Squeaking and slapping

[jhheli]

Originally Posted by SynergyAero

Ok so it sounds like the squeaking is normal, considering I only have a couple flights on it so far. Plus when I turn the head very slow by hand, I can hear the squeak turn in to a creaking sound just like when you try to slowly open a squeaky door! And that sound is coming right fom where the two gears mesh.

But apparently I'm the only one with a belt slapping issue

I set the tension like in the video, then added a tiny bit more tension, but that didn't seem to help much. It will be running really smooth, then out of the blue ill hear a cracking sound from the boom area. Almost like the drivetrain got caught up or a split second and caused the belt to snap against the boom.

Perhaps this has to do with the breaking in of the gears? Any other ideas?

Will see if it goes away as the gears break in.


Cris

The creeking sound you hear have you taken apart the drive train to see where it is coming from, maybe it is the gear connected to the motor pulley Z60, just try taking things off one at a time and spin the gears, motor and main blades after you take something off to narrow it down.

Take a pic if you can of the belt tensioner, also temps can change your tension also so if it is cool in the house and when you go fly it is a 30 degree difference you will notice the tension might change a little so I would leave the heli outside for about 15min and tension the belt in the weather you will be flying in.

[scoti333]

I'm noticing a 'pinging' sound as well noticeably during fast stationary piro's. I think normally this is the slapping of the belt in an aluminum boom, but this boom is CF and I assume it would not produce this noise? Everyone, including myself, here at the field is clueless as to the cause of the noise. Maybe the tensioner is flexing out and back when force is applied to the belt from the load on the tail blades during fast piros?

[justindewoody]

Many of us, myself included, are having weird sounds and creaks and moans and groans. If you have triple checked everything, and everything seems right, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just fly the damn thing. Make sure your tail belt is not too loose. If it's slapping up against the inside of the boom or your tail servo case, it might be causing some of this noise. Good luck.

[McCollister911]

Other than the unconventional sounds it makes this thing flies fine. I've checked it over after every flight and nothing has changed that I see. I'll just keep flying it like it is. I did notice that a spare 24 tooth pinion I bought has the flange on one side not perfectly level and can see a hair of daylight between the gear and flange. The other side is fine but I won't be chancing this one

[justindewoody]

I noticed on my 26 tooth tail pulley that they flanges are not installed completely square. As it turns, you can see the 2 flanges move in and out. They are not 100% perpendicular to the axis of rotation. They really need to improve the design process for these pulleys.

[jhheli]

Originally Posted by scoti333

I'm noticing a 'pinging' sound as well noticeably during fast stationary piro's. I think normally this is the slapping of the belt in an aluminum boom, but this boom is CF and I assume it would not produce this noise? Everyone, including myself, here at the field is clueless as to the cause of the noise. Maybe the tensioner is flexing out and back when force is applied to the belt from the load on the tail blades during fast piros?

Just do a short flight without the canopy on, and try some slow pitch pumps or turning the tail left to right and you will see the tail belt tensioner is moving a lot, its like taking a rubber band and flicking it with different tensions it will make a different sound.

[OnTheSnap]

Originally Posted by scoti333

I'm noticing a 'pinging' sound as well noticeably during fast stationary piro's. I think normally this is the slapping of the belt in an aluminum boom, but this boom is CF and I assume it would not produce this noise? Everyone, including myself, here at the field is clueless as to the cause of the noise. Maybe the tensioner is flexing out and back when force is applied to the belt from the load on the tail blades during fast piros?

I get this too more often in sideways nose in loops or high speed funnels. I'm pretty sure it's the tensioner hitting the canopy caused by tail load changes.

[s0laris]

I get some belt slapping when I do aileron tic tocs.

I cannot get my tensioner to go 90degrees. It locks in at 45. I guess I will tighten belt a bit more then.

[gww528]

Originally Posted by s0laris

I get some belt slapping when I do aileron tic tocs.

I cannot get my tensioner to go 90degrees. It locks in at 45. I guess I will tighten belt a bit more then.

The tensioner should be around 270 degrees.

