Simon Chaddock Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 They warn it can happen and it did!Gentle climb to a reasonable height, then full power for a vertical climb and bang!No prop and no motor. One blade had let go. That in itself made no noise but being a pusher the out of balance force broke the motor mounting so the other blade then stuck the boom. The impact broke that blade of as well. The stout glass fibre boom survived so landed ok with the motor hanging free retained by just one wire. Glad it happened at 40' rather than on the ground. Now all repaired with a fixed prop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Fisher Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Bad luck Simon. So far I've only managed to break folding props on the bench or as last week in contact with something very hard on the ground - misjudged height at some distance - no real excuse. Could the fact that your motor was saved by being held in a somewhat insecure fashion on one wire be an indication that we should adopt an extra security fastening of some sort between motor and model if only to prevent losing the motor? Malcolm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Bott - Moderator Posted June 21, 2011 Share Posted June 21, 2011 Lucky to get it back on the ground in one piece Simon. Quite a few years ago I had a folding prop fail on the front of a Hawes Tucano. Instantly way out of balance the brushed motor shook it's self out of the model destroying the front end before I could even react. Thankfully, just like you it hung on by a wire thus keeping the c/g in the right ball park and I landed fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Chaddock Posted June 25, 2011 Author Share Posted June 25, 2011 The final part of this incident.Repaired and flying very nicely with a fixed prop. After about 3 or 4 minutes the motor stopped, not power off but a sudden stop.BEC still working and plenty of height so no problem landing. My first thought was the motor had jammed, maybe the episode with the folding prop burst had loosened one of the magnets, but the prop was wind milling as it came in so the motor was free but clearly the brake was no longer operational. The ESC was beeping suggesting the motor was no longer electrically connected in some way.Disconnect the battery and check the motor was indeed free, then reconnect the battery to reset the ESC. Big mistake - magic smoke and frying noises from the ESC - quickly disconnect and go home! Subsequent investigation showed one 'phase' of the motor had shorted out, hence the abrupt motor stop, but it does suggest that the ESC was probably already 'cooked' by the time it landed. Reconnecting the battery just cooked it some more. So a broken folding prop = rebuilt motor mount + new prop + new motor + new ESC! About the only good thing is that neither incident resulted in a crash! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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