Tail Blade - How loose should it be?

[loderunner]

Hi,

I am a noob in heli. Have been reading and get 2 different views on how loose the tail blade should be. A few said that it should be very loose such that the blade will drop due to gravity while others said it should be tight fit but loose enough for it to centre when turned?

So, what is the common practice?
Just afraid that when it is too loose it will affect the pitch or wobble.

Appreciate some advise on this.

Cheers!

[HotDogBun]

Tighten enough for grip to hold blade from falling due to gravity.

[Super-Hornet]

Yes, there are 3 types of groups.
One group who prefer loosely tighten blades
Another group who prefer tight enough so i does not fall down by gravity.
Then another group who prefer tight blades.

The one who prefer loose blades is because they want the blades to auto straighten up during spinning (centrifugal force?). I have no objection in this group except u have to be aware that when spinning down or during hard landing (even sometime during autorotation landing), the blades might get fold back and that will hit the tail boom. If it fold back a bit that it does not hit the boom but the off centered blade balancing will cause the heli to wobble and that further make the blade fold back even further and u have crash.

The one who choose "The tight enough that it will not fall down by gravity but loose enough for folding the blades by hand" is because they do not want the blade to get fold back as mentioned above but loose enough so that the blades can straighten itself during spinning.

Then the 3rd group who prefer tight blades is because they find that sometime those "tight enough but loose enough for hand movement" has the tendency of:
1. When spinning, heli get wobble a bit due to the blades take time to straighten up..if the blades is not straight during spin up.
2. They don't want to have they blades to move forward (or fold forward) when spinning (this happen on some types of blades).
The disadvantage of 3rd group method is that u have to make sure the blades are straight before u spin up.

So it is up to u to choose which method. For me, I would go for between 2nd and the 3rd group method.

SH

[Super-Hornet]

Oops! I didn't realise that u are mention about tail blades. I though u were referring to main blades

So for tail blades, u can choose either loose or tight...it is up to u. Loose blades will cause the tail to wobble during spin up. That is all. I still prefer not too loose also.

The only thing I see for loose (but not too loose) blades is that when it hit something hard, the blades can actually fold back a bit and that reduces damage to the tail blades and as well as the belt/or gear if it is torque tube.

SH

[zxyong]

me too,i am the "middle" person, i dont like overly loose because i am afraid that it might fold back while im in mid air, which is actually not very possible, lol

[Murdanny]

Oops! I didn't realise that u are mention about tail blades. I though u were referring to main blades

So for tail blades, u can choose either loose or tight...it is up to u. Loose blades will cause the tail to wobble during spin up. That is all. I still prefer not too loose also.

The only thing I see for loose (but not too loose) blades is that when it hit something hard, the blades can actually fold back a bit and that reduces damage to the tail blades and as well as the belt/or gear if it is torque tube.

SH

its okay. it is very informative!

[Murdanny]

For me i like it to be quite loose but not too loose until u let gravity do its job.

Reason being, if it lightly hits the ground, most likely it will be a minor scratches. if too tight the whole thing might break off.

[loderunner]

OK...thanks all!
I will follow the majority...tight enough (but not so tight) to hold the blade from falling due to gravity.

Super-Hornet --> Interesting info on the main blade too. Thanks!

Cheers!

[zxyong]

BTW, i read at helifreak that you can pull both end of the main blades at the same time to center them out better.

Currently i am using the tail boom as a reference when i open up my blades, shall try the pull end method next time.

[Murdanny]

BTW, i read at helifreak that you can pull both end of the main blades at the same time to center them out better.

Currently i am using the tail boom as a reference when i open up my blades, shall try the pull end method next time.

pull your blades as centre of possible. once your engine or motor is spooled up, let nature do its job.