blades loose?

[Rickedstyles]

Just curious if there is a reason these are coming with the blades that have gaps from being so loose? Is this the way they intend it to fly? I see some ppl saying vibes got worse when blades were snug?

[Finix]

I think this is a reasonable question to ask. Tightening the blades would stiffen the "system" and therefore increase resonant frequency. The deflection (peak to peak) would get smaller, but the resonant frequency would be higher. I think we would need the Blade design team to chime in here to answer this question. They recognize that there is a resonance that we need to get through on spool up, but the question is are we doing damage to the heli by raising the the resonant frequency. In the end, no matter what, operating at resonant frequencies do damage, so stay out of them. see Tacoma Bridge --->

YouTube

YouTube

[meatwad99si]

MY vibs are less when snugged up, I would definatly tighten up the tails, take some load off of the blade root so they dont fly off out of no where. Oh and my mains still move freely but they will hold a position if i move the heli, So tighter than how it comes but not to tight...

[litehawkdown]

Originally Posted by Finix

I think this is a reasonable question to ask. Tightening the blades would stiffen the "system" and therefore increase resonant frequency. The deflection (peak to peak) would get smaller, but the resonant frequency would be higher. I think we would need the Blade design team to chime in here to answer this question. They recognize that there is a resonance that we need to get through on spool up, but the question is are we doing damage to the heli by raising the the resonant frequency. In the end, no matter what, operating at resonant frequencies do damage, so stay out of them. see Tacoma Bridge ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBxQCvVykRE

The poor engineer that designed that bridge.

[ChrisG23]

I wouldn't fly with the blades or tail blades 'factory loose'. I have a theory that this leads to tail blades snapping.

[drdispatch]

Couldn't over tightening the tails make them more prone to exploding and/or hitting on our significant others while we're away?

[Rickedstyles]

Well I went ahead and took all the slop out but still loose they will fall wherever and no vibe problems..seemed a lot more solid feeling and maybe little less noise..so far only hovering in the house...also dont really seem to have the crazy tail vibes on spool up...did it once but most of the time I think im powering through it pretty quickly..hear a fast little bzzt and thats it...same way blades sloppy or just loose

[feralaero]

Originally Posted by Finix

I think this is a reasonable question to ask. Tightening the blades would stiffen the "system" and therefore increase resonant frequency. The deflection (peak to peak) would get smaller, but the resonant frequency would be higher. I think we would need the Blade design team to chime in here to answer this question. They recognize that there is a resonance that we need to get through on spool up, but the question is are we doing damage to the heli by raising the the resonant frequency. In the end, no matter what, operating at resonant frequencies do damage, so stay out of them. see Tacoma Bridge ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBxQCvVykRE

Tightening the blade grips does not stiffen the system in the way you're suggesting; you would need to add a spring to add stiffness and affect the natural frequency in that axis. But for that matter, even a spring wouldn't change the dominant frequencies of the rotor system as a whole, which will be at 2 per rev and multiples thereof (plus 1 per rev if you have an imbalance).

In any case, some friction or damping in the lead-lag axis is usually a good thing. It can prevent resonant interactions between the flapping and lead-lag modes. Too much friction or damping, and you'll pick up 1 per rev vibrations due to the blades taking too long to oppose one another after flapping changes (disc cg temporarily offset from the center of rotation).

I don't know the source of the peak on spool-up, but it could be a lead-lag issue (same thing can happen at full-scale). Or it could be as simple as a structural mode of the frame, in which case no amount of rotor tinkering is going to fix it. Just need to quickly power through it, as HH has suggested and full-scale pilots do

[Helistyle]

I snugged mine up alittle, not tight but tighter then right out of the box.

[feralaero]

Couldn't resist:

[aron115]

I have only taken mine out for three flights but so far I have not needed to tighten them up. Is there any reason why Horizon generally ships Blade Heli's with looser blades if there is the concern of them needing to be tighter?