Cooked Pinion

my bird is heavey, 260 grams or more. I tore her apart in november intending to rebuild for saving weight. Then finals happened, and then I went home for christmas. Came back to school and haven't done much w/ her. Put her together again yesterday b/c I wanted to fly. Didn't managed to save much weight, but I did put her together well mechanically. got her in the air this afternoon to hear a strange clicking. On closer inspection, my 9-tooth pinion has had all its teeth chewed off. (stock pinion) I'm confused! I wouldn't think that to happen. Anyway, i have a spare 8 tooth pinion that i'm going to fly on today. I'm looking for thoughts and comments on what might have caused this to happen. With motor dissengaged, the main shaft rotates freely. FYI

~Dan

[pgoelz]

Running with too much lash could allow abnormal tooth wear. Other than that, the pinion should last a long time.

Did you perhaps crash and not get off the throttle fast enough? That could also cause extreme pinion wear, especially if the lash was too large as well.



------------------
Paul Goelz
pgoelz (at) eaglequest (dot) com
AF010 brushless motor, 8 cell NiMh, collective pitch modification
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thanks for the input. I'm flying fine on the 8 tooth now. well enough to crash anyway. Seems to be the only thing i'm good at. I really don't know what was wrong. Perhaps if I chew up a new pinion I'll look at it a bit more.

[hover_lover-777-]

I too had a problem with the pinnions, not fully chewed up but worn out and bent a little here and there. SO i got a metal 9 tooth pinnion from W.C. Machine for 4 dollars along with the titanium shaft i wanted... NO more worn pinnions, and it meshes much better now...