500 Tail Blade Advice

[Funflyer]

As promised in my other thread, here is the first of many more questions I'm sure I'll have as a new Logo owner.

Here's my setup: Logo 500, Tango 45-10, Rotortech 560's, 9452's, GY401+9254

I need some good advice for tail blade selection because I'm only running a 401 gyro and 560 main blades on top of that. After doing a quick search I know I probably don't want K&B tail blades because of some flexing. It seems like the Rotortech 92's and Radix 92 or 95's are some of the more popular choices, but I'm open to anything. What do you guys think would make the most stable tail with the 401 gyro?

[BobbySmith]

Hi not sure what you mean on the K&B tail blades flexing i fly them on all my machines
The 560 RT and the K&B 85 mm tails blades are a perfect match along wiht the 401

I beat on my 500 pretty hard and i have never seen any kind of flexing


Bobby

[zguy]

No problems here w/ the K&B's and good visibility too!

[Funflyer]

In another thread some people experienced tail oscillations or vibrations when using the K&B blades, most likely from the blades flexing under heavy load. One example was a hard stop from a fast piro and the tail had some osciallation. When I get home I'll see if I can find the thread and post a link here.

But thanks for the replys guys, maybe it isn't as bad as I thought. I love the K&B's on my 450 but was a little affraid to try them on the big Logo with 560 blades and the 401.

[jamesotron99]

I have the K&B 85's on my Logo 500 and my 600. On the 500 they are really great and give fantastic authority. Seriously, for the price you can't beat them.

[Funflyer]

Here's one comment from Mercuriell:
"Funny I've been chasing an intermittent oscillation of the tail rotor for a few weeks on the 500 - changed tail servo - belt - did a tail grip flip - changed belt and tail casing - changed gyro to the V-Stabi system - improved - and blow me, saw exactly what Ausant was describing the left boom strut vibrating away like a string on a double bass - changed the hor stab mount for a QUK one (Hirobo) and lost the KB blades and now it's gone - seemed like the tail blades flexing set up a resonance in the strut - only apparent at higher HS"

And here is the thread I was referring to earlier.
http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=59068&highlight=500+tail+blades

It sounds like it's really only a problem when pushing the heli hard, but I'll be running the CC80 governor (pretty decent I think, but no Jazz) with 560 mains and the 401.

On my Rex450 I can't seem to find the sweet spot with the 401 gyro gain. Granted I'm running the old 430l without a governor and the motor bogs like crazy from my terrible stick management, but it has me wary about not giving the 401 the best possible chance for stable control. I want to give the 401 the best tail blades I can. If that still turns out to be the K&B I'm fine with that.

So some of the other veterans please keep the advice coming. :hug:

[BruceW]

It really depends on your flying and what you expect out of the helicopter. As mentioned in the thread, the K&B work well for most flying and if your putting the helicopter down in the tall grass/gravel the K&Bs are going to come out better and cheaper to replace.

It looks like I never went back to that thread and reported the actual flying difference but I noticed that tight inverted tail-down funnels are smoother with the Rotortechs as well as spinning stall turns but FF, FFF, flips/rolls/tic-tocs are about the same between the two. Another thing I've done is dropped the acceleration/deceleration settings on my Spartan DS760 which should be easier on the tail in hard starts and stops. Maybe I'll throw the K&Bs back on and see what that does.

For the price you should get a set of K&Bs and try them out, they are better than the stock ones and if you really insist on flying CF tail blades these will make a great backup.

[Funflyer]

Ok so a set of K&B's for backup, but what size carbons should I get. The bigger the better for more stability?

[BruceW]

If you go too big, your going to be scraping them on the ground and CF won't do well. 85-95mm would probably be best but some have a wider chord than others.

Just my opinion but... (and not in any order)
Radix 92
Vblades 95
Rotortech 92
K&B 85

What type of flying do you do (simple FF/hover, moderate 3D, hard 3D)? That should help clarify your needs.

[OICU812]

Ok so a set of K&B's for backup, but what size carbons should I get. The bigger the better for more stability?


I like the MAH 90mm and the Radix 92mm work good as well.

[Mercuriell]

My K&Bs definitely do oscillate on sudden stops on the L600 and the L500 - I love their durability and colour though so put up with that but did have to lose them on the L500 due to the strut resonance quoted above - this was probably idiosynchratic to that particular heli. I tried some ALign's 92 white CFs and they worked well but am using the supplied Mikado plastics now and they seem OK

[Funflyer]

My flying is currently only mild 3D but one of the main reasons I got this heli is so I can fly in more wind. I fly in quite a bit of gusty wind which keeps the Rex grounded a lot.

So it sounds like there isn't really a strong preference for any particular tail blade (except for K&B's because of price and durability). And any 92-95mm carbon blades will do fine.

[helicraze]

I use GCT 80MM tail rotors (wide chord) on my 500, they are carbon very stiff and give a bit more clearance being shorter.

[xrbcoronalogoflyer]

on my two, older stretched logo 10 and 10-3d w/ 550 blades, the stock mik2461 for logo14/20 ($7.95) works fine...ken