Timber stripped flap servo

[Dougf]

Brand new Timber last fall, flew about 5 times, went to the field this week to start her up and found only one flap would extend. Looking it up on RC groups, seems like the Timber has a bad rep regarding servos in general. I took out the servo and it is definitely stripped, guess a call to Horizon Hobby customer service is in order tomorrow. Any thoughts or comments welcome.

[Jdonald]

Nylon gear servos, the gears last longer than steel gears. However a very slight knock will strip the gears so due to poor shock resistance they end up having a short service life. The replacement Turbo Timber is equipped equipped with steel gear servos. The gears will wear out faster but have much better shock resistance. The Commander MPD has a problem with the nylon gear servos for the rudder and elevator.

[Sempai-mj]

If you don't get any compensation/replacement for the bad servo replace it with a HITEC HS-65MG Mighty Metal Gear Feather Servo, they last longer.

[Dougf]

Great, thanks

[Richard Piché]

If you intent to put it on water keep the nylon one,
never had any problems with them after 60 batteries (minnimun)

[Dougf]

Thanks Richard, good idea, plus it will be exactly the same size as stock so fit will be right from the start.

[Dougf]

BTW, it may be of interest that Horizon Hobby would not entertain any request to compensate me nor replace the servo at no charge. I bought the airplane new from Pete on Oct27/18, flew it in the late fall a couple of times(without incident, remarkably) then put it on the shelf until this week. First encounter with HH Customer Service did not impress.

[Jdonald]

Horizon Hobby explained to me that as soon as you fly a plane the warranty is over. They replaced a rotary scroll wheel on a DX8 transmitter and a servo that locked up before it had its first flight. So not too bad.

[Jdonald]

The servo on the Timber is a reversed servo. If you get the original for the Timber it will be reversed from the factory. If you use another brand you need a programable digital servo. You will need a programming cable an app to reverse the servo. Do not do it in the transmitter as the AS3X will not be reversed.

[Dougf]

Thanks John, you know your stuff!

[Dougf]

Replaced the flap servo with an identical item, think I found the reason why previous one was stripped. There's a plastic removable cover over the right and left hand flap servos, held in place with silicone(I think). The servo arm travels from the forward almost horizontal position at zero flaps to almost vertical at mid flap and then rearward and almost horizontal at max flaps. At the vertical position the end of the servo arm is way over the level of the servo cover, and as soon as you loosen the cover and move the flaps you see the cover get impacted. I checked the side where the servo is not yet stripped and the same thing is happening. I am going to keep the covers off! You guys with Timbers might want to check this out. Hopefully my plane is just a one-off and others won't have an issue.

[Luke088]

I hope the metal gears do not wear out too fast!
I just bought a Turbo Timber and I expect to fly it long time at your club soon!
Delivering my adhesion form today...
And yes, you know your stuff!
In their product video presentation they mention that the metal gear servo will prevent the servo to be easily stripped by knocking them accidentally during handling. But they did not mention they last less longer... hum...

[Dougf]

I found the problem was the flap servo arms were hitting the plastic covers at the first flap setting. You might want to check that on your new Timber.