[jfulton]

3 day old .
430 xl motor in my trex 450 sa ..

was flying along about 30 ft up. when all of a sudden i hear the
motor spool right up and my heli fell out of the sky ..

went to the crash , and laying in the canopy was the pinion and shaft .
it litteraly sheared off 1/4" down inside the motor ..

can believe it ..

Bent both my lower SA frames ..
Other then that appears to be no damage ..

I just hope my local store will waranty the motor at least .

anyone else ever heard of this ?

[OICU812]

Sorry to hear but I doubt they will cover any of the costs to be honest. Best of luck sir!

[Guest]

Same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. Should have no problem with a warranty motor replacement but the rest probably will not be covered.
Joe

[jfulton]

ya such is life .. Now im affraid to use any 430 xl motor lol ..
headed to the hobby store tomorrow to see what they can do for me ..
will post

[Cougar429]

Try a Hacker. I'm running a 2500Kv A20-6XL in mine and powered with a 2500MAh, 30C it's a ripper.

I looked at the Scorpions beforehand, but did not like the idea of lubing the bearings every few flights. Bit of a problem with the motor mounted.

[Max]

Originally Posted by jfulton

3 day old .
430 xl motor in my trex 450 sa ..

was flying along about 30 ft up. when all of a sudden i hear the
motor spool right up and my heli fell out of the sky ..

went to the crash , and laying in the canopy was the pinion and shaft .
it litteraly sheared off 1/4" down inside the motor ..

can believe it ..

Bent both my lower SA frames ..
Other then that appears to be no damage ..

I just hope my local store will waranty the motor at least .

anyone else ever heard of this ?

sounds like a fatigue failure or a poor quality shaft that probably had a quality defect from the beginning.

How tight was the gear meshing between the gear and pinion? I was told to check it, just cut a strip of paper the width of the gear stick it into the gear teeth and turn the gear by hand. This will pull the paper into the gears and you will get a sense of the tightness of the fit by hand as you spin the gear. The paper should feed between the gears without too much binding.

[nahnok]

I had that happen to two xl motors in my 600s last summer but both times autos saved it.Now going scorpions with boco bearings.I think Align had shaft problems with the 600 series.

[x-planker]

Originally Posted by Max

sounds like a fatigue failure or a poor quality shaft that probably had a quality defect from the beginning.

How tight was the gear meshing between the gear and pinion? I was told to check it, just cut a strip of paper the width of the gear stick it into the gear teeth and turn the gear by hand. This will pull the paper into the gears and you will get a sense of the tightness of the fit by hand as you spin the gear. The paper should feed between the gears without too much binding.

The paper trick is not a good idea...main gear is not perfectly round, you have to set it up by "feel". Find the tightest spot between the gears and work from there every 90degrees, work your way back to the original spot marking with a pen and checking the gear mesh at every location. Note that you should have a tiny bit of play even at the tightest spot. Ive seen many of these motors come through the store with broken shafts...its NOT uncommon...

[jfulton]

Thanks

Well as far as the mesh goes.
It felt good Sounded good and flew awesome
I have no main gear wear or anything
and the rotateing assembly still feels
great even after the crash.

It sheared right where everyone elses seem to
shear. At that top bearing.


The ones that come into the store do
you warranty.

Thanks
jon

[martinic]

I was listeningn to an RC Heli podcast the other day and a gentleman from Innovative Design (Scorpion distributor/retailer in the USA) said that they measured 200 lbs of sideloading force on the motor shaft (size of heli??) under load. If true, that'll certainly test the shaft.