ahead and glued all of my pins in as I was building the heli. No probs yet and going on around 80 flights.

I used a very small drill bit, .75mm one and drilled the hole in the center of each piece; washout, elevator, and tailrotor. I then cleaned the pins using denatured alcohol and tried to roughen the middle of the pins. I put the pins into, say the washout, and then used a pin (a sewing pin) to direct thin CA into the hole. Capillary actions will suck the CA in and your done. So far so good for me.

taus
www.cuttingedgecnc.com

[blakka_1]

Same here. I have glued all my pins in, so far so good. :)

[johndale]

The best way to fix the pin is take a hammer and hit the pin lightly like a nail and it will put a little flair on both ends.

[PowerGrunt]

If you know anyone that has a Lathe you can also make longer pins and lathe a groove at each end, then you can use a small E clip at each end to hold the pin in:wink:

Cheers Pete

[wattybotts]

Not too sure, but it looks like the pins on the Raptor 60/90 tail assembly are the same diameter and size as the wash out pins for the Raptor 50. The good thing about the tail rotor pins is that they have little e- clips on each side to hold them in place.

Might be worth taking a look at for a cheap fix.

Bob

[blakka_1]

Yes Bobs correct, e-clips are the best way to go. Peace of mind. :)