AXN Miracle
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 7:42 pm
I ordered an AXN from HK's international WHSE to be shipped here to the states. Got the kit edition with just the motor, so I could follow Bruce's excellent build videos, and perhaps learn a few things. Plane arrived in decent time and intact. Got all the pieces out of the box and looked them over. No damage, all bits were there, I was happy. Fiddled with the motor and turned the shaft, only to find it would turn only about a quarter turn and then lock up--both directions the same. Played with it some more, and sent a note to HK saying that I thought I got a lemon.
Next day I once again fiddled with the motor and shaft, still the same---until----a few more attempts to turn it----and two very tiny nuts fell out of the motor onto my bench top. Miracle one-they did not skitter onto the floor where they would have been lost forever. The motor shaft turned freely now, but I was concerned that something inside the motor had come loose. Sent an addendum to HK to advise them that the motor now turned but did they know if the two tiny nuts had come from inside the motor. Went back to fiddling with the plane. I noticed that the two push rods in the fuselage had the connectors installed on them. But the two tiny little nuts that hold them to the servo arm were not on them. The mystery of the two tiny nuts in the motor was solved. The nuts had either just been thrown into the fuselage, or had come loose from the connectors. They had stayed in the fuselage, and somehow worked their way down the wiring race that runs back to the motor. The magnets in the motor attracted them and inside they went. Could have been that way from China to my bench, or just when I carted the box to my work area. I'll never know. But they weren't lost, stuck in the motor forever, or thrown out with all the bubble wrap, tape , and cardboard.
Albeit a small miracle, but it is one nonetheless.
Next day I once again fiddled with the motor and shaft, still the same---until----a few more attempts to turn it----and two very tiny nuts fell out of the motor onto my bench top. Miracle one-they did not skitter onto the floor where they would have been lost forever. The motor shaft turned freely now, but I was concerned that something inside the motor had come loose. Sent an addendum to HK to advise them that the motor now turned but did they know if the two tiny nuts had come from inside the motor. Went back to fiddling with the plane. I noticed that the two push rods in the fuselage had the connectors installed on them. But the two tiny little nuts that hold them to the servo arm were not on them. The mystery of the two tiny nuts in the motor was solved. The nuts had either just been thrown into the fuselage, or had come loose from the connectors. They had stayed in the fuselage, and somehow worked their way down the wiring race that runs back to the motor. The magnets in the motor attracted them and inside they went. Could have been that way from China to my bench, or just when I carted the box to my work area. I'll never know. But they weren't lost, stuck in the motor forever, or thrown out with all the bubble wrap, tape , and cardboard.
Albeit a small miracle, but it is one nonetheless.