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Track & Balance Fundamentals Explained – Vertical MRO Tech Talk by Bell – Ep 3 — Transcript

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0:02welcome to the Bell Tech talk segment of
0:03the vertical mro podcast the segment
0:06takes you into the nuts and bolts of
0:08helicopter maintenance it's about safety
0:10support and operational Readiness top
0:12priorities for the Bell team join us for
0:15technical insights and personal stories
0:17from the front lines of helicopter
0:18maintenance from the industry leading
0:20experts at Bell hey welcome back
0:23everybody this is Val here at vertical
0:24mro and we're back for the tech Talk
0:26number three number three no Tech talk
0:29no Tik Tok dancing Le unless Greg's
0:31going to do it we're still not dancing
0:32on the show
0:34yet so uh today's awesome topic and
0:37today's uh today's uh speakers from the
0:39Bell group and family here speakers are
0:42going to be Greg Jud good day Greg and
0:44then marttin Mal malot that's good
0:47that's good
0:50yeah today's awesome subject awesome
0:53subject is and it's one that's probably
0:55been you know you have a lot of these
0:56experienced texts that are going to be
0:58kind of like yeah it's about time we
0:59finally talked about this so I'm glad we
1:00are talking about it track and balance
1:02track and balance baby yep so to that to
1:05that so Greg welcome back to the show my
1:07friend oh thank you thank you happy to
1:09be back it's good you're you're kind of
1:12a last minute sub but I'll take you hey
1:14you know we we have to do what we have
1:15to do so it's shift on the Fly baby
1:18that's right shift on the Fly and martan
1:20I'll let you I'll let you kind of
1:21explain a little bit who you are and
1:22what you are to Bell please if you don't
1:24mind been with bell for over 25 years I
1:27moved back and forth between engineering
1:29and mechanics and I spent uh most of my
1:32time at Bell
1:33experimental so I've seen I work on
1:36development at 429 and 505 from uh white
1:39sheet from scratch wow so uh yeah that
1:42was really really good experience great
1:44from Cradle to finish yep nicely done
1:47sir congratulations that's that's an
1:49accomplishment in a half you got to see
1:50two two Superior aircraft like that
1:52right from paper just lucky at the right
1:56the right moment come on well you know
1:59what to say got be good to be lucky my
2:00friend you got to be good to be lucky
2:03better better be lucky than good any day
2:05week right and just just to bring
2:06everybody up to speed I'm back with Mr
2:07Jud is all about just give yourself a
2:09quick little uh quick little intro here
2:10buddy yeah sure uh you know manage the
2:13cse's for the Americas been with B for
2:1611 years uh worked in the field before
2:18that quite a bit uh a lot of 407
2:22experience uh medium experience Long
2:24Ranger jet Ranger and uh just happy to
2:27be here love to have you back always we
2:28always love love see that smiling face
2:31and in person and on on on the podcast
2:33my friend right on I'm happy to be here
2:36love to have you back let's get right
2:37into the weeds of it here guys we're not
2:38going to introduce anything like here I
2:40have my strategically placed vertical
2:42mro hey therey right
2:46on ah like I was saying let's let's get
2:48right into the weeds here I got two
2:49awesome experts here on the guest as
2:52guest today on the vertical mro show
2:53track and balance is the topic of
2:55conversation let's get into it what is
2:57track and balance over to you Mar 10
3:00okay a basic definition of a an
3:02helicopter is a bunch of parts and sha
3:05spinning at different RPM and trying to
3:09stay as far as possible away from each
3:12other so I don't know if you agree great
3:14it's important yeah that's that yeah
3:17that makes sense yep organized chaos I
3:20can't tell you how many times I've ever
3:21explained that to anybody like so what
3:24what like what makes a helicopter cool
3:25I'm like dude it's it's it's a Orchestra
3:28of chaos yeah such that's right that's
3:30right y yep it is so while you gave us a
3:34quick little definition here Greg you
3:35want to jump in on any of that or yeah
3:37sure you know we spend a lot of time uh
3:40as Tech reps we spend a lot of time
3:42helping troubleshoot you know vibration
3:44issues tracking balance issues and all
3:46that so we we get our hands in a lot of
3:48different models and we thought it' be
3:50good to you know share some of the some
3:52of the basic things we see uh that can
3:56really make you pull your hair out but
3:58it's it's simple
4:00when we get a call from a customer
4:01saying hey I'm having a hard time
4:03getting this you know 206 balanced or
4:05whatever you know whatever model it is
4:07we usually start with some basic
4:08questions hey uh make sure your Gear's
4:11installed correctly you know we can tell
4:14by the information they're providing to
4:16us if they have an accelerometer upside
4:18down by the direction the moves
4:21go if they're if they're Channel A and B
4:24are mixed up we can tell by the
4:26amplitude typically so don't get
4:29offended if we asked you right out of
4:30the gate hey double check your
4:32installation triple check your
4:34installation make sure your
4:35accelerometers are oriented correctly
4:37make sure the channel the channels are
4:39hooked up to the correct channels on the
4:41on the collection equip we use the RADS
4:45which is a GE product rotor anal
4:48analysis and diagnostic system and we
4:51also use we've been using the honey well
4:53ZTE kit as of late okay now I think and
4:56Martin correct me if I'm wrong but I
4:57think we're going to the RADS engine G
5:00is some of the equipment we're using Y
5:02the nextg RADS that's correct y looking
5:05looking over at the outline of this and
5:06then I think we're going to touch base
5:08on some of this as well too so this is
5:09gonna be this is GNA be a well covered
5:11yeah podcast on this one today so yep
5:13yeah yeah so at the end of the day I had
5:16it explained to me when I was a young
5:18technician you're trying to get to the
5:20center lift over the center rotation on
5:23a rotor Hub so you're trying to find
5:26you're trying to find Point get that
5:28lift right over the top of the mass nut
5:30that's what you're doing and good track
5:34all that add you know works in your
5:36favor when you're getting a track
5:37cleaned up that works in your balance
5:39favor and your you know two bladed
5:41rotors versus four bladed rotors now
5:42we're going to be dealing with five
5:43bladed rotors on the 5 five going
5:45forward so we got a lot of lot of busy
5:48stuff going on there Greg it also kind
5:50of TAPS into what we we've I've spoken
5:52to you more than a few times already
5:54your um your expertise uh of your team
5:58and the knowledge and the tribal
6:00knowledge that you guys kind of hand
6:01down to not only with your inner company
6:03inner customers but to your customers in
6:05itself so yeah yeah kudos to you guys
6:07from kudos to you both for kind of doing
6:09that and kind of being patient with the
6:10customer sometimes like you know we're
6:12educated individuals but when we have to
6:14call upon the experts then then you know
6:16we've hit our Wicks right so yeah
6:18exactly and we understand the
6:20frustration because we've all been there
6:22I mean I I can tell you horror stories
6:25about early
6:27on 52 starts an aircraft and and you're
6:31not making any progress stop yeah if if
6:34you're not making progress stop don't
6:36don't burn any more side so the point is
6:39we understand the frustration and and we
6:41we know the pressure that's on the
6:43maintenance department to get these
6:44aircraft up you know awesome well then
6:47let's let's let's jump right into it
6:49here I'll leave it over to you martan
6:50what's briefly explain what rev one rev
6:52is uh one rev it's uh it's a vibration
6:54cycle like every spin of the rotor uh
6:58there's two kind of one have a vertical
7:00one forev which uh it's an unequal lift
7:04of the
7:05blades and uh there's a lateral as well
7:08so you can fix a vertical with uh pitch
7:11Lings and trim tops and the lateral
7:14vibration is uh it could be on a two
7:17blade system it could be an alignment
7:19blade problem or a delta in a blade
7:22weight yeah so to to Martin's Point you
7:25know we even use the Hub weight for
7:28vertical vibration on some models uh 407
7:32429 412 you can use a little Hub weight
7:34to clean that up and fine-tune it so we
7:37use we use the whole basket to make this
7:40work on the TW blader rotor just pretty
7:42simple well relatively speaking you have
7:45span weight cord weight Tab and you can
7:48you can use lead lag as your cord uh
7:51weight adjustment as well so you have a
7:54lot of tools in the toolbx if you're
7:56willing to go if you have to go that far
7:57to get there and on our on two-bladed
7:59rotors a few years I don't remember
8:01exactly when Martin you may remember but
8:03we introduced an inboard tab at some
8:05point years ago because we we had
8:07situations on our tw- blade rotor where
8:09you would just shoot parallel to the
8:11zero you couldn't get there because now
8:14we call it the Shaded area on the chart
8:16you have to disrupt that rotor and move
8:17it around the clock and we talk about
8:20we'll talk about all sorts of clock
8:22Corrections and all that stuff but in in
8:24short what we use to to fix these the
8:28vertical vibrations
8:30PCL Hub weight Tab and uh you know
8:33spanwise you can use spanwise to adjust
8:36track to yeah bring one blade down on a
8:38two bladed R and then the lateral stuff
8:41we use a lot essentially hubway the for
8:44Anda we call it four and half on the
