700 tail blade holder fails

[Sesame]

on my first flight today. I had one of the tail blade holders depart from the tail, unfortunately the sudden loss of tail and the lack of height, ment a comming together of my 700 and ground.

Anyway when I picked the bits up I found that the bolt holding the blade holder in place had sheared off at the then of the tail hub, anyone aware of this being a regular occurance or have I just been unlucky.

I know it didnt happen in the crash as we saw something fly off just before the tail let go and the tail blade was completely unharmed. where the other one had smashed.

[kamikaze]

Quite common on raptor 90's but not heard anything about the 700. Hope you get it fixed soon, if you crash,you crash but It's the mechanical failures that really p--s me off!

[xygax]

Unlucky.... Much damage ???

[GravityKills]

...but It's the mechanical failures that really p--s me off!

this is so true.

I looked over a friend's 450 today:
- one phase pin was loose
- the tail support bracket was loose
- one tail bladeholder screw was coming loose

The question is, why is it so hard to spot the problems on my own helis...

[jamiem]

its always much easier to spot problems on other peoples heli's cos theyre not familiar so you check them much more thouroughly

[Sesame]

Dont think it was loose as the threadlock is still solid in the thread.

Main Blades
Tail Blades
tail blade holders
Tail linkage
Boom
Torque Tube
Main Gear
Auto Gear
Skid Bows
Head links
DS8900 gears
Main Bearings
Main Shaft (dont look it but will change)
Spindle (Not sure but will change)
boom supports
head button

so far

the flybars still straight

[jamiem]

thats not good

[Craig33]

I have read of this happening a few times now so think i will replace the screws in mine before the next flight. Its had 85 flights on it now so guess it wouldnt hurt to swap them out.

[Sesame]

i'm up to about £200 in my shopping basket at the moment, but Fl's not got any 8900 spare gears

No not good, but as a consolation I flew the rest of the day with my 600 and felt I did the best flying I have ever done, so not all bad, it'll take me a little while to get the 700 back in the air, but the main core and the engine are fine, its the dangly bits outside the frames that got hurt

[Jamin_00]

If you need anything apart from the skid bow,8900 gears,boom supports and torque tube I can bring them to the field tomorrow if you want to build it before the parts arrive?

[GravityKills]

...the flybars still straight

Ouch.

[jiberjaber]

Thats a shame Tony - how many flights? I am really paranoid about mine at the moment, only 10 flights, but I have been checking all the bolts after every flight, I lost one on the maiden and a tail boom one had worked loose. I am not sure if I lost the two holding the base frame to the engine mounts, but they were not there when I was checking the underneath today. I could have missed putting them in on the build though!

I took my tail apart when I was building it the other night just to check it had locktite in from the factory, which it did, but I have re-locktited it to be sure.

I might have missied this detail, but did it shear off or come out?

[Sesame]

Unfortunately it sheered off, came off right at the end of the thread. not sure how many flight cos ive had some engine problems at the begining but probably only somewhere between 50-75 I would have guessed.

[Tim Procter]

Ouch, Hard luck.!!!

Quite a lot of damage Tony but I always say if the main frames are still in-tact then repair it, If the frames and the rest are broken then start thinking about a new kit.


I reckon it sounds like the bolt has developed metal fatigue and finally expired after all this time letting the grip go.

My 700 came in some months back and I'm 95% sure something let go but the damage was so intense it never really got to know.

You don't need telling after all this time Tony, Re-build and forget.

[Sesame]

These things happen in this hobby but its nice to know if its a one off or a regular problem and if there are any upgrades to sort it.

didn't let it effect my flying it was early in the day so the rest of the day was good and I went this morning and did a couple of batteries through the 500 and made some good headway into inverted tail first stuff, so well pleased.

Just got to finish the evaluation and order up the bits tomorrow so I can fly it again next week, in that £200 there is included £77 on blades and £20 on metal tail blade holders. so it aint as bad really as it sounds

theres a question are the metal tail holders worth getting or should I just stick with the plastic? opinions please

just noted quick now do a set are they worth the extra investment?