Location: Qld Australia
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03-24-2026, 09:40 AM
(Edited 05-15-2026, 01:43 AM by Graeme Smith.
Edit Reason: I have removed these photos as the design has been updated.
)
Location: Qld Australia
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03-30-2026, 11:30 PM
(Edited 05-15-2026, 12:43 AM by Graeme Smith.
Edit Reason: I have removed these photos as the design has been updated.
)
I thought I would post where we are with the tail rotor upgrade, nearly there, some cooling fins to add, oil level sight glass to add, filler / breather cap to add, chip detector to add and a few other incidentals changes as we refine the design, but it is looking good. (the RW hub is just for appearance sake as the buyer will use his / her own RW hub and blades etc.
With this design I have the option of being able to slightly rotate the T/R attach cone on the boom so the tail rotor can have an upward thrust as well as a sideways thrust, this will, I Hope go some way to reducing the need for the ballast weight as there can be an upward thrust on the boom making it more level in a hover, this will need to be tested. I will be spinning the tail rotor itself slightly higher rpm as well so a little more thrust as well.
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04-02-2026, 07:50 PM
(Edited 04-02-2026, 07:51 PM by Jared Hartzell.)
This is looking great @ Graeme Smith! Have you considered doing anything about the TR blade grips/pitch horns being held in by snap rings? I recall there being an incident with a TR blade flying off after maintenance due to potentially incorrect installation of the snap ring. While unrelated, it was just a thought that came up. Seems to me that is an area that should be addressed at some point as well.
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(04-02-2026, 07:50 PM)Jared Hartzell Wrote: This is looking great @Graeme Smith! Have you considered doing anything about the TR blade grips/pitch horns being held in by snap rings? I recall there being an incident with a TR blade flying off after maintenance due to potentially incorrect installation of the snap ring. While unrelated, it was just a thought that came up. Seems to me that is an area that should be addressed at some point as well.
Hi Jared, simple answer no, I have enough on my plate ATM, and the reason I am doing this is to replace the tail rotor belts as they destroyed my last build, and I thought why not, the shaft drive at its slightly higher RPM = more thrust, no tail rotor belt adjustments and maybe an answer to the ballast???
making the shaft to suit the existing RW T/R pitch horns makes my current life a little easier and cheaper.
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04-21-2026, 12:47 AM
(Edited 04-21-2026, 01:01 AM by Graeme Smith.)
(04-04-2026, 01:14 AM)Graeme Smith Wrote: (04-02-2026, 07:50 PM)Jared Hartzell Wrote: This is looking great @Graeme Smith! Have you considered doing anything about the TR blade grips/pitch horns being held in by snap rings? I recall there being an incident with a TR blade flying off after maintenance due to potentially incorrect installation of the snap ring. While unrelated, it was just a thought that came up. Seems to me that is an area that should be addressed at some point as well.
Hi Jared, simple answer no, I have enough on my plate ATM, and the reason I am doing this is to replace the tail rotor belts as they destroyed my last build, and I thought why not, the shaft drive at its slightly higher RPM = more thrust, no tail rotor belt adjustments and maybe an answer to the ballast???
making the shaft to suit the existing RW T/R pitch horns makes my current life a little easier and cheaper.
Update .... I have decided to spin the tail rotor blades the opposite way to a std RW, there is a mountain of evidence that you do gain extra authority from the advancing blade travelling upwards into the down wash of the main rotor, I am as a consequence of that decision also having new pitch horns made to put the RW weights on the outside as they are in the RW setup.
Also we have gone back to the books and revamped the tail rotor gearbox and reduced its initial weight by 4kg, we are now at just above the belt driven RW tail rotor setup.
Not finished yet as our CAR35 engineer is looking at what we have done, my hat is off to the engineer with his tenacity to reduce weight and yet maintain a significant safety margin.
Along with the opposite rotation we are also speeding it up a little, so I am very confident that the finished tail rotor drive system will offer significant extra tail rotor authority to the std belt drive system, along with no slippage and no belt breakages.
So all up we should be very close to the RW weight of its drive belts, pullies, hanging pendulums etc. fingers crossed.
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Chip detector and/or oil quantity level indicator?
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(04-21-2026, 10:02 PM)Tim Morris Wrote: Chip detector and/or oil quantity level indicator?
yes
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04-22-2026, 06:21 AM
(Edited 04-22-2026, 06:22 AM by Graeme Smith.)
Here is some more "why it is better a shaft drive or a belt drive". I had a friend drop in today with his 162F so I asked him if he would let be do some measurements on his tail rotor RPM.
I asked him to keep the collective in the pocket and run up the RW to 100%, he does have a governor, at 100% RRPM the tail rotor was spinning at 2740RPM I then asked him to keep 100% and push in right pedal, that decreased the Tail rotor RPM to 2547RPM a reduction through slippage of 193 RPM so the belts that were checked to be at the correct tension were slipping.
I used a digital laser rpm gauge, with new batteries
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05-03-2026, 08:55 PM
(Edited 05-15-2026, 12:40 AM by Graeme Smith.
Edit Reason: I have removed these photos as the design has been updated.
)
Here is the tail rotor gears and shafts
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i will say this looks extremely promising.
maybe a future buyer of the Rotorway namesake will look twice at this and consider adopting it and buying the design from you. would be amazing to see this get more support!
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