8:46407s and 412s and 429s we call lateral
8:49on the 206s and it's just it's relative
8:51to where the accelerators are mounted
8:54now imagine that when you're adding a
8:55fifth blade into it yeah well you know
8:58yeah I may work worked on a few five b
9:00rotors in my I think we SP a few times
9:04yeah yep yep I'm sure Martin's messed
9:06with it a little bit as well so again
9:09you count upon your expertise and your
9:10tribal knowledge to hand down to those
9:11Young Bucks that are listening and it's
9:13into your you know into your own
9:15facility as well there too right so yeah
9:17uh we covered that let's go into the N
9:18pev the two pev and four pev yeah can
9:21you fix that Greg if you can't tell me
9:26how yeah it's it's natural it's there
9:29there's nothing you can do what we're
9:31doing it's uh you can use a n nle beam
9:34like on N XL uh you can use live M 430
9:39uh 429
9:41505 uh and a Fram uh a Fram is just a
9:45mass mounted on Springs that react at
9:48the opposite of your Mev like in two pev
9:52or four perv bending on a 429 as an
9:55example or a 26 I was just going to ask
9:58you with that there Martin I know we
9:59kind of went over a little bit of
10:00dialogue here what is what is a what's a
10:02Fram the f f f ahm Fram yeah it comes
10:06from uh the inventor it's a German guy
10:09who invite invited that uh it's a mass
10:12moned on Springs and it reacts uh if you
10:16take the 429 there's two frams under the
10:18floor uh the four the 430 has three
10:21frams and the 505 has the one optional
10:24FR in a cabin so it kills the vibration
10:27locally okay here we have as well the
10:30Fram for the 407 that was mted on a on
10:33the mass um not not all of them was the
10:37what's the ratio Craig in the field that
10:40uh they're using the FR on the 47 I
10:42would say probably about 25% of the
10:44aircraft have them 30% maybe we we don't
10:47deliver them with the frames on them
10:48anymore okay so so to be clear two
10:52bladed rotors are in here with two two
10:55per rev because of the two-bladed rotor
10:57four bladed four per revs right so you
11:00can get a two per Rev on a four-bladed
11:03rotor and how that how that happens
11:06there's a couple of ways but the the
11:08most common we see like on our 407s is
11:11the product balance weights aren't
11:12managed correctly meaning they don't
11:15maintain the correct Mass between four
11:18and a half Pockets out there on opposing
11:21blades and that will give you a two per
11:22rev that will drive you nuts and uh and
11:26and typically when we're taking readings
11:27on a 407 we don't read we don't have
11:30limits for a two per rep we're looking
11:32for a two it's because we're feeling
11:34something in the airframe that's not
11:35being registered on the equip on a 407
11:38or 412 or whatever gotcha pendulum
11:40pendulum weights can give you some weird
11:43stuff going on on a hung up pendulum on
11:45a 412 can give you a raty pain they can
11:48give you some different uh frequencies
11:51but it it the short story is a for
11:54bladed rotor is inherently has a for for
11:57parev in it and we can balance we can
12:00manage that by FRAM dampers and by the
12:05live Mount helps a lot with four prams
12:07too like on the 429 and and the 430 uh
12:12we have with these liquid nurish
12:13vibration I forget the whole acronym but
12:16if they lose their charge 505 has it as
12:19well if they lose their charge then the
12:21forers are more pronounced so if we're
12:25troubleshooting so is it is it is it
12:26common to have a four for two no or or
12:29is it no it's it's it's rare yeah four
12:32Fram to the two yeah yeah so it's it's
12:34either a four per or it's it's a one per
12:36on
12:37a yeah okay that got there's there's
12:40already like here we are 15 minutes into
12:42this conversation there's a crap ton of
12:44moving Parts already so that's you know
12:47all of this kind of comes into the
12:49balance of it all and there's there's um
12:51this how's this for a segue how's there
12:52harmonics because it all has to come
12:54into some type of har Harmony for this
12:56to kind of operate so explain to us you
12:58know the harmonics behind it all okay
13:00neonic it's it's it's it's a multiple of
13:02the basic
13:05frequency sometimes people they mix up
13:07resonance with harmonic resonance is two
13:10parts reacting against each other from a
13:12very Clos frequency armonic is a
13:15multiple of your driving frequency one
13:17perf two perf four perf yeah and we we
13:20try to manage those with the different
13:22pieces of equipment right the harmonics
13:25and it's good to note that when you
13:27customize an airframe like a 407 or a 4
13:31429 you can change the natural frequency
13:35of that airframe by making it more rigid
13:37with equipment that's installed either
13:39internal or external and that changes
13:42the whole way the
13:44coefficients react to that airframe in
13:46our programs in our track and Balance
13:48gear correct Martin is that that I say
13:50that that's correct because in design
13:53experimental we were fighting with that
13:55every day almost uh in a perfect world
13:58which is never the case you're trying to
14:02what what are you talking about
14:0515 trying to stay with 15% apart from
14:09your dominant frequency which is not
14:11always the case so in that case yes
14:14there's two way to move a frequency is
14:16either you add weight or you change the
14:19stiffness uh so why why are we putting
14:21weight is because it's cheaper it's
14:23faster and um it's really it's it's
14:27efficient if you choose to change
14:29simpness you have to go back in design
14:31you're talking cost and uh engineering
14:34time and delay on the schedule for
14:36certification got um an example for that
14:39Greg I know you remember the early 407
14:42you had those tuning weight on Xin and
14:45now we made an average now we're
14:47building the the oxin all the same uh
14:49same for the tail weight on a stinger I
14:51have a little story on that uh I was in
14:53production at the time and I recent for
14:56that this brand new 206 L4 with the high
14:59altitude terar order and we had a real
15:01hard time in production to with that
15:03terar order and right on the delivery I
15:05don't recall if it that Saturday or
15:07Sunday but it it was in the weekend they
15:09called me at home and said the public
15:11complain doesn't want to take off with
15:13the aircraft okay so came back came to
15:16work and install the rids and we had
15:18something like four or five dips on the
15:20tail rer so oh my God we didn't see that
15:23in production so what's happened so we
15:25decided to Dune so we basically tape a
15:2910 a bag of lead 10 pounds only ther and
15:32the r went
15:34away
15:36okay so so we went to engineering and
15:39Engineering said no you can do that I
15:41said okay tell me what to do but I'm
15:43telling you there's a resonance
15:45condition so that's why we have this
15:47than sting block attached to the Stinger
15:49is the same for the uh 407 now and um
15:54505 we had a hard time with the 505 as
15:56well so at the beginning we had the same
15:58situ but with the experience now we know
16:01yeah and and to his point on the 505
16:03when we're balancing the Tail Road we'll
16:04hang weight on the Stinger to get rid of
16:06that resonance and then we get the tail
16:08rer in and once you get that in once you
16:09get the tail rer tightened balance-wise
16:11then you don't have any issue with it
16:14but uh yeah it's it's uh there's some
16:17black magic going on there let's put
16:20that as as technical as we get on this
16:23show you mentioned something here
16:25earlier there marown with the uh the
16:27Renaissance condition give give us just
16:29a little bit of explanation just kind of
16:30just a little more detail on that you
16:31said it was just two moving Parts in in
16:33opposite of each other uh no resonance
16:35is two parts uh very close from a
16:38frequency point of view okay and they
16:40talk to each other and they excite each
16:41other so we have an an increase in
16:43vibration and you don't want that as it
16:45get further apart exactly so you want to
16:48either increase or decrease the
16:50vibration of one of the component to
16:52keep them a way like let's say at least
16:5410% okay I was just going to say like my
16:56quick notes Here was saying try not to
16:58be at least 15% apart yeah I got you
17:02yeah I got you in in the perfect world
17:03but it's there's so many pieces and
17:07shaft and gears and engine and
17:09transmission it's almost impossible to
17:11be 15% of everything yeah and we see it
17:14a lot we see it a lot on un likee the
17:16407 models where we balance the O cooler
17:18blower we'll see that translate into
17:21main rotor ride issues we'll see tail
17:23roaders translate into main roader ride
17:26where you you get a reading but the main
17:28rers okay it's just getting a resonance
17:30from another vibration Source in the
17:33airframe whether it's a tail rotor oil
17:35cooler so we that's why we have a we're
17:38specific in our sequence of what you
17:39check your tail rotor cooler cooler tail
17:42rotor then work your main rotor because
17:44we've seen we've seen you know we've
17:45learned over the years that you can
17:47create some of your own problems if
17:48you're not careful Goa Greg I I'll put
17:50I'll put this one over you because
17:51Martins you've been feeling some pretty
17:52good ones so far here with uh with that
17:54you know kind of you can chime in as
17:56well there but Greg over it too on how
17:57to move a natural natural frequency how
18:00to move a natural frequency well we use
18:02we use product balance weights to move
18:04natural frequencies a little bit but uh
18:08you're gonna have to help me Martin I
