Rotor Bearing Temp Guage ?

SamL · 25-02-2007, 10:14 AM

Noticed the new MT-03 has a Rotor bearing Temp guage.
Enyone know why?
How hot do rotor head brearings get?, and have they ever failed in flight?

Sam............

Birdy2 · 25-02-2007, 04:37 PM

Bit of a gimmic i recon.

It would be helpful tho, if your bearing wasnt repacked before you installed it, and it was getn dry. but an alarm would be more usefull, coz you could bet that the day it started getn hot, you wouldnt be lookn at it, coz it hasnt changed for the last 600 hours. and the time laps from ' getn hot' to too hot' isnt very long.

bones · 25-02-2007, 04:54 PM

a better idea i would think would be the temp tape that helis have on their bearings, once it gets to a certain temp it changes the colour of the tape, but once again it would mean doing a full prestart thou

SamL · 25-02-2007, 07:59 PM

Good call Birdy, I tend to agree an alarm or an indicator would be more usefull. Something that would be in your face if it did decide to over heat.

Sam.............

Brian · 25-02-2007, 09:30 PM

Bit of a gimmick I reckon, if you cant hear/ feel the noise coming through the mast, you are deafer than me.

Its like no other noise.

skidbiter · 09-03-2007, 11:10 PM

just curious, how do you gyro pilots know when to lube the mains bearings? or are the bearings sealed, does the rotorhead come with a lubrication chart outlining frequency, and does the head have a grease nipple for application? Would a temp gauge indicate if an excessive temperature had occurred, as heat discolouration would be hard to determine without disassembly?

Brian · 10-03-2007, 03:04 PM

The ones used by the gyros I have seen, are sealed bearings . I guess you could repack them but if you are going to take them out, you might as well put a new one in.They are not very expensive so why not put a new one in.haven't seen a grease nipple in one yet.

A lot of us run our gyros in a pretty dirty environment and this doesn't seem to cause much if any problems.I have had one get very noisy, in fact you could hear it very clearly coming down the mast.

I wouldnt worry about a bearing temp gauge . I would rate a gearbox temp gauge a higher priority as well as an engine oil temp gauge.

Birdy2 · 10-03-2007, 03:44 PM

i only got bout 300 hours outa me first bearing, coz it wasnt 'repacked' wen it was put in. factory packing grease is bout as good as petrolium jelly.

Since then, i repack them with real grease before i fit um, and the last one got past 900 hours and was still free and smooth.[ i thought id better replace it after i bent that last set of blades.]

Sky Gazer · 11-03-2007, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bones

a better idea i would think would be the temp tape that helis have on their bearings, once it gets to a certain temp it changes the colour of the tape, but once again it would mean doing a full prestart thou

One of the problems the Rotorway Helicopter was having involved the breakage of their secondary drive shaft. The only indicator of an imminent diaster was the rapid rise in bearing temp, so a lot of owners hooked up a "Secondary bearing temp gauge" to monitor the problem. I know of at least one guy that picked up the temp change quick enough (within seconds of it starting to move ) but still ended up with a breakage. The only real advantage was that he was ready for what was coming. Since then they have added an alarm to the gauge as well.

So the tell tale dots are Ok for pre and hopefully post flight checks but really are no use whatso ever when in the air- I guess thats why they have gone with the gauge- But Birdy is absolutely correct, it really needs to have an alarm wired in as well to be effective.

Peter

Brian · 16-03-2007, 09:46 PM

Rotorways have one big alarm on them, anyone flying them are real thrill seekers.

I wondered what was wrong with them and now I know !

They have claimed a few lives, pity, they are lovely looking things but seems its better to have them parked in the shed than flying.