Can 8 inches of tape be dangerous?

[McKrackin]

Yes by god it can

The tape I use for ballance on the blades.It blew off one blade today.
I heard the tell tale flutter(it's happened before)so I was bringing it back to land.It got a few feet from me and suddenly blew off completely.
The A blade still had four and a half wraps of tape on it so it was sooooo out of balance that a controlled landing was not an option.
Hit the throttle hold about two feet up and let it drop to the ground.
I held enough forward elevator to hold the tail up out of the grass until it slowed.No damage that I can see.Waiting on the battery to see for sure.
The battery had enough to hover for a few seconds after I peeled the tape off.Seemed OK.

On my 500,this happened once and I put the tape back and put polyurethane on the tape ends and edges.
I don't want to do that this time for aesthetic reasons.
I have the blades all polished up and ready to reinstall.Hopefully the higher headspeed I have now will negate the need for the tape.

[19000rpm]

Close call ern. Never have to use that much on a 400-450. I have shaved off some material on the blade grip end to get it close enough for a single wrap of tape to get the balance right.

Happy landings

[mightyxxwhitey]

sounds like you need 100mph duck tape. ;D

[Raygun]

At least you not the poor sap that threw the wedding bouquet out of an ultralight plugged up the motor and crashed!! I just saw that on the news.. Ray

[McKrackin]

Jul 16, 2009 7:59:33 GMT -6 19000rpm said:

Close call ern. Never have to use that much on a 400-450. I have shaved off some material on the blade grip end to get it close enough for a single wrap of tape to get the balance right.

Happy landings

It had three wraps.My blades are heavy ;D
But it wasn't the weight as much as drag.
When it broke,it did so in a manner that left a cup in the tape like a parachute and caused that blade to partially fold.

[McKrackin]

Jul 16, 2009 11:20:04 GMT -6 mightyxxwhitey said:

sounds like you need 100mph duck tape. ;D

The blade tips are over 200mph
lol...

[19000rpm]

There are some tapes out there rated for 200 mph. I think they are actually called "helicopter" tape. They also use the stuff on race cars to hold broken body pieces on.

Happy landings

[akphill]

Hey Mc the one thing i learned a long time ago was never ever wrap your balance tape you found out why take one peace of tape from trailing edge around the blade and back to the trailing edge then all end tapes are in the lee of the wind and wont have a chance of coming loose and causing a problem just a suggestion thought would share

[McKrackin]

Jul 18, 2009 21:31:36 GMT -6 akphill said:

Hey Mc the one thing i learned a long time ago was never ever wrap your balance tape you found out why take one peace of tape from trailing edge around the blade and back to the trailing edge then all end tapes are in the lee of the wind and wont have a chance of coming loose and causing a problem just a suggestion thought would share

Good call.I'm all over it.Even though there were multiple wraps,they start and finish on the trailing edge.
My tape literally disintegrated.It was an ongoing thing that I actually knew about and ignored.Every flight came down with less and less tape on the blades.

Your method would have prevented the problem.My leading edge of tape failed but since it was wrapped,the trailing edge was still cupped.In retrospect,the trailing edge of the tape should never be connected.

Thanks.