Bad motor on Big Lama / E-500

carr52 · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:54 am Post subject: Bad motor on Big Lama / E-500

My Big Lama and my E-500 have the same parts except the canopy and landing gear. My problem is that I think one motor is bad. I believe its the rear motor. Reason I suspect that one is the heli wants to tourqe to the right and thats with full left rudder trim. Is there a way to test the motor? Tomorrow I think I'll pull one of the motors out of the Lama and put it in the E-500 and see what happens. I'll take all the help I can get on this one. I'm no electrician.

Tom

pjdog · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 7:40 pm Post subject:

Carr52:

Check out tombo242's thread on replacing the Big Lama's motors with Ball bearing motors. You will get alot more running time. Also they last twice as long and run cooler.

Jack

tombo242 · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 7:43 pm Post subject:

Good idea Tom,

Have you made sure that there is no slip in the drive, Both props should be turning at about the same speed, if you can see a difference in speed then swopping over the leads can some times give a clue. It cannot fly like this but you can hold it down and watch the rotors.

Tom.

carr52 · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:09 pm Post subject:

There doesn't appear to be a difference in the motor speeds. Both drives look ok. It won't even lift off. It just sits and spins to the right. Full left trim and full left rudder. And since the Lama is down for the count now I'll try a quick motor swap. Not sure if I mentioned it in the Lama thread but the Lama took a really long drop. I was up around 60 feet and tried to make a hard left turn and had a blade strike. It made a sickening thud when it hit. HARD. I think I damaged the esc,Rx, or all the other parts. Now it just sits there and does nothing.
Tom

carr52 · Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:45 pm Post subject:

Update: motor is not bad. The 2 small screws on the lower rotor head were loose. One is stripped so I'm gonna need to change the lower rotor head. For now its flying but has a really bad shake. Not a vibration but a very serious shake like its going to shake itself to pieces if you dont land kinda thing. For now I'm gonna go fly one of the 3D planes. Less complicated than a heli. Thanks for the help everyone. The clue about one rotor going faster or slower was it.

Tom

carr52 · Posted: Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:07 am Post subject:

The E-500 is now a Big Lama. I didn't put the E-500 body back on it. That thing is a pain in the butt. The violent shaking is gone now that the canopy is back on. Took it for a short flight in the kitchen. I'll give it a better trial run tomorrow. Thanks for all the help guys.

Tom

Update: still has a slight vibration. I'll have to check the balance of the blades somehow. Don't have a blade balancer. I'll figure something out. I replaced the blades, the lower rotor head and didn't tightened the blade screws too tight. The blades are able to move a little more freely now. Still a little vibration. The looser blade seems to help some.