J roc

Thought Id ask your opinion on this. I am going to use the plastic control horn that came with my 5955 hitec servo. The arm is very robust 1/8 inch thick plastic. for the ailerons on a 100 cc yak. What do you think? thanks.

Hammbone

My Feedback: (309)

I use 'em too. Seem plenty strong to me. I'm even using them on a 42% plane.

Jim

Nogyro

My Feedback: (10)

Over 90 flights with them on my Hanger 9 33% Extra/3w80Xi combo.........no problems at all. I did use a longer SWB arm for the rudder servo though.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

I suppose they work fine. They can only break once...

Zeeb

My Feedback: (41)

There's been some discussion on the Hitec forum about why such a powerful servo would come with a plastic/nylon type material arm. There doesn't seem to be a good answer other than the fact that most people who buy them have a preference for a particular brand/style of arm, so why increase the price of the servo with an arm that most would replace anyway?

Some folks use them as noted by several responders above, but to me it seems counter intuitive to risk a $3000 or so plane for lack of some $8 aluminum servo arms.

I'm using the Airwild arms on mine...[8D]

Nogyro

My Feedback: (10)

We also tend to treat our pride and joys like they are gold. I'm not saying be careless and take unnecessary risks, but I don't think Hitec would provide these arms if they weren't strong enough for the servos they come with. If I ever break one with proper geometry set up on my control surfaces, you can bet I'll be here on RCU telling everyone about it. Until then, I'll use them with confidence and put the extra $$ saved on aluminum arms toward some other rc gear.

AHPowelson

My Feedback: (37)

To me, the extra $50-$60 is WELL worth the extra insurance and peace of mind. Considering we're talking about $100 servos that are going into a several thousand dollar model, the extra $$ is rather trivial IMO. I'm sure they're adequate, though.

Hammbone

My Feedback: (309)

Has anyone ever had one of these arms break?
I haven't heard of any problems with them and they seem very strong to me.
If someone has had problems though, lets hear about it.

Jim

dbcaster

I don't think the issue is with the arm actually breaking. I think you would have a greater risk of stripping out the spline on the plastic arm. The servos have metal gears and then putting a plastic arm on takes away the advantage of the metal gears.

Hammbone

My Feedback: (309)

O.K. then, has anyone had the arm strip out? Or has anyone had the arm wear and develope slop?

Jim

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Katana 1.40. O.S 1.60. 10Th flight. Stripped the plastic servo arms on the metal gear elevator servo and ended up fluttering every surface before getting the plane back on the ground, which by the way was a cart wheel, with very little aileron, no elevator at all, and the throttle servo was weak enough so that mid range was as low as it would go. I thought the plane was lost but luckily it came down albeit in 2 peices after the cartwheel. I will never use a plastic servo arm on a mid sized to large plane again. Lesson learned. Scared the crap out of me.

Hammbone

My Feedback: (309)

These were 5955 servos with the thick, black plastic arms?

Jim

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Those arms do look good and I have been tempted to use them, but after experiencing the flutter and almost loosing the plane I am very leary about using them. I have used, on the same plane, the Dubro HD arms and they appear similar. They seem to be holding ok but I have not put as many flights on these since the first almost crash(5). Still I am always wondering when the next stripped gear spline will rear it's head. I have parked the plane partially because of this and other issues.

Tim G

Would they be ok to use for the elevators on a 50cc Yak with 5955 servos. Starting to change over to these servos and I can't make up my mind if I should use these arms or not on this plane.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

killer servo's for the elev on a 50cc aircraft. Why risk the investment on plastic servo arms. I personally would go with SWB or Airwild arms and not worry about it at all.

Hammbone

My Feedback: (309)

I am not asking if anyone has had any plastic servo arms fail. We all know the white nylon arms will fail. I'm asking if anyone has had the thick, black plastic servo arms that come with the Hitec 5955 servo fail.
All plastics are not the same. This servo arm that comes with the 5955 servo seems very strong and durable. I am using it on 35% and 42% planes with no problems at all. If someone else has had problems with this particular servo arm, I'd like to know about it.

I don't mean to hijack the thread, I believe this is still on the same topic and the original poster will be interested to know also.

Thanks, Jim

Tim G

Thanks Digger
That was my opinion also, just impatient and they are here. All I have ever used is the SWB arms but forgot to order when I ordered the servos. Decided to use them for the programming and resulation around center.

Nogyro

My Feedback: (10)

I don't care for the Dubro HD all that much. They seem to be kind of brittle to me. I've had the end hole split on me where I didn't drill quite large enough for the 4/40 bolt in a swivel ball link. The black plastic arms that are shipped with the 5985's and 5955's seem to be made out of a slightly different material. All of mine have fit very snug over the splines of the servos......

Nogyro

My Feedback: (10)

Hey Tim G.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Just keep the new MVVS running.

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

I'de be interested in knowing this as well, if not just out of curiosity. BTW, Just to avoid confusion, I was not talking about the little white nylon servo arms. They were HD arms that "looked" a lot like the ones in question.

Tim G

Those elevators don't have to work if the prop won't turn. The new motor is working great so far. I have 4 flights on it and the airframe adjustments have been amazing. Can't wait to get the elevators working properly on low and mid rates.

Nogyro

My Feedback: (10)

Is there any chance you accedently got the arms mixed up? Hitec and Futaba are one spline off. I don't remember which one will fit on the other, but if you put the wrong ones on, they will slip.......Not accusing anyone, just an honest mistake. Ask me how I know.
I did catch it before I flew the plane though. LOL

Digger44

My Feedback: (4)

Well to be honest, I don't know the exact source of the servo arms. The plane was already built when I purchased it. The arms looked a lot like the HD arms that come with the 5985 and the 5955. There was no way to tell after the splines stripped weather they were a perfect match or not. No markings on the arms what so ever. So with that said, yes it is possible that the arms were not the correct arms, however they did feel good and tight with no slippage, when checked by hand. That flutter flight on the Katana was one that I will not forget very soon either way. That plane looked like it was about to come apart. I thought the flutter started in the elevator but I could be mistaken. Within a matter of seconds all of the surfaces werer fluttering violently. The throttle serv included, I guess from the vibration in the aircraft. I was totally amazed when the plane actually held togeather long enough to take a shot at the runway, and I do mean a shot. Like I said the throttle was stuck at about 25% or better.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

I can't provide any answers as to whether or not any of the H/D plastic arms have broken or stripped, but I do feel that if anyone is using a ball link attached to a plastic arm of any type they are being extremely careless and taking great risks. If you're going to go plastic, use a standard type clevis. Ball links are for arms that won't twist under a deflected load as plastic will.

As for my opinion about plastic arms and big planes in general...if you're going to invest that much ($2,500 and waaay up) why does one want to skimp on the part that connects all the moving parts of a flight surface? People will spend $115.00 on a servo but won't flip another $10.00 for a high strength arm? Makes sense to some I suppose.

gdm

none of you really know what you are talking about do ypu!