Lynx tail blade failed in flight

[skifreestyle]

Anyone Else had lynx tail blades fly off in-flight? 2 flights on these blades. Is this common?

[bmlasater]

Yes...

Lynx usually very good quality, but I no longer use their tail blades....Except on micros, t/r blades are the BEST....

John.

[vtown nick]

I fly the crap out of my lynx 300x with no tail blade issues. Knock on wood. At one point while still on 245mm blades I was swinging 4,000 rpms no issues.

Did you balance them?

[KiloXray]

Originally Posted by skifreestyle

Anyone Else had lynx tail blades fly off in-flight? 2 flights on these blades. Is this common?

skifreestyle, sorry to hear about your failure! There can be any number of different causes.

If you would like, you can go to this link and submit a ticket with Lynx. They are very good about taking care of customers.

http://www.lynxheli.com/contact_us.php

[skifreestyle]

thanks for everyone's comments. i didn't dynamically balance but i checked the weight of each blade on a scale and they were the same. I also did a bench run up without mains and i was vibe free. Weird think is that I had a second set of lynx tail blades that cracked & broke on the seam yesterday when i went to install them. Glad they cracked while still on the bench. I'm using metal 450 tail grips and the tail blades are tightened just to where they are not flopping in the grips but with no pressure on them. seems like bad plastic or molding process to me. i'll go back to the stock ones since i've never had an issue but i'll let lynx know anyways. Maybe they updated the design and i had old ones.

[KiloXray]

They did have a questionable batch of 450/300x tail blades a little over a year ago. Lynx pulled and destroyed the stock they had at the time, but it is possible that there was still some in the distribution chain. You could have ended up with some of those.

Don't give up on them though. They really are pretty good tail blades.

[Nelsonisms]

I still use Lynx plastic tail blades on my 300X because they're way cheaper than CF blades. I did have one incident where one disintegrated in flight a few months ago. But I wasn't really sure if it was just a bad blade or if it had sustained damage from a previous crash that I didn't detect beforehand. Now it's just one of the thing things I check for wear. That is, take the tail blades off and inspect the root for any signs of stress. Usually the plastic will be discolored lighter than the rest of the blade if it's being strained. If you see anything like that it's best to replace the blades.

[vtown nick]

Son of a!!!!!! I should really learn to keep quiet in these kinds of conversations!



Did a piro rainbow then heard a god aweful vibration that started with a pop then full speed piro after a second pop. At that point I chose to hit throttle hold letting it fall a good 30 feet onto the hard packed dirt.

[Nelsonisms]

It happens to the best of us. Good job saving the heli.

I bet you the cold weather makes the plastic blades more brittle as well.

[skifreestyle]

Darn dude that sucks. I was hoping only one of us had to crash like this. On a good note I told the Lynx support team about the issue and sent them a couple pics. they totally took care of me and are replacing them.

[vtown nick]

Originally Posted by skifreestyle

Darn dude that sucks. I was hoping only one of us had to crash like this. On a good note I told the Lynx support team about the issue and sent them a couple pics. they totally took care of me and are replacing them.

I would submit a service ticket but $4 blades won't make me happy considering they caused me to damage - lynx main shaft, lynx feathering shaft, lynx 275mm blade split, stock skids, lynx 300xl boom, lynx tail hub, lynx main shaft bearings, lynx main gear, lynx dfc sacrificial arms and tail blades of corse lol

[Mr.D 4511]

I assume they have to draw a line somwhere between the part that failed and the other dammages that "it" caused,a little to thin I believe,but they did try and and help.I had a similar problem durina piro the mains cut the tails in half..was able to save it and land.Lynx replaced the tails but let me know that since I wasn`t using their ultra dampners,they could`nt warent them a second time saying there was too much flex in the mains causing contact. Lesson learned.It`s all Lynx now. But now you have me wondering if they would go that extra mile and replace everything eles that gets dammage in the future if one of thier components just fail. I know Blade will if they agree with whatever happened to it...been there.

[vtown nick]

Originally Posted by Mr.D 4511

I assume they have to draw a line somwhere between the part that failed and the other dammages that "it" caused,a little to thin I believe,but they did try and and help.I had a similar problem durina piro the mains cut the tails in half..was able to save it and land.Lynx replaced the tails but let me know that since I wasn`t using their ultra dampners,they could`nt warent them a second time saying there was too much flex in the mains causing contact. Lesson learned.It`s all Lynx now. But now you have me wondering if they would go that extra mile and replace everything eles that gets dammage in the future if one of thier components just fail. I know Blade will if they agree with whatever happened to it...been there.

In this hobby I just take stuff like this with a grain of salt usually. I would normally just no longer use a certain product if it caused this big of a problem but not many options out there for good tail blades on this lil heli. I have 2 more blades coming hopefully from the later batch. I will compare and see if I can tell which version I had based off the ones I will be getting.

[Nelsonisms]

I just think they get brittle over time. It's probably a good idea to change them out every month or so. At the very least pull them and inspect them for weakness around the root on a regular basis.

[Livan75]

Originally Posted by Nelsonisms

I just think they get brittle over time. It's probably a good idea to change them out every month or so. At the very least pull them and inspect them for weakness around the root on a regular basis.

Loctite might add to making them brittle...

If its applied on the screw and not on the threads in the hole, most will get scraped off pushing it through the blade. I did it the first time (and maybe a bit much), the white blade had lines of blue coming from the blade root... after that I started to apply directly into the hole instead...

[vtown nick]

Originally Posted by Nelsonisms

I just think they get brittle over time. It's probably a good idea to change them out every month or so. At the very least pull them and inspect them for weakness around the root on a regular basis.

I will have 3 sets now so maybe I will just do that for preventative maintance. Cheaper to do that then a crash. This heli sees a lot of street flights at home too.

Originally Posted by Livan75

Loctite might add to making them brittle...

If its applied on the screw and not on the threads in the hole, most will get scraped off pushing it through the blade. I did it the first time (and maybe a bit much), the white blade had lines of blue coming from the blade root... after that I started to apply directly into the hole instead...

This is also what Luca had said that he thought was the cause. I apply it to the threads with a paper clip to prevent these kinds of problems. They had over 80 flights on them so it isn't completely the end of the world for me.

[andycrazy]

Just fit CF tail blades - they last longer and dont crack.

[Livan75]

Originally Posted by andycrazy

Just fit CF tail blades - they last longer and dont crack.

Well that depends, dont it? Mine generally goes to s**** well before being worn out by time...

I've been using Lynx platsics and they can take alot, I've had tail strikes and full crashes without any damage. It's generally because of maltreatment when I have to change blades, I dont think the CFs are any different when it comes to sandblasting during takeoff or whisked around in tall grass...

[Nelsonisms]

I agree that CF blades are better, but I've yet to find a set of CF blades to fit my 300 with the Align tail grips. I have a couple sets of the Blade brand CF tail blades but the outer circumference of the roots are too broad to fit these grips. I'd have to sand them down to get them to fit. If anyone knows of some 47mm-ish CF tail blades other than the Blade ones let me know.

[vtown nick]

Originally Posted by Nelsonisms

I agree that CF blades are better, but I've yet to find a set of CF blades to fit my 300 with the Align tail grips. I have a couple sets of the Blade brand CF tail blades but the outer circumference of the roots are too broad to fit these grips. I'd have to sand them down to get them to fit. If anyone knows of some 47mm-ish CF tail blades other than the Blade ones let me know.

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