Well, my 88" Edge has been begging to get out and fly, and today was the day since I finally got a new charger, but half-way through the first flight, the prop shaft snapped off...

I lost the spinner, and Xoar 25X12E somewhere in a rattlesnake infested swamp....

fun day for sure, I don't have a problem with crashing a plane, if anyone's seen me fly, they will know that.. lol
But when it comes to equipment failure, I don't like it a bit. It ruins my whole day.

here's the damage... I also broke the cowl a little bit when I overshot the runway and flipped the plane in the grass.... not a fun day...

The prop was not overtightened. IMHO, it looks as if the metal that the shaft was manufactured from is to brittle for this application....

what she used to look like:

Have a buddy who's gone through many shafts and lost more than a few props due to this exact same thing.
The shafts are all breaking right where that groove is cut into the shaft for the c-clip.

The process of machining the groove flexes the shaft and work hardens the metal. We had a 1in. shaft at work that did the same thing.

Never use 36" stilsons!!!

Originally Posted by Cryhavoc38

Have a buddy who's gone through many shafts and lost more than a few props due to this exact same thing.
The shafts are all breaking right where that groove is cut into the shaft for the c-clip.

not cool! wish I knew that before I bought the motor....

Originally Posted by ec121

The process of machining the groove flexes the shaft and work hardens the metal. We had a 1in. shaft at work that did the same thing.

Hmm, wonder if there's a better solution....

Originally Posted by OZSamE

Never use 36" stilsons!!!

stilsons??? what's that?

Sorry you lost that nice spinner. Who makes it and did you paint it?

Originally Posted by Kiva Flyer

Sorry you lost that nice spinner. Who makes it and did you paint it?

Thanks, here's all the info on that spinner:

https://www.flyinggiants.com/forums/...ad.php?t=60742

Originally Posted by Chris Todd

not cool! wish I knew that before I bought the motor....

Hmm, wonder if there's a better solution....


stilsons??? what's that?

There is.
the new back mount motors they released/releasing soon

Here is one.

http://www.aero-model.com/Hacker-Bru...Outrunner.aspx

Originally Posted by Cryhavoc38

There is.
the new back mount motors they released/releasing soon

Here is one.

http://www.aero-model.com/Hacker-Bru...Outrunner.aspx

how does that keep the shaft from shearing??? the Mad-dog mount works great for what I have...

Originally Posted by Chris Todd

how does that keep the shaft from shearing??? the Mad-dog mount works great for what I have...

haven't seen one in person of course, but unless I was told wrong, there is no clip in the front like the older A60's.

Its designed much in the same way the scorpion 5xx series is. One long shaft, retained in the rear with a cclip and collet.
Exact opposite of the front mount a60's with none of the load that the front mount would be subjected to.

Vitter's A60 was also used in a mad dog.

endless calls to hacker, numerous replacement shafts and c clips, etc etc...kept snapping off right at that groove.

Hmmm, very interesting!

I'll ask him to pm you with the gory details and perhaps a summation of his many calls to hacker.

If you are on rcg, his userid is Vitter in case you wanted to send him a pm as well.

well, I am not going to contact Hacker about this... It seems that it should be their responsibility, but if folks are not getting anywhere with them, I see no reason to waste my time. I have ordered a new shaft, and as soon as I get the rest of my setup back from the bottom of the swamp, I will try to borrow some time on a lathe and make a 1 piece deal, or something out of titanium... I just hope the rubber cement that I used to keep my setup from "clocking" with the bolt torqed so little will hold the prop/spinner/adapter together enough to recover all the pieces....

yea seems hacker has a problem with some of those.Ive seen two of them myself.Seems that it happens kinda early on in the motor's life tho?The ones I saw did anyhow.The ones Ive had generally go from now on if they get a few flights under their belts and dont break.