Any advice on balt tension
04-15-2007, 11:31 AM
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Any advice on balt tension
Having started my Raptor up for the first time this weekend I noticed the belt for the tail rotor seems slack. When I apply throttle or suddenly take it off I think the belt is slapping against the inside of the boom. Also as the tail rotor slows it jerks around instead of slowing smoothly. Can anyone tell me a way of assessing the tension of the belt and a way of tightening it.
04-15-2007, 11:59 AM
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RE: Any advice on balt tension
Aside from tightening the belt you need to make sure it's twisted correctly inside the tail boom. The instructions detail that.
You can check to see how tight the belt is by pushing on it through the side of the chassis just behind the main gear. Mine will barely move at all. Different helis are diferent. On my T-Rex the belt is run very, very loose IMO, but it works this way. On my Raptor 50 it is very tight.
Read this, Michael Prewitt is far better than I am with these helis.
[link]http://www.raptortechnique.com/belt.htm[/link]
You can check to see how tight the belt is by pushing on it through the side of the chassis just behind the main gear. Mine will barely move at all. Different helis are diferent. On my T-Rex the belt is run very, very loose IMO, but it works this way. On my Raptor 50 it is very tight.
Read this, Michael Prewitt is far better than I am with these helis.
[link]http://www.raptortechnique.com/belt.htm[/link]
04-15-2007, 08:53 PM
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RE: Any advice on balt tension
If you run your belt too loose, be prepared to
a) replace your main frames and belt
b) crash
I experienced a) myself and several club members had the same problem. The belt will pop off the left front pulley and grind away at the frame just underneath the pulley. You can easily reset the belt and the tension but the damage may already be done - in some cases the pulley will no longer be perfectly vertical and the belt will continually try to jump off. Only solution is new frames.
In the second case, one of my buddies had his belt invert. By that I mean, the teeth of the belt were on the OUTSIDE when passing around the main shaft gear. Also, threads of belt material had begun to shred and were wrapping themselves around the main gear. On the ground, we were amazed and the rotors were extremely stiff to turn by hand. Had he not landed when he did, we guess the motor would have stalled / clutch been destroyed and his heli would have dropped out of the sky.
Oh and BTW, if you didn't already know - be sure to re-check the tension at the field just before flying because temperature changes from house to outdoors WILL change the tension.
a) replace your main frames and belt
b) crash
I experienced a) myself and several club members had the same problem. The belt will pop off the left front pulley and grind away at the frame just underneath the pulley. You can easily reset the belt and the tension but the damage may already be done - in some cases the pulley will no longer be perfectly vertical and the belt will continually try to jump off. Only solution is new frames.
In the second case, one of my buddies had his belt invert. By that I mean, the teeth of the belt were on the OUTSIDE when passing around the main shaft gear. Also, threads of belt material had begun to shred and were wrapping themselves around the main gear. On the ground, we were amazed and the rotors were extremely stiff to turn by hand. Had he not landed when he did, we guess the motor would have stalled / clutch been destroyed and his heli would have dropped out of the sky.
Oh and BTW, if you didn't already know - be sure to re-check the tension at the field just before flying because temperature changes from house to outdoors WILL change the tension.
