What do you do when you tip a blade on carpet (or on a couch) and the shrink wrap starts to peel on the end of the blade? Any slick ways to repair this or do you just toss the blades out?

Hey 9sec,

I usually try to save them, if the damage isn't too bad...I just peel off what will end up flapping around....that is, anything that's on the leading edge of the blade that's going to catch air...

And then try to use a bit of CA or super glue, whatever to secure the covering the best possible...it'll be OK, but might not last too long, depending on the damage...but the heli seems to fly just as well with a bit of the end of the covering missing, have done it plenty of times, it's a shame to just throw them out...

Sometimes, I'll put them aside for practicing things that I think might be risky...like my first backflips, for example...I have a special battered up canopy for the same reason...lol

It will throw the blade balance off a tad with the missing covering, but not much...alot of people don't balance blades anyways (I always do), but if you are the type that balances blades, you might want to rebalance them to compensate for the missing covering..

Hope this helps..

Glenn

9sec240

+1 on Glenns post. Just to add a tad, ALWAYS rebalance the blades. Takes a little time and effort, but helps eliminate any vibration problems with unbalanced blades. Check them dynamically and a static balance. Makes a world of difference.

Dave / Choppersrule

Well.......I take the the covering completely off from the start....I think they fly better without it....The covering is not stuck to the blade; simply wrapped around it & IMHO it "Balloon's" while flying...I do rub thin "CA" over the entire blade....FWIW

In the past I used clear packing tape to make small repairs on the stock blades.
Always rebalance afterwards.

Once you break the stock blades I highly recommend switching to Align 325 Pro wood blades.
There's a big performance difference for about the same price.
They just need to be shimmed to fit the stock grips.

Wolfpackin, Can you tell me about shimming the blades? The guy I bought my second B400 from mentioned this. I asked about it at the LHS and they said to use washers. I looked at the blade grips and they are not flat where a small washer would go due to the counter bore for the bearings. Do you use a fairly large washer?

Most people use small hardware store nylon or aluminum washers, 3mm inside diameter and various OD.

I've read of others using credit cards and cutting mats, any thin durable plastic, by drilling a 3mm hole and cutting out washers.

The washers I've been using with great success are nylon and made for another 450 heli. They fit inside the span of the grip but I think bigger than the grip works OK too.

To keep things balanced use one washer on the top and bottom of each blade.

Nail polish works wonders for keeping the remaining cover attached to the blade........

put a three inch peice of electrical tape along the leading edge at each tip and then one turn around the tip itself. This will let your blades survive many strikes and crashes. I even do this with my carbon blades.

i agree about the align blades they are tons better than the stock. i had three blade strikes with the wooden ones before they were broken. i did not expect them to take that much of a battering, and in the uk they are only 1 pound more than the stock ones. no contest really..!!!