Main Rotor Blades Section
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Building the Main Rotor Blades
This
was a part we'd waited for for a long time.
We
couldn't wait to build them and it is one of the very last things
you do so we had to grit our teeth and wait lol.
At first there doesn't seem to be too much to them. Like the rest of the ship it gets tougher as you go along. Cutting the 45 degree angle from the root end of the blades is, putting it mildly, nerve shattering lol.
|
|
|
We left the leading edge of our blades bare
so we wouldn't have to deal with the paint wearing off them and so that we could keep them clean. We're not sure if this is the reason but when we are descending our ships blades make that popping whop whop sound the loudest of any RotorWays we've been around. That could be a bad thing but we think it's a good thing lol.
We masked the leading edge off with a few layers of masking tape and used paint remover to get the paint off the leading edge.
When we cleaned the paint off the leading edge of the blades the underlying aluminum was pretty scratched and dinged up. RotorWay must be pretty rough on them during fabrication. They just fill them with filler, prime them and ship them out.
Finish wise we just scuffed them good with a 3M scuffing pad and primed and painted them with PPG paint. At 97 hours on the hobbs they still looked like new.
To obtain a good feathered edge at the paint line we used 3/4" masking tape and folded it back on it's self, making it 3/8" tape, along the entire leagth of the blade. Next we taped that down with more 3/4" tape which made a nice wedge shaped edge that can be feathered down smooth alot easyier then if we just masked it off the normal way.
We do have to buff the leading edges to keep them smooth every 25 hours.
We use a sponge with that scrubing pad on the oppisite side, the one that looks like a 3M scotch bright material. We dip the sponge in water then fold it in half on the leading edge so we can polish the top and bottom of the leading edge at the same time and it works just great. The finish result looks like you took a buffing pad to them. It's no big deal, just add it to the 25 hour service or I'd say if you flew in the rain, snow or around sand it would have to be done a bit more often, maybe every 20 flight hours.
|
|
|
|
|
|
These are shot from when we added the orange paint to the blades root ends and tips after our mishap in July 2004 when our secondary broke.
This ship had 97.3 hours on it at the time we added this and other then the scratches from the tail boom skin they looked just great. If you use good paint and don't fly in the rain or snow I doubh't you'd have any problems with the painted part of the blades wearing back for a very long time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Collective Stop
|
|
|
|
|
Collective stop mounted on our ship
|
|
|
|
|
|
The first time we hung them on the ship
|
|
|
|
Our tail
boom mounted rotor blade stand
This
thing will get you into trouble in a heart beat.
My
advice would be to never ever use one unless you really like living
on the edge lol.
The first time we used it we didn't have an electric clutch. We got the rear blade hung and when we were trying to install the front one we shifted the blade just a tad. What happens when you do that is the rotorhead rotates thus rotating the rear stand around the tailboom and once it gets so far over it's absolutely going to fall down. You can't rotate the rotorhead back because of the sprag clutch so at the point your screwed.
The best way, and really the only safe way, is to have 2 blade stands and install the blades on the ship in the 3 and 6 oclock position. That way if the rotorhead does move you have pleanty of space to slide the stands with them. It's also easier to hang the blades in this position because you don't have to reach across the ship to it's center line.
|
|
|
|
This
thingie is used for setting the hight of the trailing edges on the rotorblades.
It works
pretty well but not as well as the more expensive ones such as the
one Pro-Drive sells.
You
absolutely must have this tool or one that does the same thing as it does.
If
I remember right it was around $90.00 bucks
This
contraption is used for setting the lead lag on the rotor blades.
We never have
used it but it sure looks good sitting in our tool box lol
|
|
|
This tool
is used for checking that the rotorhead is centered on the shaft.
We bought ours
at a fly in one year but you can build one pretty easily.
If I remember right it was also around $90.00 bucks
These tools are used for measuring the inside distance of things
Tools! Tools! Tools!
END
