flatspin Veteran Location: H.V. Pa.
| Ok, I think I should win the title of the worlds fastest clutch killer! My first attempt at heli joy went like this: After spending about 30-40 hours of building , wiring, setting up, canopy finishing, etc..the moment finally arrived! It would be the glorious moment when the heli will break ground and defy gravity for a few feet above the ground in a hover. This was obviously not on my Craptor 30's agenda for the day! The Craptor 30, decided to reward me for all my hard work of bringing it to life with all but 60 seconds of on the ground 1/4 throttle stick blade spin. The engine was about 1/4 throttle, blades spinning, I was down on the ground checking the tracking when all of a sudden I heard a metallic shriek and the tail rotor stopped spinning. Oh-oh. I shut the engine down immediately and checked the cause. First I thought the belt was slipping. Upon inspection of the tail rotor, I discovered the tail pitch bushing and pitch fork (aftermarket metal pitch fork) decided to end their marriage and get seperated. No big deal I thought, I will just remarry them with some locktite. As I put the Craptor on the table, I checked the belt for tightness as well. No problem there. This is were it gets exciting! I caught a glimpse of a black ring hanging below the clutch bell. The clutch liner! The clutch liner seperated from the clutch bell and fell right out! I don't know the cause of this, I epoxied the liner in the clutch bell with the epoxy that came with the kit. I used a "dummy" insert to make sure the liner gets glued evenly. There was plenty of epoxy on the liner when I inspected it after it fell out. What is up with this? I feel like taking this Craptor to a tall bridge and showing it what obeying instead of defying gravity really means!!!! Ok, now that I vented, my question is, can I get the clutch bell out without splitting the frames?  |