Motor fell out, motor mount intact
10-22-2006, 08:50 PM
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Motor fell out, motor mount intact
Hey folks,
I had an interesting failure mode today with my DF that I haven't seen before: While I was teaching a buddy to fly, a motor fell out of its mounting while the mounting remained intact. The screw simply came out. Fortunately, the DF was very low at the time and no serious damage occurred. I checked the motor, the mount and the screw (which was found) carefully, reassembled everything using the same hardware, made sure all the motor screws were tight, gave it a quick "goose test" to check for motor damage and flew again. A few little test flights were Ok, so I let my buddy fly again. Same thing, the motor screw simply came out (and I know it was tight at take-off). Since I was training my buddy, I had him keeping the DF fairly low, and again there was no serious damage. But this time, the screw was nowhere to be found.
So I reassembled everything again, using a new screw, made double sure everything was tight, and did several low-altitude test flights. No problem, the new screw didn't move at all, and everything remained tight. So I did a high altitude (80 feet or so) flight, and no problems. A few more short flights were all we had time for, and they were uneventful, including some by my buddy, although he's now convinced he's jinxed when it comes to the DF.
So there must have been something wrong with the now-lost screw, but it sure looked fine, and tightened up well for the first test flights.
Has anyone else seen this?
Will
I had an interesting failure mode today with my DF that I haven't seen before: While I was teaching a buddy to fly, a motor fell out of its mounting while the mounting remained intact. The screw simply came out. Fortunately, the DF was very low at the time and no serious damage occurred. I checked the motor, the mount and the screw (which was found) carefully, reassembled everything using the same hardware, made sure all the motor screws were tight, gave it a quick "goose test" to check for motor damage and flew again. A few little test flights were Ok, so I let my buddy fly again. Same thing, the motor screw simply came out (and I know it was tight at take-off). Since I was training my buddy, I had him keeping the DF fairly low, and again there was no serious damage. But this time, the screw was nowhere to be found.
So I reassembled everything again, using a new screw, made double sure everything was tight, and did several low-altitude test flights. No problem, the new screw didn't move at all, and everything remained tight. So I did a high altitude (80 feet or so) flight, and no problems. A few more short flights were all we had time for, and they were uneventful, including some by my buddy, although he's now convinced he's jinxed when it comes to the DF.
So there must have been something wrong with the now-lost screw, but it sure looked fine, and tightened up well for the first test flights.
Has anyone else seen this?
Will
10-23-2006, 05:19 AM
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RE: Motor fell out, motor mount intact
I got a bag full from home depot. This has happened to me a few times as well. I have become so quick at the preflight check now - tightening everything before a flight. I will try the blue locktite as I find as careful as I am it still happens from time to time.
10-23-2006, 09:26 AM
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RE: Motor fell out, motor mount intact
I had one fall out once too. Didn't cause a crash though. Any hobbyshop sells the right size screws. They're a standard RC car or airplane size.
