Dose anyone ever get more then just 1 to 3 flights without having too fix something?

I replaced my fan and fixed the broken aileron, repaired the fuse where the blade went through the side, ( just missed the aileron, and elev., wires ).

Took it out today thanking all is right with the world again. Wrong!!! After a couple of slower passes, I revved her up and let it go, about 2/3rds of a tank through it, I noticed something odd as it went by. I slowed down and as it went by I saw that one of my horz. stabs. was bent or angled down. After landing I found that the stab was still functioning, but when I went to remove it from the Yoke it just fell apart where it inters the fuse. One more high speed pass would have probably done it.

It is defiantly a fatigue brake.
My guess is the Alum. Tube fatigued when the fan broke causing a vibration.
Not a big deal to fix but do I need to check the other side? Or anything else?

Thanks
Dave

X-Cwllant,

I had a stab failure many years ago. The tube broke as you indicated. I had a wheels up landing and bent this stab tube a little and straightened it by hand. The stab failed about 3 or 4 flights later. It is the only failure of the three Byron 16's I have owned. These tubes will not take any bending without fatigue setting in......

I was able to land the 16 on just one stab--it was a handful to say the least and due to the forgiveness of the Byron design it allowed me to sort out some flying characteristics before lining it up for a landing. Got it all on video too.........

After that incident, I installed a piece of music wire inside of the hollow tube and epoxied it in place. This keeps the set screw that holds it in place from crushing the tube and loosening over time. I have had that happen also.....and it takes some doing to bend it now. I can hear it coming...a hollow tube is harder to bend than a solid rod....I know the physics, but it doesn't seem to bend as easy now...go figure.....

Guess what X-Cellant, welcome to the world of ducted fan jets and the wonderfull world of RC maintenance........maintenance......maintenance... ......just like the big boys do.....

rcs1313, I recently purchased a byron kit from Rocket1 in CA... Any more tips like you just posted would be a tremendous value to me. This is my first ducted fan, first time to really mess with any fiberglass of any type. Any tips or suggestions or anything that Byron omitted from the build out instructions would be great! Right now I am trying to understand the best epoxy to use for working inside the glass fuse and what to get to cover the wings....

Rod, This is my first venture in to DFJ's, but I have been in the hobby for 20+ years. the last 6 in Helis. Man I thought thay were a lot of matience. This DF is twice the work.

Seeing it screaming through the sky seems to make it all worth it.

!4th-Reaper

Didn't mind the PM at all--sent you a reply--have a lot of info to pass along..


X-Cellant,

It gets eaiser, but the maintenance never really stops until the final rekit phase.......just cleanup after that......

If its not maintenance than it is preventative maintenance.........ck and re ck......

Rod

X-Cellant - You've hit the nail on the head. Ducted fans can be a royal pain to keep in flying shape, but the sight of fast low pass makes you forget that they take so much maintenance. Besides, tinkering, fiddling, engineering, and improving your plane is half the fun!

You have to remember that this jet was an early ducted fan. It came out in the 80's when the biggest df engine available was a .60. They fly a lot faster now with .91 engines and we've come a long way with linkages.

A friend lost his F-16 because of that elevator yoke. A good fix is to mount two servos in the back of the fuse below and forward of the stabs with a short link to each stab half. I've seen several done this way and it works well.

Also there is too much slop in the ailerons and they are prone to flutter. No one in their right mind would build a jet these days and use a nyrod on any of the control surfaces. On my Byron Mig-15 I cut a pocket in the wings and mounted the aileron servos there. That also worked well and never gave me a problem.

I suggest you throw the nyrods away and buy some good quality hardware. I like Robart control horns, use ball links & metal cliveses, and don't use any Z-bends. It's still not too late to update one that's already built. You'll still need to do some PM but if it's built right you'll have a lot less headaches.

Joe