Tail rotor blades

[Will_o_Wisp]

Hi,

I'm just wondering if the tail rotor blades are supposed to be "loose" enough for centrifugal force to make them straight and in line, as is the case with the main rotor blades. Or are you supposed to tighten them in the right position yourself?

Thanks!

[mjdee14]

I little loose is OK, just not flopping down, and no don't tighten them too tight into position they have to be able to move under force.

Just tighten them enough they dont fall by themselves.....

[Drew816]

What about the main blades? I get different opinions on this at the LHS's I visit. I left them more loose in the beginning, was told to tighten them up and I found the helo struggling on initial spin up to throw them out straight so I've backed them off just a bit.

So tight enough to fold them back and to take a 'little force' to move them, or tighten them until the metal screams and wood crunches and then back them off a 1/8th of a turn? Ok, maybe not THAT much but you get my point...

Tail blades, I agree, loose enough to move by hand but not to fall on their own. I need to take a pic, I just installed one ORANGE K&B and one Black so with the combo you can see the tail-rotor but it's not totally in your face while spinning. The full White, Yellow, Green or Orange 'disk' that gets created is distracting to me, the combination cuts the intensity down by get this, ahh, 50% and that works for me! Looks funky too, makes the 'non-flyers' REALLY wonder what you're up too.

[mysticmead]

main blades.. tighten them until they are snug enough to NOT fall under their own weight when the heli is held sideways.. now.. does that mean crank it down until you hear wood crushing or metal straining.. no

[mjdee14]

I agree with Mystic, but If you get the "Chicken Dance" on spool up or down...try tightening a little more. I run mine fairly snug, but I can still move them to fold..and crunching or straining metal.

I also started practicing autos...andyou don't want the blades getting out od balance when the power is abruptly shut down....so a little tighter is better for autos.

[kahn10]

quick word of warning for anyone who hasn't yet encountered the joy that is the chicken dance :dance if it starts to happen when your spooling down and if you can do it SAFELY DON'T LOWER YOUR REVS ANYMORE duh caps lock reach over the whirling blades of death rest your finger gently on the head button then spool down.kinda helps if you grow another arm or alternatively have someone else handle the transmitter(or depending how much you like them put them beside the blades) and throttle slowly down.the results of a full blown chicken dance can be fowl :arggg:

[mysticmead]

ok... a chicken dance isn't the wobble of a heli trying to get blades under control. a chicken dance is a heli flopping on the ground like a chicken with its head cutoff. if you get the wobbles while spinning down, then you have the blades to loose.

[kahn10]

:noteworthy.....my mistake.ok the polka which is the warm up for the chicken dance. pretty much what happens if you get the big blade wobble then dump the throttle.the lagging blade can hit the boom and then the music changes

[mjdee14]

ok... a chicken dance isn't the wobble of a heli trying to get blades under control. a chicken dance is a heli flopping on the ground like a chicken with its head cutoff. if you get the wobbles while spinning down, then you have the blades to loose.

Maybe there are different versions of the "chicken Dance"....my ECO used to do it terribley...and once I tightenend the blades (more than I thought they should have) the dance stopped....as I understand one blade moves more in the blade holder than the other and it throws the whole heli way off balance and it dances on the ground like a Chicken...