18:09don't
18:10remember I thought I'd give him a bit of
18:12a break but Martin over to you buddy
18:14here here's the surf okay there's only
18:16two way we spoke about a little bit is
18:19change the sness or change the weight of
18:22your part that's the only way you can
18:24move your frequency away gotcha so
18:26that's as simple as that if you weight
18:29you decrease your frequency and if you
18:31increase your stiffness you increase the
18:33frequency I know it says here with like
18:35the tuning the tuning the weight on a ox
18:37fins early 407 editions they were tuned
18:40one one by one so now we have a standard
18:44weight for The Oxen so that's why you
18:45don't see those anymore for 407 Stinger
18:48weight kind of thing the Stinger weight
18:50still there okay it's still there yeah
18:52it's still there yeah that that was
18:54early on when we didn't have good
18:55control of the manufacturing of the ox F
18:58right Martin yeah we were we Wen well I
19:00shouldn't say we didn't have good
19:01control we didn't realize the importance
19:04that we could go to a certain fixed
19:06weight and not have to do that anymore
19:07the fans so yeah 47 was quite an
19:11experience from the dynamic point of viw
19:13early in the program all kind of is TV
19:16panel tracking uh Fram tuning it was not
19:20very successful and that's why probably
19:22now we don't that many TRS around yeah
19:25you can you can definitely feel the
19:26right difference with a Fram on a 407
19:28versus a Prem not there and you only
19:30feel it on the highe speed stuff it's
19:32it's like a a gravel road feel but do
19:35you want to feel you want a gravel road
19:36feel in the air no no you don't but it's
19:40but the way we mitigate that now yes is
19:43instead of trying to if you if you get
19:45the one Pur way low then the four Pur
19:48are more pronounced so if you manage
19:50your one Pur around like 0.12 13 you
19:53don't feel the the gravel road at all
19:56you know right around the 01
19:59yeah ifs inches per second uh is pretty
20:02good if you get them and you can get a
20:04407 if the components are tight you can
20:06bring them all well below 0.1 but you'll
20:09start feeling this forer and and just on
20:11that note some of the things we see in
20:13the field that contribute to forers or
20:15like loose doors loose landing gear
20:17Hardware stuff like that will actually
20:20enhance the for per Revolution
20:22vibrations of the airf Fram so if do if
20:25your door latches aren't adjusted tight
20:26on a 407 they'll start to resonate the
20:29for per because they're feeling every
20:32Every Beat of the rotors that comes
20:33around that airs impact in the fuselage
20:35yep and you get this it's You Feel It in
20:37the Air frames one of the first to be
20:39impacted I'm sure of it right first to
20:41imp I know it sounds crazy but check
20:44your
20:46doors this is the show this Hey listen
20:49this is this is a show that us hel nerds
20:51love right this is we we can talk about
20:53this stuff and this way you know like
20:55bless my wife and every you know when we
20:57talking in helicopter stuff she just
20:58like
21:00yeah meanwhile if it's just us you know
21:02we get it we get it yeah yeah we get it
21:05it's a world we live in oh just just to
21:07finish up the 407 thing we'll probably
21:09talk about it later but correct me if
21:11I'm wrong Mar but the 407 was the first
21:13soft inplane rotor Hub that we we
21:16certified commercial commercially y y
21:19yeah yeah and that that's different than
21:22a soft in Planes different than an
21:23underslung two bladed like long Rangers
21:27or fully articulated like the 525 and
21:30they they respond different to
21:32adjustments than any of the others it's
21:35important to note that because you if
21:38you if you've only worked two bladed
21:40rotors your whole life or if you worked
21:41you know fully articulated five blade or
21:44whatever you you have to have a
21:45different mindset coming into the 407
21:48you you have to understand that we're
21:50going to use hubway pcls product balance
21:54and tabs for the whole ride M and not
21:58just for initials you know a lot of lot
22:00of like two-blade rots you work tab when
22:02you get when you leave a hover and
22:03that's pretty much all you do maybe a
22:05little span weight 407 I'll use Hub
22:08weights clear up and 90 yeah 70% of the
22:11time when I'm fishing finishing a 407
22:13rotor I'll throw Hub weight on and
22:15that's it and it'll finish the highend
22:17quick quick acronym definition for the
22:19PCL just for listeners that don't know
22:21pitch change link yep thank you okay
22:24pcl's okay looking on to what we're
22:26gonna be talking 407 is a great platform
22:29it's it's so like Martin you said when
22:31it came out she was probably a little
22:33stressed but now she just she's a
22:34Workhorse she's a Workhorse you hear a
22:36407 you just a distinct sound distinct
22:38look and distinct performance right so
22:41yeah it's it's it's a yeah it's strong
22:44it's uh it's fast and it's smooth I love
22:47the 407 yeah looking at noal n o d l the
22:51noal beams in the 206l on the roof um
22:55again probably you need a definition of
22:57the noell to the people that are just
22:58listening on this one here it's a
23:00nomatic is what it is thank you y okay
23:03yeah okay and uh believe it or not we
23:05used it on a few different models the
23:07the 206 L's and the
23:10214s plane rotor versus stacked rotor
23:13split uh 214s were uh two bladed
23:17underslung so that's where it's most
23:20effective is on a two-bladed rotor Mar
23:22you want to jump in on any of that uh
23:24just a question for Greg on the 222 and
23:27230 we they call not they did that's
23:30correct they did okay they call them
23:32yeah they did yeah another iconic
23:34platform I only add exposure to the 430
23:37so I don't know much about the 222 and
23:40the 230 so so basically the noall
23:44suspension canceled out the two per
23:47Vibrations by a flexure so it would it
23:50would react at the same frequency in the
23:52opposite direction so the transmission
23:54sits on these flexors and it it moves
23:57vertically and reacts you know to
24:00damping the T or re and you can make a
24:04like a 206l can be really smooth
24:06aircraft no and they this move that's
24:08that's the nice part the L's yeah yeah
24:12flying carpet then you know what the
24:14that's see unfor like there's not too
24:15many L's still out there like just the
24:17plain L straight L with the c20s in them
24:20yeah yeah there's yeah I think there's
24:21one in uh there in your area Martin in
24:24in Quebec there I there's I think
24:27there's World Fleet upstairs like that's
24:29that's a part of it's part of the job
24:31that I look at I see like you know back
24:33back in the days when I was with uh with
24:35comatic and klex on my on my regular job
24:38there was like people always asking you
24:40know can I get one for this I'm like you
24:41really can't like it's there just we
24:43there weren't produced right but there
24:45were just that nice mind you they've now
24:47jumped into the L1 L3 L4 kind of
24:49scenario right so it's but the L the L
24:51platform is a beautiful platform yeah it
24:54it's a it worked you know it was a
24:56platform that worked it was a growth out
24:58of 206 you know B model yeah so you got
25:00a little extra room in the cabin and and
25:03I will say a better ride uh it flew
25:07better than the not that the jet Ranger
25:09don't fly good and they can fly really
25:10good but that no all that no all changed
25:13the ride in those aircraft yeah
25:14significantly for the better but you
25:16know yeah the progression was the 206l
25:19with c20s that's right then the the l1's
25:22come out with c28 in them and then yeah
25:26the engine guy engine guy that's exactly
25:30it that's exactly it pull my finger
25:34nails in the c28 yeah yeah yeah and then
25:37the uh then the variance with the C30
25:39and most of the l1s have been converted
25:41to C30 I I rarely see a c28 L1 out there
25:46anywhere they've all been upgraded to
25:48the c30p I know of a gentleman down
25:51somewhere in Texas there we I don't want
25:53to kind give him too much INF me right
25:54now but he's got him he's got all he's
25:56got them all the c28 every you can
25:58possibly imagine stacking his hangers
26:00yeah crazy good for him yeah yeah yeah
26:05good good for him Mar's like I wash my
26:08hands of
26:11this nice guys okay that was awesome we
26:14got into we got that that was that was
26:16quite a bit of information thanks for
26:17all this but we're now going to get into
26:18the steps to check before equipment
26:19installation I'll lean on both you guys
26:21to jump in on everything involved from
26:23cleanliness to oil and cooler impeller
26:24and stuff like that so lead away before
26:27you start to
26:28you know going down the track and
26:30balance Road you you want to make sure
26:32you don't have any mechanical looseness
26:35or excessive mechanical looseness in
26:36your fly controls like Collective levers
26:39the SWAT plate the
26:41sleeve uh you know pitch link bearings
26:44all that stuff you want to make sure
26:46your blades are clean you want to make
26:48sure on a 206 you want to make sure your
26:49hub's lubed up make sure you don't have
26:52an excluder blown out and you can do
26:54that by simply pumping grease into one
26:56or the other and Counting the stroke
26:58the the grease gun pumps before you get
27:02grease out the the vent hole it's good
27:05it's Good Housekeeping clean the blades
27:07grease your rotor Hub make sure your
27:09collect all your controls are tight at
27:11the swash plade area and look at your
27:13mounts your transmission mounts you know
27:16we'll see a lot of times where we'll try
