Follow-Up thread to the "Close Call" thread...
04-17-2005, 07:57 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
My Feedback: (1)
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Lincoln,
NE
Posts: 472
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Follow-Up thread to the "Close Call" thread...
You may have read my original thread at this link: http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Clos...2712460/tm.htm
R/C airplanes are only a casual hobby for me, if I go once a month that's about max for me. Got a baby boy, another on the way, and other things going on.
Anyway, I took my Sig Mayhem back out to the field yesterday for my first flight since the incident posted in the above-mentioned thread. I put the plane together, and before fueling up or starting anything, did a control surfaces check. Something just didn't seem right with the elevator. Can't say just what it was, but I got "That Feeling". (If you've flown much, you know what I'm talking about)
So I disconnected the servo pushrod from the elevator, because I suspected the elevator was binding somewhere in its range of motion. It was not. Smooth as could be, so ok there. I then lightly held onto the push rod connected to the servo and moved the servo SLOWLY through its range of motion, and that's when I felt it: A missing tooth inside the servo (I think). At a very specific point in the range of motion, there was a subtle "hitch" in the operation. Doing this a couple of times, the push rod actually did "stall" in that one point in the range of motion. So I think there's a plastic tooth gone in there.
It probably happened during the mishap I posted about in the original thread link above. Thinking back to the stall, I am sure I had up elevator when the plane hit the ground, so I am quite certain the mild impact caused a tooth to break or be damaged in some way.
So I didn't fly the plane, even though it was an absolutely perfect day, and I was the only one at the grass strip.
This is a old DAD servo (but with hardly any hours on it) so I bought a Futaba Hi-Torque servo to replace it.
The point is this: That small bonk into the grass at the end of the runway provided not one, but TWO potentially catastrophic conditions in an otherwise-new airplane.
Check *everything* even when you have a small incident.
R/C airplanes are only a casual hobby for me, if I go once a month that's about max for me. Got a baby boy, another on the way, and other things going on.
Anyway, I took my Sig Mayhem back out to the field yesterday for my first flight since the incident posted in the above-mentioned thread. I put the plane together, and before fueling up or starting anything, did a control surfaces check. Something just didn't seem right with the elevator. Can't say just what it was, but I got "That Feeling". (If you've flown much, you know what I'm talking about)
So I disconnected the servo pushrod from the elevator, because I suspected the elevator was binding somewhere in its range of motion. It was not. Smooth as could be, so ok there. I then lightly held onto the push rod connected to the servo and moved the servo SLOWLY through its range of motion, and that's when I felt it: A missing tooth inside the servo (I think). At a very specific point in the range of motion, there was a subtle "hitch" in the operation. Doing this a couple of times, the push rod actually did "stall" in that one point in the range of motion. So I think there's a plastic tooth gone in there.
It probably happened during the mishap I posted about in the original thread link above. Thinking back to the stall, I am sure I had up elevator when the plane hit the ground, so I am quite certain the mild impact caused a tooth to break or be damaged in some way.
So I didn't fly the plane, even though it was an absolutely perfect day, and I was the only one at the grass strip.
This is a old DAD servo (but with hardly any hours on it) so I bought a Futaba Hi-Torque servo to replace it.
The point is this: That small bonk into the grass at the end of the runway provided not one, but TWO potentially catastrophic conditions in an otherwise-new airplane.
Check *everything* even when you have a small incident.
