Very quiet tick..tick..tick..tick sound comes and goes on 600SE

[3D Dave]

Well, I had the tail case slip today. It was the end of the flight and all of a sudden it lost some power. I could hear something funny (not the tick) and a post landing inspection showed that the tail case moved about 1/4 inch.

Once I moved it back and re-tightened, the tick-tick-tick was back

I did verify that my belt was riding in the center of the pulley but I might flip it just for the heck of it. The words imprinted on the belt are upside down anyway.

@ Zipper it, I have not played with the belt tension but it's about where I think it should be. Maybe I will try a little looser.

@ Adam, I don't hear the ticking when turning the blades by hand. Only when hovering in flight. As soon as I go into FFF, I don't hear any.

[Mentalic]

Originally Posted by 3D Dave

Well, I had the tail case slip today. It was the end of the flight and all of a sudden it lost some power. I could hear something funny (not the tick) and a post landing inspection showed that the tail case moved about 1/4 inch.

Once I moved it back and re-tightened, the tick-tick-tick was back

I did verify that my belt was riding in the center of the pulley but I might flip it just for the heck of it. The words imprinted on the belt are upside down anyway.

@ Zipper it, I have not played with the belt tension but it's about where I think it should be. Maybe I will try a little looser.

@ Adam, I don't hear the ticking when turning the blades by hand. Only when hovering in flight. As soon as I go into FFF, I don't hear any.

The case needs to be tight, I've had them slip forward or sometimes just twist. Its a good idea to pin the boom in the frame if you have not.

For my Logos the ticking is one of two things, lube the belt with silicone oil/graphite slurry. OR its the little bearing riding on the belt on top of the tail shaft sheave. You can easily test the tail bearing when the blades are spinning down by just touching the top of the bearing to stop if from spinning. Don't matter if its a new bearing or not, somehow the balls click around in that thing and make a racket.

[kfactor]

I have about 30 to 40 flights on my logo 600 and my heli just started doing the tick it drives me nuts lol

[3D Dave]

Thanks Wayne.

I have the boom pinned in the frame using the grounding screw. It's not pinned at the tail-case yet so that will be next.

I don't think it's the idler bearing riding on the belt and I'll have to remove it to try it. When I spool up on the bench (no blades) there is no ticking at all.

I only get ticking when hovering.

If I try silicone oil, what kind would you recommend?

[Mentalic]

I have plenty of RC car silicone shock oil so thats what I use, the powdered graphite is for lubing locks.

Never have pinned the tail box or thought I needed too.

[gravydrive]

Pinning the boom isn't as important as it can be on a torque tube heli. The belt is essentially holding the entire tail assembly together, whereas a torque tube doesn't have that same positive pressure.

[3D Dave]

Ok, well pinning the boom in the frame is only going to keep it from twisting as there's a stop bracket inside the 600 and 600SE frame that keeps it from pushing out the front (unlike the Logo 500 as that's where the tension is adjusted).

I think I'll leave the tail box alone for now.

Interestingly, I don't think I heard that tick on the flight right before the tail case slipped. That tells me the tail case probably slipped just a tad (taking tension off the belt) but not enough for the belt to slip.

The next time it slipped even further, I knew it.

I do have a new belt to try (my friend's SE hit took a little hit) but his belt is ok so I might try the new one in my SE.

[mikejr718]

Here are some things to try.

If you live where its hot out now(100 degrees every day for me lately) put the heli outside and let it get up to outside temp(the boom needs a chance to expand and tension the belt) Better yet do this outside so the heli can stay hot and belt tension will be constant.

Set the heli on a bench in front of you where you can spin the blades freely by hand( Do not power up the heli) Spin the blades and watch the left side of the heli, Watch the belt as it comes out of the back of the heli and begins to wrap around the auto rotation pulley, See if the belt is riding in the center of the pulley. I have seen quite a few logos where the belt would rub the bottom of the lip on the pulley, each time a tooth on the belt started around the pulley it would hang momentarily on the the lip before popping into place on the pulley. This will make a ticking sound. Loosening the belt can quiet the noise down, but as soon as it is tightened again the ticking noise will return. Sometimes the noise only happens after flying the first flight at the field if its hot out(hot weather makes the boom expand and the belt gets really tight making the noise worse) Silicone spray can sometimes quiet it down but only for a flight or two.

I have found two things that help quiet this down.

Add an extra spacer between the main gear hub and the lower main shaft bearing. This will move the pulley down some and help the belt line up better.

Put some silicone grease grease on the bottom edge of the belt while spinning the blades on the bench. Specifically on the lower edge of the belt as it goes onto the auto rotation gear. I use a small screwdriver to dab it on as I spin the blades by hand on the bench, I touch the bottom edge of the belt with the grease covered screwdriver about every 1/2 inch or so. I use "shin et su" grease for this. Its a great all around silicone grease. It is available at Honda automobile dealers parts dept. It is the only grease Honda approves for use on weatherstrips. Its about $45 for a toothpaste sized tube. Works great on dampers too, it wont harm rubber or plastic and stays put really well.( I work at at a Honda store)

Also be aware in the hot summer weather that tail booms lengthen quite a bit in the heat. If you set the tension in your air conditioned house then go outside to fly in 100 degree weather the belt will be banjo string tight. Save your belt and bearings by putting the heli out in the sun for a while then setting belt tension, just realize it will be really loose when inside in the ac.

I hope I haven't been to long winded in this reply but I had a similar noise and spent a lot of time trying to figure it out.

[el guapo]

the logo tail is really hard to build right.

I use shim washers on the idler bearing. my experience but, if you don't tighten it, the bearing will rattle. but if you tighten it, it will pinch the hub. and your tail bearings won't spin freely.

I build the complete tail without the belt and even attached it to the boom. tighten everything down, and then spin the tail(with grips and tail blades), it should spin freely, for a long time. if it don't spin.... I shim, file, measure and repeat. I literally assembled the tail 10 times on my last build to get it right.

PS the bearings have to be glued in to the carbon.

[Adam F]

Surprisingly I ignored my tick tick and after about five flights the tick tick was gone . Whether this is only temporally and the tick tick will be back ,i don't now but what we say in Trinidad ,'don't trouble what don't trouble you " . If it comes back I will try some silicone .