[TowerTalk] rotor side forces...

[Litwins]

Guys;
Even this ol' WV hillbilly knows: that if the mast is clamped to to
rotor shell, and the rotor is fixed to the base plate, and the base-plate
is clamped to the tower side-rails...and the mast is allowed to translate
horizontally in the thrust brng (or lack of it) there will be bad
stresses created! Didn't take rocket science to figure this out
either. There will be bad stress on the rotor-to-mast clamp (could crack
the casting), bad stress on the screws used to hold the rotor to the
base-plate (could work-harden the screws and they could fail in
tension) and bad stress on the tower side-rails and clamps creating a
loose base plate or worse.  I use a thrust brng above the rotor,
about 6-7 ft. above.  All this does is keep the mast centered in it's
rotation so the rotor rotates exactly about its longitudinal axis; not
like an inverted cone. It is not a high speed device and therefore I
don't care much as to if it's immaculate or not, just free enough as to
not load the rotor.  So if the brng races are a bit bumpy...so what?
And that is all there is to say about thrust brngs.        
Mine was up for 20 yrs and still worked and so did the rotor...nuff 
said!
73-dx
steve, k8wk
crestview, fl   


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