HeliFreak - Blogs http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php HeliFreak.com is the place to learn about Radio Controlled Helicopters and to socialize with others who are also learning and flying R/C Helis. Our Motto is Fun, Learning, Friendship and Mutual Respect. Come join in on the fun and enjoy the free exchange of knowledge and experience. en Fri, 24 May 2013 20:16:02 GMT vBulletin 60 http://helifreak.com/easyaction/misc/rss.jpg HeliFreak - Blogs http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php Heli-Log 5:21:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2032 Tue, 21 May 2013 19:54:28 GMT Saturday was a crappy and great day. I started the day with working 8 hours. That was a long and frustrating day! When I got out of work, I was tired and cranky, I just wanted to go home, take a nap and be left alone. Well I didn’t do that, instead, I made it home and saw the package from A Mains Hobby sitting on my porch. The blades I ordered showed up! Great, but I’m still a bit grumpy.

I packed up my truck with 3 heli’s and the new set of Cyclone blades and met the guy’s at our practice field.

About 3 years ago (9/18/2010 to be exact), I had lost a Velocity 50 heli. It was at a fun fly at our flying field that I lost orientation of my heli. It was cold, overcast with small rain showers in-between. I had just learned the proper way to do a half piro flip coming out of the top half of a loop. At that time, I just couldn't get my fingers to move the way my brain wanted. Until the last flight with less than a half tank later, I performed the maneuver again, but this time I had lost orientation of it and it started flying away from me... On a side note…note; To this day, I have yet to perform this maneuver!
Here is part of that thread;

Quote:
On a sad note, this will be replacing my Velocity 50 I lost in the corn/bean field a week ago Sunday.

Chucky777,
You almost made me spit out my morning coffee after reading your post!!! LOL
Also I want to know if you ever found the lost bird in the field. Or am I going to find heli parts in my next can of beans.
That was too funny!

No, I did not find my heli. I looked for it until I was sick of looking for it. So be careful when you open your can of beans! You just never know what you will find in there! ...
My Rave became its replacement. I enjoy flying my ENV more than the rest of my heli’s, just wish we didn't have all this snow!

While we were taking a small break and shooting the breeze in between flights, Mark (a new heli pilot that I'm training) told us his son found a small (50 size) heli the other day. Ok...as Mark started to describe it, my mind started racing with questions. Could this be??? I lost orientation of this heli and it flew at least mile away (by my judgment) while I struggled to bring it back!

YES!!! It is my heli! As I started describing my lost heli, Mark kept quiet to verify the description I was giving matched what he has, and yes, it is my lost heli! Mark did take a fuel on/off valve from it and he was going to give it back, but I told him to keep it.
I'm not sure what is salvageable or weather its worth putting back together, I'll have to wait and see. I should be getting it back sometime this week. I'll post some pic's when I get it!
I do have one thought; I could resurrect it and use it as a training heli for Bob & Mark…

Now, for some other information…

The Cyclone blades I ordered, I installed them on my Rave to start. My Rave has a fairly new motor that’s close to being broken-in. To me, it seems finicky with what type of blades I use on it. Specifically blade length, so if I use 690mm, then autos are somewhat fast, as well as the cyclic response is faster. If I run 710mm, then autos are slower, and the cyclic response is slower as well.

I was kind of worried trying a different type of blades as the last time I tried a set, the blade tracking went nuts, and my Rave shook violently, to the point of out of control. I had all I could do just to hover and set it down quickly!

So I bolted the Cyclone’s on, filled the tank, and took off. Hovering was normal, blade tracking was perfect, and my Rave just sat there perfectly. Considering the motor is still in the break-in period, I did some slower than normal collective pitch pumps and then a full throttle climb-out. Not bad, not bad at all… I flew around the field several times to see how well it would track…as if it was on rails!

I started in with some big air maneuver with some aggressive speed…very smooth. Started with some easy 3D moves to more aggressive 3D (for what I can do). Even the inverted segment was fantastic! Very little blade bark, I could make them bark some, but overall…these blades are fairly quiet.

Now on to my favorite maneuvers…the autos! Now I’m not a pro pilot by any means, but I can auto rather well…inverted roll outs, flip outs, ½ piro out, and the FAI 180 turn auto! So not knowing how these blades will work, I just performed a regular auto. My Rave came in rather fast, faster than I thought it would. So I went back up and tried it again, only this time I made the auto slower.

Down the Rave came and I still had a lot of head speed left over…back up I went several times slowing the decent until I had very little head speed to recover from an oops! WoW, these blades are great! They are a lot more efficient then what I’ve tried in the past. The next flight was even better as I was “warming up” to these new blades. I even tried some piro-flips…not good at it, but can do 3-5 of them before messing up! Oh, the piro-flips looked great! But not because of the blades!!! LoL…

Ok, enough of that! Oh one more thing…I just ordered another set of Cyclone blades! I’ll try them out on my Whiplash Gasser!. Ok, moving on…

Mark is improving with his flying; he is getting his turns down pat before taking on more maneuvers to practice on. Bob is getting more confident on his little Blade 450 3D. However we had a servo go bad and there was a tail twitch I couldn’t get rid of…until… I replaced the servo and everything seemed fine. Then some of the settings started changing for the tail.

Ok, a deeper look into this… I tried everything I could think of, until the one thing I’ve forgotten over the years…tape…gyro tape! I’ve gotten accustom to using the 3M gel tape for the FBL units that I have forgotten some of the actual gyros need a little cushioning. So I replaced the gel tape with some actual gyro tape (yes, I still have some!), and did a test flight in my driveway.

Perfect! Not a single twitch to be found! Now I’ve noticed Bob’s little heli has a shake in the tail. Possible output shaft and or bearings…yea, could be the tail blades. I also found the main bearings are shot, I’m able to move the main shaft back and forth…we’ll replace them as well.

Outside of that…my Whiplash Electric has come to a complete halt! All 4 servos went up in smoke! More on that later!

"I love the smell of Nitro in the morning!" ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2032 Heli-Log 5:11:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2029 Sat, 11 May 2013 16:27:53 GMT Only 4 more days to the middle of this month…where is the time going?? Gee…where do I start first… Ok, the Rave is performing well. I have many flights on it (don’t remember exactly how many flight I have without looking at my log-book) and the break-in process is half done. I received and changed out the Total-G for the AR7200BX…sweet unit! I found some mechanical errors (linkage length issues) that I will address later; it’s out by that much. Outside of that, my Rave is flying very well, very stable. Now I just need to fly it for a long while! LoL! My Compass 3D+ is still sitting, waiting for a carb change. There’s just too many heli’s on the workbench right now! Bob, Mark, and myself, went out flying several day ago and Bob crashed his little Blade 450. According to the weather man, the winds were supposed to die down some, instead the winds picked up! And as luck would have it, Bob was up flying his blade 450, performed a nice back flip right into the ground. The damage wasn’t that bad. Feathering shaft, flybar, boom, and one servo gear…oh, and a canopy! Yep, he smashed that too! That crash kind of” let the air out of his balloon”. So we spent the next two days, after work, repairing his heli. I took over with the repairs and stepped outside for a test flight in the driveway. Adjusted the blade tracking some and Bob’s little 450 is flying…once again. I flew over to the corner lot by my house to wring it out some…and close to the end of the pack, the tail quits working. I mean no left, no right tail control! Oh boy, I needed to land this thing quickly, before I start buying parts for it! I managed to get out of the grassy area and on the road. Pulled some collective out, stabled the heli some, a little more collective, until…now! I hit the throttle hold switch! Knowing this will do two thinks for sure. 1. Remove torque from the tail and it will stop spinning around (torquing around). 2. Land the heli very quickly. The Blade 450 doesn’t auto very well, it auto’s about as good as a light rock! I managed, by a wing and a prayer, to save Bob’s heli. Now to figure out what happened! It turns out the tail servo died. Ok…called our LHS (local hobby shop) and they had to order one. So, everything is working great except for the tail servo. So moving on to Bob’s other heli…his Whiplash… Bob managed to build the head, complete tail assembly, and most of the frame. We are waiting on the motor and muffler…however, and I haven’t told Bob this…his motor and muffler shipped the other day and he will have it early next week! For me, well, my Whiplash E is going very slow. I keep running into things that are slowing the build. First it was the servo horn balls, then the battery straps, next up the LiPo’s, and finally (so far) the ESC. So I ordered new balls for the servo horns and rudder horn, I thought I ordered a “pack of” battery straps…nope, received just one in the pack. Ok, I ordered 3 more straps. The LiPo’s won’t fit in the frame per the instructions and like how everyone else is doing it. The LiPo packs are too long and a bit wide, so I’ll need to slide then in from the rear. However, the power wires come out of the LiPo on the side and hits the frame. So in order to make these LiPo’s fit…I will move / unsolder the power wires 90 degrees so they come out at the end of the pack. Next time I’ll order different packs the will fit better! Currently the weather here is sucking again! High winds with rain on and off, cold temps, damp and overcast. So I’ll bang away on my new electric heli. I have a set of the new Cyclone blades coming! Can’t wait to try them out…more on that later! Until next time… Whiplash Gas = 2 Rave ENV = 4 Whiplash Electric = 0 (being built) Trex 700N = 0 Compass 3D+ = 0 (on the work bench) Compass 6HV = 0 Protos 500 = 0 Plugs = 1 Crashes = 2 - Whiplash Total = 68 Only 4 more days to the middle of this month…where is the time going??

Gee…where do I start first… Ok, the Rave is performing well. I have many flights on it (don’t remember exactly how many flight I have without looking at my log-book) and the break-in process is half done. I received and changed out the Total-G for the AR7200BX…sweet unit! I found some mechanical errors (linkage length issues) that I will address later; it’s out by that much. Outside of that, my Rave is flying very well, very stable. Now I just need to fly it for a long while! LoL!

My Compass 3D+ is still sitting, waiting for a carb change. There’s just too many heli’s on the workbench right now!

Bob, Mark, and myself, went out flying several day ago and Bob crashed his little Blade 450. According to the weather man, the winds were supposed to die down some, instead the winds picked up! And as luck would have it, Bob was up flying his blade 450, performed a nice back flip right into the ground. The damage wasn’t that bad. Feathering shaft, flybar, boom, and one servo gear…oh, and a canopy! Yep, he smashed that too! That crash kind of” let the air out of his balloon”.

So we spent the next two days, after work, repairing his heli. I took over with the repairs and stepped outside for a test flight in the driveway. Adjusted the blade tracking some and Bob’s little 450 is flying…once again. I flew over to the corner lot by my house to wring it out some…and close to the end of the pack, the tail quits working. I mean no left, no right tail control! Oh boy, I needed to land this thing quickly, before I start buying parts for it! I managed to get out of the grassy area and on the road. Pulled some collective out, stabled the heli some, a little more collective, until…now!

I hit the throttle hold switch! Knowing this will do two thinks for sure. 1. Remove torque from the tail and it will stop spinning around (torquing around). 2. Land the heli very quickly. The Blade 450 doesn’t auto very well, it auto’s about as good as a light rock! I managed, by a wing and a prayer, to save Bob’s heli. Now to figure out what happened!

It turns out the tail servo died. Ok…called our LHS (local hobby shop) and they had to order one. So, everything is working great except for the tail servo.

So moving on to Bob’s other heli…his Whiplash… Bob managed to build the head, complete tail assembly, and most of the frame. We are waiting on the motor and muffler…however, and I haven’t told Bob this…his motor and muffler shipped the other day and he will have it early next week!

For me, well, my Whiplash E is going very slow. I keep running into things that are slowing the build. First it was the servo horn balls, then the battery straps, next up the LiPo’s, and finally (so far) the ESC. So I ordered new balls for the servo horns and rudder horn, I thought I ordered a “pack of” battery straps…nope, received just one in the pack. Ok, I ordered 3 more straps.

The LiPo’s won’t fit in the frame per the instructions and like how everyone else is doing it. The LiPo packs are too long and a bit wide, so I’ll need to slide then in from the rear. However, the power wires come out of the LiPo on the side and hits the frame. So in order to make these LiPo’s fit…I will move / unsolder the power wires 90 degrees so they come out at the end of the pack. Next time I’ll order different packs the will fit better!

Currently the weather here is sucking again! High winds with rain on and off, cold temps, damp and overcast. So I’ll bang away on my new electric heli. I have a set of the new Cyclone blades coming! Can’t wait to try them out…more on that later!

Until next time…

Whiplash Gas = 2
Rave ENV = 4
Whiplash Electric = 0 (being built)
Trex 700N = 0
Compass 3D+ = 0 (on the work bench)
Compass 6HV = 0
Protos 500 = 0

Plugs = 1
Crashes = 2 - Whiplash

Total = 68 ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2029 Heli-Log 4:30:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2026 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:05:34 GMT Here we are...the last day of April

Ok campers…a lot have been happening to my heli fleet, for the exception of two heli’s…the Protos 500 and Compass 6HV.

My Whiplash is running and flying a lot better. I still need to find out what is going on the throttle governor, doesn’t seem to be working. Outside of that, I plan on flying the next 3 gallon through it and then change the muffler to the Quick Draw Pipe, for an extra 2 HP!

