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Posted

Just thought it was a good time to post a reminder to maintain your gearboxes. We even heard the gearbox destroy itself at RadioGlide, even down by the F3K area. Have just done my own Reisenauer, and it wasn't bad, but definitely needed a clean and regrease.

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Posted

Last week I emailed Neil at Flightech to get the extended maintenance kit for my Tenshock/Reisenauer gearbox combo. I've no idea how old the gearbox is (bought second hand) and may never have had any maintenance.

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Posted

Must be some 10+years ago now, on the FVK Mistral I had then, that the Kontronik GB, unscrewed itself on launch, which is the only time I have had a GB problem.  I was lucky in that all the needle roller bearings were laying in the bottom of the fuselage. Re assembled it, re greased it, went on with no further problems, though why it unscrewed I have no idea.

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Posted
15 minutes ago, EssexBOF said:

Must be some 10+years ago now, on the FVK Mistral I had then, that the Kontronik GB, unscrewed itself on launch, which is the only time I have had a GB problem.  I was lucky in that all the needle roller bearings were laying in the bottom of the fuselage. Re assembled it, re greased it, went on with no further problems, though why it unscrewed I have no idea.

That makes me glad that I used Loctite!

Posted
30 minutes ago, MikevE said:

That makes me glad that I used Loctite!

Oh yes, so did i on re assembly. Started using Loctite in the early 70's, for aligning bearings in their housings.  

  • 1 year later...
Posted

Just cleaned my gearbox again, a year later. It hasn't had much use, but did lie in the grass in Richmond park for a few months. Still looks clean, still smooth, still runs.

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  • 1 month later...
StraightEdge
Posted
On 10/07/2024 at 13:12, MikevE said:

Just cleaned my gearbox again, a year later. It hasn't had much use, but did lie in the grass in Richmond park for a few months. Still looks clean, still smooth, still runs.

About to service mine.  What cleaner to use before re-greasing?

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Posted
3 hours ago, StraightEdge said:

About to service mine.  What cleaner to use before re-greasing?

You can probably use almost any degreaser. I didn't have my usual chain cleaner so I just used IPA as I have a fair bit of that. It's more of a fire risk though, so I only used a very little. ISTR last time I put it in my ultrasonic cleaner with some IPA.

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StraightEdge
Posted

I used brake cleaner (aerosol can from bicycle shop down road).  Was shocked at how incredibly mucky it was, and smelt a bit of 3-in-1 so goodness knows what the previous owner was up to!  Also tiny machine-screws holding aluminium gearbox plate to motor were loose! 😵‍💫

I couldn't get to the forward housing enclosing the bearing (don't yet have small enough bits to remove those very small Torx screws) but repeated spraying flooded out the remaining black gunk until only clear fluid emerged.

Re-attached back plate screws to motor with thread-locker.  Lubed bearing, gears etc with lithium grease after reassembly.

Now spins and sounds like a completely different motor!

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  • Like 2
Posted

Love it! Especially the loctite use. Someone's gearbox disassembled itself over my head at Holland Glide with a loud bang and falling bits and I nearly **** myself. Almost failed to make the time limit on that flight because of the discombobulation.

StraightEdge
Posted

Really chuffed with how quiet the motor now is!

It's in my FXj 2.5m, which I bought second-hand, recovered and converted to electric-launch.  The motor/gearbox combo (also second-hand) is a bit too powerful for the 980g model, so I've clipped the throttle to 70% max which is still more than enough to make 200-250m in 30secs, but I've limited the Altis Nano to 60m/20secs for casual flying.  The combination of minor warps result in needing a couple of mm of right-aileron trim and the model is therefore (logically enough!) happier thermalling in left-turning circles.

Super late afternoon yesterday on the meadow... the old hankie is my landing target 😉

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