Crashed Warpy - link popped off: Some advice please

[badbandit]

hi,

this morning i crashed my warp, because a servo to swash link popped off - at least it behaved like that and after the crash i found a popped off link.
i was flying about 10 meters high, made a back roll and then it lost control and dropped to the ground. i must say, that the warp seems to crash nice. it fell on the head, but only the canopy holders, one blade and one skid broke - the rest seems to be ok.

now i would like to ask, how hard/soft should the ball link sit on the balls? it seems, as if i widened the ball links to much, when i built the warp. i will order them all new and will widen them less.
i widened them, so they have no play, but are very easy to move on the balls. sorry, it is quite difficult to explain in english.

another question is, which side of the ball link should point to the outside of the ball? can the correct side be seen, when looking at the numbers printed on the ball links or do i just look at, which side of the hole is wider than the other and let the larger hole point to the outside?

[RontaryUS]

On the ball links, Compass Logo should face outward.

Kugelpfannen werden immer mit dem Compass-Schriftzug nach außen aufgeklipst !

[badbandit]

this means, that the side of the ball link with the tighter side of the hole should point inside and the larger hole points outside? i thought it should be the other way round.

if this is true, all my links point in the wrong direction...

if i need to make the holes larger: from which side do i insert the reamer?

[Bob O]

No, whichever side the Logo is on doesn't matter, as I've seen various brand link have them on either side.

The bottom line is the side with the larger hole is the side that gets pushed against the ball when you install the link. This same thing applies if you are pushing the link onto a sizer.

Also, when sizing, you don't want to ream the link to the point where it wiggles on the ball once installed. With new links, I prefer to size them so there is just the slightest amount of "drag" on the ball when moving the link by hand. After a handful of flights, this drag smooths out and the link then fits perfectly without any wiggle.

Just a thought to add, some guys prefer to install the links from the other direction, the small hole being pressed on. The idea with that is the link is less likely to pop off the ball. IMO, there's a proper way to do that, as I install them this way occasionally if I need one-half a turn of adjustment rather than a full turn of a ball link. What I do is remove the ball and install it into the link from the proper side, then reinstall the ball. This way the link still goes on from the proper side, thereby avoiding any possible distortion or weakening of the ball link by forcing the smaller hole to open larger than it was intended.

A few years ago I used to just snap the ball links on from the small side if needed, but I would only do this a couple of times and only with links made of softer plastic. Links made from harder plastic (QuickUK for example) are a lot more difficult to snap on from the smaller side. I don't snap them on from the small side anymore, I just take the extra minute or two to remove the ball and do it the way I mentioned. There is a drawback to installing links the wrong way on, and that is they are a lot harder to pop off if needed, and you'll likely have to remove the ball before removing the link.

I've never had a ball link pop off when properly sized. Its important to check/evaluate the condition/wear of your ball links before the first flight of each outing. As soon as I can feel some wiggle of the link on the ball, I start thinking about replacing it. Just as something to go by, I haven't replaced a ball link on my Warp yet due to wearing out, and its been 400+ flights.

Good luck!!

[badbandit]

thanks, so i installed all my link in the right direction. the warp links (at least mine) have a logo on one side (larger hole) and a number on the other side (smaller hole). i have all the number sides pointing outwards.

as RontaryUS wrote: in the manual it is written, to place the logo (not the number) to the outside. this sounded strange to me and i looked around in this forum and installed all links as you stated - larger hole side pointing to the ball.

so it seems i reamed to much. the ball links can be moved without absolutely any force and are VERY smooth. but this seems to be to much. so i should ream the holes, that i still need to apply light "force", to move them?

by the way, why is the smaller hole outside of the ball in general? if i point the smaller hole to the inside, it need some force to attach the ball link, but then it seem, as if the ball link would hold much better on the ball and would never pop off.

[Bob O]

Its a matter of preference as well. My general rule is not to run tight ball links. So if I snap new links on and they are tight, I will ream them like I mentioned. Some guys don't size their links at all (for the head anyway), their argument is that they will wear in on their own after a handful of flights. Some guys ream them until they can fall on their own weight, which IMO is too loose.

For sure what you don't want is for the link to wiggle on the ball. You test for this not by rotating it on the ball, but by grasping the link with your fingers and pulling squarely outward and pushing inwards lightly but rapidly. If there is any slop in how the link fits to the ball, you will feel it wiggle. That is your indication that the inside "pocket" for the link has become too large for the ball, and you risk it popping off.

