WELL THERE'S YA PROBLEM !

[john melia 1]

Well there you go , took the spacewalker out for its maiden today , took off flew a few easy circuits then all of a sudden it banked off hard to the right , nothing I could do other than watch it pile into the ground , I did manage to shut the throttle .On examination of the remains I found one of the pushrods had come loose from the securing on the aileron the type where the pushrod goes through a little barrel and is secured via a small grub screw, i had inadvertentlyfailed to check this grub screw was tight ..... and the results speak for themselves.

However i must say the spacewalker 2 is a fantastic model , flies extremely well and in my opinion is a perfect first low winger , i'm going to get another one as soon as i can , unfortunately on inspection of my sc52 the needle valve assembly has smashed away from the carburettor , so i also need a carburettor and needle as mine is bent.

If anyone has one please let me know , price p+p , ect , otherwise would an ASP52 carb fit from just engines ?

[Phil 9]

sorry to see that. I managed to destroy a saito fg 36 engine at the weekend on a maiden so I know how you feel.

I never use those ez type of connectors on anything other than a throttle linkage and even then you need a flat spot for the screw to gtip on. May I suggest a pair of z bend pliers for your next model

Edited By Phil 9 on 03/09/2013 18:02:26

[Paul Marsh]

The wing looks ok. Perhaps just get a fuz or sell the wing at a swopmeet?

[Ade Eades (Eadsie)]

Crikey! thats bad luck, i had a similar experience with those little alloy/allen key gizzmo's luckily it failed on a bench test so no damage to the jet thankfully, it was joining the piano wire from the elevator servo to 2 rods (1 to each flap) and it failed pretty much straight away, i'm now using a electrical connector with loktite squirted in it. its holding rather well now, sorry for your loss though Glad your looking to getting it sorted, looking on the bright side, you will have a few spares if you get a new one

[Doug Ireland]

I trashed my brand new H9 CAP232 some years ago by failing to tighten the screw on one of the elevator servos after I'd attached the Elevator halves in the field.

Regarding the type of connector you used. I've seen other people use them and thought to myself "that's gonna come apart one day". I'm a definite Z Bend user!

[Levanter]

There are loads of articles and opinions that this type of connector has no place on an aircraft. I agree because it is basically very poor engineering. There are so many better alternatives - in fact they are all better. Check all your models and throw all these connectors away.

[kevin b]

No problem on a Minimag. Mind you I wouldn't fit them on a control surface of anything larger. I have put them on nosewheel steering linkages to act as a servo protector in the event of a hard landing.

kevinb.

Edited By kevin b on 03/09/2013 19:28:55

[john melia 1]

Yep thats me finished completely with those connectors , any good alternatives other than z bend or clevis , just curious

[Ben B]

Ouch- that's bad luck. Which manafacturer was it? I know a few different spacewalkers in that colour scheme.

I often wonder with those types of connectors whether it's worth having some kind of back-up plan to stop them slipping. Of course replacing them completely is one option but something simple like a bit of enamelled wire wound round and epoxied to the piano wire would likely do the trick.

[Tony Bennett]

Tha's a shame sir.

i use them, but i put a bend in the rod behind the barrel.

[Former Member]

[This posting has been removed]

[Levanter]

Z bends, clevises, ball joints and right angled bends with swing keeper. All of them probably lighter as well. Off now to check all my models.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

How sure are you about that cause of the crash John. First of all if the ez connector came loose then what would happen is you would lose that aileron - but generally most models are perfectly flyable on one aileron - a little tardy in the roll response maybe, but quite controllable. Unless of course the aileron jammed - but you don't mention that. The connector being loose on finding the crashed model could have been caused by impact?

Just a thought.

BEB

[Pete B]

Now I know a lot of peeps have a bit of a downer on this type of connector but, like most things, if used properly and with a bit of thought, they can be just as reliable as other fittings. I have them on various models, some of which have been flying for four years or more and not had them let me down yet.

I wouldn't touch the plastic-bodied versions with a bargepole, that's for sure, but, provided you put a touch of threadlock on the knurled nut that retains the metal body to the servo arm, file a touch of a flat on the wire to locate the grubscrew and threadlock the grub screw into the fitting, it's unlikely to fail you.

If you wish, a slight bend just past the fitting would prevent the remote possibility of the wire slipping out of the fitting but I've never found that necessary. Just cut the wire long enough to not slip off the connector at full throw.

Pete

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

You won't convince me Pete - I have always hated these things with a passion although I will (just) tolerate them on a lightweight electric ARTF model, but wouldn't ever build a model using them.

[Pete B]

No, Martin, I certainly agree that there are far better fittings about but I'd hazard a guess that the overwheming majority of failures with this type of fitting are down to poor installation.

If they are installed correctly, I don't see any reason why they should be more likely to fail than any other fitting.

