N5 Belt tightness

[Spanner]

How tight is too tight, and how slack is too slack? I think my belt is too tight, but if I slacken it a little, and shake the boom about it hits the insides of the boom. Is this OK?

From Matt Botos' site :-

"Too much belt tension will create a lot of drag in the tail drive system. Too little tension will create belt slapping on the boom. The N5 does not need an ultra tight belt, try to achieve a medium belt tension that does not cause boom slapping or create excessive drag"

[MartinH]

I think it was Robgt who suggested using an allen key and pushing the top half of the belt into the bottom half near the tail end of the n5. When I do it to mine it goes about 3/4 of the way then I need a little extra force so it touches the other half of the belt. Its difficult to explain.



Ive read people having it a little tight but it will soon bed in with some 3 in 1. Its not advisable to use gt85.

[Spanner]

Cheers Martin

[MartinH]

No problem. Its the best I can explain it without showing you directly. Also it seems peoples feelings are to just treat it like any other belt drivern tail. Tbh try the method above and try it and leave it other wise you could be chasing the ideal belt tension for ages and not enjoying the flying.

[Spanner]

I'm just chasing an annoying buzzing sound, trying to find the cause of it, which is hard on a table!

[MartinH]

Are you able to video it and post it mate.

[Spanner]

Tomorrow I will, I forgot about doing it tonight. I put some WD-40 on the belt and it seems to have disappeared for the moment though. I'll take her out for a hover tomorrow and see. If I can video it I will.

[Bart101]

I put some WD-40 on the belt

Keep an eye on your belt now!! WD is NOT what you should use!!

[MartinH]

Could be the teeth coming together inside the tube and the UB40 has allowed them to contact and slide of each other without the noise.

[debrooker]

I'm sorry i can't offer any comment on the belt, although my belt did slacken after the first few flights requiring me to re-adjust.

I have used a drop of 100% silicone oil to lube.

[ROSSCO]

Hard to say how to set the belt tension but here's how I do mine,

With the tail assembly assembled, i.e. Tail box/boom/belt etc and also the boom is set and secured in the main mechanics of the heli I then tighten the bolts slightly on the ail assembly clamps so that they provide a little friction while still being movable, this allows me to pull back on them to tension the belt and then tighten up the bolts without having to have an extra pair of hands. I set the belt to a tension that is tight but gives a smooth feel when you turn the rotorhead, if the belt is too tight you can feel the extra resistance it the system.

Hope this helps!

[bolders]

Ive read people having it a little tight but it will soon bed in with some 3 in 1. Its not advisable to use gt85.

Tsk.......I thought I taught you better than this mate - although your half way there.

It is not advisable to use 3 in 1, GT85, WD40, as bart has already mentioned, or any other petroleum based product as you may well get deterioration of the rubber.

If you are going to use something use a silicone oil or spray. You can also apply the same reasoning to head dampers - silicone based oils only on rubber bits

[Spanner]

ah the wd-40 deteriorates rubber thing! I used to ride jetskis a lot and this argument came up a lot. Although no body had any proof it did any thing to rubber, other than they had just heard it rots it. I used it with no problems at all for 6 years on my yamaha.

I'll keep an eye on it, but not too concerned.

[Fixxxer]

Never had a problem with this Halfords | 3-IN-ONE Professional Silicon