As to why one side is smaller, my take on that is so you push the link on from the proper side and the link won't pop through the smaller side. If you've ever pushed a link on too hard, especially onto a long ball or one with a long stand-off, you can end up pushing the link right off the ball completely to where it ends up on the ball stand-off. Then when you try to get the ball link back onto the ball, it is extremely difficult and you end up removing the ball so you don't damage the link. This leads right into your question about installing the link from the small side.

If you choose to install the ball from the small side first, the benefit is that if it pops off, it will pop off the ball toward the inside. The link will still be "attached", just not on the ball part of the ball, rather it will be wedged between the ball and the servo arm or whatever the ball is attached to. This should become noticeable in the air, but since the link is still "connected", you should be able to land the heli. This compared to the link popping off completely and resulting in a crash.

So in the end its up to you how you want to put the ball links on, if you want the peace of mind offered by installing them the wrong way on, etc. I would just recommend not snapping them on the wrong way, but instead remove the ball to install it into the link from the large side, and then resinstall the ball with the link attached.

[RontaryUS]

Better leave them a bit tight. Most now run quite high torque servos (mks, RJX and co) for the size of the Heli so no biggie...added current draw will not be significant unless really too tight.

[badbandit]

good to know. i am running MKS servos and ordered all new links. i will let them be more tight, than my others for sure.

[HeliSmith]

What Bob O said

[badbandit]

my ball links did never wiggle, they were just smooth (like a smooth tail).

now, after this crash (i never had a link popping off) i feel a little insecure. i think i will keep the links a little bit tight now.

so everybody is pointing the large hole to the ball!? no matter, what the manual says!?

[waxman]

Out of interest which way did you install the resizer? Maybe you have damaged the ball link sizing them from the wrong side?

[badbandit]

ok, i found the real problem - i could reproduce it on the bench, but i do not know how to fix it. it was not a problem of the ball links beeing to loose.

the servo travel (or something else) of the both front servos is to large. if i set pitch to max negative and the other stick to the top right corner on my TX, the ball of the servo touches the servo case and if the ball link is turned a little bit, it will pop of. perhaps that happened yesterday for the first time, because i raised DR on my TX from 80% to 90%.

now i have to find out, what i have to do to fix this. i am using the BD3SX and there is a setting for the servo travel for nick and roll. but this should be set to reach about 9° within 65% to 90% of the slider. the ball of the servo will stop touching the servo case at about 50% (i did not test how many degrees this would give, but i think it will be not enought - and it is below 65% anyway).

where can i start fixing the problem? i have no clue.

[RontaryUS]

Longer servo arms will give you more throw for same travel

[Jeff_Barrett]

Which servo arms are you using? Are you using the ball distance in the manual / on the carbon horn reinforcements?

I use the BD-3X on my Warp. I won't be able to check it for a few days until I get home from Florida.

[badbandit]

i am using the standard mks servo arms with the carbon stiffeners attached. i thought that everything was setup correctly. i am far away of beeing a pro, but i think, that i understood the basics. the warp was flying great for quite a while.

i have +-12.5° pitch and 9° nick/roll. nothing is binding when setting the pitch to 0° - in no direction.

there seem to be different opinions here in the BD forum, how/where to check for binding (i am just reading different threads). some say, that one only have to look for binding when the pitch is set to 0°, because the extremes will never be reached in flight. here i have no binding at all.
others state to look for binding in all pitch levels. if i set the pitch to full negative, i have quite a lot of binding and the ball link popped off some times on the bench. this is what happened in flight and i do not want to happen this again.

now i do not know, what to look at, but something was not optimal and needs to be fixed.

[Jeff_Barrett]

How are you measuring pitch on collective and cyclic?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[velocity90]

At vbar they say extremes are not reached so I always set the swash ring for no binding.

[badbandit]

what do you mean with "swash ring not binding"? the servos can bind, but the swash should not touch anything?

[velocity90]

Originally Posted by badbandit

what do you mean with "swash ring not binding"? the servos can bind, but the swash should not touch anything?

Yes, sorry it's logical to me to adjust for no binding. You will hear it in setup if it does

[badbandit]

nobody who has a warp 360 and BD3SX has the same problems or even a solution for this? i really don't know what i can do - only reducing cyclic, which can't be the solution one wants.