My Rave has the new O.S. 105 HZ motor with Curtis Youngblood’s MP7 muffler. So far, this is an awesome combination! I have 5 flights on it and the motor is making good power even though it is blubbery rick! However, the governor in the Total-G is wigging out. I setup idle 1 for a lower head speed than what I normally have it set to…1750 rpm. Then I bumped it up to 1850, but on the 4th flight, it sounded like the motor died. Went into autorotation mode and started the emergency landing procedures, basically panic mode!...not really.

As I was about to land and I switched out of idle 1, the motor came back to life and resumed flying my heli towards me. I did a couple of checks, and electronically shut off the governor in the radio for idle 1, then continued flying, only very close by. 5th flight I felt better and resumed my regular basic flying. Once home, I decided to replace the Total-G, and ordered an AR7200BX…with satellite receiver.

My Compass 3D+ is still waiting for a carburetor swap. It’s been sitting patiently for me, while I place other projects in-front of it. Then, during all this, I was looking through the classifieds on this forum, and found yet another heli to buy! I was a very good price on a Whiplash Electric.

I have a motor [Xera 4530 500KV], and a speed controller [CC ICE2 160 HV Opto], MKS BLH 665 cyclic & BLH 669 tail servos, AR7200BX controller/receiver, and 4 Haiyin 5000 mAh LiPo’s. About the only thing missing, are the main blades. I’m not sure which brand I would like to try.

And if this isn’t enough to work on…I’m watching Bob build his Whiplash Gasser! He is doing a great job so far. And I’ve promised not to hijack his heli and build it for him. The urge is great, but he needs to learn how to build, setup, program, break-in a new motor, and fly.

It won’t be long, and the weather will settle down some and allow us to get some heavy duty flying in! I’m going to try for 500 flights this year. My normal/average is 354 flights a year. Well, I want to bust that average and set a new average! So we will see what happens…stay tuned!

So far…

Whiplash Gas = 0
Rave ENV = 4
Whiplash Electric = 0
Trex 700N = 0
Compass 3D+ = 0 (on the work bench)
Compass 6HV = 0
Protos 500 = 0
Plugs = 1
Crashes = 2 - Whiplash

Total = 62 ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2026 Heli-Log 4:28:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2025 Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:28:36 GMT *Saturday (yesterday), 67 degrees, 0-5 mph winds, cloudy then cleared up.* Last weekend I met Mark, a new heli pilot in training. He came out with his two heli’s, and I brought two, my Whiplash and Rave…before a motor transplant. I watched Mark fly (hover) some to get an idea of where his skill set is. Then I pulled out my heli’s and did a little “whaling” on them. That got Mark’s full attention very quickly! He couldn’t stop smiling, that made me feel good. So we spent a little time getting to know one another and do some flying. Yesterday, Mark, Bob, and I met at the school with our heli’s. Mark asked me to go over his Raptor Titan 50. He installed a FBL head and AR7200BX. Well…mechanically everything was setup correctly. Radio wise, there were a couple of issues I fixed quickly, and then finished setting up his radio. First test fight went very well, just need to get some more head speed. I managed to pull off a little 3D with it. Then his girlfriend showed up! She was really cool about him flying and was even happier Mark found me to help teach him. Mark asked me to demo his Raptor G4 for his girlfriend, to prove it fly’s well. Ok!... However, we didn’t finish setting up his radio. Ok…so I started programming his radio so I could fly inverted…and some mild 3D. It took me a few minutes to set everything. Then I started putting the G4 through its paces…slowly. It flew very well and she was impressed. And that was all Mark needed, so now he can come out and fly most any time he wants! Ya know, I should get paid for this!!! That or find a wife like her for myself! As I was getting to know her (sorry, forgot her name), she was telling me about spending time on the flight simulator. Hmm, another potential heli pilot…a female pilot! Well about that time John Cook and Eric Brandenburg showed up with their Rush heli’s. John’s heli was brand new, just finished building it. So we got to see a “3D ripen” maiden flight. It was awesome; I could tell John wasn’t too comfortable with his heli just yet. Give him a few more flights and it will be second nature! Eric is totally off the wall and he laid the smack down like no other! So now is a good time to have Eric checkout my Whiplash, now that he’s “all warmed up!” I’ve had Eric setup a couple other heli’s as if he owns them…simply awesome!!! Eric liked my Whiplash with the Hatori muffler. I told him I have plans to buy a Quick Draw pipe for it. I put a total of 3 flights on my Whiplash and just one on my Rave…with the O.S. 105 HZ motor and MP7 muffler. Wow, the MP7 is quiet! Yep, I bought an O.S. 105 HZ motor for my Rave. I decided to “can” the idea of converting my Trex 700N to gas. Instead, I bought a Whiplash Electric heli. I have a Xera 4530 500KV motor that I bought off of John Cook, a CC ICE2 160 HV Opto ESC that I won at IRCHA last year, and 3 MKS BLH 665 HV servos and one MKS BLH 669 HV servo. I’ll pickup an AR7200BX, 4 LiPo packs (not sure which one I’ll get), and I’ll wait to try a new set of blades the Eric was taking about…don’t remember the name of them, should be out sometime next month. My Compass 3D+ is still waiting on a carburetor transplant. I have a 3 needle carb versus the 2 needle that comes with the hyper 50. Maybe it will tune better. So many things to work on…too little to do it, well, I decided to try for 500 flights this year. I would have liked to do 1000 like Raja is doing, but I just don’t have the time to do that…well, right now at least. Working on 500 flights for the year! Whiplash = 3 Rave ENV = 1 Raptor G4 = 1 Raptor Titan = 1 Spark Plugs = 1 Crashes = 2 - Whiplash Total = 58 Saturday (yesterday), 67 degrees, 0-5 mph winds, cloudy then cleared up.

Last weekend I met Mark, a new heli pilot in training. He came out with his two heli’s, and I brought two, my Whiplash and Rave…before a motor transplant. I watched Mark fly (hover) some to get an idea of where his skill set is.

Then I pulled out my heli’s and did a little “whaling” on them. That got Mark’s full attention very quickly! He couldn’t stop smiling, that made me feel good. So we spent a little time getting to know one another and do some flying.

Yesterday, Mark, Bob, and I met at the school with our heli’s.

Mark asked me to go over his Raptor Titan 50. He installed a FBL head and AR7200BX. Well…mechanically everything was setup correctly. Radio wise, there were a couple of issues I fixed quickly, and then finished setting up his radio. First test fight went very well, just need to get some more head speed. I managed to pull off a little 3D with it. Then his girlfriend showed up! She was really cool about him flying and was even happier Mark found me to help teach him. Mark asked me to demo his Raptor G4 for his girlfriend, to prove it fly’s well.

Ok!... However, we didn’t finish setting up his radio. Ok…so I started programming his radio so I could fly inverted…and some mild 3D. It took me a few minutes to set everything. Then I started putting the G4 through its paces…slowly. It flew very well and she was impressed. And that was all Mark needed, so now he can come out and fly most any time he wants! Ya know, I should get paid for this!!! That or find a wife like her for myself! As I was getting to know her (sorry, forgot her name), she was telling me about spending time on the flight simulator. Hmm, another potential heli pilot…a female pilot!

Well about that time John Cook and Eric Brandenburg showed up with their Rush heli’s. John’s heli was brand new, just finished building it. So we got to see a “3D ripen” maiden flight. It was awesome; I could tell John wasn’t too comfortable with his heli just yet. Give him a few more flights and it will be second nature!

Eric is totally off the wall and he laid the smack down like no other! So now is a good time to have Eric checkout my Whiplash, now that he’s “all warmed up!” I’ve had Eric setup a couple other heli’s as if he owns them…simply awesome!!! Eric liked my Whiplash with the Hatori muffler. I told him I have plans to buy a Quick Draw pipe for it.

I put a total of 3 flights on my Whiplash and just one on my Rave…with the O.S. 105 HZ motor and MP7 muffler. Wow, the MP7 is quiet! Yep, I bought an O.S. 105 HZ motor for my Rave. I decided to “can” the idea of converting my Trex 700N to gas.

Instead, I bought a Whiplash Electric heli. I have a Xera 4530 500KV motor that I bought off of John Cook, a CC ICE2 160 HV Opto ESC that I won at IRCHA last year, and 3 MKS BLH 665 HV servos and one MKS BLH 669 HV servo. I’ll pickup an AR7200BX, 4 LiPo packs (not sure which one I’ll get), and I’ll wait to try a new set of blades the Eric was taking about…don’t remember the name of them, should be out sometime next month.

My Compass 3D+ is still waiting on a carburetor transplant. I have a 3 needle carb versus the 2 needle that comes with the hyper 50. Maybe it will tune better.

So many things to work on…too little to do it, well, I decided to try for 500 flights this year. I would have liked to do 1000 like Raja is doing, but I just don’t have the time to do that…well, right now at least.


Working on 500 flights for the year!

Whiplash = 3
Rave ENV = 1
Raptor G4 = 1
Raptor Titan = 1
Spark Plugs = 1
Crashes = 2 - Whiplash

Total = 58 ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2025 Heli-Log 4:16:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2021 Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:17:18 GMT Sunday…60 something degrees, winds 25+ mph gusting to 35+!

Bob and I went over to friend’s house for a little show and tell…my Whiplash Gasser! Jerry has several gas heli’s (2 MA 1005’s, an older Hirobo, and a Vario, from what I saw). Jerry was interested in seeing my Whiplash from everything Bob had told him earlier in the month. When we showed up, the first things out of Jerry…did you bring your Whiplash and are you going to fly it?

We spent an hour looking over the heli Jerry was working on and my Whiplash. Then he asked…”well? Are you going to fly it?” It didn’t take much to talk me into it.

The first flight wasn’t that bad. The wind was around 20 or so mph and not too gusty. My Whiplash just sat there in the wind as if the wind didn’t exist. So I started in on my normal routine. At the end of the tank, I started practicing autos, and Jerry was thrilled.

We went back into his hanger (a real hanger for a Cessna 142) and talked shop. About 90 minutes later, it was time to go back up. Only this time the wind had picked up a lot! I fought the wind some with forward and back flips. Funnels were just impossible. It was taking a fair amount of collective just to fly into the wind. To hover sideways, my heli was listing a good 10 to 15 degrees! Yea, it’s time to land and wait for a better day before something bad happens.

But as I thought that, I decided to play with some autos and see how long I could extend an auto with this high wind. First attempt was really good, second attempt was looking even better until I noticed the head speed was dropping off too fast! Oops! I tried to reach for the throttle hold as I was pushing the nose forward and adding more negative pitch…found the throttle hold and switched off!!! Too late, my heli hit the ground just as the motor was beginning to spool up…hit throttle hold again and then throttle cut.

Surprisingly the damage wasn’t that bad. Cracked one main blade from hitting the boom, small dent on the boom, and one control link broke, and broke a servo arm. There was no power on the drive, so not much damage…this time. However, I did get a full flight in before messing up the auto. I ordered a new set of blade and should be here by Thursday.

The rest of the fleet…

I finally got around to completing my taxes last week! Yea, I know… Normally I get them done as soon as I have all my paperwork ready / have everything I need. This year I had to wait for all the needed documents to show up! So I wasn’t in a hurry this time. In a way I’m glad I waited. I have some extra cash coming that I didn’t expect! So I’ve been looking over my fleet and determining what I need and what I would like to do, meaning upgrades / changes.

Now is the time to get everything ready for the flying season. I know, the winter time should be the time to pull maintenance and repairs, but my winter was filled with building new heli’s and repairing OP heli’s. Besides, now is a good time to refresh your memory on current settings and some preflight checks. So first on the list…my Trex 700N, it is on the disabled list, I blew up the motor last year on some bad fuel I bought…I thought it was a good deal at the time, but not worth the repair costs I’ve encountered.

Now that I am hooked on my Whiplash gasser…my first thought was to convert several of my other heli’s into gas power. So first up, my Trex 700N…a new TRM270TT motor, Helibug conversion Core 7 kit with clutch ($$$ Ouch!), and an AR7200BX to replace the Total-G or replace the Total-G in the Rave… The cost was more than what I wanted to spend! ~$1300.0, that’s almost a new heli with servos or an almost complete 50 size heli (add a couple hundred more)… I’ve spent too much on upgrades for this heli to begin with, so I can’t see spending another $1300.00 on it…I’ll leave it alone for now.

My Rave on the other hand…has power issue. It likes more power; however, the O.S. 91 motor just doesn’t have what it wants, close to the lean side. The O.S. motor in the Rave is happier and runs better in the Trex 700N (gearing), go figure. So…I’ll buy the O.S. 105 (without pump) and MP7 muffler for the Rave, then take the 91 and put it back into the 700.

Next is my Compass 3D+. It could use a bit more power, that or try using a 2 needle carb (mid & high) instead of the one needle (high). Never been much of a fan with the one needle carbs on heli’s.

And last, I need to buy some LiPo’s for my Compass 6HV and Protos 500. The packs I have are over 2 years old and have over 250 flights on some of them. They have some “pop” left in them, but I can see and hear the difference against the newer Gravity packs I bought last year.

