Heli Maintenance question.

[jjjjdup]

My Trex 500 efl has now had about 25 flights. I need to find out about maintenance - when, how and what ? Any help would be great. Thank you

[SamS]

I like to check my heli's over when ever I can usually, I suppose I check them after every 8-10 flights maybe.

I sit the heli on the table, remove the canopy and all blades. Check all bolts on the head are done up. Check for any play in the main shaft (rock it side to side, also pull up and down on it too check for play). Pull away on each blade grip to check there's no play. Check servo bolts are all done up. Make sure all servos move freely. Check main gear isn't worn and check for play. Make sure motor turns freely and not notchy. Check all frame bolts are done up tight, if not, ThreadLocker the ones that aren't. Check for chaffing on wires. Check skids are still on tight. Check the boom is tightly secured and that you can't twist it, check make sure the boom clamps are done up tight. Make sure the tail pushrods moves freely and smoothly. Check all bolts on end tail assembly, again check for play in the tail shaft. Push/pull on the tail blade grips to check for play. Check belt tension, and check the belt for wear of if it has started fraying.

I tend to oil/grease all bearings, tail pushrod, tail shaft and main shaft.

I also clean the blades before I put them back on.

I know a lot of people who don't tend to do maintenance on their heli's and just fly them as they fly fine, but I enjoy doing the maintenance on my heli's :P

[trillian]

My 500 has needed the least maintenance for the amount of flying time of any heli I have owned. I do pre-flight checks of things like looking over all the links, making sure servo arms are not loose, checking the tail belt and tail mechanism, basically making sure nothing is coming loose. I keep everything clean, some light oil on things like the tail pitch slider, a tiny bit of oil on the main shaft where the swash slides up and down etc. In general it is very low maintenance in my experience.

[Mike Sanders]

I check mine over after every flying session (usually 3 or 4 flights for each heli) when I get home. I do the same as SamS except that I don't always remove the blades. I sometimes polish them in situ. I go over the canopy and the blades with car polish. I use a thin oil for the bearings and a PTFE spray for the gears.
If anything is damaged or worn I replace it. I doubt whether anything will have worn on your 500 yet. Not many components on my helis get worn out though. They tend to become a bit disreputable after contacting the mud!

[jjjjdup]

Thanks for the comment.
i crashed mine today. Only a light crash, but had to strip it to check sharts ect, so I used the opportunity to service it !
I was lucky. Went inverted in normal mode. Low off the grass, so when I gave more negative to get back upbut iit slowed the motor to a stop before impact. Only broken main blades

[Mike Sanders]

I have been thinking about what SamS has said. I looked over my 600 today and decided that I would remove the blades, main and tail for every inspection. This will be mainly so that I can check that the feathering shaft bolts are still tight. Thanks SamS.
Bad luck jjjjdup. You are more advanced than I am. I have a job keeping it in the air when it is the right way up!

[jjjjdup]

I am not all that advanced at all. I think I should go back to basics and spend more time on my side on hovering.