Torque tube tip!

[Extensa]

Hi everyone, Today I was hovering my 450 Sport V2 in my garden while timing to work out my flight times now I have a Torque tube conversion kit fitted on it I got to 6 mins when I noticed signs of the power decreasing so I landed, but my garden is not perfectly level, so the tail rotor touched the mud and stopped which stripped the front torque tube gears, That made me think, "how can I stop the tail rotor hitting the ground on unlevel ground"? I got an old metal coat hanger and cut it the right length to go from the top of the tail stabilizer "if thats what you call it" all the way to just off the floor and attached it to the tail stabilizer now the rotors stay about 3cm off the floor will hopefully stop the gear stripping in the future if not I have a set of 4 front gears on order

[davew]

Mmmm. You would probably be better to fit a 500 fin until you get the knack of landing properly. That's the usual mod.

[GravityKills]

it's only fragile when it's under power.
You can flip the hold switch in the air, and let it settle when the headspeed has dropped.

[Extensa]

Yer that would be a lot better mod but that means spending more money it's not that I landed hard it the lawn is not level so the skids were a bit lower than the ground underneath the tail but u can't see this because the grass hides it u can hardly see the coat hanger wire. I will practice using the hold switch for landing, what percentage throttle do u recommend for a throttle hold? I have throttle cut set to 5% which stops the rotors completely.

[rudi]

Usually Throttle Hold is 0% - i.e. cut all power to the motor. I use it as a safety switch when carrying the heli or connecting the battery. I'm not sure using throttle hold to land is a good habit to get into. If a gust of wind or some other problem happens you won't be able to abort and retry.

If you want a switch that will just reduce power, it would be better to use one of the flight mode switches. This won't stop the TT gears from stripping though. Even with 0% power, I suspect there is enough momentum in the autorotating main blades to strip the gears.

[numbskull]

aaah the ol torque torque tube gear syndrome lol ... i have had a 450 dfc for a few months now and remember this all to well ... hence i now have a shed load of torque tube gears( think at one point i took 2 model shops complete stock of them lol ) !!!
I tried a similar fix and found i didnt like it on the heli so off it came and persevered and now landin is like a second nature lol

[markb75]

Put some tap washers under rear of skids

[GravityKills]

>> I have throttle cut set to 5% which stops the rotors completely
that's the idea.

Of course, if you're already using different flight modes for lower and higher headspeed, use low headspeed for take-off and "powered" landings.

>> I'm not sure using throttle hold to land is a good habit to get into.
Indeed, you lose the option to risk major damage in order to avoid minor damage

Seriously, with low headspeed and power off, you can get away with quite undignified landings.
It takes a bit of practice, increase pitch to bleed off headspeed until it drops. At that point, the moving parts have so little energy that damage is unlikely.

Check out some videos or have a look at your local flying field. With the exception of beginners and F3C flying, you'll rarely see someone attempting to land out of a hover, and then most likely on a smooth surface.

[wheredidthetailgo]

Put a large piece of carboard (1m by 1m or more) or something similar down on the ground and use that as a heli pad, it also gives you a target to aim for and focus on when practicing landings.

[jimmyhorns]

I Always use throttle hold to land, be it from 1ft, 6 ft, or a proper auto.

Its good practice for the last bit of an auto, which you never know when you might need to do.

[Extensa]

So when the tx has got throttle cut and hold that's just for nitro heli's electric they both jus cut the engine? I think I will need to make a decent heli pad that will solve most of my problems is it the 500 fin the heli don't like or the wire? Some good ideas from u guys to stop rotors hitting

[Toolman]

These solutions don't get round the fact that the Sport TT conversion is a bad design & too fragile.
I don't know if you are aware but the gears are smaller than the Pro TT gears, made necessary to clear the elevator servo.
They are so fragile that they can even strip in flight, IMHO they should be pulled from sale.
You arn't gaining anything on the sport, I would go back to the belt which can take some knocks.
Tim.

[Extensa]

Yer it is the pro tt all I done was reshape the servo horn on ele and it works perfect I couldn't get hold of a sport tt so they must of been discontinued already the tail wouldn't tighten on the belt tail so belt kept going slack

[tomatwalden]

Put a large piece of carboard (1m by 1m or more) or something similar down on the ground and use that as a heli pad, it also gives you a target to aim for and focus on when practicing landings.

Be careful with using household objects as heli pads. Especially with the larger birds. There's a vid on youtube somewhere of a guy test flying his newly repaired heli following a crash. To protect it, he put down a large piece of carpet to land on. On landing, the downwash blew the carpet into the blades, completely knackering it again!

[tomatwalden]

Feel the pain ....