So buy a new motor and muffler for the Rave, wrench on the 3D+ with a different carb, and buy some new LiPo packs. Did I miss anything? Spare parts… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2021 Heli-Log 4:8:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2019 Mon, 08 Apr 2013 14:55:00 GMT 25 mph with 35-40 mph gusts. So it was a good day to wrench on heli’s. The rebuild was straight forward. Damage was at a minimal this time, compared to other crashes I’ve had in the past, hidden damages. Sunday was a very nice day for flying! I even got my first sunburn for the year. The first flight was a bit intimidating, for fear/expectations of a possible re-enactment of the last flight. However yesterday, that wasn’t the case. First flight, after the rebuild was very successful. The second flight was smooth as silk with no hint of failure, so I started relaxing some and just had fun flying. On the third flight, I decided to tune the motor some, at first I thought I was going too lean on the high needle, so I landed and richened the high side. That was no good, boy oh boy, the power really dropped off fast. So I returned the high needle back plus a small amount. Now that was a lot better, and the motor liked that! For the fourth and last flight of the day, Dennis, another heli pilot I’m training, had his tack with him. Well…I’m over his highest tack speed = 1990 rpm. We both have the older series MA tack, it only goes to 1990 rpm. I’m wondering if I could modify it for a higher rpm…maybe 3000 rpm’s? 2500 would be nice! Something I’ll have to look into. For now, I’m guessing my head speed is somewhere around 2050-2200’ish. This also means my governor is not working, I believe. So that is something else I need to figure out! Idle 1 is set for 1650 and idle 2 is set for 1950…yea right! If worse comes to worse, I could put an oscilloscope on the output of the stator gator and verify I’m getting a signal when the motor is running…at an idle of course! I think there is a conspiracy/plot against my Whiplash... I think my other heli's have purposely sabotaged my Whiplash...due to the sudden neglect of the other heli's! I can't put my finger on it, but I did find some nitro residue around the switch I "was" using on my Whiplash. Funny...my Whiplash uses gasoline?! LoL!!! *NIU students * Well the NIU students/engineers showed up at 1:30 PM for a test flight on their competition design. Wings on, CG checked, radio on and a final system check, fueled, primed, then started the motor. Let the motor warm up some, checked the full throttle position, and then proceeded to taxi out to the runway… Had to give the plane a push to get moving and then the unthinkable happened…the left landing gear decided to break! It broke off in the wing, so that was something we couldn’t fix there. So they decided to pack up, head back to the college and perform the repairs there. The next attempt for flight will be Tuesday.]]> Sunday, 62 degrees, winds 5-10 mph North to Northwest…very Sunny!!

I spent 2 hours Friday night starting the repairs to my Whiplash, then 6 hours Saturday to finish. But Saturday was crappy weather, heavily overcast with constant threats of pour down rain…and windy –> 25 mph with 35-40 mph gusts. So it was a good day to wrench on heli’s.

The rebuild was straight forward. Damage was at a minimal this time, compared to other crashes I’ve had in the past, hidden damages.

Sunday was a very nice day for flying! I even got my first sunburn for the year. The first flight was a bit intimidating, for fear/expectations of a possible re-enactment of the last flight. However yesterday, that wasn’t the case. First flight, after the rebuild was very successful. The second flight was smooth as silk with no hint of failure, so I started relaxing some and just had fun flying.

On the third flight, I decided to tune the motor some, at first I thought I was going too lean on the high needle, so I landed and richened the high side. That was no good, boy oh boy, the power really dropped off fast. So I returned the high needle back plus a small amount. Now that was a lot better, and the motor liked that!

For the fourth and last flight of the day, Dennis, another heli pilot I’m training, had his tack with him. Well…I’m over his highest tack speed = 1990 rpm. We both have the older series MA tack, it only goes to 1990 rpm. I’m wondering if I could modify it for a higher rpm…maybe 3000 rpm’s? 2500 would be nice! Something I’ll have to look into. For now, I’m guessing my head speed is somewhere around 2050-2200’ish.

This also means my governor is not working, I believe. So that is something else I need to figure out! Idle 1 is set for 1650 and idle 2 is set for 1950…yea right! If worse comes to worse, I could put an oscilloscope on the output of the stator gator and verify I’m getting a signal when the motor is running…at an idle of course!

I think there is a conspiracy/plot against my Whiplash... I think my other heli's have purposely sabotaged my Whiplash...due to the sudden neglect of the other heli's! I can't put my finger on it, but I did find some nitro residue around the switch I "was" using on my Whiplash. Funny...my Whiplash uses gasoline?! LoL!!!

NIU students

Well the NIU students/engineers showed up at 1:30 PM for a test flight on their competition design. Wings on, CG checked, radio on and a final system check, fueled, primed, then started the motor. Let the motor warm up some, checked the full throttle position, and then proceeded to taxi out to the runway… Had to give the plane a push to get moving and then the unthinkable happened…the left landing gear decided to break! It broke off in the wing, so that was something we couldn’t fix there. So they decided to pack up, head back to the college and perform the repairs there. The next attempt for flight will be Tuesday. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2019 Heli-Log 4:3:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2017 Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:18:21 GMT My Whiplash motor...a closer inspection

I took a look at my TRM270TT (Zenoah) motor last night. I removed the muffler and spark plug. The piston, ring, and cylinder wall looks great! No scaring, scratches, burns, etc., it looks brand new inside, well the piston and cylinder wall. The top of the piston looks great for running rich. It has a slight brown/black tint to it. It looks as if it was run, but not long.

The rest of the motor (the case) is in great shape, no cracks or broken fins/body parts...just a lot of grass and small bits of dirt/mud. I took the top of the pull start off and cleaned the grass and dirt out. While I was there, I was able to check out the coil wiring, it wasn't what I thought it would be. Instead it has two terminals vs. one, like I’m used to [with plankers].

So while I was in there, I turned the Stator Gator connector around, a connector that takes the place of the push button kill switch. Reason for this is the governor is not working. When I switch into idle 1 or 2 and perform a big loop or anything that requires zero pitch while falling/coming down, the motor over revs. Per a conversation with Toxic Al…been meaning to talk with Carey Shurley about this…Al mentioned I could try turning the connector around, as it is polarity sensitive.

On the Stator Gator connector, there is a painted red dot designating polarity. Ok, so maybe I have it backwards, and or the wires coming from the coil (red & black) are reversed. I'll try it this way, see if the Governor will regulate...this time!

So far, I'm waiting for replacement parts to come in before I remove the clutch shoe and check the run-out of the output shaft...just for grins and giggles. I pulled the fuel tank and inspected it for any possible type of damage. I did notice the 90 degree fitting for the main fuel line was loose and the loctite was black in color. I’m thinking the gasoline was eating the loctite away. So tonight I’ll stop by Farm & Fleet and pick up some yellow plumbers tape with Teflon. According to several people I’ve talked to, it will work with gasoline.

I also took the opportunity to re-plumb the vent line. I made the loops too small and didn’t extend the line past the tank. So this time I made the 3 loops a minimum of 2 inches in diameter and routed the end of the tubing out the bottom of the heli.

More to come once I receive some parts!

"I love the smell of Gas w/bubble gum in the morning!" ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2017 Heli-Log 4:2:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2016 Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:13:13 GMT A deeper look into the damage on my Whiplash…

Starting with the head… The rotor head is fairly tough; I bent one control arm on the blade grip. The spindle/feathering shaft, dampers, blade grips, and head is fine. Mainshaft bent bad, mainshaft bearings (3) notchy, main gear trashed.

I pulled the motor expecting to find a mess inside…and I wasn’t disappointed! The pinion was glued onto the bell from the baked grease. The sprag bearing was heavily tempered, it looked melted. The bell itself is no longer round, more like wavy. When I pulled the start shaft out of the bell, the bearing inside stayed on the start shaft…it was totally discolored, a dark blue to black, and it barely turned by hand.

I installed 3-MKS HBL665 for cyclic, all three servos feel ratchety when turning them by hand. I was afraid I stripped some gear inside the servos as well. However, I found it was the upper bearing on the output shaft that took the beating! The gears are fine; it’s a good thing as each gear set is about $34.00, or $110.00 for all three servos.

The tail section is straight forward…boom, boom supports, torque tube… The motor, on the other hand, is believed to be ok. I had a discussion with Toxic Al (what a super cool guy!) about my mishap. After I explained what happened and how it crashed, Al feels the motor is ok. However, and we both agree to remove the muffler and spark plug to see if there is any internal damage…gouges/scratches on the piston, etc. While I’m working on the motor, I need to find out why the speed governor isn’t working…verify it is wired correctly. I also order a replacement clutch shoe…$20.00, not a bad price! I’ll try to save the old one by sanding off the glaze…if I can, in the meantime, that is what the extra shoe is for.

The canopy is somewhat trashed, broken in all the right places…better to buy a new one. I could fix it and use it as a beater canopy?… The Tuff Struts broke and saved the tubes, and they are not bent! Both frames are fine, I found a little area of delamination up front on the right side of the frame, but that is it.

So far this is all that I have found. Not too bad overall. This time around, I will use a Dean’s or an EC3 connector instead of a battery switch in-line. This also makes me very nervous with my Rave. My Rave has a 30 amp power switch. I have yet to experience any problems with it…so far! Maybe it’s time to remove it!


My compass 3D+

So while my Whiplash is down…I decided it was time to work on the 3D+. I needed to fine tune the motor. The O.S. 50 hyper has a 2 needle carb. The low end was a bit too rich and the high end was way rich. I managed to get the low needle adjusted to purr like a kitten. But the high needle is giving me fits! The last flight resulted in an emergency landing, kind of hard…that broke the landing gear and messed up the clip area of the canopy! That’s it! Enough of that… I have a 3 needle carb that I will see if it will fit (a replacement), and I’ll adjust that. I know the 2 needle carbs should be easier to adjust, but can be a bit more finicky. The 3 needle carb will allow me to adjust each range of throttle to my likings…a nice smooth idle…a somewhat rich mid range…and the high end close to the lean side.

Now that my Whiplash went into a screaming fit…lose of throttle response after the crash and close to wide open throttle. The TRM270 motor is now fully broke-in…the ring becoming seated to the cylinder wall. It’s the fastest way to break-in a motor…however; I would not recommend it, for the health of your new motor!

Comparing the two helis…nitro vs. gas…

Well that isn’t really fair, but its the only heli I've flown after my Whiplash. My Whiplash is a 12 pound monster, where my Compass 3D+ is 6-7 pounds? After crashing my Whiplash, I pulled the 3D+ out and just whaled on it. My Compass moved way faster than the Whiplash. But I must remember the motor on my Whiplash isn’t fully tuned either. And I still need to get a Quick Draw pipe for it. By doing this, I’ll take a 2.8x hp gas motor and pull and extra 2 hp out of it. Yep…4.8x hp. My O.S. 91 motor is only rated for ~3.2 hp!

When I get my Whiplash back together and flying great again, I pit it against my Rave. Now the Rave is a bigger heli than the Whiplash. Longer, taller, and wider…but it is only by a few inches. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2016 Heli-Log 4:1:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2015 Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:59:00 GMT Happy April's Fools day!

My Whiplash disaster...
________________________________________
Saturday morning...57 degrees, sunny, light and variable.

Flight #29, Friday, I finished the gallon of synthetic mix at 32:1...per Toxic Al. Started a new gallon mixed at 40:1 with some bubble gum fragrance. I was somewhat surprised the motor ran rather well with a thinner oil mix. The flight went really well and relaxed some and just had fun.

Second flight of the morning, ~4 minutes into the flight, my Whiplash acted a bit funny! It displayed a total body wobble? I've seen this once before with my Rave 90 ENV. The battery decided to die in flight! I had to watch my Rave fly into the ground:bawl I made a turn to return my Whippy back to me, it made part of the turn then started to wobble again and remain wobbling. I hit throttle hold...nothing. It didn't matter what I did, it continued its course into the ground.

The throttle was set at 65% when it hit the ground. I was somewhat surpassed, the motor didn't stop running. The main blades locked into the soft ground and stopped turning as the motor kept trying to rotate the main blades. As I ran up to the crash site, the motor started to increase in rpm. The only 2 things I could do was 1.) let it run until the motor fail, or 2.) reach in with my hand and shut the throttle off. So I picked option 2...I placed my foot on one of the broken blades and turned the throttle servo towards the off position. By this time the gas motor was really screaming in rpm's.

The initial damage assessment...one control arm, both control links, main shaft & all 3 bearings, main gear, boom, torque tube, boom supports, landing gear, canopy...and the clutch bell. Once home and started disassembling the carnage, the clutch bell is warped, no longer perfectly round. The spray is destroyed, practically melted, bearing are close to being welded, severely tempered.

I haven't looked at the motor yet. Not sure if I want to at this point. The clutch shoe has a burned area at the center of the shoe, so not sure if I can fix it...sanding the surface down some...break off the burnt glaze.

So I continued flying with my Compass 3D+, Bill's Raptor 50, and his Blade 450 3D. I took my Compass 3D+ out Sunday after church for a couple of flights. Temp for Sunday...52, wind 20 mph with gust up to 30 mph, partly cloudy.


Whiplash crash diagnostics
________________________________________
Quote:
Bummer, did you find out why it crashed?
Yes I did...failure analysis’ is my strong suite, developed at work and through the fire department (volunteer department). The battery switch I was using failed. It was a heavy duty single pole single throw switch rated at 20 amps. I wasn't able to find the body of the switch, just the mechanical remains. The only thing(s) I can figure, it failed due to a fuel leak, in which I discovered 2 flights earlier, fuel seeped into the switch and failed the contacts...or the switch started falling apart due to the motor vibrations and the canopy pushing against it. I didn't think the canopy could have hurt the switch if it was pressed against it, but that may have lead to the failure. The motor was running rough during the break-in process. I believe the switch fell apart which would explain why I didn't find any of the main body...case and contacts. I will never know for sure.