27:19to get into a situation especially on
27:21like the two of sixes where I've got
27:23this vertical in the hover I can't get
27:24rid of it turn your blades 90 de to the
27:26fuselage get some somebody out on the
27:28end of the blade put your fingers
27:29between the rotating and non-rotating
27:31portion of the swash plate and have them
27:32try to pitch the blade if it pinches you
27:35at all you need to get things tight up
27:37in there you got some there you can see
27:38the you can see the stove pipe you know
27:41the sleeve moving on the support all
27:43that stuff but to get started clean
27:45everything up have a good visual make
27:46sure you got some good tight components
27:48everything can't balance dirt right
27:50can't balance dirt can't balance dirt
27:52and it's really hard to balance an
27:53aircraft that has worn out component
27:56yeah that's that that sentence is from
27:58Greg Arnold and I think it's it's really
28:00good don't balance dirt so get your aler
28:03clean your clan shaft and that's a very
28:06good point yeah and and coolers are a
28:08big thing you know 407 especially but
28:11even on the old models clean them up oil
28:14coolers Yeah Yeah clean clean your
28:16blower your squirrel cage get the sand
28:18out of because it all gets collected in
28:20there and centrifugal Forks just packs
28:22it in there tight clean it up then do
28:24your balance you know and when you're
28:25doing that cleaning just be conscious of
28:27your be bearings make sure you grease
28:29them afterwards don't grease them before
28:31if you're going to use water in there
28:32everything you know your hanger bearings
28:34on your taar rotor Drive uh tail rotor
28:37trunions on the tail rotor for the
28:39greaseable trunions make sure they're
28:40tight make sure when you flick the
28:43blades before you start balancing that
28:45they only bounce once and a half or so
28:47they don't just sit there and bounce
28:49back and forth your tron's loose you'll
28:51be you'll beat yourself to death trying
28:52to balance that gotcha the elastomers
28:55have a good look at your elastomers in
28:57there on the four seven the 429 you end
29:00up with elas we have elaser flapping
29:02bearings make sure they're clean keep
29:04them clean have a look at them make sure
29:06they're not crumbing and the line the
29:07move lines are moving together when you
29:09flap them side to side just general
29:12visual stuff that will save you a lot of
29:14time down the road SW swash plate
29:17friction is a big one as well absolutely
29:20til friction on your swash plate
29:22absolutely another couple of points here
29:24is inspect transmission mounting um
29:26Corner mounts especially on four sevens
29:29uh charge live mounts corner mount you
29:32don't need the tool you can load the
29:33aircraft and just use a a sling in a
29:35hanger and you see the gap for your
29:38corner mount and then SPC them that's
29:40easy you don't and we have a Pooler that
29:42we can use but most of the operator they
29:45have a hanger with the with the oise so
29:48that's that's one way to check the
29:49corner mount uh live Mount you want to
29:52talk about live MTH Greg yeah really
29:54what well let's let me talk about the
29:55corner mounts one more thing it's
29:56important when you're inspecting Corner
29:58mounts to look at the bottom side of the
30:00corner mount you need to get it up to
30:02where you can see underneath the corner
30:03mount with a mirror because that's where
30:05you'll see the tears in the corner mount
30:07because think about it it's elaser that
30:09when it's sitting there static on the
30:10ground it's load it's not loaded right
30:14so as you pick those Corner mounts up
30:16simulating like you're flying the
30:18transmission picks up on these Corner
30:19mounts you can see where the damage will
30:22be is on the bottom side it's much more
30:24prevalent to damage to see the tears and
30:27the elas on the bottom side of the
30:28corner mount and then for the live
30:30mounts you know they're they're charged
30:32with nitrogen we we have this thing
30:35where we say check the charge well I'm
30:38going to tell you it's pretty hard to
30:39check the charge because the volume
30:41these these live mounts hold as nitrogen
30:43is so small the better thing is as
30:46Martin stated charge your live mounts so
30:48just recharge them and you know you I've
30:51I've had folks do it a couple different
30:53ways but there are ways to check it when
30:56you first put the the to on and you open
30:59the shider valve just record where the
31:01gauge went to what the reading was then
31:04charge your live men record that you
31:07know whether it's 180 PSI whatever it is
31:10on different charge for different
31:12aircraft but then you go back to that if
31:15you're if you just want to check it you
31:16can go back to it in an hour check it
31:19again and see if it's leaking and if it
31:22goes right back to the same number then
31:23you know you've got a good live M if
31:26it's higher then it bled off somewhere
31:29down the line there's a couple of ways
31:30to do it but really just charge them
31:33there's really it says check the charge
31:35the light M because of the volume so
31:38small in there there's it's really hard
31:39to check the charge just recharge them
31:41gotcha and all you're doing is chargeing
31:43with nitrogen that makes sure they have
31:45the correct pressure there so they Rea
31:47react the way they were designed to
31:48react with nitrogen being less Flex more
31:51consistency yep gotcha Collective lever
31:53for play yeah that's dep pins on the
31:56collective lever where it attaches to
31:58the sliding sleeve there's pins yep now
32:02there's also bushing in the hlink where
32:04it attaches to the support you need to
32:07check all that and it's really hard to
32:09do if you got the weight of the rotor on
32:10there so what I'd recommend folks do is
32:13disconnect that link from the the Bell
32:16crank yep so there's a bell crank and a
32:18link goes up to the levers the
32:20collective levers disconnect that link
32:22and then just you can wiggle that
32:23bellcrank back and forth and if there's
32:25play you'll see it right there okay and
32:27it's it's one bow that's something to
32:29check all the little things we're
32:31talking about is the basic check and
32:34when we have a customer calling for uh
32:37problem with two perf or four perf
32:38that's always the same checklist that we
32:41asking the customer okay there's there's
32:43there's an F there's an FAQ then at that
32:45point right so frequently asked
32:47questions you guys are quick on the
32:49answer with it you know exactly what
32:50they're doing with at that particular
32:51moment love it well that that's why I
32:54say don't get frustrated with us when we
32:56when they ask you to check stuff that
32:58you probably already checked once mhm
33:01but we may have a different way for you
33:02to check it so gotcha if we if you know
33:06we we have enough experience to know
33:09what causes a lot of these issues
33:10generally like vertical in a hover
33:13vertical on the high end you know uh
33:16lateral issues just don't get mad at us
33:19when we're saying hey double check this
33:20would you Greg so what I'm hearing is
33:22that old adage there's more than one way
33:24to skin a cat that's right that's right
33:26okay all right all right
33:28yeah but GRE Greg had a good point I
33:31start three four five move if if you're
33:33not going anywhere just relax check your
33:36setup it happened to me I'm sure it
33:38happened to you Greg a few times oh yeah
33:40in my case in my case so uh wrong
33:43Channel wrong because when you're
33:45switching from One Medal to the
33:47other you can't remember exact at Lee I
33:51can't no I know remember everything so
33:54double check your chapter 18 uh check
33:56your Channel check the uh Excel uh
34:00location and that's the basic because if
34:03you're not going anywhere after three
34:04four moves there's something's wrong
34:06either mechanical or on your setup yeah
34:10and and the other trick is if you make
34:13if you make a move and it plots out and
34:15I always recommend when you start track
34:17and balance on any model get the paper
34:19chart out plot your moves plot what it's
34:22doing okay if it goes 180 degrees if
34:25your move goes 180 degrees
34:28go check your orientation of your
34:29acceler because I oh it's it's like 180
34:32out double check your orientation you
34:35know and that could all be like you said
34:37it's a proper domino effect that if this
34:39one step wasn't checked probably a
34:41different way than what we're used to
34:42second check is then off third and so of
34:44like it just it's it's literally it's a
34:46following domino effect that if if one
34:48is slightly out they're all going to be
34:49slightly out it might be just the way of
34:51just the way they're doing it without
34:52properly kind of either talking to you
34:54guys about it another point is take
34:56notes of what you're doing you're doing
34:58a product balls move or a tab move take
35:02notes okay that flight I've done pitch
35:04link and the tab so if you're having
35:07problem to reach the center uh it talks
35:10to you I mean you you need to know what
35:12what was done on the rotor and we
35:14provide the move log in our maintenance
35:16menu you print out as many pages you
35:18want use that move log and and why we're
35:21talking about that when you finish a
35:23rotor record your tab angles record
35:27everything in your you can put it in
35:28your log book entry but put it in the
35:30move log in the work order or whatever
35:31especially on the 407s I recommend when
35:34you finish your moves measure your tabs
35:37write the tab angle on the top of the
