Rotor13B

Does anyone else have problems with the spacing between the rotor and pinion gear? It seems mine sits so close that it nicks the rotor sometimes during flight. Well last night my suspicions were confirmed when I was landing my heli and heard what I thought was a blade strike. Trouble is I came in nose first and did not see the tail strike the ground at all. After shutting it down I saw that the tail rotor was cracked on one blade right where the pinion gear passes the blade. The Only way to get spacing away from the gear is to loosen the tubing retainer and pull the blade out a tad. I suppose you could cut a thin piece of the tubing and use it as a spacer so the blades don't creep back towards the pinion gear, But it seems like this shouldn't be necessary and if it is then this is poor engineering on Helimax's part.

Another thing, (And this could be related to the first problem) Is the tail motor seems to sit at an angle when looking at it from the back. I was wondering if a couple of you guys could take some photos of your helis (Axe) from the back and show the positioning of your tail motor. It doesn't seem right as it puts the pinion gear at an angle from the spur gear.

TIA- Rotor13B

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

Out of the corner of my eye while the heli was sitting on the shelf, I finally noticed the angle of the tail motor last night. I checked to see if the mount was damaged in my last mishap, but everything seems pretty solid. Not sure what's up with that.
About your motor shaft, is there room to press the pinion gear further onto the shaft without it grinding on anything else?

PilotLight

My Feedback: (1)

Now that were on the subject, I'm waiting for a tail rotor 'cause mine's cracked too. I can't say its from a definite tail strike because I never saw it happen. There was just a crack in the rotor so I ordered another. Definitely, the tail rotor is awfully close to the pinion. You could press the pinion on the motor shaft a little on mine, but I think I will add a small washer between the gear on the tail and the ball bearing to help offset the rotor away from the pinion.

The other potential tail strike I suspected was the vertical fin might have slid into the tail rotor during a "panic landing". It could be rotated around the boom with a little force, so I tightened the screws a little that secure the fin to the boom.

Rotor13B

There is a a little room, But I don't think it's enough to get decent spacing away from the pinion gear when the tail blade flexes.

Rotor13B

I ended up doing it the same way your suggesting. Instead of spacing the blade from the gear, I took a small slice of the rubber tubing that holds on the tail rotor and putting it between the bearing and the gear. Seems to work just fine.