This time I will not use a switch, either Dean connector or EC3's...like I do with my Protos 500, Compass 3D+, 6HV, and Trex 700.
Quote:
Check the crank cases to see if they are cracked, crank shafts can also come out of true if the engine hits the ground hard enough.
The crash wasn't hard; it did a bank turn into the ground. I was about 10-15 feet off the ground. It hit on the front right side (muffler side) starting with the landing gear and the rotor disk, it flopped around and bent the tail section including small damage to the nose of the canopy. It was enough to rip apart the bottom of the canopy. The rotor head took most of the impact. It bent the mainshaft really well, about 20 degrees worth.
Quote:
Also check the clutch shoes, if just polished up, they can be lightly sanded to remove the glazed surface.
I was kind of hoping I could do that! I haven't fully checked the motor; I will tonight or tomorrow night. The one-way bearing bolted to the motor for the start shaft...the bearing inside is rough, works, but don't trust it so I'm replacing it. As for the shoes, I will try sanding [lightly] the surface with some 180 grit, maybe scuff up finish the surface with some used 80 grit sandpaper. I'll ask Al where I can buy another clutch shoe.

When I reached in to shut the motor off...it didn't die all at once. The motor came to an idle for several seconds, and it was "purring" like it did before the crash, with no vibrations. The whole time the motor was screaming, it was very smooth, no excessive vibrations. I'll ask Al what I can do to determine whether or not to send it in.

I ordered the replacement parts, with a couple of extra goodies, from Heliproz last night. I should have them by Thursday after work. In the meantime, I'll start cleaning the dirt and oil off of everything. The main body of this heli is very strong! I was expecting to replace a frame side or both.

I have pics of the clutch bell and shoes if interested (also mainshaft and gear)...

Whiplash = 2 (total = 31)
Compass 3D+ = 4
Raptor Titan 50 = 1
Blade 450 3D = 2
Total = 38
Plugs = 1
Crashes = 1 Whiplash

__________________
"I love the smell of Nitro in the morning!" ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2015 Heli-Log 3:29:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2014 Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:30:11 GMT Thursday, 48 degrees, winds light and variable, sunny…not a cloud in the sky!


Yesterday after work, I put in another 4 flights on my Whiplash. I leaned the high needle just a little and increased the throttle curve some. Now my Whiplash is rock’n! Most of the maneuvers I did didn’t bother the motor much except for full throttle climbs and side tic toc’s. I have a slight problem with collective management on side tic toc’s, and I need to look into an over-rev issue. Possibly the Stator Gator is plugged in backwards. When performing rainbows, the motor over-revs.

At the end of the second flight, I noticed one of the 4mm screws from the boom support at the horizontal clamp was missing! Had a spare and fixed that; also checked the other screw…it was loose as well? One the third flight, I noticed I have a fuel leak somewhere around the fuel tank. I have fresh fuel splashed all over the inside of my canopy and parts of the frame. Also, while I was practicing my inverted segment, the motor died, or appeared to have died. I quickly flipped to right side up and proceeded with an emergency auto. Well I made it through the flip and dropped about 5-10 feet, and then the motor came back to life!!! I landed and checked the fuel tank and there was still better than a half a tank of fuel…Ok, so I finished the rest of the flight mainly right side up. During the tank assembly, I did the 3 loops with the fuel tubing on the vent line…maybe it is over flowing from there. I’ll try changing it to a longer line and plumb it towards the bottom of my heli with 3-4 bigger loops. The loops I have could be too tight/small in diameter. As an afterthought…maybe the motor ran out of fuel due to a vacuum build up in the tank???

I had enough fuel in my gas container for one more flight…so up I went! This last gallon of fuel was mixed 32:1 with synthetic oil, a request from Toxic Al. The next mix of fuel will be at 40:1. Not sure if I want to switch back to regular gas or stay with the Coleman fuel. It is a bit pricy! At $10.00 per gallon versus $3.65 for gas plus the heavy smell! I like the low odor from Coleman’…and I added some fuel fragrance to the mix. Using Coleman fuel, you don’t need much fragrance compared to gasoline, and with the fuel fragrance added to the fuel, you can tell when you have it on you!

I am truly loving this heli! Now I’m looking at my Trex 700N, the one with a blown nitro motor…possibly converting it to gas with the Heli Bug conversion and another TRM 270TT motor, and installing a Best X controller. Currently I have the Total-G controller in it; it would be nice to be able to adjust how it feels like the Beast X.

I also tested out my new GoPro3 Black I bought from Heliproz!. I mounted it to a baseball hat (I hope Mikado doesn't get upset!). I picked a hat I didn't mind ruining...LoL. The videos turned out ok, wide view and too high resolution. I will try recording in 720p @24fps (and 480p @24-48fps) narrow view. Maybe this will keep the file size down some and still keep the video integrity. I had the GoPro set to 1080p @48fps medium view. A 7 minute video was 1.xx gigs!

Saturday’s forecast, here in Illinois, “A mix of could and sun in the morning followed by cloudy skies during the afternoon (71% clouds). High 57 degrees, winds South at 20-30 mph, with possible gusting...so I might stay home and cook Mr. Turkey, look into my fuel leak, then work on uploading some videos on YouTube. Also want to transfer my maiden flight from my camcorder…and upload a few pic’s of my Whiplash.

Whiplash = 4
Total = 29
Plugs = 1 ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2014 Heli-Log 3:24:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2013 Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:20:55 GMT Saturday...went out again. Temps 41 degrees, wind light and variable.

Did my normal routine...warmed up on the first flight, second flight I let it rip! Third flight I started in on my practice routine.

On the third flight, I turned the high needle in a blades width and that motor is just "smoke'n". It is making even more power! I went into my throttle curves and brought the normal down, it was too high...maybe 1900+ I'm guessing...(normal curve 0,23,38,50,100).

Idle 1 was set for 1650 RPM in GOV mode, it is now at 100,47,38,47,100.

I had inititially set idle 2 for 1950 RPM in GOV mode... now it is 100,45,35,45,100...I like that setting better. A slower head speed with enough power. I really need to tack my head to see where I'm at. Bob was with me and I had forgotten my tach...I put it in my radio case so I don't forget!

My flight times have improved. I was getting 10 minutes on a full tank...now I'm getting 12 minutes!

It will be awhile before I can get out again (Thursday'ish), weather here is crappy (snow, rain, snow & rain mixed, high winds & cold...) the next few days, plus I have some house and cooking chores to do. Also, I will pull my spark plug and look at its condition.


Whiplash = 3
Total = 25
Plugs = 1
__________________
"I love the smell of Nitro in the morning!" ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2013 Heli-Log 3:23:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2012 Sat, 23 Mar 2013 17:58:46 GMT Friday…35 degrees, winds South-southwest at 4 mph…Sunny!

The weather is slowly getting better! And I'm having a hard time deciding to stay home and get work done or fly my Whiplash...and freeze. Fly and Freeze it is! I decided to flip out the last 2-3 tanks worth of ashless fuel mix I had left...well transfered it to my other gas can for my weed wacker.

I found Coleman fuel at Farm & Fleet and Walmart. Walmart is a $1.01 cheape! Go figure. I bought a gallon and mixed some Honda HP2 synthetic pre-mix oil. I kept the oil ratio at 32:1, per a phone conversation with Toxic Al. I turned the high needle in a bit after the first flights on the new fuel / oil mix…now I have a whole new heli! The motor is running faster, I'm guessing it is in the 1900 rpm range. It is very responsive now. Progressive climb-outs are smoother; however the motor still loads up some…still need to finish tuning the high needle. Big air loops (same as the climb outs) will load the motor some, but not bad to where I have to back off.

Transitions (throttle) are very smooth, no hesitation, coughs, spit/sputters. During throttle up, I see a lot of torque coming on as the rotor head plays catch-up…this only lasts for a few seconds. Reminds me of my Compass 6HV electric during spool up, only the spool up is softer electronically.

I tried a couple of collective pitch pumps…the motor didn’t even notice it! This is just too cool. I might get out today after work. I’ll put up several more flights with 1 or 2 high needle adjustments (small). Flight times are getting longer, slowly. I started at 7 minutes, and now 10 minutes and 40 seconds.

The weatherman is teasing us with 50'ish degrees for next weekend...time to burn some fuel!


Overall I'm enjoying my Whiplash Gasser. I have some Beast X tuning to do along with lots of flights...LoL. I might try a tuned pipe...the Quick Draw pipe. I can get an extra 2 HP with just the pipe. That would give me 4-1/2 HP total! Not to shabby for a gas powered heli.

Whiplash = 4
Total = 22
Plugs = 1 ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2012 Heli-Log 3:18:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2011 Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:08:00 GMT March is just about over! This Wednesday is the first day of Spring…however, the high for us is 22 degress…yuck!

I’ve been out several days now breaking-in the TRM270 gas motor in my Whiplash. So far I have 18 flights on it. During this time, I’ve had to fix my gas container and replace the spark plug in my heli. The gas pump that I was using is a windshield pump, not designed for gasoline, but it worked. During the fill ups for flights 3 & 4, my pump started leaking. I found a gasoline pump on the internet that would work, and went to Radio Shack and purchased a 6x3 plastic project box. Once the pump arrived, I stripped everything off the gas container and started installing all the electronics in and on the box. The pump is mounted on the outside of the box with the 3 cell LiPo and switch on the inside…of course. A little plumbing and a quick test…it works great! That problem solved.

On flight 13, 30 seconds into the flight, the motor hesitated for a split second, then dropped the RPM a little. I continued the flight carefully and didn’t notice anything unusual. After ~3 minutes of flying, I landed so the motor could rest at idle for a minute. After the minute, I throttled up my heli and was just about to lift off when the motor just died. I tried to start it, but it wouldn’t start. So I emptied the fuel tank and went to remove the spark plug only to remember I left the wrench at home. I started thinking about what would prevented the motor from starting…blockage in the carb, spark plug, coil, etc. To rule out a fuel issue, I squirted some fuel straight into the carb. I pulled on the pull starter and felt the compression kick-back (cool! It’s not the piston!!)…and the motor would not start.

So Bob and I packed up and went to my house. Once there, I removed the plug, it was somewhat “wet” which is a good sign…it’s not the carb. Well…let’s check for spark. Bob and I looked at the plug and it looks good! I grabbed a screw driver and placed it up against the cylinder head, then placed the glug on the screw driver shaft. Bob pulled the cord starter and nothing! No spark. Ok…its either the plug or coil.

We went to Farm & Fleet and they had one. Drove back home and tried the spark test again with the new plug. We have spark!!! Ok…I installed the new plug, filled the fuel tank, primed, pulled to start…it runs! Wow, the spark plug went bad on the start of flight 13… We headed back out to the flying field and I put in 3 flights before turning into a popsicle...LoL! Sure, the sun had disappeared and became heavily overcast, with a bit of dampness. It made for a cold, miserable, and hard to see orientation day. The green canopy is hard to see on overcast days…so I ordered the red “Stomp” canopy! I have a buddy that will strip down the green one and repaint it a different color.


I went out again yesterday after work! This time I went to my practice place (a school) instead of our flying field...too muddy! I put in another 3 flights. :-) I cracked both needles towards the lean and expecting (hoping) the motor would pick up in speed...but it didn't. So I slightly upped my throttle curve. Was trying to gain a bit more head speed...I really need someone to tach my head speed!

At the start of the second flight, the wind picked up to a steady 20 mph (with gusts up to 30 mph) and started turning me into a "meat-popsicle" (a line used from the movie "The 5th Element"). Ok, one more flight, then I'm going home! At the end of the last flight, I could barely feel my fingers...they were that cold. When my body starts shaking, its time to go home. I even had pocket warmers! I also ordered a radio glove a couple of weeks ago...must be on the long boat from Hong Kong! LoL.

Ok, one more flight, then I'm going home to warm up! It sucks being a diabetic...and I dressed warm. After the 3rd flight, I was cleaning up the oil residue off the blades, I noticed there was some slop in one of the main blades. Upon further investigation, I discovered the ball link for the blade at the swashplate was half out! If I was warm enough, I was planning on a 4th & 5th flight. Good thing I decided to call it quits! I'll fix this with some red loctite...along with the other 7 balls! To give you an idea of how blessed I was… during the last 2 minues of the last flight, I tried half of a piro flip! Along with several easy 3D mauevers that required some +/- collective action. Should that ball come out of the swashplate…the blade would have turned 90 degress acting like an air brake, resulting into a lot of money repair bill… Canopy, landing gear, boom, torque tube, boom supports, mainshaft, feathering shaft, links, rods, small handfull of bearings, blades, one or both frame sides, muffler, etc. How do I know all this…had it happen once, it wasn’t pretty!

Today it is snowing...Again! Tomorrow is a continuation of snow, wind and continued crappy cold (yes...I'm tired of this cold weather!!), and Wednesday 22 degrees with 30+ mph winds. I won't be able to get out until Thursday (29 degrees with winds @ 8 mph), which is ok. This will give me time to go over my Whiplash, checking all nuts, bolts, & screws. Plus, I can buy a LiPo from Hobby Town USA for the pump on my gas can. I am using a 3 cell 3300mAh pack to test the system out (taken from my quadcopter), I think it is a bit much. After 8-11 fills, I've used 5% of the pack...so 1800-2200mAh should be enough.

