Tail Pitch slider binding, new build

[Arcturus97]

I'm getting close to being complete on new build. One area that doesn't seem right is the tail pitch slider. It's quite tight on the tail shaft and gets stuck at either extreme. Binding seems to be in the tail pitch slider itself not in control linkages. I've put silicon grease and then later tri flow oil on the tail shaft; that helped some but not good enough. I have not tried it yet with a servo. Spinning the tail by hand seemed to make the slider move a little easier.

The way it is now I would imagine this would case a wag or worse a crash. Any tips out there?

[Discount_Bob]

You could run the heli up without main blades or tail grip assembly, holding a piece of steel wool to the shaft. This could help polish out an imperfection.

[brainhertz]

Check the tail pitch slider ring. I had one that was defictive in my kit and was causing binding. I replaced it and that solved the problem. Try taking out the shoulder screws that ride in the ring and see if the slider moves freely, then check if the pitch arm and control rod move freely. Also put the screws back in and see if rotating the slider ring affects the binding at all.

[Slyster]

make sure of what is causing the binding. I had one that bound pretty tight on one end of the shaft and I could have sworn it was the slider.. turns out it was locktite in one of the bearings!

[Arcturus97]

thanks for the tips, I'll try those soon

[aclysma]

When I had this problem 3 things solved it:
- apply some sandpaper to the shaft to ensure that it's smooth
- carefully check the slider itself for any flecks of metal that shouldn't be there
- make sure there is no loctite in the smooth cylindrical portion of the balls between the arm an slider. I was over tightening and getting loctite on the smooth part that should rotate freely and that caused most of my binding.

You should get nice smooth motion without any lubrication. Once it feels good, add lube and it will be glassy smooth.

[sansone]

Originally Posted by Discount_Bob

You could run the heli up without main blades or tail grip assembly, holding a piece of steel wool to the shaft. This could help polish out an imperfection.

I like this idea.
mine seemed tight until I ran without any blades, worked it back & forth, loosened up

[Arcturus97]

Following up a month later. I cured the binding. I did the steel wool on the the rotating tail shaft trick but that wasn't the root cause. As someone else suggested: One of the arms that goes from the slider to one of the tail blade grips was stiff. A think a little thread lock got onto the shouldered bolt. A touch of some fine sandpaper on the bolt shoulder and a light pass with a round needle file on the arm interior fixed it up nice. Very smooth now.

I'm finally ready for maiden flight tomorrow a couple months after starting this build.