Hi,
What kind of preventive maintenance should I be doing on my Sceadu? What are some of the signs of impending parts failure that I should watch for? I'm hoping to avoid (another) equipment failure initiated "landing".
Thanks,

Just the usual suspects like ball links, pivot balls, execessive slop. One way bearings can let go over time, but there is no real way to catch it other than periodic maintenance. You can inspect the bearing every few months or so or whenever you do maintenance and look for any cracks beginning to show on the outside of the cage. If you are just sport flying, bearings usually hold up much much longer than if you are doing slammin stick banging and then they still will hold up for a good amount of time.

Keep any eye on the dampners if using the stock ones. They can go soft if worked over pretty hard.

If you start hearing chirping sounds, time to replace the main or second gear.

Overall just give it a good once over routinely.

Good Luck with it.

Jeff

Thanks that helps a lot. What about lubricating bearings and other moving parts?

A friend's maintenance-deprived Sceadu had a Jesus bolt failure after many, many, many flights (thousands?). It met its end on the concrete.

My own Evo 50 once snapped a one-way bearing during a rolling circle and the dampeners are now showing signs of wear, but the heli has otherwise been trouble-free. Considering what it's flown through, it's a great machine imho.

Some areas don't need lubrication while others do. I've personally never lubricated the bearings on my Evo and so far so good. As for the gears and ball links, keep them free of lubricant. They don't need it and could be harmed by it because some lubricants weaken plastic and/or attract abrasive dust. You can oil the mainshaft (swash & washout), tail pitch slider and one-way bearing. The tail shaft tends to sling off the oil, so I reapply it at the beginning of each flying day. While grease would hang on better, it would also slow down the tail pitch servo so don't use it there.

WD-40 applied with a Q-tip works pretty good without gumming up the works.