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crickr1 · 11-26-2011, 08:23 AM

Well 2nd time I had a set of tail rotor grips go out on me at 3ft and couldn't hit th fast enough. I had re-built my rotor head,replaced o rings ,started getting a little sloppy.
Went to park next to my house for test flight,on basketball court, little hovering and the tail "Twitched" Brought it down, checked for servo wire,or something that could have been knocked loose during service. Didn't notice anything so put her back up and maybe 5ft up the tail slammed 90 degrees to left, thought it was a dumb thumb and straightened out to land. After i did and started to throttle down it went, snapped to piro and slammed down from about 2-3 ft. Other tan my blades and snapped feather shaft, I noticed a broken tail blade grip and rudder linkage support, on boom, snapped. Looks like grip went ,bound tail and "Terra Firma" (Pavement). I dad 1 go on me once before but caught in time and no damage. First time thought it was fluke so didn't pay too much mind but now am wondering if this has happened to anyone else?

Talking to a friend who is a machinist and ready to have him duplicate grips for me in CNC. Spoke w/Praetorious on another thread so FYI, I am ready to do something with this. I will have my friend make a couple of sets so I will send a few out to a few of you rotorheads to test out.

Praetorious , Apollo7, hope you watching the thread, looking for your input.

apollo7 · 11-26-2011, 12:29 PM

thats good news. no broke frame, eccpm platform, or no broke head block. far as the tail blade grips i have never had an issue with them that i recolect. maybe once long time ago. but that of course would be from crash.

I would be very cautious with modifications. changes can lead to unforseen failures. ie tail rotor hub failure.

apollo7 · 11-26-2011, 03:21 PM

the tail section/ tranny has many very small parts, and must all sing in harmony. i woulds suggest doing a complete over-haul and inspection to verify all is in order acording to manual. if the screws are too tight she can bind. if links are backwards she can bind. too loose they can fly off. bad/ poor lubed bearing can bind. i also remember if your servo pulls back too far it can cause links to grind into wheel arms. i had to adjust couple things then all was good. smooth sailing from then on. that may have been your twitch?

praetorious · 11-26-2011, 09:17 PM

Darn, sorry to hear that. What I'm trying to figure out is if the grip was damaged when the heli hit the ground, or if it was the cause of the crash. I've actually flown on a grip with a damaged pitch arm and it wasn't too dramatic. I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the bearings or hub or links which is causing this. Either way, ask your machinist friend if he can use solidworks part (sldprt) files with his setup. If so I can send you the files for a duplicate of the original and you can have them machined. I think the difficult part will be seeing if your machinist has the tooling to drill and tap the M1.4 holes for the bearing retaining bolts.

Let me know what's going on and how you want to proceed.
B.R.
Amit

crickr1 · 11-26-2011, 09:55 PM

Thanks for the condolences, As far as I can tell, I don't know if the blade grip was pre or post crash. The grip was still attached and feels fine. It broke at the link, leading me to believe might have had small fracture from prior crash or even transport damage. The only thing I did fro service was feather shaft ,lube thrust and replace o rings with stock ones. I have not seen my friend yet but left message and will ask him what programs he uses, and we will go from there. Hopefully we can connect this week.

apollo7 · 11-27-2011, 08:58 AM

i remember when i first started with the gazaur. i had two lipo. i used to pull them in and out. now i just have 1 lipo. its permently installed, and strapped down. it don't shift. the reason being i realised after 6-8 min. of pure adrenilin rush i need an hour to recoup, and check heli for issues. loose screws, fatique. etc. until i had the heli "just right" i needed this time to make adjustments. still today any sign of fatique, or vibration, i know i must either find it, or soon expect failure while in the air. vibrations will eventually shake a heli apart. so its very important to have as little as possible.

