Titanium

[Gr4yb3ard]

Speaking of who's been listening in....

If anyone is, I'd sure pay a few bucks for titanium spindles, mixer arms, and mainshafts.
For the 200 and the rest of my birds for that matter.

Sure it's expensive, and a pain to machine, but if you can weld a bicycle frame, or whittle a 2,000lb B-1 wing mount out of it, why are'nt we seeing mainshafts made out of this???

Sure it's the old sell the razor cheap and make bucks on the blades for the OEM's, but I can't see why the after-market has not picked up on supplying these simple shafts?

Lighter, stronger, more spring, perfect material for the application....

Gr4yb3ard
"....ah, heck, we don't even got carbon yet...:arggg:"

[Buzzkill]

It's as you said, the companies simply would lose money selling us new cheap, weak and inferior parts.

[small.planes]

As it happens stronger mixing arms are on my todo list. Ally not Ti though. I have ally, I dont have any Ti. Maybe I need to buy some?
Spindles? I assume you mean the feathering shaft? (Bit that joins the blade grips together).

You can see some of my work over on RCGroups, Im small.planes over there too. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=867459 is a tiny CP Im working on...

Dave

[stoatnchips]

Dave, thats great work!!! Looks like you'll have built your own CP 4#3 b4 Walkera release their version :thumbup: ....If you get the mixer arms sorted, put me down for a pair.

[Gr4yb3ard]

Yes,

Spindle = Feathering Shaft.

And I agree with Stoats (almost always).

Gr4yb3ard

[Buzzkill]

I'll take three pairs.

[Fudd]

As it happens stronger mixing arms are on my todo list. Ally not Ti though. I have ally, I dont have any Ti. Maybe I need to buy some?


Count me in for the mixer arms too. If you need titanium for this then pm me. I have a piece of aerospace grade plate 3.2mm thick and about 3 x 6 inches. I'll post it if you want to try it.

I've been into this hobby for about a year now and I still can't believe titanium is not more widely used. Not just on the 200 but all helis. Othmar at Micro Heli Tuning sells shafts for the Walkera 52 and thats the only titanium for any heli I have seen. I can understand the heli manufacturers wanting make money from the spares they sell but a company like K+T could make a heap of cash making ti parts for the Gaui or any other heli.

[small.planes]

Fudd:
Yes please, Ive sent you a PM.

Ive poked about, and Ti prices are not simply available form online suppliers. Ive asked for a few quotes, we'll see what comes back. If its not stupid expensive Ill see what I can do.

Dave

[Fudd]

PM sent.
You should take a look on ebay for titanium. 3al/2.5v is the aerospace grade stuff I think.
http://business.search.ebay.co.uk/titanium_Metalworking-Milling-Welding_W0QQfromZR34QQsacatZ11804

[small.planes]

Yeah, I had a poke about on ebay already, not much on there thats close enought to the right size without making a lot of swarf... (Ti swarf is not good, quite flammable)

IIRC 6AL 4V (ASTM grade 5?) is common aerospace (and most other things...) Ti, I think 3AL2.5V is usually used in bike frames. The differences are negligable for parts of this size on a heli this small (If we get near UTS then its crashed anyway...)

Ive got m1.4 cap head bolts in A4 (IIRC) stainless, so that part is easy anyway :lol:

Dave

[Fudd]

You're probably right about the grades. I've been riding mountain bikes for almost 20 years and I knew it was one or the other. I guessed wrong :DOH
The piece I'm sending you I picked up a few years ago when I worked for Bombardier aerospace. It should be a bit stronger than the metallic looking cheese that gaui use for the arms.

[Gr4yb3ard]

....

The actual spec is M-7422 Tempered String Cheese, this is also used for the grip bolts and mainshaft... ;-)