Damaged blades

[leadmonster]

I had no idea there was an aluminum rod in cf blades. I had a small strike on a blade figured it would be ok to spool up after some work.( Was not going to fly the blades) and well it shot out went 10 feet and stuck into the wall. I will never spool up damaged blades again. Just glad I wasnt hovering it.

[Pitch-Itch]

Originally Posted by leadmonster

I had no idea there was an aluminum rod in cf blades. I had a small strike on a blade figured it would be ok to spool up after some work.( Was not going to fly the blades) and well it shot out went 10 feet and stuck into the wall. I will never spool up damaged blades again. Just glad I wasnt hovering it.

Your blade actually EJECTED the safety wire?

Which brand of blades was this? That's a very big issue.

[leadmonster]

Blades that came on my 300 cfx. They had about a 2 inch aluminum rod in the ends that came flying out

[simplechamp]

Glad no one was injured, and good you are learning a lesson from this. It is concerning that the 300CFX blades may have a poorly secured weight in them. Most larger (325mm and up) blades actually have a lead weight in them, and it should be secured with a safety wire to prevent the ejection you witnessed. But some of these smaller size CF blades apparently don't have a safety wire.

I'll keep using plastic tail blades if they get some minor scrapes and scuffs. But when it comes to CF blades I don't take any chances. I guess I can get past a scuff to the paint if it's clear the resin and CF underneath is still 100% but any damage to the resin, CF, or foam core and I trash them. These blades get subjected to tremendous speeds and forces in flight, and what seems like minor damage can actually have a major impact to the blades structural integrity. A typical 700-size blade has over 1000lbs of centripetal force acting on it when spinning at 2000RPM! And this is just from rotation, not even factoring in the stresses applied during hard collective and cyclic inputs.

I have seen some guys put machines in the air with blades that are atrocious. Big chunks gouged out of the leading edge, separated along the whole trailing edge, broken foam rattling around in the core. The way I see it these machines are dangerous enough when in 100% perfect operating condition, why gamble even more by flying potentially unsafe blades?

[Kap'n Krunch]

Originally Posted by leadmonster

I had no idea there was an aluminum rod in cf blades. I had a small strike on a blade figured it would be ok to spool up after some work.( Was not going to fly the blades) and well it shot out went 10 feet and stuck into the wall. I will never spool up damaged blades again. Just glad I wasnt hovering it.

aluminum ? I thought it was lead to give them weight along the leading edge

[leadmonster]

It was def aluminum. Very light weight.

[Kap'n Krunch]

Originally Posted by leadmonster

It was def aluminum. Very light weight.

makes sense lead is pretty soft