11-26-2011, 08:23 AM	#1 (permalink)
crickr1 Registered Users Join Date: May 2011 Location: New Jersey	tail blade terra firma! Ouch! Well 2nd time I had a set of tail rotor grips go out on me at 3ft and couldn't hit th fast enough. I had re-built my rotor head,replaced o rings ,started getting a little sloppy. Went to park next to my house for test flight,on basketball court, little hovering and the tail "Twitched" Brought it down, checked for servo wire,or something that could have been knocked loose during service. Didn't notice anything so put her back up and maybe 5ft up the tail slammed 90 degrees to left, thought it was a dumb thumb and straightened out to land. After i did and started to throttle down it went, snapped to piro and slammed down from about 2-3 ft. Other tan my blades and snapped feather shaft, I noticed a broken tail blade grip and rudder linkage support, on boom, snapped. Looks like grip went ,bound tail and "Terra Firma" (Pavement). I dad 1 go on me once before but caught in time and no damage. First time thought it was fluke so didn't pay too much mind but now am wondering if this has happened to anyone else? Talking to a friend who is a machinist and ready to have him duplicate grips for me in CNC. Spoke w/Praetorious on another thread so FYI, I am ready to do something with this. I will have my friend make a couple of sets so I will send a few out to a few of you rotorheads to test out. Praetorious , Apollo7, hope you watching the thread, looking for your input. __________________ Rick, Team pilot , EGODRIFT, KST, Helidirect, Lynx/Oxy

11-26-2011, 09:17 PM	#4 (permalink)
praetorious Registered Users My HF Map location Join Date: Jan 2010	Darn, sorry to hear that. What I'm trying to figure out is if the grip was damaged when the heli hit the ground, or if it was the cause of the crash. I've actually flown on a grip with a damaged pitch arm and it wasn't too dramatic. I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the bearings or hub or links which is causing this. Either way, ask your machinist friend if he can use solidworks part (sldprt) files with his setup. If so I can send you the files for a duplicate of the original and you can have them machined. I think the difficult part will be seeing if your machinist has the tooling to drill and tap the M1.4 holes for the bearing retaining bolts. Let me know what's going on and how you want to proceed. B.R. Amit __________________ Kiss the Sky __________________ Empty Stable DX7

11-26-2011, 09:55 PM	#5 (permalink)
crickr1 Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: May 2011 Location: New Jersey	Thanks for the condolences, As far as I can tell, I don't know if the blade grip was pre or post crash. The grip was still attached and feels fine. It broke at the link, leading me to believe might have had small fracture from prior crash or even transport damage. The only thing I did fro service was feather shaft ,lube thrust and replace o rings with stock ones. I have not seen my friend yet but left message and will ask him what programs he uses, and we will go from there. Hopefully we can connect this week. __________________ Rick, Team pilot , EGODRIFT, KST, Helidirect, Lynx/Oxy

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11-26-2011, 12:29 PM	#2 (permalink)
apollo7 Registered Users Join Date: Jul 2009	thats good news. no broke frame, eccpm platform, or no broke head block. far as the tail blade grips i have never had an issue with them that i recolect. maybe once long time ago. but that of course would be from crash. I would be very cautious with modifications. changes can lead to unforseen failures. ie tail rotor hub failure.

11-26-2011, 03:21 PM	#3 (permalink)
apollo7 Registered Users Join Date: Jul 2009	the tail section/ tranny has many very small parts, and must all sing in harmony. i woulds suggest doing a complete over-haul and inspection to verify all is in order acording to manual. if the screws are too tight she can bind. if links are backwards she can bind. too loose they can fly off. bad/ poor lubed bearing can bind. i also remember if your servo pulls back too far it can cause links to grind into wheel arms. i had to adjust couple things then all was good. smooth sailing from then on. that may have been your twitch?

11-27-2011, 08:58 AM	#6 (permalink)
apollo7 Registered Users Join Date: Jul 2009	i remember when i first started with the gazaur. i had two lipo. i used to pull them in and out. now i just have 1 lipo. its permently installed, and strapped down. it don't shift. the reason being i realised after 6-8 min. of pure adrenilin rush i need an hour to recoup, and check heli for issues. loose screws, fatique. etc. until i had the heli "just right" i needed this time to make adjustments. still today any sign of fatique, or vibration, i know i must either find it, or soon expect failure while in the air. vibrations will eventually shake a heli apart. so its very important to have as little as possible.

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