35:39blade marker gotcha you can go back
35:42there quick double check if you if the
35:44right changes in a few hours go double
35:45check your tabs okay you may have had
35:47one washed out that's typically what
35:49happened excuse me solid advice perfect
35:51that was again here we are good chunk of
35:54the show we've covered quite a bit and
35:56we've only scratched half of the which
35:57is even awesome we're going to the
35:59install side of it now from what I'm
36:01told always use rigid bracket for
36:03accelerometers yeah I saw uh I something
36:06on in the field that people are making
36:09brackets with the sheet metal but you
36:10need something rigid like this block
36:13okay that thing won't shake at the KNE
36:15it was shakeing only in One Direction
36:17really important because that we've seen
36:19some case that the guys that super close
36:22to the camera there Martin let's see
36:23that thing there you go see it's a block
36:25it's this one is aluminum
36:27yep but uh that's what you need because
36:30if you have a flimsy bracket it won't
36:31work to Martin's Point uh I've seen some
36:34pretty creative
36:36stuff in the field like well but you
36:40know it has to be R to sort reads of
36:42frequency off the airframe correctly and
36:45also make sure you don't have cables
36:47laying on the acceler romor make sure
36:49the loop for your cable coming off the
36:51accelerometer is tight you know is not
36:54just dangling out there because that'll
36:56interfere with especially on like a tail
36:58rotor we have pretty specific
37:00instructions for tying up the gables and
37:02all that it's all those little things
37:05add up to frustration if you don't keep
37:08keep a tidy house up front right chat a
37:11little bit about the the RADS or The
37:13Zing paint blade uh leading edges so so
37:16the way the camera works on the on the
37:18RADS and The Zing is it's looking at
37:20that blade as a whole and it's looking
37:23for the interruption of the beam so if
37:25you have and it's a reflection so if you
37:27have the Leading Edge 2 Ines it's silver
37:31and then the black section it only sees
37:33the black section but and it'll maybe
37:36pick up the Leading Edge of silver all
37:37the time we want a consistent color from
37:40the Leading Edge to the trailing Edge on
37:42that blade so that the camera picks it
37:43up accur and it measures the time it
37:47times when the beam's broken and when
37:49it's when it's going away again that's
37:53how it knows how far away the blade is
37:55okay so that's how it picks up the track
37:58so in our notes we always say wrap that
38:02black paint around the Leading Edge on
38:04top just a little bit on top of the
38:06blade so you know you don't have any any
38:09reflection off the Silver you know the
38:11Leading Edge abrasion strip that's
38:12silver typically so it doesn't interfere
38:15with the camera yep and angle camera
38:17angle is critical on on these airra that
38:20was just yeah I was just going to say
38:21that the tracker angle is is is is
38:24probably one of the more important here
38:25isn't it it is yes yeah Martin you want
38:28to talk about the best way to do
38:31that just just one uh one word on the uh
38:35it may work without painting but you're
38:37looking for trouble you won't get
38:39consistent values for your track which
38:41is really important for the initial mode
38:44um we tried it here at production it
38:46works but it's not consistent so take
38:49the time to clean your blade and put the
38:52the stencil stencil ink that they call
38:56it's and well we were talking about the
38:57angle of it all did you want to chime in
38:59on that as well yeah yeah that's really
39:01cool because you're measuring it's it's
39:04a triangle that you're measuring for
39:06your distance on the track so the it's
39:08pretty cool and another another thing on
39:10a Tracker you have like a shield that
39:13you can put it's optional but especially
39:16during a big sunny day you may have some
39:19error code on your tracking if you don't
39:21have that Shield it's just a cover that
39:23you're putting over the crack some type
39:25of sun shade yeah
39:27and I've seen I've seen it bright enough
39:30on the on a cement
39:31tarmac that we couldn't get track on the
39:35ground reflection was that was that much
39:36off of it The Gleam yep the white white
39:39concrete okay was reflecting enough off
39:42the bottom of the blades Flagstaff
39:44Arizona so if you ever track and
39:45bouncing Flagstaff get off of the T get
39:48get
39:49so no but so there's there's the point
39:53is you don't want to be flying into the
39:54sun with the tractor you want to make
39:56sure the sun's either 90 or two year
39:58back yep and uh you know lights lights
40:01critical for the tracker to work
40:02correctly so you need to and it's the
40:04same with the photo wise on the tail
40:06Roar I've had that happen where early in
40:08the morning you got the sun shining on
40:10the same side of the blade as you're
40:11trying to pick up your your taco on with
40:14the reflective tape and it will mess
40:16that up too so just something to think
40:18about yeah solid advice it's all time of
40:22the day go ahead Martin yep uh great do
40:24you ever use a flag to track a 206 uh
40:27never 206 but about 47 yeah okay oh oh
40:31you're that
40:36old hey hey hey now still there's still
40:4047s around come on not not in Canada as
40:45far as I know oh no there is there's a
40:48lot West out west yeah out west has yeah
40:52right shinook flight school has a bunch
40:54there's uh I even see him around winipeg
40:56still with uh you know the old running
40:57joke in Winnipeg mosquito Toba right so
41:01they still use him for uh for mosquito
41:03controls absolutely because in the when
41:05I was in the field where were using the
41:07the The Chadwick with the strob light
41:09and when I started here in production
41:11the guys I thought they were playing a
41:13game on me how come you're using a
41:15flight guys and then they came up with
41:18the the RADS and it was it's much much
41:20easier with the rods so us using a flag
41:22to do it yeah yes okay explain elaborate
41:26elaborate
41:28it's kind of a u shape at the top of a
41:30pole that you putting basically a flag
41:33and you put in colors at the tip of your
41:34blades yep and you go close and T the
41:38first time it's not natural to
41:42go yeah it goes against all the
41:47things near the RO yeah when I started I
41:50thought the guys were playing games on
41:52me I said a you do
41:54it and
41:57you know I've heard of first a jokes
41:58when they're like get the Newbie out
42:00there get the little get the fresh am
42:02out there to count how many times it
42:03rotates in the first minute this is this
42:06is this is right up there with it and
42:08took no we're good we're out yeah it's a
42:11another bucket of rotor wash right so
42:13you got to go get a bucket of rotor wash
42:15yeah yeah yep no so we we used that at
42:19one point in time we used to use the
42:21crayon method on the tail roaders too
42:23for tracking the tail roaders when we
42:24had adjustable PC links on those so yep
42:27I mean it works you just have to be it's
42:29it's definitely unnerving and then
42:32there's also it used to be in the L1
42:34manual where we had where you'd put tape
42:37on a blade and you would put weight and
42:40bend a tab or whatever You' wrap the
42:42blade with tape and if it got better you
42:44put weight on that blade or vice versa
42:46and you could do it without any
42:47equipment and you could get the ride
42:49pretty darn good that way you bend a tab
42:51and it gets worse go the other way with
42:53it God bless technology that's all I got
42:55to say Greg God bless techn
42:58ah sometimes you just have to keep it
42:59simple though right if I guess you know
43:01when you have that that kind of
43:02complexity it's the kiss rule so that
43:06particular yeah some pretty crazy stuff
43:09like just think of from there's no black
43:12magic you add weight if it goes better
43:15you keep adding weight till it get worse
43:17and if it doesn't improve you remove
43:19Weight till you have a smooth R let's
43:21get on to the Gear track and balance
43:22towards 407 models here guys with the
43:25407 it's a little unique in the the fact
43:28when we install our equipment we have a
43:30a for and half accelerometer in the nose
43:33we have a vertical in the nose we have a
43:34vertical in the AF cabin and we balance
43:37that the ride between the forward cabin
43:40and the AF cabin to give it the best
43:41ride for every all the occupants and
43:44that's done through the the program and
43:46the coefficients in the rotor syst in
43:47our in our RADS or our uh Zing you know
43:50honey well GTE kits so you like when
43:53you're installing the camera you know
43:56angle critical
43:57make sure you're setting the angle and
43:59we we tell you to use the the baggage
44:01compartment deck zero your level go out
44:04and set it at like 55 degrees I think I
44:06look at chapter 18 don't quote me on
44:08this yeah hold on let's just make that
44:10here look at chapter
44:1218g yeah that's right read read chapter
44:17read chapter 18 and actually to get
44:19started before you even put any gear on
44:22and before you start track go read
44:24chapter 18 go read the task what you're
44:26gonna do takes five minutes it t it's
44:29it's and you'll learn so much there we
44:31all think we've done it you know I go
44:33back and occasionally just read it when
44:35I'm getting ready to go help somebody to
44:36make sure my mind's working the right
44:39way you know I'm think I'm not missing
44:41something so it's it's worth a worth the
44:4420 or 25th read there's some good
44:46troubleshooting tips as well in chapter
