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HeliProz . Ron’s HeliProz South . Century Helicopter

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e-E-Flite Blade CP CX 400-3D > Straighten Mainshaft ?
 
 
mitchlandry
Heliman
Location: Houston, TX

How many of you have been successful at straighting the mainshaft after a crash. Just curious as to the best method to get a little more life out of the fragile piece.
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
EKIM
Veteran
Location: Long Island New York

which heli?
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
mitchlandry
Heliman
Location: Houston, TX

Sorry about that.
The blade CP
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
EKIM
Veteran
Location: Long Island New York

i havent had any luck straightening these shafts at all. even if they are a little bent the whole heli shakes pretty bad. i don't know if you can straighten them good enough to work properly. so i always have a couple of spares on hand. the flybar can be straightened (kind of) but other than that i've been just replacing the parts
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
akshaw
Senior Heliman
Location: Plymouth Meeting, PA

Though it's probably not a good idea, I've straightened them out using plyers, without removing from the heli. The trick is completely removing the rotor head assembly so you can look down on the main shaft. Then looking directly down on it, rotate the main gear slowly to see which way it needs bending. I put a cloth over the shaft (so I don't scratch it) and make a bend in that direction with plyers. I then rotate again, bend again if needed and I repeate this process of rotating and bending until the shaft is straightened out to my satisfaction. After straightening shafts out few times using this method, I got a "feel" for how much to bend, and I've been able to bend it back 3 to 5 times before it gets too bent out of shape.
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
icqa
Heliman
Location: New Braunfels, TX - USA

My work has a machined flat surface piece of aluminum. Even with that I couldn't get the shaft straighten right. It would still wobble a little. Ended up getting a new shaft.
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
gregh
Heliman
Location: Cleveland, Ohio

What I do is remove the head and disengage the motor pinion so you can spin the main gear/shaft.
Hold some sort of pointer, I use a small drill bit, on top of the anti-rotation guide very close to the shaft at the top.
Spin the main gear and watch the shaft at the point where the pointer is almost touching.
You will be able to see any bend in the shaft when it moves away from the pointer.
Now rotate the main gear slowly to a point where the shaft is farthest away from the pointer.
Bend the shaft in that direction very lightly. I use my fingers. it doesnt take much.
Repeat untill you see no run-out.
It's not a perfect solution but you can get it very close, enough to eliminate most vibration. Done it twice now on the original shaft and still flying it.

Greg
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
lryansl
Senior Heliman
Location: Yuma, Arizona

Roll it on flat metal surface and tap the top section thats bent with a hammer works for me.
03-20-2006 Over year old.
 
 
ctrock
Heliman
Location: Monterey, Tn

Even when I've got the shaft strait the gear seems to be warped on the shaft. If I roll the shaft on a level surface I can see the gear wobbling from side to side. I've given up trying. I just replace and fly.
03-21-2006 Over year old.
 
 
lryansl
Senior Heliman
Location: Yuma, Arizona

you must have bent it lower on the shaft that would most likely require buying a new one but for the ones that get bent at the top of the shaft the trick should work.
03-21-2006 Over year old.
 
 
Vendetta
Veteran
Location: Miami, Florida 33173

I've done it plenty of times... What I do is rather crude. I have a huge pile of limestone tiles in my garage left over from the floors on the house and the tiles are ground down to a almost perfect surface so what I do it softly tap on the main shaft with a hammer as I turn it over the edge of the tile so the gear is off the side. Works great for me. I have noticed though that if I tap too hard the shaft distorts a bit and getting the shaft past the bearing becomes harder...
03-21-2006 Over year old.
 
 
BikeNBoatN
Veteran
Location: Santa Ana, CA USA

I use a pair of smooth-jaw pliers so I don't worry about putting gouges in the mainshaft. I've been straightening mine by hand on the heli for months now. Unless it becomes totally unusable, I only change my main gears whenever I have to change the main frame.

Brent.
03-21-2006 Over year old.
 
 
Awais
Senior Heliman
Location: Mississauga, Ontario - Canada

I just straightened mine out last weekend. Its impossible to get it perfect, but as previously said its close enough to get rid of most of the vibration and to get the blades to track perfectly. I took it out and rolled it on a glass surface to check where its bent. Then I used pliers to get it as straight as I could then I tapped it with a mallet.

Put the head back on without the blades and spin it up to see if theres alot of vibration. What I noticed was that when the heli was on the ground there was a bit of vibration in the head but when it lifted the vibration went to the skids and the head was smooth. It flew fine so I left it.

Awais
03-21-2006 Over year old.
 
 
c mark smith
Senior Heliman
Location: Mt Vernon, Indiana

Chuck the shaft in a drill press, tap to straighten,

then move the shaft further in the chuck and recheck,


they don't bend much between the bearings, just the upper end,,,,,,,

and the plastic head pieces aren't that precise either so sometimes even a new shaft will wobble at the head.
03-21-2006 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
Normsthename
Heliman
Location: Leicester, UK

I got fed up buying new shafts so decided to have a go straightening one.
It was quite a bad example with about 3-4mm 'wobble'
I first worked out where the shaft was bent, and then fitted the shaft into a battery drill chuck just before this point.
Then slowly rotating the shaft in the drill I could see clearly where the shaft was bent, then carefully just bent it by hand slightly in the opposite direction, I kept doing this until it was straight.
Hardest part is when it is almost straight, its very hard to see the 'wobble'
After I did this I spun the shaft up to speed on the drill and the gear was spinning in perfect alignment

Andy
03-21-2006 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
busted blade
Senior Heliman
Location: orlando,florida

i use gregh's method although i use a sharpie marker to clearly define the high spot. i have also straightened mine several times. i dont worry to much about gear runout as long as there is adequate gear mesh clearance all the way around
03-22-2006 Over year old.
 
 
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e-E-Flite Blade CP CX 400-3D > Straighten Mainshaft ?
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