RCU Forums - View Single Post - Contra Rotating Propeller Drive for f3a 2m Pattern Planes
Old 07-16-2018, 02:51 AM
  #1820  
Brenner
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Bridgman, MI
Posts: 793
Received 9 Likes on 9 Posts
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Hey Bem,

Here in USA there are many people who fly the Element with a V4 Ccontra Drive. The person I know the best is me.

The Element works very well with a Contra Drive. The Element has a huge rudder fin, which makes it very stable in Yaw. Also, the V4 Conta Drive is about 12mm shorter than the Adverun Drive, so it is not necessary to cut the nose back like you have to do with the Adverun Drive.

However, In my experience the nose angle in the Element was molded wrong, so you will need to adjust it with a disk sander if you want the Contra to match properly.

As far as future V4 development is concerned, the focus at the moment is maintaining consistent manufacturing quality so that every Drive that is sold works flawlessly. We want to build a reputation as the Drive that just runs.

Right now there is very little that we can think of to offer as an improvement. The all-up weight of the Drive is actually less than most single prop systems. The package size is also less than most single prop setups as well.

Also, the new gear sets have reduced the sound to the point were it is pretty much comparable with single prop setups. I am currently at the USA NATs, and the V4 sound quality is noticeably better than the latest Adverun even with helical gears.

Maintenance is currently about 1cc of grease every 200 flights. However, I am testing to see how long we can stretch this out. Last year I got about 500 flights before I regreased it, and I think I could have gotten more.

The actual regressing operation is also very convenient because all you need to do is remove the front spinner and inject grease through the hollow drive shaft.

Over greasing can be an issue if too much grease is applied. We are working on changing the user manual to make this easier to understand.

If the Drive is not overgreased it remains bone dry on the outside.

Right now we are doing a lot of work on the manual to make care and maintenance as clear and as easy as possible, and as far as future development are concerned, we welcome suggestions.

Brenner...