44:4818 gotcha yeah frequencies all that you
44:51know stuff you can learn and what you
44:53need to look for but uh when you when
44:55you install the gear like anything make
44:57sure your cables secure you're going to
44:59run a cable from the camera back through
45:01the chin bubble we recommend going
45:03through the the vent the drain hole in
45:04the bottom of the chin bubble some folks
45:06will run it down the side just make sure
45:08it's secure make sure your everything
45:10you mount is tight the other thing
45:13especially on a 407 when you hook up
45:15your mag pickup your rpm sensor on the
45:18SWAT plate there's a harness built into
45:21the airframe and it's stowed on the
45:23harness on the transmission with a
45:25Cannon plug that just plugs into the
45:27your mag pickup your magnetic pickup uh
45:30the the interruptor is already on the
45:31swash plate should be under the green
45:33blade correct Martin should be steel
45:36should be steel and under the green
45:38blade yes aluminum I can get the rpm
45:42should be
45:46Ste and make sure you know you have a
45:50service loop in that cable going to that
45:52mag pickup don't tie it tight because
45:55that whole that whole assembly got to
45:57lift up and I've seen it more than once
45:59they oh I got everything tidy up there
46:01nice and tight they pull into a hover
46:02lose their lose their RPM signal they
46:06just pulled the wires out of the
46:07connector because it's too tight yeah so
46:09it's just a little tips and tricks there
46:11you know gotcha and and cleanliness is a
46:15good thing with your cables in the cab I
46:17recommend you you color code your cables
46:19so you know which one's where we've been
46:22a part of a couple podcasts here now
46:23Greg I think cleanliness has been a
46:25theme of every one of the shows
46:27yes be nice with your wires because
46:29they're really
46:31expensive thousand of yeah yeah yeah
46:35don't don't be slamming them indoors if
46:36you can avoid it right so yep but I I I
46:40quickly just quickly you know when you
46:43when you're hooking up for and a if you
46:44got if you're colorcoded or you're or
46:46you're numbered on each end of your
46:48cables yeah you run a lot less risk of
46:50getting across and get starting the
46:52frustration of track imbalance by having
46:55mixed signals to your to your collection
46:57gotcha gotcha one last note it's telling
47:00me your product balance adjustments are
47:01typically only done the inial PB not
47:03inflight on a rare occasion of 412 PB
47:06moves can be done on inflight want to
47:08elaborate okay Martin I don't know the
47:11412 so maybe you can continue with the
47:13412 but product balance is very simple
47:16is uh you you 100% on the ground and
47:19when you're pulling torque to get in
47:21hover if you have a blade climbing or
47:23diving uh that blade needs product
47:25balance so 10412 I don't know why you
47:28proceed it's probably the same logic
47:30same same on same on the initial stuff
47:32but we can use it to twist a blade and
47:34flight too so we use product balance to
47:37control how much the blade twists you
47:39know if we make if we make the Leading
47:40Edge heavy it doesn't twist as much if
47:42we make the trailing Edge heav it twists
47:44more it's it's a way to fine-tune that
47:48blade and it's more prevalent in the we
47:52use a lot more on the fiberglass blades
47:55with the Honeycomb Core than we do the
47:57the carbon fiber blades with the foam
47:59core I don't I don't I can be honest
48:02with you Martin I don't think I've ever
48:03done product balance on a 429 blade okay
48:06I never did I never did not not 149 no
48:10no but it's there it's an option but you
48:12don't use it but the point is in
48:14manufacturing each one of these blades
48:16it's hard to control the Contour
48:18perfectly with a composite blade yep uh
48:21so you always you're always compensating
48:23for the differences in those blades from
48:25the master blade and one of the ways we
48:28do it is with product balance and yeah
48:29we use it like Martin says you pull into
48:32a hover you you measure your track at
48:3435% torque in the 407 100% NR 35% torque
48:39then you pull into the hover and you see
48:40how much they track changes in those
48:42blades individually and you may have to
48:45adjust them it's more often than not
48:48we'll see adjustments product balance
48:50adjustment needed when you're mixing
48:52blades that have been repaired yep uh if
48:56they've had a pair they're heavy on one
48:58you know and then you end up doing a
48:59little more adjusting of product balance
49:02that way yeah we we use product balance
49:04more for uh adjustment blades that have
49:07been repaired and mix and matching
49:09blades with different times on them you
49:11know these Blades of road is you're
49:12flying the Leading Edge of Roads it
49:15changes the mass of the blade and you
49:17may throw a new blade on with three
49:19blades that have two three four 5,000
49:21ARS on them they're going to fly
49:22different and you you have to adjust
49:24them different stiffness and uh just for
49:27youro 407 early days there was no option
49:30for product balance there was not I
49:34remember those days oh boy we were
49:36having as Craig said we are were having
49:38a pile of blades on the corner in the
49:40shop and nobody wanted to touch with
49:42these blades so that's why we started to
49:44do product
49:45balance because uh yeah okay and it's
49:48really easy Once you understand the the
49:51principle of product balance it's pretty
49:53easy yeah it's it's yeah you're just
49:55basically the science project no it's it
49:58but the key to product balance on a 407
50:01is maintaining your weights product
50:03balance uh guys a word of advice take
50:06the time to do a good initial you'll
50:08save it unless you like to fly y take
50:11the time to
50:15do you're like burning holes in the sky
50:18just don't do the
50:20ini to make this point the 407 blades
50:23are World on the world stand with a
50:25master and on the root of the blade
50:26you'll see a a tab setting and the
50:31weights that are in each of the pockets
50:33forward and a product Bal weights if
50:36you're having ride issues you can't
50:37clean up you need to double check those
50:39weights are correct there's a couple
50:41different philosophies about starting
50:42initials on a
50:43407 I've done it both ways I've zeroed
50:46to cord and I've zeroed to the Z the tab
50:49setting on the blade route and more
50:52often than not the tab setting on the
50:53blade route get you in
50:55quicker but but it also means you have a
50:57fair amount of tab and you could end up
50:59with tab up on all four blades which on
51:03a on like a two-blade rotor if you got
51:05both tabs up there fighting each other
51:07right so you have to keep that in mind
51:10as you're working the rotor but those
51:14those measurements are there to use make
51:17sure your weights are within eight grams
51:20I think is the it's the limit there
51:21Martin right yep on like four and a half
51:25product balance po make sure they're
51:27within eight grams of each other in each
51:29pocket gotcha or total or total if
51:31they've been I don't I don't recall
51:34exactly go to chapter 18 it's all there
51:37chapter 18 explains it chapter 18 and
51:40and there was a TV did we incorporate
51:43the TV into the manual I think we did
51:45that we did initially we had a TV for
51:47product balance on the 407 blades but we
51:50do use it on the 412 as well use that
51:52and you can use it in flight to help
51:53twist the blade bring it in uh it's one
51:56of the options so when it says here it's
51:59asking where just another act the TB
52:02track and balance track and balance yep
52:04yep yep there we are so again just a
52:07couple of times just the acronyms I know
52:08we all know them but just to kind of
52:11just to kind of explain them it's always
52:12good yeah no it is good yeah we we we
52:15take it for granted that everybody you
52:18and and different manufacturers use
52:20different terms for for the same thing
52:23so it's important that you know it's
52:24going to be relevant to the particular
52:26area of the heal helicopter too because
52:27like I think one of the other notes Here
52:28is like it could be also Tech bulletin
52:29like you know technical bulletin on in
52:31in an entirely different location right
52:33so that kind of TB is noted but yeah
52:35when we're talking this a track and
52:36balance particular segment this is where
52:38the tnb is going to be track and balance
52:40oh there we are okay okay
52:42initially the tech
52:44bulletin come out for product balance
52:47before it was put into the manual there
52:48you go so there you go perfect next one
52:52is going to be talking a little bit
52:53about 429 on the tail roader drive
52:55shafts this is the good stuff yeah it's
52:57all
52:58you Mar you're getting leaned on this
53:01one now this is it this is it that's
53:03what we call the critical drive shaft
53:05and that's right early in the program we
53:07had problems because the it's kind of
53:09I'm not
53:10a specialist for compos it but the the
53:13the glue or the the the resin to put in
53:16the shaft was not drying at the same
53:19rate so they need to rotate the shaft
53:21while it's dries because we had some
53:24puddle if you want of adhesive the
53:26bottom so that it was shaking like hell
53:28so now they uh they master that and uh
53:31the vendor they they they spin the shaft
53:33they balance them but not 100% they
53:36probably don't have the setup so I I was
53:38told it's 50% so 3,000 RPM it's it's
53:42decent it's still pretty pretty decent
53:44yeah yeah no no as far as I know we
53:46don't hear you hear in production at