I'm still a bit perplexed about the spark plug going bad...after 12 flights. I can't help wonder if during the break-in process of this motor, possibly being somewhat overly rich, might have damaged the plug. I wish I had access to our X-ray machine at work, I would be able to find out where it broke. Then again, maybe the plug was dropped during the assembly process.

In the meantime...I'm really enjoying my Whiplash! I've started doing light aerobatics 3 flights ago and extending the flights with the minute rest in between. From start to finish, I get exactly 10 minutes of flying! Kind of hoping for a bit longer flight times...like 12 minutes or so... I'm almost through the 2 gallons of fuel I mixed up with Lawn Boy Ashless oil...about 3 more flights are left in the gas can…maybe. Once I finish the 2 gallons, I'll switch to a synthetic blend, run a few tanks through, then start adjusting the needles.

So far, I have a total of 18 flights on this heli and I’m loven it! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2011 High winds, to fly or not to fly? That is the question. http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2010 Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:51:41 GMT High winds, to fly or not to fly? That is the question.
In the beginning, a short 2 years ago and following the lead of others in various forums, my going to the field to attempt to fly my helicopter(s) depended on wind conditions.
Seems I had set or allowed others to set a limit of 10mph for flying safely.


Today, Other than hurrican force stuff, I don't really care so much.
I know its more to do with having gone Flybarless than my skills, fun anyway.
:banana ]]> dpelletier http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2010 Heli-Log 3:9:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2008 Sat, 09 Mar 2013 15:15:37 GMT Thursday the forecast was 32 degrees and calm winds! Friday’s forecast 37 degrees and calm. Dang, looks like I will be flying both days!

Thursday I headed out to our flying field and I was the only one there…perfect! Filled the tank and started the motor by the pull start. Up in a hover, I checked the tracking, trims, head speed, tail response, and the cyclic. Everything seem to be ok, so nosed my heli forward and away it went! Put in 3 more flights before the sun went down too far.
During the second flight the motor started to run better…in flight! I didn’t want the RPM to get too high, so I dropped the throttle curve a bit, and it was back to normal. On the last flight, however, the motor started to come alive again (higher head speed), but I was close to the end of the flight, so I left it alone.

Friday I richened both needles a 1/16 turn and increased the throttle curve a bit. Following Raja's break-in procedure (somewhat)...I fly for ~2 minutes, land and idle for 1 minute, then back onto the air for 2 minutes. The first 2 flights were only 7-8 minutes long, burned through that much fuel. Flight #3 the motor changed in mid flight to a higher RPM (due to the motor breaking in), and the tail wags stopped along with some head wobble...due to a low head speed. I lowered the throttle curve and all was well until the end of the fourth flight, it sped back up, but not much. Flights are now lasting 10+ minutes!

I liked the higher RPM, but after that flight, #4, I changed the needle settings to a bit richer. Flights 5-7 was a lot better. The motor was back to its rich settings and wasn't breaking into a higher speed. I had to increase the throttle curve to obtain a decent head speed to fly. By the 7th flight, my Whiplash was trucken across the sky like my other helis. I had to resist the urge to flip, loop, roll my heli! And each flight, now, I'm flying longer in-between the 1 minute cool down.

I'm thinking that after the next 3 flights, a total of 10 flights...I might try switching into idle 1 and try some inverted flying! I won’t be able to get out this weekend due to rain both days, so I’ll perform a maintenance check. Go through the linkages, screws & bolts, servos, wiring, motor, etc. Monday through Wednesday is forecasted to be warmer, but a bit windy…looks as if I’ll be getting more flights in! And with daylight savings this weekend, I get an extra hour to fly!

I also ordered some fuel fragrance, bubble gum, watermelon, and grape. I did this many years ago with my gas plankers, it smells great!

"I love the smell of Nitro in the morning!" ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2008 Heli-Log 3:3:13b http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2007 Mon, 04 Mar 2013 01:51:01 GMT Today was a great day to go flying...considering it was 31 degrees with snow on the ground! The sun was out in full force...meaning not much cloud action. As long as Bob and I were standing in the sun light, and not the shade, it was rather nice...bearable.

First flight I decided to try out my Compass 3D+. It took a couple of minutes to get the motor to run in the cold, it is extremely cold blooded. However, I managed to get warmed up enough to obtain rpm on the rotor head. My 3D+ lifted off the ground as if it was summer time. Went into idle up 1 and let it rip up the sky, boy was that ever fun!

Its been a long time getting out to fly, my skills were a bit rusty, but after a few minutes, everything started coming back. Bob and I decided to take a break and warm up a bit before trying out the Whiplash. I filled the tank before Bob arrived, so everything was ready. I turned on the radio, then the heli, primed the bulb on the carb, and proceeded to start the motor with my electric starter I use for my nitro helis.

However, my starter wouldn't even turn the motor over...Hhmm. Ok, I'll use the pull start. I could feel the motor was somewhat hard to turn over due to no fuel in the motor...yet. As the fuel entered, I could feel the pull starter getting easier to pull. So I decided to use the electric starter, but it still wouldn't turn it over. Ok...no problem, I'll just start my heli with the pull start!

1...2...3...4 pulls, then it started! The motor idled nicely and was ready to go, unlike most nitro motors. Throttled up slowly and as the head speed started spooling up, the tail servo was reversed...oh! I thought I checked everything, missed that! No problem, throttled down and reversed the rudder servo in the radio. This time my Whiplash was ready for its maiden flight. I advanced the throttle and it lifted off the ground! Nice and smooth, no trim was needed.

The tail seemed to be a bit twitchy, so I lowered the gyro gain, but only to realize it was from the motor. During the break-in process, the instructions call for the motor to be rich. So that is causing the tail twitching. It will go away as it is breaking in, or in several more tanks of fuel.

I turned the heli to the right and pushed the cyclic stick forward and away it went. Nice and smooth, nothing too fast or too much collective. I flew my Whiplash several times around the field, then brought it in for a landing. Two minutes out flying around, and then one minute sitting on the ground idling. Did this routine a couple of times, then checked my fuel tank, just enough for a couple of minutes more.

Well I should of stayed on the ground, right at the 2 minute mark and right in the middle of a turn, the motor decided it was out of gas! The motor stop very suddenly, so I finished the turn quickly and started an auto. I was out a ways over the snow, and didn't want to land in it! So I "milked" the auto for about 70 feet at half the needed head speed...I would have to guess I'm around 1500 rpm's! Not quite enough, and I was right. I came in for a medium bounce and a roll over with a small slide to a stop!

Broke two servo horns, slightly bent one of the blade linkages, scratched my new muffler and canopy, and scratched some of the landing gear. All and all, it was a good flight. I can't wait to get back out and try it again! Bob said the weather for next weekend is forecasted for the 40's & 50's!!! Oh yea, I'll be ready!

More to come... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2007 Heli-Log 3:3:13 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2006 Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:41:01 GMT How interesting 3/3/13...all "3's" (except for the "1")...

Well today is the day, I will attempt to maiden my Whiplash...after church. the forecast for today is; Mostly sunny. High 31F. Winds light and variable. I've gone through everything on the heli, checked the MultiGov Pro setting, verified the endpoint settings. Checked all nuts & bolts, and screws, charged all needed batteries, mixed up a fresh batch of fuel with Lawn-Boy Ashless oil.

So all that is left...is to go flying! I am so psyched right now! I'd go now, but the temp is 3 degrees, a bit too cold for me. However, I do have a radio glove with heater coming, sometime, from Hong Kong. Can't wait to try that out.

Until then... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2006 Heli-Log 2:27:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2004 Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:49:51 GMT February is almost in the history books! Still have one more major snow storm coming. First test flight on my new DJI 450 quadcopter was very interesting. I just worked on hovering it to get a feel for it. I did a 6 minute flight, checked the LiPo and had 67% remaining…hmm. I charged the LiPo and set the timer, in the radio, to 10 minutes. There are 3 different flight modes to choose from. GPS, Altitude, and Manual. Manual mode is a lot of fun, you have full access to all the controls. The throttle response is faster and the elevator/ailerons , so if you’re not paying attention, it will get away from you fast! Altitude, from what I was told (need more research on this stuff), once you place the quadcopter at a height, it will hold it. I was able to park it at about 3 feet off the ground. I placed my hand under it and raised it up a foot. The 4 motors slowed down the higher I lifted it. Then as I quickly removed my hand, the 4 motors spun back up and recovered to the height I had placed it at. I just had to do this several times!...cool! I spent 10 minutes playing with the 3 different settings, and then flew it back to my driveway. So a full flight will last about 11 minutes, I’ll keep it at 10 minutes. I will play with this some more when the snow stops for awhile. After messing around with my quadcopter, I pulled Bob’s little Blade 450 out and did another test flight. The adjustments to the swash plate didn’t do much. Bummer! So I decided to set the zero pitch to +3 degrees. And while I was hovering around, I noticed the tail would turn faster on direction than the other. That was a simple fix, re-centered the throw and adjusted the end points. Took the heli back out for another test flight, and this time it fly’s much better! The tail is crisp and the collective is centered better on the throttle stick, now I need to tweak the blade tracking some, then run it through my paces before giving it back to Bob. My Compass 3D+ is finally on the workbench! I replaced the motor mount, clutch, and clutch bell. All that is left to do is clean the body, now that the motor is out, re-install the clutch and motor. My Whiplash is just about ready for a test flight. I’m waiting for Bob to return some of the carb parts, and buy a “T” for fill the fuel tank. I bought a set of 716mm Rail Blades after reading how well they work on this heli, so it should be interesting to see how well they work. That’s just about it for my helis, almost set and ready to go. However, the electrics are somewhat of a different story. 4 of my 6cell pack are in need of replacement. So I’ve been looking for some new packs. More on that later… February is almost in the history books! Still have one more major snow storm coming.

First test flight on my new DJI 450 quadcopter was very interesting. I just worked on hovering it to get a feel for it. I did a 6 minute flight, checked the LiPo and had 67% remaining…hmm. I charged the LiPo and set the timer, in the radio, to 10 minutes.

There are 3 different flight modes to choose from. GPS, Altitude, and Manual. Manual mode is a lot of fun, you have full access to all the controls. The throttle response is faster and the elevator/ailerons , so if you’re not paying attention, it will get away from you fast!

Altitude, from what I was told (need more research on this stuff), once you place the quadcopter at a height, it will hold it. I was able to park it at about 3 feet off the ground. I placed my hand under it and raised it up a foot. The 4 motors slowed down the higher I lifted it. Then as I quickly removed my hand, the 4 motors spun back up and recovered to the height I had placed it at. I just had to do this several times!...cool!

I spent 10 minutes playing with the 3 different settings, and then flew it back to my driveway. So a full flight will last about 11 minutes, I’ll keep it at 10 minutes. I will play with this some more when the snow stops for awhile.

After messing around with my quadcopter, I pulled Bob’s little Blade 450 out and did another test flight. The adjustments to the swash plate didn’t do much. Bummer! So I decided to set the zero pitch to +3 degrees. And while I was hovering around, I noticed the tail would turn faster on direction than the other. That was a simple fix, re-centered the throw and adjusted the end points.

Took the heli back out for another test flight, and this time it fly’s much better! The tail is crisp and the collective is centered better on the throttle stick, now I need to tweak the blade tracking some, then run it through my paces before giving it back to Bob.

My Compass 3D+ is finally on the workbench! I replaced the motor mount, clutch, and clutch bell. All that is left to do is clean the body, now that the motor is out, re-install the clutch and motor.

My Whiplash is just about ready for a test flight. I’m waiting for Bob to return some of the carb parts, and buy a “T” for fill the fuel tank. I bought a set of 716mm Rail Blades after reading how well they work on this heli, so it should be interesting to see how well they work.

That’s just about it for my helis, almost set and ready to go. However, the electrics are somewhat of a different story. 4 of my 6cell pack are in need of replacement. So I’ve been looking for some new packs.

