Stainless bolts

[Reaper]

Hi to all
I was just wandering if you could get stainless steel bolt kits for the raptor 50 titan?? Mine has been sitting in the loft under a cover over the xmas period and the tail gearbox and main rotor bolts have started to go brown on the tops?? Has anyone else had this??

Really enjoying this Helicopter lark now much better than my planks were!!

Thanks for the help.

Regards

Reaper

[jiberjaber]

you could take a look over at modelfixings.co.uk and order up the right sizes ? Good service from them in the past.

[Andy from Sandy]

Recognised by many as not a wise choice. Perhaps only use stainless steel bolts to hold the muffler on so they break instead of the engine or muffler. They are not as strong as the standard steel bolts supplied with the kit.

[Reaper]

Oh thanks I did not realise they had a different strength rating,,I did wonder Why i couldnt find any kits!!

[David Drew]

I think you should also only repace some bolts with the shanked variety. E.g. Jesus bolts and rotor blade bolts. Stronger & better than the completely threaded variety.

David

[SimonN]

It's not the first time have I read people not recommending stainless bolts, but I'm a little confused why? I'm pretty sure that stainless steel is considerably stronger than the mild steel that most heli bolts are made from. Have you tried cutting a stainless bolt !! It's real tough! Could it be that they are too strong? Any comments much appreciated because I fancy changing my Knight bolts to stainless as well

Simon

[Andy from Sandy]

Stainless steel is an alloy of low carbon steel and chromium for enhanced corrosion characteristics. Stainless steel is highly corrosion resistant for the price and because the anti-corrosive properties are inherent to the metal, it will not lose this resistance if scratched during installation or use.

It is a common misconception that stainless steel is stronger than regular steel. In fact, due to the low carbon content, stainless steel cannot be hardened. Therefore when compared with regular steel, it is slightly stronger than an un-hardened (grade 2) steel fastener but significantly weaker than hardened steel fasteners.

[helidriver]

i've had it on several occasions.

i tend to just rub the worst off with my thumb and then put a drop of oil on them . with regular flying they should stay clear.

[SimonN]

Thanks Evo Andy, that explains it then... scratch resistant (hence hard to cut) but ultimately not that strong! Do you think most bolts on a heli are hardened steel rather than just mild steel? Is mild steel what you refer to as grade 2??

Thanks for the engineering lesson

Simon

[Andy from Sandy]

The grading is the American standard. Here is a link
http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-in...ade-Chart.aspx