[MikelG]

I have the exact same creaking sound, but I'm 100% certain it's coming from the motor belt. How do I know? Simple, when you turn the motor backwards (ie not allowing the blades to spin), I can hear the creaking. Nothing else is turning but the motor and the motor belt.

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong at all, but I would definitely like to know what to use to lube the belts to prevent any future problems.

[Tmiedema4]

Silicon spray on belts

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

[s0laris]

silicon on BOTH belts ?

[haq0901]

Yes both

[MikelG]

That's what I originally intended to do after using it on my Synergy. Wanted to make sure it was working on others before I sprayed it on my Goblin. I'll probably do it tonight.

[felborn]

Please let us know if it helps

[ccpecot]

Originally Posted by Tmiedema4

Silicon spray on belts

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Which silicone spray are you using?

[haq0901]

Food grade silicone and/or automotive belt spray. Both said sprays are less likely to come off the belts quickly with use. Should last between 10-15 hard flights before it needs to be sprayed again.

[MikelG]

Just sprayed mine, bout to go fly in a few minutes... will report back.

[MikelG]

Put in 3 flights this evening. Squeaking is completely gone! Also seems smoother on spool down.

[SKYQUEST]

I heard the creaking too. I heard it from the motor belt / maingear area. I held my finger on the rotating motor case (creating a load on the motor belt) and rotated the rotor head by hand. That is when the click sound in flight turned into that "creaking door" sound on the ground by hand. It would not make a peep otherwise. I put a dab of wd-40 and the noise was gone. I thought 7 flights w/ WD would be enough. Nope, it indeed was NOT enough. The book says 3-5 flights w/ this messy stuff...well, the book SUX imho. I heard the noise the second it had the slightest weight when starting to hover...like, the second the skids got light, the click noise started. So, it was load related which pointed to the maingears or motor belt. I thought 6 flights w/ WD was sufficient...nope....more like 10-12 w/ normal simple hovering. WD-40 was discovered by accident in a lab just like white out. Water Displacement attempt #40.
The belt tensioner (there are no 'idler' pulleys on these machines) will violently slap in / out sometimes hitting the canopy itself...even w/ correct belt tension. IMHO, they should have used a much more heavy duty spring which should have been assembled at the factory so the spring is permanently fixed. The spring moves too quickly and too far in / out. If this was an automotive drive belt tensioner on a vehicle, I would say it is bad and replace it immediately. Maybe they should create a hydraulic tensioner instead of a spring tensioner. It is confusing some how much and how to set correct tension. Plus, the spring anchor tips should be epoxied in there as well.
My tail pulley @ the rear had a bent flange. So, I ordered a newer one which is bolted and that had the same exact flange warp.
I'm hearing now the drive pinion gear is wearing out per-maturely and they are replacing them w/ steel gears. Sooo, do we get a new black main to break in to the new steel gear now too? Prob not and you should replace the main if you do change the pinion so it wears to the mesh of the new pinion. More WD-40 mess. Someone said "use a q-tip for the wd-40 break in and there will be no mess." Yep, this is a messy process no matter what...sorta why I got out of nitro...everything got all oily. I hate this break in procedure.
Silicone lube should be food grade. There is no petroleum based material in there. Others say its ok for automotive silicone sprays. Yea, maybe but automotive silicone sprays ALL have some kind of petroleum base ingredient in there. Petroleum makes ALL rubber stretch / swell over a pretty short period of time...just like the timing belt on a car. This is why they say 'food' grade silicone. But, use what you want I suppose...just indeed do use one or the other on both belts.
My motor belt stretched after 6 flights. It was pretty warm after that 6th flight so, I released the retaining bolts / nuts and had to apply the tension w/ my finger as the 2 bic pen springs weren't pushing out enough anymore. Pretty cool they put Gate's belts on here...they make 95% of the worlds belts (all of the belts on my car including the timing belt are Gate's belts.)
I've also read the tail case will creep forward after a while causing the tension to loosen on the tail belt. Sand the gloss on the tail boom and tail case to make it a little rough so it grips way better when you bolt the CF tail case together.
The tail push rod should have epoxy holding the metal threaded rods in instead of CA glue...mine got loose and I was able to pull the one out w/ little effort...the epoxy like, welds the rod in there.
Just my 2 cents.