I've had several metal control clevis pins come adrift - none that have cost me a model - and that happening haunts me more than the risk of the quick connector failing.

Pete

[Phil 9]

Posted by Pete B - Moderator on 04/09/2013 00:18:45:

No, Martin, I certainly agree that there are far better fittings about but I'd hazard a guess that the overwheming majority of failures with this type of fitting are down to poor installation.

If they are installed correctly, I don't see any reason why they should be more likely to fail than any other fitting.

I've had several metal control clevis pins come adrift - none that have cost me a model - and that happening haunts me more than the risk of the quick connector failing.

Pete

Clevises are covered with fuel tube on my models. Servo connectors are fitted with keepers. on 60 size or larger I have two rx batteries. ARFT u/c plates are strengthened. servos are over rated for their use and all this has seemed to have worked so far . The pilot is the weakest link on my models

Every time I have had an equipment failure like this I have tried to eliminate it happening again in the next model (or at least reduce the risk)

as for push rod connections I also like the right angle bend used in some artf models that then use a plastic keeper to hold it in.

As for EZ connectors they do work in some models but the alternatives are so much better and I think you should always fit the best equipment you can especially if the upgrade does not cost a lot

[Dave Bran]

EZ connectors are brilliant for indoor sub 300g models........outdoors with larger surfaces? Not for me!

[john melia 1]

BEB I'm not sure know , basically it was flying perfect , large lazy circuits no problems whatsoever a dream to fly , then it banked hard right for no reason at all , it had been flying straight and level immediately before this happened , it ended up flying away from me , I managed to get it back round , but control response was negligable at this point , as the photo shows the fus was totally destroyed but the wings suffered only a small dent in the leading edge .

I must rule out the possibility of being the tx as I use it for the sedona and its never missed a beat , but could it be the rx? I did a range check before flight and it was perfect , the 2s lipo was fully charged and all electrical connections were secure.

Is there any method for testing the rx other than a range check ? I'd hate to buy another spacewalker and have this happen again , I think I would pack up and find another hobby tbh

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

I think Pete is right - correctly and carefully installed there is no fundemental reason why this connector shouldn't give good and reliable service. But perhaps there's the rub - "correctly and carefully installed". The fact is that the level of installation care required for this type of connector is definitely higher and it could be argued that that is a shortcoming in itself. We all know Murphy's First Law - if it possibly can go wrong it will!

Having said that - do I use them? Errr,.....no! Simple matter of preference though, not becuase I believe the ez connector is fundementally flawed as such.

And in turn having said all that,......I'm still not entirely convinced, from what John says, that this connector was the culprit anyway!

BEB

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

It's a tricky one John. We can't always be sure about the cause of a crash sadly. You see you say it was flying along quite happy then it suddenly rolled right - that doesn't sound like a loose control rod connector, it sounds like something more "active" rather than passive. You don't say which aileron it was that you found the loose connector on - left or right?

Usually - and you can never be 100% certain about these things - but usually if a connector lets go the airstream past the model simply pushes the control surface to neutral. With ailerons of course we have two of them and if we have two servos we have some built-in redundancy. As I said above most models will fly OK on one aileron and the loss of connection to one aileron is unlikely to cause a sudden veer right then your inability to correct. Indeed many pilots have lost an aileron in flight and not even noticed until they landed!

The Rx is a possibility - was it new for this model? Can you tell us the type etc? and how you had it installed.

BEB

[john melia 1]

Ok the receiver is a AR6210 with satallite , receiver was placed with both antennas horizontal across the fusalage , the satallite was placed perpendicular to the rx abour 6 inches away , I have the exact same rx and satellite in the sedona ,

To power rx and servos I have a 2s 2200 lipo and a robotbird bec with the jumper set a 5v , whereas the sedona has a 2600mah nimh pack , I checked the lipo before flying and checked it aftwards , after crash the lipo was reading 93% with 4.12 and 4.13 reading on each cell .

Come to think of it this receiver was also installed in the wildcard and that seemed to go weird just after take off , but I put it down to the wind grabbing a wing , as theres quite a bit of turbulence off the trees where I fly , in this instance the wildcard was only about 20 feet off the ground.

Because of the violent nature of the spacewalker crash I could not check connections to lipo as it was about three feet from the model at that time

[john melia 1]

It was the right aileron with the disconnected control rod

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

In my opinon John the fact that it was the right aileron you found disconnected makes it even less likely the connector was the cause. To roll suddenly right then the right aileron would have to go upward - with the connector situated below the wing I can't see how a loose connector would make that happen!

I think we need to look for the cause of this crash elsewhere mate. I can't really comment on the Rx installation - I'm a Futaba user - except to say it sounds OK to me - any Spekky users care to comment?

BEB

[Seraph]

Both antennas horizontal across the fuselage? Doesn't sound right to me. The fact that you had the satellite body vertical isn't really relevant - it's the attitude of the antennae which counts