OWB locking up

[Aryemis]

So after my first pinion in the kit was cracked, I ordered another 16t pinion, it worked fine, including the OWB until I started flying...
Now, as soon as the motor starts running, the OWB locks up, and it takes some force to unlock it, but then it works fine...

It doesn't really bother me as I don't plan on doing auto's any time soon, especially with how had they are supposed to be on the mini, but I was thinking it could lead to a bigger problem.
I do have a spare 16t pinion, but I couldn't be bothered to uninstall the current one just for that.

[flyingw]

Aryemis,

I've recently had two stuck 16T pinion/OWBs. These were both purchased late 2013. Must be that MSH had a bad run. I switched to a 15T and it works correctly.

Paul

[dedados]

You need to add grease and check for any dirt inside it.

[Aryemis]

Originally Posted by dedados

You need to add grease and check for any dirt inside it.

Hmm well I'd have to take it off the motor to do that, I'll guess I'll wait till I get home to do that.
I'm currently in Tenerife and really enjoying flying here where it's warm

[keyscrt]

My original cracked after about 50 flights replaced it, that one locked up took it off and a roller fell out now on third one and so far no problems.

[dr dremel]

IIRC Corrado himself said no grease on the OWB. The little lubrication it comes with should be sufficient. I coat the motor shaft with a film of oil (smear with fingers) when installing.

[baui2000]

I never had a problem with OWB locking up, but I had a bits of metal remains from the manufacturing process in my parts bags a couple times. Is it possible you had the same and it got stuck inside your pinion?

Btw, autos are super easy with the Mini Not so much with stock SAB blades, but Edge and Radix make it real fun!

[Aryemis]

Oh well, I just crashed my mini for the first time today, and my pinion is now a perfect bearing
I fell pretty hard while inverted, and my main & tail blades are intact
I was really amazed.
I've broken one of the boom supports, my boom is a bit bent, I destroyed the anti-rotation bracket, one servo arm and my pinion ofc.
I have a tiny nick on the main gear, not a problem though, as it's not somewhere the belt passes over.
Blade grips are OK, just got scraped a bit, but they seem fine, haven't checked the spindle yet, main shaft seems to be fine.
I broke the top part of the stock tail fin, idk how I even did that , I was planning on changing it anyway for an orange lynx tail fin.
My canopy is now reaally ugly, but it has the same shape so it's usable.

All in all I'm amazed at how well it crashed, I'll check it again once I get home, but it doesn't look like a very expensive crash.

[ahunter852]

whats going on with these pinions? I ordered 3 15t pinions last week. 2 were completely locked up and 1 just blew today on low headspeed pitch pumps after only a handful of flights.

[Chris Nifty]

It seems like the quality control is on holiday in the Bahamas

[RaptorFuel]

Pinion that came with my kit, a couple weeks ago, was broken too. I'm waiting on a replacement.

[Aryemis]

Oh well I was wrong, I just never had a pinion that worked properly so I didn't even know how they were supposed to work

[Mikej]

MSH will be buying in the OWB's you could buy better quality bearings and fit them - I remember someone saying that they were the same as the Trex 250 OWBs

[sp00fman]

I run a trex250 OWB in a pinion on my mini.

[MiataJohn]

My new 15t is just the opposite. Above 60% throttle, it slips. the heli just sits there with the blades slowly coming to a stop. And yes, I installed it with the correct end up. Going to contact Bill and see what he thinks.

[Chris Nifty]

I've had one puley in which the owb was upside down, so I had to fit the actual pulley upside down for correct operation. Worked fine.

[Aryemis]

Well I most certainly don't like the design of these pinions !
My new pinion also locks up both ways under load.
I flew for the first time after my crash today, and it was fine, except after landing, the OWB was stuck every time...
It worked fine when I hovered it at 2500rpm in my garden, but it couldn't handle a real flight, or the 3000rpm I usually fly with.

[CrashAddict]

Yikes.

Well, hopefully the ones in the 700 will be better.

[sp00fman]

+1. and if not i hope hobbyking also sells a $1,16 upgrade for that part.

[Aryemis]

Originally Posted by sp00fman

+1. and if not i hope hobbyking also sells a $1,16 upgrade for that part.

Well I guess I could get that for my pinion with a dead OWB, no idea how I'll get the original one out or the new one in though.
Also it may be 1.16$ but it's way more in shipping