2lazy2p

My Feedback: (2)

Being the good pilot that I am I KNOW there is a crash in my future... so... I have some dense carpet pad also some virgin bubble wrap. Are these any good ? What is your thinking on the best Survival Material to use on the RX & Batt.?

XJet

Closed-cell foam rubber does it for me. I buy one of those ground-mat/bed-rolls (usually blue or yellow foam) for about $6 in the local department store and that lasts me forever.

It's important to use closed-cell foam and not open-cell foam.

How do you tell the difference?

Closed cell foam traps bubbles of air in it and is much more resistant to compression than open-celled foam.

Open-cell (which you don't want) is the stuff commonly used as a sponge for cleaning and wiping up spills. The open-cells suck up liquids really well.

I cut the foam up and build little boxes into which my receiver and batteries fit nicely. The sections I cut are held together with masking tape.

It horrifies me when I see people gluing or velcroing their receivers direct to the floor or side of their planes. Unless you provide some foam isolation, the G-forces experienced during even a slightly rough landing can be quite high and if it comes to a crash -- well who knows what subtle damage may be inflicted -- only to show up on the next flight, perhaps in a hrand new plane.

Dr1Driver

XJet is right, closed cell foam is the best protection from vibration and crashes. Use at least 1/4" all around the RX and battery pack.

You can't build to crash (build to fly), and you can't protect everything 100%. No matter how well it's padded, one day there will be a crash that will take it out. What you CAN do is reasonably minimize risk.
Dr.1

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

I would not use bubble wrap.
Some plastics, generate static electricity.
This is bad for electronics.
The carpet padding seems to be OK.