More on that later… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2004 Heli-Log 2:21:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2002 Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:46:55 GMT Springtime is quickly approaching! With much warmer weather to start flying in…the wait is driving me nuts! LoL… Someday I will learn to complete one project and then move on to the next…someday…nah! Ok, so I just had to take a closer look at my new DJI 450 Flamewheel. And while I was just looking, I started figuring out how I was going to solder the ESC’s, place them on the arms, what receiver I was planning to use, and where I was going to mount everything. I looked up the manual on-line, as it doesn’t come with the kit. http://download.dji- innovations.com/downloads/flamewheel/en/F450_User_Manual_en.pdf The instructions are very vague. Basically pick a color to be the front of the quadcopter, which motor spins which direction with the appropriate prop, and the number of beeps the ESC’s make. Oh and where the screws go. I realize there’s not a lot to this quadcopter, but it would be nice for a little more info, so I added my own notes! The information is found at; http://www.dji-innovations.com/ And the build / programming instructions at; http://wiki.dji-innovations.com/en/index.php/Main_page . Here is the download section for the software; http://www.dji-innovations.com/products/naza-multi-rotor/downloads/ So as I was looking everything up, I started building it! Yep, pulled out my soldering station, solder, flux, alcohol, brush, and proceeded to solder the ESC’s to the board. Then I soldered the power leads along with the BEC wires to the board. Cleaned everything with alcohol and let it dry. After 5 minutes, I coated the solder joints with clear finger nail polish. In time, thee solder joints “can” become contaminated by the elements and fail. Also, this will prevent the battery from being shorted during operation…something come loose, a wire finally chafes, etc. I’m not saying it is mandatory to do this; I do it to prevent any possible issues that could happen. I let the nail polish dry for an hour (more than enough time, but was a good time to stop and grab dinner!), then mounted the arms to the bottom plate. Next up was to mount the Naza controller with some double sided 3M gray tape (a thin foam tape).Placed Velcro down for the receiver and remote satellite. I used some of the 3M gray tape to help hold the ESC’s to the arms…along with wire ties. I plugged all the ESC wires into the Naza controller and the controller into my receiver. I picked the AR7100 receiver, mainly due to that’s what I have that is lying around. Mounted the top plate with the GPS mounted between 2 screws on one of the back arms. Installed the motors and proceeded to start programming! I read through most of the programming instructions only to become more confused. So I headed down to my LHS and had John help me with programming the controller. After about 10 minutes…my quadcopter was ready for a test flight! It hovers nicely, but the led on the BEC was blinking red, meaning the battery/ LiPo needed charging. The LiPo was at 42% when we started programming, which was more than enough. But for a test flight, a couple of minutes is all that was left. Later I will charge up the LiPo and perform some hovering in my driveway to get an idea of how long the LiPo will last. I’ll play with it for a little while before attempting to add my camera to it. In the meantime, I’m waiting for the GoPro 3 Black to come into stock so I can install it to my quadcopter…and to my head while I fly my helis… My Whiplash is just about ready for a test flight. I need to mount the carburetor and install the magnets for the front of the canopy. I ordered a set of 716mm Rail Blades to try out, not sure how my Whiplash will like those. Bob’s Blade 450 still needs a little work, I haven’t touched it since my last post… Heli-Log 2:7:2013. And last but not least, I have the parts needed to fix my Compass 3D+. New motor mount and clutch bell. I need to get on these small projects as warmer weather will be upon us soon and I rather be flying verses wrenching on helis! Until next time… Springtime is quickly approaching! With much warmer weather to start flying in…the wait is driving me nuts! LoL…

Someday I will learn to complete one project and then move on to the next…someday…nah! Ok, so I just had to take a closer look at my new DJI 450 Flamewheel. And while I was just looking, I started figuring out how I was going to solder the ESC’s, place them on the arms, what receiver I was planning to use, and where I was going to mount everything. I looked up the manual on-line, as it doesn’t come with the kit.
http://download.dji- innovations.com..._Manual_en.pdf

The instructions are very vague. Basically pick a color to be the front of the quadcopter, which motor spins which direction with the appropriate prop, and the number of beeps the ESC’s make. Oh and where the screws go. I realize there’s not a lot to this quadcopter, but it would be nice for a little more info, so I added my own notes!

The information is found at;
http://www.dji-innovations.com/
And the build / programming instructions at;
http://wiki.dji-innovations.com/en/index.php/Main_page .
Here is the download section for the software;
http://www.dji-innovations.com/produ...tor/downloads/

So as I was looking everything up, I started building it! Yep, pulled out my soldering station, solder, flux, alcohol, brush, and proceeded to solder the ESC’s to the board. Then I soldered the power leads along with the BEC wires to the board. Cleaned everything with alcohol and let it dry. After 5 minutes, I coated the solder joints with clear finger nail polish. In time, thee solder joints “can” become contaminated by the elements and fail. Also, this will prevent the battery from being shorted during operation…something come loose, a wire finally chafes, etc. I’m not saying it is mandatory to do this; I do it to prevent any possible issues that could happen.

I let the nail polish dry for an hour (more than enough time, but was a good time to stop and grab dinner!), then mounted the arms to the bottom plate. Next up was to mount the Naza controller with some double sided 3M gray tape (a thin foam tape).Placed Velcro down for the receiver and remote satellite. I used some of the 3M gray tape to help hold the ESC’s to the arms…along with wire ties.

I plugged all the ESC wires into the Naza controller and the controller into my receiver. I picked the AR7100 receiver, mainly due to that’s what I have that is lying around. Mounted the top plate with the GPS mounted between 2 screws on one of the back arms. Installed the motors and proceeded to start programming!

I read through most of the programming instructions only to become more confused. So I headed down to my LHS and had John help me with programming the controller. After about 10 minutes…my quadcopter was ready for a test flight! It hovers nicely, but the led on the BEC was blinking red, meaning the battery/ LiPo needed charging. The LiPo was at 42% when we started programming, which was more than enough. But for a test flight, a couple of minutes is all that was left.

Later I will charge up the LiPo and perform some hovering in my driveway to get an idea of how long the LiPo will last. I’ll play with it for a little while before attempting to add my camera to it. In the meantime, I’m waiting for the GoPro 3 Black to come into stock so I can install it to my quadcopter…and to my head while I fly my helis…

My Whiplash is just about ready for a test flight. I need to mount the carburetor and install the magnets for the front of the canopy. I ordered a set of 716mm Rail Blades to try out, not sure how my Whiplash will like those.

Bob’s Blade 450 still needs a little work, I haven’t touched it since my last post…
Heli-Log 2:7:2013. And last but not least, I have the parts needed to fix my Compass 3D+. New motor mount and clutch bell. I need to get on these small projects as warmer weather will be upon us soon and I rather be flying verses wrenching on helis!

Until next time… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2002 BLHeli-Setup 10.3.0.1 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2001 Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:26:21 GMT
Download BLHeli-Setup LINK

About BLHeli-Setup 10.3.0.1:

BLHeli-Setup is a comprehensive, though straightforward, Interface solution for BLHeli for Silabs based BESC's.

For Q&A, discussions, reports ... about this BLHeli-Setup Application and the serial interface solutions, please go to "BLHeli-Setup Discussion Thread".

For further Info about BLHeli serial interfaces / boxes and operation manuals please consider the Thread "BLHELI-Setup for small portable programming box project" here on HeliFreak.

For discussions of the BLHeli Firmware project please consider the Thread " BLHeli for SiLabs ESCs". Here is written, what it is all about.

For info about the BLHeli parameters please consider also the very informative Thread "My BLHeli thread" (by user DoubleCH).

The Source Code of BLHeli firmware is available at GitHub.

BLHeli-Setup supports flashing and re-flashing of all supported BESC's and allows fast and comfortable parameter configuration.

Configuration can be saved to and reloaded from Ini-Files. Even Drag&Drop for Ini-Files and firmware Hex-files is supported (I'm sure nobody tried it...).

BLHeli-Setup carries all original Firmware files for any supported BESC on board (since rev 2.4), so no other downloads are needed to easily "switch" between different firmware revisions.

Different types of Interfaces for BLHeli supported by BLHeli-Setup.
1. All Silabs Toolstick based solutions:
  • modified Silabs ToolstickBA (Base Adapter)
  • Silabs ToolstickBA + ToolstickDA (Debug Adapter)
  • USB Debug Adapter for C8051Fxxx MCUs
  • HAWK STICK (Silabs USB Debug Adapter clone)
  • Oversky "Flash stick tool" available at several shops. (Silabs USB Debug Adapter clone)
2. Toolstick substitute solutions with code for AVR ATMega/Arduino Boards:
  • A Plain ATMega8 chip (8 Mhz internal clock) with RS232 connection (USB/Serial converter). No additional components needed, cheap, straightforward. If one time a bootloader is flashed, BLHeli-Setup can flash a new firmware without the use auf ISP Interface.
  • Several Arduino Boards with
    - ATMega 168/328P 16Mhz or 8Mhz or
    - ATMega 1280/2560 16Mhz

    Extremely easy to flash and handle with BLHeli-Setup. Flashing will be done with the help of Avrdude. The Arduino Bootloader will stay fully intact!
3. Standalone Programming Boxes with Dual-Mode. C2Interface Mode = Toolstick substitute solutions with code for AVR ATMega/Arduino Boards. BlHeli-Setup-Box Mode = standalone Box for simple outdoor parameter changing/programming.
  • The RBBX-Box (known as Robbe Box) + USB/Serial converter.
    (Please consider the manual for the "How-To-Build".) (My favourite !!!)
  • The TAQX-Box (Turnigy Aquastar Box) + USB/Serial converter.
    (Please consider the manual for the "How-To-Build".)
  • The TDLX-Box (Turnigy dlux Programming Box) + USB/Serial converter.
    (Please consider the manual for the "How-To-Build".)
  • Arduino Uno R3 + Arduino LCD 1602 Keypad Shield (ATMega 328P/16Mhz).
  • Arduino Uno R3 + Arduino LCD 4884 Keypad Shield (ATMega 328P/16Mhz).

    Please consider "BlHeli-Setup serial Interfaces Pinout.pdf"
     for the Information about the Pinout (BESC connection) for the Arduino boards/boxes.

    For further "How to build a ... BLHeli-Setup-Box.pdf" and operation manuals please consider the Thread "BLHELI-Setup for small portable programming box project" here on HeliFreak.

For the serial Interfaces there are different firmware files provided.
Arduino Interfaces and Boxes with "...MULTI8" firmware do have fully Multiple-BESC capabilities (flash and configure BESC's in arrangements from 1 up to 8 BESC as single instances or in groups).

Rev 10 added an Atmega168 upgrade option to the small boxes (Robbe, TDLX, TAQX) to give room for Multiple-BESC capabilities. The small Box will handle up to 5 or 6 (or even 8) BESC's at once (Still BETA state, Tests are needed).

The Toolstick substitute solutions for BLHeli-Setup are quite fast. A complete flashing of a BESC is done in ~3-4 sec (with Silabs Toolstick ~1.8 sec).
BTW: One advantage against the original Toolstick, is the very uncritical cable length for the connection to the BESC. I tried successfully length over 0.5 meter. Whereas the length for the Toolstick-to-BESC connection should be as short as possible.

Supported ESC's list (for further detailed info or eventually suggested modifications please consider Steffen's PDF at GitHub.
  • Align RCE-BL15P 15A
  • Align RCE-BL15X 15A
  • Align RCE-BL35P 35A
  • Align RCE-BL35X 35A
  • HiModel Cool 22A
  • HiModel Cool 33A
  • HiModel Cool 41A
  • HobbyKing 10A
  • HobbyKing 20A
  • HobbyKing 35A
  • HobbyKing 50A
  • Flyfun 40A OPTO (FW: Turnigy Plush 40A)
  • Origin 10A (FW: XP-7A)
  • Origin double (FW: XP-7A/DP-3A)
  • RCTimer 6A
  • Skywalker 20A
  • Skywalker 40A
  • Skywalker Quattro 20A (FW: 4 x Skywalker 20A ESC)
  • SuperMicro 3.5A
  • Turnigy DP 3A
  • Turnigy AE 20A
  • Turnigy AE 25A
  • Turnigy AE 30A
  • Turnigy AE 45A
  • Turnigy KForce 40A
  • Turnigy KForce 120A HV
  • Turnigy Plush 6A
  • Turnigy Plush 10A
  • Turnigy Plush 12A
  • Turnigy Plush 18A
  • Turnigy Plush 25A
  • Turnigy Plush 30A
  • Turnigy Plush 40A
  • Turnigy Plush 60A
  • Turnigy Plush 80A
  • XP-3A
  • XP-7A
  • XP-12A
  • XP-18A
  • XP-25A
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: BLHeli-Setup10000_1.png Views: 1453 Size: 85.8 KB ID: 1005   Click image for larger version Name: BLHeli-Setup10000_2.png Views: 941 Size: 72.2 KB ID: 1006   Click image for larger version Name: BLHeli-Setup10000_3.png Views: 884 Size: 92.7 KB ID: 1007  
Attached Files
File Type: pdf BlHeli-Setup serial Interfaces Pinout.pdf (52.5 KB, 1283 views)
File Type: pdf BLHeli-Setup History.pdf (143.3 KB, 130 views)
]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2001 Heli-Log 2:7:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2000 Thu, 07 Feb 2013 19:13:09 GMT Here we are in February, just that much closer to warmer weather!!


I managed to test fly Bob’s Blade 450 at the start of Februrary. Our weather here is weird, one day it’s warm and then raining, the next it’s snowing and freezing. I needed to fix the blade tracking, which was weird…normally I have it “nailed” on the workbench, but not this time. Ok, blade tracking fixed. Then I noticed there is a fair amount of throttle stick I had to use in order to hover this heli!

Ok, I’ll consult the manual to see what pitch is needed at center throttle stick, and the last problem, the tail. Spinning the tail to the left and stopping suddenly doesn’t work. It acts as if the stop/brake is set way low. The heli will continue 90 degrees more and come to a slow stop. Ok, I’ll look into this a bit later.

In the meantime, I ran into a snag with the MultiGov… I couldn’t get “Speed3” to show on the display while switching between flight modes…great! I had plugged the RPM sensor into AUX2, then enabled the governor mode in the radio. I set the channel to AUX2 and the switch to F.MODE. What I didn't do was to make Normal mode +100 and ST2 to -100. Had I watched the "basic radio" video from Finless Bob, this would have been averted.

So now the Governor is setup and ready to go! I also said in my last log…”You have to reset the MultiGov every time you change the throttle travel.” What I meant was, if you change the end-point adjustment in the radio or the linkage length (like replacing a broken link), you will need to re-set the low & high setting in the MultiGov.

