Taking the plunge with ONE question.

[Deron Douglas]

Well I've decided to take the plunge and start my turbine heli project. I'm going to start with a Wren MW-54 turbine kit and 2nd stage gear box. For various reasons I've decided to built a predator 90 around the turbine rather than get the EXCELLENT Bergen Intrepid as I had originally planned.

Reasons? The main one is I can draw the project out over 2 years and spend smaller amounts of money at a time. The biggest outlay of cash will be the turbine. Once built and tested on a test platform I can start building the air frame sometime in the start of 2009. (I have a T600 and two T450s to keep me flying).


Why WREN, from what research I've done I feel that this is the best turbine for a helicopter out there. PLUS.... I've emailed with Sara over the last week or so and she has been GREAT. Customer support is important to me. And she provided quick and clear answers to my sometimes stupid questions!

So, I'm sure I'll be bugging everyone here with my stupid questions. I've built 3 electric heli to date. So I'm pretty good with construction and setup. But have no experience with gas or turbine helis.

To start things going. I have a question:

How does the drive shaft from the Wren gearbox attach to the clutch and thus the main shaft of the predator? I'm guessing the same as a gas engine?

Thanks! :banana

[rkeith2]

Hard to beat two companies in customer "satisfaction" here in our way of life Wren and Bergen.

The MW54 is a well built piece of machinery that you will enjoy building and operating and the gearbox at 90 degrees is directly tunnel attached to the power (2nd stage). By placing a fan and clutch assy directly on the output shaft or a drive off it is a possibility.

I have been pleased with my Bergen(s)

Enjoy ....


Ron

[Deron Douglas]

Hard to beat two companies in customer "satisfaction" here in our way of life Wren and Bergen.

The MW54 is a well built piece of machinery that you will enjoy building and operating and the gearbox at 90 degrees is directly tunnel attached to the power (2nd stage). By placing a fan and clutch assy directly on the output shaft or a drive off it is a possibility.

I have been pleased with my Bergen(s)

Enjoy ....


Ron

Hi Ron,
Thanks. From what I could see Wren is the best. When I'm spending that kind of money I like to make sure I'm able to talk with the person I'm giving the money too :-) Especially when I have no idea what I'm doing. I would have liked to go with the Bergen, but at this time I won't have been able to pull it off. I expect to be spending as much as a Bergen, but I'll just do it in smaller chunks. Plus I like fiddling... I plan on building the gas generator (turbine) myself so I can do all the maintenance myself ... plus I may build the turbine sub-frame myself (or maybe not, not sure yet). But in the end. I'm in no rush to get this done. For me, I just enjoy building the Heli and working out the mechanical problems. Flying is actually second to this... I know. Sounds strange.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I was pretty sure that that was the way it would work. With a top end rpm of 1450 (I think) from the gear box. Attaching the fan and clutch as you would a gas engine makes sense.