53:48least and neither in the field that
53:50there's very limited damage allowed on
53:53on those sha very very limited but uh we
53:57don't have any Dynamics issues with
53:59those shots no typically if we see
54:02something in the field first of all
54:03they're carbon fiber with the metal
54:05couplings uh Huck boled on the ends okay
54:08so they're a carbon fiber tube like Mar
54:11says and yeah there was there was some
54:12issues with manufacturing early on but
54:14they got that sorted out so they master
54:16balance them but if we see an issue in
54:18the field we'll just rotate them a
54:19coupling we'll rotate them one one bolt
54:22One Direction or the other and
54:24eventually you have three basically
54:26three setting so they three bolt flanges
54:28rotating to about a 90° is what I'm
54:30reading yeah it's it's a little more
54:32than a 90 because it's there's only
54:34three flanges so I got you okay yeah
54:36like 120 I guess would be and if it
54:39doesn't work you can flip the shaft over
54:41like the front at the back end and vice
54:43versa so that that's the usually we with
54:47that solution clucking and uh flipping
54:49the shaft we are we're good I want to
54:52show you something regarding the drive
54:54shaft prob you probably seen that before
54:57it's called it's what we call a hand
54:59probe this is an Exel okay oh yeah yeah
55:03yep Y and uh then the then PR was
55:05chasing an aircraft like for for two
55:08months and they were taking uh data and
55:12it's I we have to make sure the way the
55:16customer is taking the data because here
55:18we can go on a flight line and take some
55:20data but if you not taking the data a
55:23certain way like the big argument from
55:25uh I won't tell the customer but it was
55:28uh he wanted to know what kind of level
55:30of vibration we had on the drive shaft
55:32said I can tell you the the the number
55:35as long as you take the measurement the
55:37same way I'm doing it on my hand here
55:40and uh it was kind of a fight not then
55:42but they were very reluctant to to get
55:46this probe and uh they finally the
55:49customer wanted to return his aircraft
55:51because he was complaining for a
55:53vibration and the drive shaft it's a
55:55high vibration so you you can feel it in
55:57me in the floor and they took a set of
56:01reading with that tool and we were able
56:04to identify there was a second chea that
56:06was vibrating way too high and we just
56:09clocked like uh Greg mentioned and we
56:11got rid of the vibration but we need to
56:14understand how you take the data because
56:16you cannot install an Excel wherever you
56:18want it doesn't mean anything in some
56:20cases so it need to be like for like
56:23yeah give give us give us a call we'll
56:25give you Direction and some numbers that
56:27we can compare and uh we can tell if
56:30you're way out or you're close from the
56:32truth or uh don't be shy give us a call
56:34and we have a really good relation
56:36product support with the engineering I I
56:39talk to them every week and they're
56:41really good guys they're there to help
56:44and they have a lot of knowledge awesome
56:46and they're they're working for B so
56:48consistency consistency is the key and
56:51pictures are worth a thousand words as
56:54we've heard how many times right send us
56:56picture of your installed send us where
56:57you're taking the readings send I mean a
57:00picture it's too easy these days it
57:02didn't used to be now it's too easy it
57:04kind of jumps into the next topic here
57:06like with technology right in our pocket
57:08right so it's that we're able to kind of
57:10really communicate at at literally the
57:12the speed of the speed of lightning I is
57:14like this one yeah and let's let's
57:16elaborate on what we can do with sounds
57:17vibrations and what psse team can do
57:19with the monitor I think we just kind of
57:20touch base on that just just now but we
57:23can kind of talk to a little bit about
57:24that as well yeah with the technology
57:27today a regular cell phone is very
57:30powerful to take you sound sample yeah
57:33you go in a configuration where the
57:35aircraft is I would say quiet take a 20
57:38second sample of that and then go to the
57:41worst noise Z configuration I should say
57:44or what the worst configuration you can
57:46fill and take another sample send that
57:48to product support and then we have an
57:50application in engineering that they can
57:52compare and they can identify the
57:54frequency so they get that give you an
57:57idea not all the time but most of the
57:59time they're able to pinpoint what's
58:01what's guilty in the system and you guys
58:03you guys have an application in house
58:05for that yep yeah that's impressive
58:07that's really impressive and I'm sure if
58:09it was just even off just resend another
58:11sound bite like it's exactly it's too
58:14easy that's fantastic and and really
58:16what Martin's talking about is is the
58:19next generation of Health monitoring
58:21systems Yep they're basically
58:24microphones listening to to the noise on
58:26the airframe every gear gotcha that
58:28turns at a certain RPM makes a diff a
58:31unique noise every bearing makes a
58:33unique noise all that and we know the we
58:35know the noise footprint pitches and
58:37hows exactly and and it's it's h that's
58:41where we're going in the world in my
58:42opinion hey you see that Martin engine
58:43guy pitches in h
58:47baby you know you know all about it you
58:50can't hear it anymore because you were
58:51too close to him for too long yeah but
58:53you know yeah yep that's awesome that's
58:56that is excellent to know Martin that's
58:57that's uh the fact that they can kind of
58:59take that and take that sound bite and
59:00Chuck it right into your application and
59:03kind of
59:04determine I remember a case like a I had
59:08no kids at the time so it's at least 25
59:10years ago at least and it was in UK
59:13customer a rich guy was uh wanted to
59:16return his aircraft because they
59:17couldn't pin point and I asked them to
59:20take measurements a little bit
59:21everywhere and I was 95% sure it was not
59:24a dynamic issue so they said me with an
59:26acostic engineer from Fort wor because
59:28at the time there was no cell phone yeah
59:31and uh we were able to find the the
59:34problem it was like a whistle in the
59:36aircraft and uh what was wrong it was
59:39the retainer on a windshield ah there
59:41was a lack of ceiling and it was
59:43whistling and and dive so
59:46uh I got there I double check all the
59:49frequency and I was to confirm that I
59:53was 95% sure it was not a dynamic issue
59:56when it was so the pallet was kind of
1:00:00more willing to fly the aircraft and
1:00:03after two three days scratching our head
1:00:06um we fixed it with a piece of tape so
1:00:08it was a really expensive piece of
1:00:10paper you just went red green on that
1:00:13one
1:00:14man nice work but it was that was good
1:00:18they gave me a chance to go in UK for
1:00:20for a visit yeah nice nice nice and and
1:00:23to Martin's Point to add to that
1:00:26the reason we use you know the reason we
1:00:28prefer to take troubleshooting reads
1:00:30with the RADS or with The Zing is
1:00:32because engineering has the software to
1:00:34diagnose that the data would provide the
1:00:37downloads okay and we can do spectrums
1:00:40on the airframe and analyze airframe
1:00:42issues as well different unique things I
1:00:45as Martin said we've all had an
1:00:47experience we had a situation with an
1:00:49operator in California where they had
1:00:51this really unique noise at low power
1:00:54settings and let down in a 407
1:00:57it turned out to be uh input pinion gear
1:00:59was cracked okay and You' you'd only
1:01:01hear when it was
1:01:04unloaded one of those loadbearing parts
1:01:06yeah yeah yeah so it's it's a it's an
1:01:10impressive tool you know it's fantastic
1:01:13that's that that flows right into
1:01:14everything that's Ai and Tech nowadays I
1:01:16love love to hear it yeah love to hear
1:01:18it last segment here guys before we kind
1:01:20of get this rolling here this is this
1:01:21has been uh very informative I'm sure
1:01:23there's a lot of lot of information but
1:01:25last one will be tips and and tricks so
1:01:27it says you're make sure you're
1:01:28installing equipment on take readings SL
1:01:30dat and not just pilot you're feeling
1:01:33something what are you feeling yeah I
1:01:35don't nothing against Pilots but you
1:01:39feeling you're feeling what high
1:01:40frequency low frequency so where you
1:01:43feel something you can use this probe or
1:01:47build yourself a bracket and install it
1:01:48on a copilot seat or or and okay take
1:01:53some measurements and then okay we'll
1:01:55find the frequency and then is it
1:01:58hydraulic pump uh so it's it's easy to
1:02:02call oh I have vibration
1:02:04okay what kind of vibration you have
1:02:07yeah yeah and be consistent please when
1:02:10you're comparing stuff make sure
1:02:13you're same fuel load same grow weight
1:02:17like don't don't don't take a set of
1:02:18reading pilot by himself as opposed to a
1:02:21six passenger it's not it's not the same
1:02:24configuration so and I add to that on
1:02:26the 407 on the 407 and Well on all our
1:02:30models when you get out of initials and
1:02:33get into hover and start your first
1:02:34forward flight check your auto rotation
1:02:36RPM and adjust it first do not wait till
1:02:41the end you'll you'll backtrack some and
1:02:43you'll get frustrated it'll take you out
1:02:46you know the Minor Adjustments you're
1:02:48going to make on a rotor after you've
1:02:50got it flying will not impact the auto
1:02:52rotation RPM gotcha so get that and
1:02:56safety-wise you want to make sure you