I ordered some earth magnets for the front of the canopy, I like that idea better than the one I came up with, so I need to set that up. The wiring is set in place, wire tied the servo wires, and gooped the servo connectors on the AR7200BX.

I had ordered the Hatori muffler to start out on; possibly later I’ll buy the tuned pipe. I setup the tail servo end points in the Beast x menu. And about the only things need to be done…waiting on Bob to modify the carburetor stock stack so I can use the choke function, install a set of blades, then one more time through the radio before the test flight.

There’s another project sitting alongside the workbench…a DJI 450 Flamewheel with a Naza controller with GPS. I’ve ordered a landing gear that will protect the camera. I’m waiting for Heliproz to get some more GoPro 3 black camera in. I hope to start building this new adventure sometime this weekend. Then possibly next year…FPV!

Will have more details later… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=2000 Heli-Log 1:21:2013 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1997 Mon, 21 Jan 2013 20:31:22 GMT Here we are, January 21, 2013…another month almost gone. The sooner the better…I hate the cold and I want to fly!

I received the MKS servos, AR7200BX, Stator Gator, & MultiGov Pro and started installing everything. Installing the servos and AR7200BX is straight forward, no surprises. However, I did drill a hole in the frame by the AR7200BX for the antenna wires to exit clean and straight. I placed a rubber grommet in the hole to protect the wires. I used 3M double sided gray tape for the AR7200BX instead of the foam tape that comes with the Beast X. Too many tip-over / erratic flight problems "can" happen.

Routing the servo wires isn’t that bad. I choose to route the 3 cyclic servos on the inside of the frame, above the top bearing block and around both sides of the Beast X. I used “Household Goop” to “tie-down” / hold the wires in place. The throttle and tail servo wires are routed on the outside, below the main gear.

The throttle servo posed a slight challenge…how to safely route the wire. I choose to file the throttle servo opening by the servo mounting screw. Enough for a small piece of soft Velcro and the servo wire to pass through without pinching the servo wire. Then I followed the tail servo path, along the frame, to the Beast X.

I removed the kill switch on the TRM motor and installed the Stator Gator (tach pickup) in-place of the kill switch. I used double sided tape to mount the Stator Gator body to the right side of the frame. I routed the servo sense wire between the frames just behind the fuel tank up to the MultiGov.

Now it is on to the programming everything. The Beast-X programming is simple and fast…10 minutes later and the beast-X is done…for the setup section. I started in on the programming of the MultiGov…not too hard to follow. I needed to pay close attention to setting up the throttle end points and the MultiGov. First you set the throttle linkage to equal open and close percentages…in the radio (Example; 85, 90), or as close as you can, then you set the throttle values in the MultiGov. You have to reset the MultiGov every time you change the throttle travel.

Then I set aside my Whiplash to work on Bob’s Blade 450 3D. The damage wasn’t that bad…so far! Flybar, spindle, blade grips, blade grip bearings (all 4), boom, 3 servo gear sets. I tried to find the bad gear in first servo, but decided to just replace all of the gears. Re-leveled the swashplate, rebuilt the rotor head, and replaced just the boom. I just need to setup the blade pitch and it will be ready for a test flight… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1997 set up dx8.end points. http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1995 Wed, 16 Jan 2013 18:42:06 GMT help.im trying to set my dx8.to fly my 400 e- fight:face help.im trying to set my dx8.to fly my 400 e- fight:face ]]> dpratt http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1995 Heli-Log 12:31:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1991 Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:38:23 GMT Here we are…the last day of the year! 12/31/2012

Happy New Year!!!

Once the boom assembly was built, it’s on to the body! The main section of the heli is large in comparison to my Rave or Trex 700. The servo / clutch stack makes up the main center support of the body. What I’ve noticed most, so far into this build, is the precision of the holes drilled for the hex bolts, they are an exact fit! Alignment is very minimal.

The edges of the carbon fiber feel as if it was lightly sanded. I’m used to the edges being rough/jagged, requiring some light sanding prior to the build to preventing chafing of wires during the build, and in flight. This is a very nice touch indeed…well done MA!

The body starts with setting up the fuel tank. The instructions calls for cutting the fuel line, being placed inside the tank, to 6.5 inches long. Really?! So I asked the question;
Quote:
“...the instructions mention the fuel line in the tank is 6.5" long! Really?”
Here are some of the responses I received…

Quote:
“Some people have questioned the 6.5 clunk line. I know that I will probably shorten mine. Just flipping the helicopter around by hand, the clunk does not move around very well. It may work for hard 3d when there is more force in the moves, but I am a sport flier and don't see it working for me.”

“Shorten it to 4 inches and use the viton tubing that comes with the engine. Make sure you tie wrap it on the nipples on the inside.”
So I cut my fuel line to 4.5 inches long, as did several others. Then you make the battery and gyro tray. Mount both to the right frame along with two frame spacers, and the lower bearing block. Next is setting up the two upper bearing blocks with the servo mounting bars and the “X” brace stiffeners.

This assembly becomes very strong/rigid. I am using MKS HV servos, they are taller than most and requires the added servo rail spacer. This needed to obtain the proper linkage alignment. Now on to the clutch stack!

The clutch bell is huge!...in comparison to my nitro clutch bells. There is no clutch liner in the bell, and the one-way sprag bearing is in the clutch bell! Just like my Protos 500…well, ok. The clutch bell is factory assembled, so all that is needed…is to finish the assembly. The clutch stack is mounted to the frame, and the upper bearing block is connected to the main bearing block assembly.

I placed the mainshaft through the bearings prior to tightening the bolts. This insures the alignment of the mainshaft. When I received the gasoline motor, a TRM270TT, it came with the Viton tubing, fuel clunk, and the clutch shoe assembly…not mounted to the motor. Assembly of the clutch shoes and motor mount was straightforward. You need to turn the clutch shoes so that the lining is perpendicular to the frame. Otherwise the clutch shoes will not fit between the frames. The motor fit perfect into the frame and it aligned up nicely. I tightened all the bolts using a “star” pattern.


Ah yes…the landing gear! I chose to replace the landing gear with the Tuff Strut landing gear. Mainly due to the way the stock gear mounts to the frame. I personally don’t care for this two-piece gear system. Now please do not take this to be some type of design flaw in this kit. I am sure this landing gear works fine… However, it is my opinion that a semi-hard landing…one that would give you a small bounce or two, on a say botched autorotation would break off the gear and possibly part of the frame.

I have found a thread that mentioned this, and the Tuff Strut was the obvious replacement. So I ordered the Tuff Strut landing gear and a pair of battery/gyro tray spacers (they have a flat spot ground on them). I placed the spacers in place of the stock setup with the flat facing down. I made two rectangular carbon fiber plates that fit in-between the frames. Measure the hole pattern on the spacers and transfer them to the Tuff Struts. Drilled the holes and mounted the new landing gear to the heli.


That’s pretty much where I stopped. Servos, AR7200BX, Stator Gator, & MultiPro Governor has been ordered, just waiting on delivery!

To be continued…
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Attached Files
]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1991 Heli-Log 12:16:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1986 Sun, 16 Dec 2012 19:11:53 GMT Here we are...9 more days to Christmas!!

My review and thoughts of the Whiplash Gasser! My first gas powered heli...

As I had stated in my last blog..."I was going to leave it closed up in the shipping box and wait until I collect the rest of things I need...no WAY! I just had to see all the parts for myself..." Ok... Ok…I started building my Whiplash several days ago. I thought I would build the head and tail section, per the manual; however, I kept going right into the body. In the meantime I was researching everything I could find out about the Whiplash Gasser on the forums.

Being my first gas powered heli, I thought I would do some research on the heli forums trying to find out as much as I could. I started with the on-line manual and started coming up with question about this heli while I was waiting for mine to arrive. Things like; Fuel line length, Lubricating the sprag, 690mm vs. 710mm blades, Which governor, sensor for the governor (magnet or Stator Gator), and muffler. I’ll get into this “stuff” as I go…

So…to begin this build, I opened the box and started looking over all the bags of parts, paying attention to the bag numbering system. As I was looking over the parts, I noticed the main gear. There is only one gear!? Ah…what happened to the tail drive gear??? Even the main gear hub had no room for the one-way bearing! Ok, what gives? I thumbed through the manual and found the one-way bearing (sprag) is in the clutch bell! Kinda of like my Protos 500...

The instructions start with the head assembly…FBL head. The assembly comes with two sets of dampers...80D (clear) & 90D (blue). I couldn't find anything about the two sets in the manual and was too impatient to search for the meaning of the two dampers on the web. So I installed the 90D (blue) dampers thinking those are for 3D type of flying. I was close…the 90D (blue) is used for higher head speeds…over 1950. I will need to switch out the damper for the break-in process. Outside of that, the head build, FBL, is straight forward and quick! The thrust bearings came greased.

Next were the tail rotor, front transmission, and boom assembly. The gears are pre-assembled on both ends of the boom. The thrust bearings are greased like the mains thrust bearings. So, all that is needed is to assemble the blade grips to the tail rotor hub.

The first screw didn’t want to go in all the way, it stopped half way in. I pulled the screw out and found some metal shavings on the end of the screw. Those were tap shavings that didn’t get cleaned out during the manufacturing process. Not a big problem here, I used a 3mm tap to remove the shavings. I did the same thing to the other side while I was at it. Now the screws go all the way in!

The tail rotor assembled very quickly, even though I was trying to take my time. I noticed the links on the tail blade grips are quite stiff, I might size them somewhat. The rest of the boom assembly is like any other, for the most part.

To be continued... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1986 Heli-Log 12:7:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1985 Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:27:51 GMT There's a new addition to my heli fleet...

My Whiplash Gasser has finally arrived!!! It took big brown some time to deliver it...compaired to their normal delivery times, but considering the time of year (Christmas) they're very busy. It was well worth the wait!

I was going to leave it closed up in the shipping box and wait until I collect the rest of things I need...no WAY! :YeaBaby: I just had to see all the parts for myself. WOW, it is impressive for sure. The parts are packed well...the clutch bell is huge! The first metal part I saw besides the smaller then normal fuel tank I'm used to...nitro tanks. I have to remind myself this is gassoline! Not glow fuel.

I opened the box to the canopy and was hit with the fresh smell of paint...so cool! My canopy was freshly painted and looks cool! Even though it's green and I'm not a big fan of a lot of green. I'll have to order, or see about getting a blank canopy and have a friend paint it for me. Maybe a flame job...being a gasser. LoL.

I thumbed through the manual, looked over the boom and the parts in the bags. The frames are big, bigger than my Rave frames. And the Whiplash comes with a "crying" towel, LoL. This is going to be an exciting build...a different type of heli, and a different type of power plant...gasoline!

I've picked out everything that I plan on installing into this heli. TRM270TT motor, MKS HV servos, AR7200BX receiver/controller with DSMX sat, MultiGov Pro with stator Gator or sensor & magnet(s), 2 cell LiPo, RCBooya rear canopy mounts (and possibly Trex 700 front canopy mounts/or something simular)...

I also received my parts for my Compass 3D+, however, the desire to start in on my new Whiplash is overwhelming! So I will fix my 3D+ first. I still need to purchase the rest of the things needed to finish my Whiplash. I will try to purchase the motor before January, due to our club meetings are on the first Wed. of every month. Our meeting has been moved to the 9th due to New Years Day. I would like to bring my Whiplash to the club meeting for show and tell. Something our club does to see what other members are working on.

On a side note, I've been trying to contact Bob fore the last couple of days with no luck...I pray he is ok! Bob was looking to buy a Whiplash Gasser as well... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1985 Heli-Log 12:2:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1984 Mon, 03 Dec 2012 03:38:39 GMT December 2... A beautiful day to go flying!! Winds were around 5 mph and the temp was around 68 degrees, it felt more like 72 degrees!

I pulled my Rave out to warm up a bit with. The motor seemed somewhat rich, so I landed and adjusted the high needle. Now it's running better! I had the need to bang on the sticks and just let it rip. I had drawn a small crowd to watch the wild and fast action.

Bill's neighbor came out to watch Bill's Thunder Tiger Titan 50 on its maiden flight. But he was thrilled to see what I was doing with my heli...a new heli pilot in the making. After a couple of flights, I settled down and started in on all the new maneuvers I had learned this last summer.

Then I tested Bill's Titan 50 heli. The blade tracking was a little off, and it needed two clicks of back cyclic. The Titan hovered hands off. It was very stable. Bill wanted to see what it could do, so I flew it like it was mine! LoL It was slow, I set it up that way for Bill, but it didn't stop me from putting it through its paces. Bill was impressed and decided he wanted to give it a try. He did very well, but was very nervous. Another happy customer!

Bob wanted me to fly his Blade 450 and give it a through tuning. I needed to reduce the tail gain, add a little back cyclic trim, and increase the swash mix (Aileron, elevator, collective) a small amount. Now Bob's little Blade is flying better. I put his Blade through most of the maneuvers that I do with my helis. Bill's neighbor was going nuts watch me tear up the sky with this little heli. Now he's going to buy one. I feel like I'm becoming the field expert when it comes to building and flying helis.

Close to the end of the day, Bob wound up crashing his Blade. The sun was setting fast and the weather was getting cooler fast. Bob made a turn, flying nose-in and didn't realize it...in it went. Damage wasn't too bad, mainshaft, feathering shaft, both blade grips, flybar, and maybe the boom. I took the opportunity to fly his Trex 550E heli to discharge his packs and then to store charge them...for the winter. But Bob asked if he could hover his heli, without the aid of a buddy box! I said it was ok and talked him through his first solo flight. He likes it! A few more flights and Bob with give up on the little electrics!

