How hot is your pinion?

[uragano47812]

How hot is your pinion? I'm flyng with my L5003D vbar with 1910H/1Y and jazz 80A (modded).

Here in Italy is a lot hot (35°C), but i see that the hottest part of my heli is the pinion.

There is a way to put down the temp? Gear mesh or using Triflow or silicon spray on it

Any idea?

P.S. My gear mesh is not too much tight i checked it.

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

I use silicon spray on mine.... it helps.

[uragano47812]

I use silicon spray on mine.... it helps.

Hey Jeremy on each flight?

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

I was spraying it every 5 flights or so.... I bought R/C car Shock Oil today and will start using it. It's silicon and can be rubbed on with a rag. Should stay on longer due to it being thicker and less messy.

[Eyon]

mine gets hot, so does the counter bearing. i think the heat from the motor doesnt help

never really bothered doing anything about it, just agreed it was hot and carried on flying!

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

I can't take credit for the silicon spray trick..... MrMel is the owner of that one.

[uragano47812]

I will try with silicon spray.

thanks

[ShuNut]

I was spraying it every 5 flights or so.... I bought R/C car Shock Oil today and will start using it. It's silicon and can be rubbed on with a rag. Should stay on longer due to it being thicker and less messy.
Now whats funny about that is i just got done lubing my belt with R/C car Shock Oil, spun the blades around for a while to work it in then i noticed some oil had got onto the main gear, and at 1st i thought oh it wont hurt, then after thought " oh what if to much get on the pinion and causes some slipping and strips the gear........ so i just spent ages wiping the oil off the main gear then came and read this :DOH :oops:.


mine gets hot, so does the counter bearing. i think the heat from the motor doesnt help.........!
Isn't the motor the sole cause of the heated pinions ?

[helicraze]

I would think that the heat developed from friction would be minimal (as there is meant to be basicaly zero backlash and not forced against the main gear), most of the heat would be from the motor itself.

[Jaso]

I would have said if the greatest souce of heat was from the motor itself than that would be the hotest part , not the pinion when checked with a non contact thermometer ?
So if the pinion reads a higher temp when checked doesn't that in it self suggest that the hotter part is generating heat itself ? , ie the pinion to main gear contact ?

[rscamp]

There are two issues with using non-contact (IR) thermometers:

1. They have a spot size that expands with distance. Measuring the temperature of a small item accurately may be impossible if the thermometer is too far away or the spot is too large to start with.

2. They are only really calibrated for black (or near black) body radiation. Measuring the temperature of a shiny surface will be very inaccurate. Try measuring the temperature of a shiny pop can in your fridge and you'll see what I mean. The cheap and dirty way to get a more accurate temperature is to stick a piece of masking tape on the surface. This would be tricky on a pinion!

Rob

[helicraze]

So is it hotter??? Remember the outer case may be cooler but the pinion is attached on the main shaft which is the centre of the heat.
The main gear/pinion may be too tight

[th3tick]

Originally on my 500, I had the mesh too tight, and it led to a hot pinion. I backed off, leaving the tiniest noticeable bit of backlash, and the heat problem went away.

John

[billyd]

I agree with th3tick even though Mikado suggests no backlash, I think a fraction of a mm of backlash is a good thing for the wear on the motor bearings as well as the gearing. it would be all but impossible to establish "0" backlash without having a situation where you would have a very tight spot somewhere on the circumference leading to premature bearing wear and overheated gears.

I also believe that leaving the tail drive belt on the loose side of tight is better than too tight. I found by leaving the tail belt a little loose, it allows the drive system to operate with very little friction, leading to a much more efficient power transfer from the motor and longer flight times. Significantly cooler running as well. I experimented with different levels of belt tightness and found that you can leave the belt pretty loose and not have any problems at all. But too tight causes all kinds of issues from hot running motors, worn out bearing and belts and short flight times. The flight times were significantly lower with a tight belt, on the order of a couple of minutes!

[helicraze]

Thats what i think too, a fraction is good, the main gear is never 100% round, mine has some spots on the main gear with no backlash, then in other spots a fraction of backlash.
It will make your bearings last longer

[Taipan]

I would say the heat comes mostly from the motor and set my mesh with no backlash on the highest spot. I don't use extremely powerful motors so not worried about stripping main gears from too much backlash.

As for the belt, I tighten mine so that when I press on the belt inbetween the drive and idler pulleys it only depresses about 1/8" or 3mm. Not exactly on the loose side but I had a belt slip from under the back idler pulley & off the tail pulley. Lost the tail & crashed as a result. I've replaced that idler pulley with 3x 8mm bearings for a total of 12mm wide which should stop it from slipping off again. But also think too loose a belt makes it easier to slip as well so I run them a bit tighter.

[Eyon]

my reccomendation is, if you are flying real hard, with a high power motor, jam that gear in!! and if you like to piro and switch piro, pull the belt as hard as possible!!

this is how i set mine up, and it is obvious the belt stretches in flight (especially when i hit the tail on the ground), and the gearing seems fine

Ian

[WillJames]

Shine up (polish) the pinion can also help. Sure did on the Ion-X machines.

[helicraze]

FYI i checked my pinion temp today with my finger it is was a little hotter than the motor.

But at the same time i flew my E620SE (straight gears with traditional backlash) and that also felt like it had the same temp increase as the herringbone gears.
So unless you mikado gear mesh is too tight the temp is really not an issue.