Simple Cheap Moter Retention for Mini Eagle Claw!

So my original plan for motor retention on my MEC was to use an Aeropack. Unfortunately, I made a mistake during the build and did not leave enough MMT extending past the boat tail to use the Aeropack. Well, not wanting to use tape and risk the chance of ejecting my only casing, I went to work on installing a positive retention system... I think it came out pretty well.

For the clip I used one of my sisters hairpins that I unmercifully attacked with a pair of metal cutters:dark: My original plan was to just drill a hole into the boat tail and thread a screw in to hold the clip in place. This did not work as well as I had hoped. The screw just striped the hole like it was made of butter!!!:y: My solution to this was to cut off the base plate of one of those inserts that come with a set of rail buttons and JB Weld The remaining part of the insert (Basically a small threaded tube) into the hole. Seems to have worked quite well!

Thanks for looking
Please Comment!!

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

JP

Here is a pic of the clip.

JP Morgan said:

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

JP

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Thanks, and your welcome!!

Could you also use that same hole for mounting the aft rail button and kill two birds with one stone?

dixontj93060 said:

Could you also use that same hole for mounting the aft rail button and kill two birds with one stone?

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I had thought of that and you could, but the problem is that to remove the casing you have too completely remove the clip by unscrewing it, and I wanted to just keep it simple and not have to remove the rail button every time I want to Install a motor. Also, since the hole is on the boat tail, I would have to make a standoff for the button which would make even more things that have to be removed and replaced before flight.

Thanks for looking!

From what I see in the pictures, looks like you have more than enough mmt to have used the Aeropack retainer.

rcktnut said:

From what I see in the pictures, looks like you have more than enough mmt to have used the Aeropack retainer.

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looks that way to me too. however if the aeropac has a greater diameter than the boat tail it might look funny.

rcktnut said:

From what I see in the pictures, looks like you have more than enough mmt to have used the Aeropack retainer.

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Yeah it looks like there is enough, and if I really wanted too I could probably make it work-- I'm only missing about 1mm. In length, but since its not perfect I'm not about to go putting a $30 dollar retainer on (plus the Aero Pack kills the look of the boat tail).