1:02:58can Auto anytime during the track and
1:03:01balance Evolution if you have a problem
1:03:04so do that first it'll save you a lot of
1:03:07heartache and pain down the
1:03:09road couple other ones here I noted here
1:03:11try to keep gross weight within two to
1:03:13300 pounds yep that's what Martin was
1:03:15saying keep your fuel loads consistent Y
1:03:18and keep your body count the same
1:03:19whatever you're doing just be
1:03:21consistent and you know I can't say it
1:03:25enough yeah consistency is a key to help
1:03:28us troubleshoot with you adjustment on
1:03:30the coefficients yeah yep yep oh let's
1:03:33talk about pcl's on 407 tips and
1:03:36tricks so you're moving you're moving
1:03:38barrels top and bottom there's couple
1:03:41different tricks but it's critical and
1:03:44it's same on 206 all the aircraft make
1:03:46sure your lower rod ends are
1:03:50aligned in the swash plate okay if
1:03:54they're off alignment a little bit they
1:03:56can be off by 20 30 degrees you may not
1:03:58think any of it they can actually chew
1:04:00into the SWAT plade here if they're too
1:04:03far off but even more so it's not a true
1:04:07a m you know a true move if you're off
1:04:10by 30 degrees on one and you're squared
1:04:12up on the next one just that change just
1:04:14that change in thread count a little bit
1:04:16of thread pitch there you know
1:04:18adjustment makes a big difference on and
1:04:20we're talking millimeters here we're
1:04:22moving millimeters at the blade tip so
1:04:24you see how all that has to be on the
1:04:27and check for looseness you know I like
1:04:29I said before record your tab angles
1:04:31record all the information when you're
1:04:33done have your move log if you're if
1:04:36you're having troubles at all pull a
1:04:39chart plot it make sure the moves you
1:04:42got your move your what how it moves on
1:04:44the chart is what the machine's telling
1:04:46you it's going to do prediction wise and
1:04:48then you you know you've got valid data
1:04:50coming from your machine gotcha there's
1:04:52there's an interesting bullet here it
1:04:54says ground balce oh ground bounce yeah
1:04:58yeah never heard of
1:05:01it that that's I want who's going to get
1:05:04into this one here in early program on
1:05:06the 407 we we were learning and uh
1:05:10typically if you're uh your rotor is
1:05:13what 25 26% 100% And the negative pitch
1:05:17bring you ground bound so that's why we
1:05:19ask when you take measurement to pull
1:05:21minimum not minimum you ask we ask you
1:05:24to pull 35 % torque yep to get out of
1:05:28that ground bounds and get a solid
1:05:30measurement Roger that okay loads it
1:05:33loads up the corner amounts and all that
1:05:34on a 407 get you a clean right and uh
1:05:38yeah ground bounce is a direct result of
1:05:41auto rotation RPM adjustments okay so uh
1:05:45okay on the 407 if you if you look at
1:05:47the auto rotation chart on the 407 47's
1:05:50most pronounced is the one the most
1:05:51pronounced with ground bounce although
1:05:53all of them can get it if they're in the
1:05:54negative or if you want to get it Theory
1:05:58I I was going to say we're we're we're
1:05:59squeezing in on some time here but I'll
1:06:00just I'll knock out these bullets here
1:06:02and we can kind of just uh we'll do a
1:06:03quick little shout out to him here it
1:06:05says torque around 35% on ground for
1:06:07measurements on a 407 yep uh unable to
1:06:10reduce main rotor Vibe check on tail
1:06:12rador balance 407 tail rad Vibe can be
1:06:14felt in floor mainly yep uh check for
1:06:18broken instrument panel shock mounts I
1:06:20think that's got to be pretty epic uh
1:06:22that's a 4 to7 thing uh there's there's
1:06:24a last americ mounts on the bottom where
1:06:26that panel hinges M there's some
1:06:28elastomeric mounts there and as we as
1:06:31we've seen customizing and more radios
1:06:33added and all that we actually come out
1:06:34with a bulletin to add another rubber
1:06:38isolation Mount there if it if that
1:06:41panel sits down on the vertical panel
1:06:43and starts vibrating it picks it up in
1:06:44the accelerometer mounted on the side of
1:06:46the pedestal right there and that's
1:06:49that's why you want to make sure you got
1:06:50a nice clean and besides the fact if
1:06:53they're touching the gauge will be
1:06:54blurry when you come through come into
1:06:56land or take off the whole panel will be
1:06:58shaking too much yeah okay uh here for
1:07:02spectrum measurement Mount
1:07:03accelerometers where you feel the
1:07:05vibration yeah Martin touched on that
1:07:07already right y yep yep that a lot of
1:07:10people don't know what there's an the
1:07:11RAS there's a function of spectrum
1:07:13spectrum is a is a sweep of frequency
1:07:17you have two option you have zero to 100
1:07:19Herz and zero to 1,000 Herz so that's
1:07:22mainly the first thing we ask a customer
1:07:24let's see fields of vibration and a
1:07:27copilot see install an Excel and run a
1:07:30run a spectrum that will give you that
1:07:33will give you an idea if it's one perv
1:07:34four pev or gra shaft frequency so in
1:07:39addition to Pilots having their feelings
1:07:41being talked about they need to talk
1:07:42about their other their physical
1:07:44feelings yeah we rip into Pilots all the
1:07:46time I love it they're good people yeah
1:07:50I have to tell you this real quick I
1:07:51have to tell you this story and it just
1:07:54happened had a pilot complain this thing
1:07:56just doesn't feel right it doesn't feel
1:07:58right and we flew for like six flights
1:08:01taking ra readings in an afternoon and
1:08:03come back and he was standing there and
1:08:06to his credit he standing there and he
1:08:07goes uh he goes I I want to go fly one
1:08:09more time and he says I think I'm the
1:08:12problem and of course of course we're
1:08:16not gonna argue with him when he say
1:08:18he's the problem right so maybe the man
1:08:20was doing a little introspective uh
1:08:22reflection there good for him he had his
1:08:24wallet normally flew in a flight suit
1:08:26with his wallet down in his pain leg he
1:08:29had his wallet in his right back pocket
1:08:31oh man and the he himself was out of
1:08:34balance he was well he was he said the
1:08:36aircraft just isn't sitting right it
1:08:38doesn't feel right it's not you know so
1:08:40all those little things add up is it
1:08:42yeah yeah yeah yeah perfect blade track
1:08:45is the goal but not always the smoothest
1:08:47not always the smoothest ride yeah
1:08:49that's correct that's that's the goal
1:08:51but sometimes they fly better out of
1:08:53truck if you have a smooth ride you bit
1:08:56so smooth ride counts for everything and
1:08:59mainly you'll see the out of track
1:09:00condition with the repaired blade mixed
1:09:02into uh set of other blades if you have
1:09:06repaired blades or High Time blades yeah
1:09:08it's not uncommon to see a little bit of
1:09:09a track split got you have to be careful
1:09:11with tracks but though you don't want
1:09:13too much because at some point they get
1:09:15too far apart and then they then the
1:09:17ride is not good at all it won't stay
1:09:19good at high speeds but yeah yeah yeah
1:09:21gentlemen an absolute pleasure charm and
1:09:24we actually ate us a good time on this
1:09:25one guys this is a this has been a heck
1:09:27of a show um I appreciate both of you
1:09:29coming in marttin thanks for jumping in
1:09:31with your expertise welcome to the mro
1:09:33world now Vertical World now you're be
1:09:36you be signing autographs at verticon
1:09:38and stuff like now right so all all six
1:09:40people are going to come up to
1:09:42ask with the Bell Tech talk I gotta tell
1:09:45you guys with the Bell Tech talk it's uh
1:09:46We've exploded which is great which is
1:09:48great because it means more people are
1:09:49listening to us and what you guys are
1:09:51both providing Greg I've said this to
1:09:52you a couple of times now what you guys
1:09:53are doing is still um it's Pathfinder uh
1:09:57it is you're you're going out you're
1:09:58making a difference to people that are
1:09:59actually listening to us in their
1:10:00earbuds while they're on the on the shop
1:10:02floor so can you know keep up the good
1:10:04work and then and you know way to
1:10:06readily make yourselves available to The
1:10:08Operators so I'm sure they all
1:10:09appreciate you guys kind of having their
1:10:11backs as as much as you know as as you
1:10:13guys can with working your inner
1:10:14customer base to your out outside
1:10:16customer base so I I appreciate you more
1:10:19than that as well too so hey thanks to
1:10:20you V yeah thank you Val and thanks Greg
1:10:24yeah mark likewise thank you keep in
1:10:26mind we're just a phone call away
1:10:29product support and CC's you pick up the
1:10:31phone choose to text whatever don't
1:10:33don't uh get to the point where you're
1:10:35so frustrated it may be just something
1:10:38simple yep you're you're definitely not
1:10:39alone not not in our world so definitely
1:10:42butk um have yourself a good one enjoy
1:10:45your family time here and as always as
1:10:46always a pleasure guys in sitting down
1:10:48with you and talking about all this good
1:10:49stuff so to that I say thanks to our
1:10:51listeners and uh you know thanks for
1:10:53listening to Vertical mro if you like
1:10:55that if you like this podcast hit that
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1:10:58guys give him a crispy high five at
1:11:01verticon thank you thank you thanks guys
1:11:06thanks for listening to the Bell Tech
1:11:08talk segment of vertical mro
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1:11:37[Music]

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