Lack of thrust

[TheRCFool]

Our good friend Charley took a break from rc cars to join us in flying. He built this A-10 EDF and when he took it out for its maiden, this is what happened. Any thoughts?

 

[pgerts]

1 - are the wheels tight? - Do you have any thrust when holding the plane up from the ground?
2 - are the fans spinning free? - Some (GWS) needs to be trimmed to get clear from the tube.
3 - Battery - does it give enough power. C-rating or cable gauge..

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I can think of a few things that would cause that. A bad battery, or one that wasn't charged all the way. It could have been an older kit, and the motors aren't strong enough to take off from a grass field. The end points on the ESC aren't adjusted, so it doesn't spin up to full throttle like it should.

 

[TheRCFool]

Thanks for the tips guys ill look into that

 

[colorex]

Is he too much into cars? LOL JK

Yeah, throttle endpoints, battery rating according to motor, weight of the plane, etc.

 

[Non Action Man]

might be just me, but it sounds a bit grindy right at the start, the blades arent rubbing?

 

[themajik1]

might be just me, but it sounds a bit grindy right at the start, the blades arent rubbing?

That is what I thought when I heard it first power up. That could be just one of the issues. Pgerts and FM had the rest!

 

[MountianFlyingWV]

nose heavy?

 

[lonewolf7717]

Most certainly does not sound right, he built this you say...scratchbuilt or kit? Not uncommon for folks unfamiliar with edfs to "egg" the housing a bit during assembly. If it was a edf kit and a cheaper one at that they are notorious for poor tolerances in foam mold around fan housing. Either too tight or too loose, if too tight its very plausible being new to all this he simply "crammed" the edf(s) in causing them to egg slightly thereby making the fan bind. I would remove both motors and bench test, if egging was the culprit simply remove a bit of foam.