Turbinator
Senior Heliman
Location: Nanticoke, PA
| Lube and a timing belt do not mix, it is NOT some thing I would do on my helie nor any machine I have EVER worked on. Lube is for chain drives, clean, oil free enviroment is for belt drives. What I can tell you about belt tension on the twin is if it is too tight it becomes hard to turn and will suck up power, too loose, we'll thats easy, we all know what that does. I have mine set with the deflection recomended in the build manual and tweaked a little from there util it "felt" right. Tweak the adjuster back and forth a little while rotating the heads and you'll feel the difference. Tighten it until it starts to feel notchy then back off a little until it becomes smooth, check the deflection it should be about 3/8", about half way from normal path to other belt. Grab the helie by the heads and try to turn them out of sync and watch the belt, it should not get loose at all. Yes, it is touchy to get it right, get it wrong and it makes a big mess, get it right and you'll find minutes more of flight time with E-power and a much smoother running machine that will last much longer, it is worth messing with to get it right. A little too tight is better then too loose but much too tight is not good either as it can lead to belt break from over heat or bearing failure from too much axial load.
One thing that I found works GREAT on all helies, and all bearing for that matter, is MIDAS TOUCH bearing oil from Boca Bearings in Florida. Apply it to all bearings and you will see the difference immediatly with longer flight times on epower and with glow you will see you will be hovering below half stick as it will take much less engine power to pull into a hover becasue of friction reduction in the drive system. I have used this product for 10+ years and swear by it, it is a "snake oil" that works!! You can feel warm bearing now run cool as a cucumber after applying. |
