Tarot Retract Warning... THIN METAL!!

SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
Hey guys, I LOVE the Tarot Retracts, using 4 sets (well, 3 now) and they perform flawlessly.

BUT.... as I was bringing a rig upstairs from my workshop I bumped the landing gear on the wall. And I mean bumped, like not hard at all, like seriously just a tap and to my surprise I heard a "tink" and one of my landing gear legs fell off. In shock I went back to the shop put the rig on the floor and was astonished to see that the metal "boot" that secures the carbon tube had broke. More to my surprise is how thin this area is. If you look at the top, they could have left some additional material around this area and it would have weighed .00000005 grams more. SO, not sure if there is anything that can be done to beef up this area but this has me slightly concerned.

Don;'t get me wrong, I have 100+ successful take off's and landings with the Tarot Retracts, but the thinness of this area is seriously like WTH!!

As you can see the gear are in PERFECT condition, I assure you this was not a crash, I just bumped the gear on the wall...

 

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SamaraMedia

SamaraMedia

Active Member
Ouch, that sucks! Came in a little sideways with mine today when my SuperX did some weird stuff, luckily I was at a slow speed but I was concerned that my landing gear would get messed up (Tarot X6) but only broke a couple props on a KDE triple prop setup. Hope no other damage happened to your machine.
 

SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
jwoike said:
Ouch, that sucks! Came in a little sideways with mine today when my SuperX did some weird stuff, luckily I was at a slow speed but I was concerned that my landing gear would get messed up (Tarot X6) but only broke a couple props on a KDE triple prop setup. Hope no other damage happened to your machine.
Click to expand...

No nothing at all, I was walking up steps!
 

jfro

jfro

Aerial Fun
I'd be willing to guess there was already a stress crack either form manufacturing error or possibly from a previous landing or some other bump. I have 2 pair of them and so far they are fine. That being said, I take more time on landing making sure it's as soft as can be with them.

Wonder if there's a way we can mod them for a little extra strength. I'm finishing up a 3d printer build, so maybe I'll put that on the long list of things to try.

Good news is no other damage to your MR and repalcements are terribly expensive, although it's still an expensive bump....
 



SleepyC

SleepyC

www.AirHeadMedia.com
Yea, these gear never had a hard landing, I tend not to "SLAP em down" and do more of a butterfly with sore feet. Generally better for the rigs.

I also have had great success with these gear, but it REALLY surprised me the minimal amount of material there. And if you look, they milled it away to create this lack of material (or molded it away) like 1mm more material going up from the barrel to the holder would make this never happen even with a bumped landing.
 


Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
I got them too. 2-3 layers of heat shrink tubing on that area. Heat shrink it right around the corner. Then if you ever have this happen it will still hold together.
 

scotth

scotth

Member
Not exactly heat treated 6061. Probably cast from melted down cans. Remember this as you're installing prop adapters and other critical components. They're cheap because...
 

Old Man

Old Man

Active Member
...Because that's the way hobby stuff has been produced in that area for a long, long time. If the market was willing to pay a little more for a better product they would be made elsewhere and with better quality.
 

scotth

scotth

Member
Old Man said:
...Because that's the way hobby stuff has been produced in that area for a long, long time. If the market was willing to pay a little more for a better product they would be made elsewhere and with better quality.
Click to expand...
And that's one reason you pay through the nose for aircraft quality. Oh and plaintiff attorneys.
 

Old Man

Old Man

Active Member
The FAA requirements at times go a bit over the top. MilSpec should be plenty good enough. If you remove the words hobby, hunting, boating, golf, airplane, jewelry, and photography from the descriptive uses of a MilSpec component the price drops by a factor of 5, at minimum.
 



violetwolf

violetwolf

Member
scotth said:
Not exactly heat treated 6061. Probably cast from melted down cans. Remember this as you're installing prop adapters and other critical components. They're cheap because...
Click to expand...

Chinese metallurgy combined with Chinese tolerances, not always the greatest combination. :)
 

Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
It's not the metal they use. They machine a dumb ogee on the corner of the cylinder making it really thin. For cosmetics I guess.
 


Pumpkinguy

Pumpkinguy

Member
Lol. I knew that. Was just pointing out what the real flaw is. If they left that corner square, it would never break.
 

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