In the meantime, Bob wasn't upset about crashing his heli. About and hour before his crash, Bob received a phone call from a mutual friend [Jerry] stating he wanted to buy his 42 percent airplane! Bob is excited, he is getting a good price for his plane which in turn will help him to buy a new heli. A new Whiplash Gasser!

We've been talking about all the helis available on the market. What each one is about, checking the internet videos, reading magazines, and heli forms. I was having a hard time deciding which heli I wanted to get. My first thought was to break-into the electric helis. I have a Protos 500 and a Compass 6HV. I enjoy them both and have become addicted to the power they have. So I had thoughts about getting a 90 size electric, but which one? There are several to pick from. I was able to fly a Whiplash 90 electric at IRCHA. Eric, from CA. let me fly his...that was so cool. Eric felt comfortable with me flying his heli, but I was shaking like a leaf!

Through all that shaking, I realized his heli felt very comfortable and the power was unbelievable. I became a power junky in seconds...I wanted more! However, after the effects wore off and came back to earth, I realized I needed more collective management. I can do all the same maneuvers with my helis and just as fast, but with less power. Well...somethings you just need that extra power.

So the search was on to find that next heli. Through all the research, I kept coming back to the Whiplash family. It was the gasser that had caught my attention! I missed the opportunity to fly a Whiplash Gasser at IRCHA so I had to watch, and watch videos. I started asking 20 questions on some of the forums, only to get more inthralled with the idea of a gasser.

So I placed a call to my buddy Larry at Heliproz and after 10 minutes of chatting and asking questions about the Whiplash, I purchased my first Whiplash Gasser. So Bob and I will be building our new helis this winter. I'll need to piece this together, through the winter, as I have some other responsibilities to attend to first...bills!

In the meantime, now that I'm done drooling, I found out what was going on with my Compass 3D+. The clutch shoes were sprung, mainly due to the large gap to the clutch liner. So I ordered a new clutch bell with liner, and motor mount. I will try what Curtis Youngblood attributed some of his tail problems to...the soft mount motor mount.

My Rave has developed a slight tail wag problem as well. I didn't pay too much attention to it, but found out what happened during clean up. Apparently, just a guess at this point, the alignment hole on the boom has opened/ovaled out some. Not a problem, I have a couple of extra booms. Good time to start my winter maintanance. Next year I plan to replace the O.S.91 motor with the O.S.105. Looking forward to that!

Until next time... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1984 Heli-Log 11:26:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1983 Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:51:28 GMT Well another Thanksgiving is here and gone. Now Christmas is just around the corner, not ready for that...just yet.

Anyhow, Bob and Bill came over Friday for some heli wrenching. Bob's Blade 450 Pro needed some swashplate readjustments. I decreased the length of the swash linkages just under 1/4". The swash was hitting the alignment pins on the head when cyclic was applied...not good. And +9 degrees was all I could get out of collective pitch before interfering with the alignment pins.

I measured the distance between the top bearing block (top of the frame) to the head alignment pins. Divided that measurement in half and set the center of the swashplate at that distance. Readjusted the links and releveled the swashplate. Put the head back on and zero'd the main blades.

Now I have plenty of collective pitch to play with! I set it for +/-11 degrees. Now the Blade is ready for a test flight, however, Friday had winds out of the North at 20-35 MPH with gusts upto 45 MPH. Not the ideal condition for the Blade!

So we started in on Bill's Thunder Tiger Titan 50. I recentered all his servos, setup the pull-pull linkages, leveled the swash, installed the gyro, cleaned up the wiring, and programed his radio for the first flight. So now that's two heli's to test fly.

Saturday was a great day to go out flying, but I was working...of course! So I'll wait, but in the meantime I'll start in on my Compass 3D+. Figure out what is going on with the clutch again, and try to solve the slow tail wag. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1983 Heli-Log 11:17:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1980 Sat, 17 Nov 2012 20:46:58 GMT It’s been a while since my last post and Thanksgiving is 5 days away!...gobble, gobble… Bob and I have made it out a couple of times only to fly into darkness. The days are just not long enough to get a few flights in after work. I started a new job 3 weeks ago this Monday and I’ve worked both weekends, which leaves very little time to fly. However, I have Thursday and Friday off (and possibly the weekend) so I hope to put in some serious flying!:smile In the meantime, my last flight on my Compass 3D+ decided to exhibit clutch problems…again! Boy I’m getting tired of this!!! Just need to find some time to remove the motor and see what’s going on. Also developed a slow tail wag!?? I tried to increase the tail gain, but no matter what I did increase/decrease it is still there. I was told it could be the motor mount dampers. Curtis Youngblood had this issue and attributed the resolve to the motor mount. I’ll give it a try… My Rave, 6HV, and Protos 500 are flying fine. Now I need to replace the LiPo’s for my Protos. The time per flight is getting shorter, from 5:30 minutes to 3 minutes. So next year I’ll be looking for some new packs. Maybe I’ll buy some new packs for my 6HV and transfer the old 6HV packs over to my Protos. It’s been a while since my last post and Thanksgiving is 5 days away!...gobble, gobble… Bob and I have made it out a couple of times only to fly into darkness. The days are just not long enough to get a few flights in after work.

I started a new job 3 weeks ago this Monday and I’ve worked both weekends, which leaves very little time to fly. However, I have Thursday and Friday off (and possibly the weekend) so I hope to put in some serious flying!:smile

In the meantime, my last flight on my Compass 3D+ decided to exhibit clutch problems…again! Boy I’m getting tired of this!!! Just need to find some time to remove the motor and see what’s going on. Also developed a slow tail wag!?? I tried to increase the tail gain, but no matter what I did increase/decrease it is still there. I was told it could be the motor mount dampers. Curtis Youngblood had this issue and attributed the resolve to the motor mount. I’ll give it a try…

My Rave, 6HV, and Protos 500 are flying fine. Now I need to replace the LiPo’s for my Protos. The time per flight is getting shorter, from 5:30 minutes to 3 minutes. So next year I’ll be looking for some new packs. Maybe I’ll buy some new packs for my 6HV and transfer the old 6HV packs over to my Protos. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1980 New Gaui NX4 Nitro Flybarless Combo Kit http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1978 Mon, 12 Nov 2012 09:31:44 GMT So the new Gaui NX4 Combo has been released and it's caught your eye, welcome to the club! A lot of people have been asking questions about it so let's get started answering them.



This is one of the first production models of it's kind, a flybarless nitro .37 mid size model. Gaui is producing the engine, muffler, governor, and starter and claiming an average 6.5 minute flight time. One of the often overlooked items is fuel economy and this heli delivers, allowing 16-17 flights per gallon of fuel while maintaining an excellent power-to-weight ration on par with most .90 size nitro helicopters.


A direct servo swash at the standard 120deg CCPM provides extremely easy setup and a fast, connected response. Mini size servos are provided in the combo kit, 4 GUEC GS-303 high voltage brushless digital servos.


For the tail Gaui includes a GUEC GS-304 high voltage brushless digital servo in the combo kit. A new 77mm NX4 carbon fiber tail rotor blade set comes standard.

Specifications:
Main blade size: 425~460mm
Tail blade size: 70~77mm
Main Gear ratio: 7.06: 1 (120t main gear 17t pinion)
Tail drive ratio: 4.36: 1 (61 / 14)
Fuel tank: 220cc / 9oz (176g)
Servo size: "Mini"

Required items to fly:
Gaui 37 Engine
Gaui Muffler
Gaui Governor
Gaui Automatic Glow Starter
NX4 Auxiliary Fuel Tank Set (60cc 2.1oz)

Gaui has also released two other variants of this kit:
Gaui NX4 Nitro Basic Kit
Gaui NX4 Kit (CF Main/Tail Blades)

So what do you think? Is there an empty spot in your hangar for a mini-nitro bird? ]]> CPH-Kevin http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1978 CompleteHeli Reviews http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1976 Sun, 11 Nov 2012 08:07:21 GMT CompleteHeli welcomes all customer reviews. They are currently soliciting for customer reviews of their updated website. Anyone that has placed an order recently or considered placing an order they want to hear from you! http://www.completeheli.com CompleteHeli welcomes all customer reviews. They are currently soliciting for customer reviews of their updated website. Anyone that has placed an order recently or considered placing an order they want to hear from you!
http://www.completeheli.com ]]> CPH-Kevin http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1976 BLHeli Setup 9.4.0.0 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1972 Thu, 01 Nov 2012 21:01:00 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1972 Heli-Log 10:29:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1971 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:26:31 GMT Saturday Bob and I tried to put in some much needed flying. At my house, the winds were mild and the temp was 42 degrees. However, at the fly field, everything was a lot different. The temp was the same, but the winds were greater and much colder. I pulled out my Compass 3D+ and barely finished the first flight.

My fingers were so cold, I had a hard time trying to autorotate. The wind was biting hard into us. I asked Bob if he wanted to do this...fly that is. And he said not really. So we packed up and headed back to my house and finished the day flying on the sim.

We did test fly both of his 450's, and I'm not totally happy with either. The Blade 450 Pro needs some swashplate work, and I need to look at the head linkage geometry. The swashplate and washout seems too high, too close to the head to achieve +10 degrees or more. And the test flight pretty much confirmed that thought.

Bob's Trex 450 has a tail issue. The gyro we took off the Blade is not working properly on the Trex 450. It doesn't want to hold the tail very well. I might of misunderstood the instructions, so I'll look it over...again.

Outside of that, it seems time to invest in some winter gear for flying...a radio glove. More on that later... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1971 Heli-Log 10:23:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1968 Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:00:52 GMT Here we are close to the end of October!

This last Saturday I was able to get out for some flying fun!:bacon To start, I finished setting up Greg's clone 450 pro before heading out. I had the head to install, set the blade tracking, then setup the tail.

I met John at our practice field. We setup the charging station and lined up the batteries for a workout. I started with my Rave 90 ENV to warm up, and John started with his 7HV. The first couple of flights were somewhat rusty due to not getting out for a couple of weeks. Mainly due to weather and life commitments.

It felt good to be in the air, and everything came back as if we never stopped fly. Greg's heli performed rather well, but still needs some fine tuning...it will be good enough for him and I'll finish tuning it at a later time. I pulled my 6HV out and terrorized the air! I felt the need to slam this heli around some, but quickly settled into a smoother, but aggressive flight. The sad part to flying electrics is the flight times! Their short compared to nitro heli's. Just as I was getting into my "workout" routines, it was time to land...switch batteries and I'm good to go again. Would like to have LiPo's that last 8 minutes of aggressive flying.

I pulled out my Protos 500 for some rip stopping fun. Lately I've been "pounding" on this little heli, but my packs are getting weak and can't handle the abuse. I'll be replacing them early next year with fresh packs! In the meantime, I put in 5 flights on my protos, then put it away. After charging the packs for my 6HV, it was back to trying new maneuver, practicing stuff I've been working on with the sim. After the fourth flight, the day was drawing near, and the temp was starting to drop.

I put my 6HV away and returned to my Rave. Though I'm still breaking-in the motor, I had fun trying out some of the stuff I was working on with the 6HV, but a bit slower. John was working on some new maneuvers that was wild...can't wait to try some of that myself! As the day ended, we put in around 30 flights between us. I was hoping Bob could have joined us, but he was busy helping his son in law for the day.

Bob's Blade 450 Pro has been rebuilt once again, and is ready for a test flight. I still need to get him flying his new Trex 550E heli. Timing has been terrible with us with the weather hindering us most of the time. I'm hoping we can get out and put in some hours on this heli. I think Bob will put more flying time on his 550 than his little electric.

As the season is coming to a close...it will be time to start maintenance on all of my heli's. Checking bearing, tail drive's (belts and TT), motors, servos, the state of the batteries (LiPo's), linkages, blades, etc. A complete inspection and cleaning, then should keep me busy for awhile...

Until that time, they are ready for a moments notice of flight! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1968 BlHeli Setup 8.0.0.2 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1962 Mon, 15 Oct 2012 22:50:00 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1962 Heli-Log 10:9:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1961 Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:54:42 GMT I managed to get out this last weekend. Saturday, however, was gusty and cold. I put one flight on my 6HV, and then called it quits! Yea...I'm a wimp. 20-30 mph winds makes the wind chill factor lower...around 32 degrees wind chill. Sunday was much better, winds at 5-10 mph, 50 degrees and sunny!

I pulled out my Protos 500 and put up 3 flights on it. Saturday I replaced the dampers in the head. I ordered replacement damper which were the rubber “O” ring type. When I removed the original dampers, they were the solid type…like rubber tubing. Oops! After reassembling the blade grips, the spindle had more slop in it than the worn out original dampers. So I found some washers, drilled out the center hole to fit the feathering shaft and installed them.

This compressed the “O” rings and firmed up the head. First flight was really crisp! Perfect, now for some radical flying fun. I couldn’t believe I exhausted 3 packs in a very short time. John said he would be there, but had family issues to deal with, so no generator to run my chargers. That’s fine…

Next up…my 6HV. I decided to “whale” on this heli as I was feeling the need for some electric power! Even though it was warmer out, I didn’t feel like messing with my nitro’s. I put up 2 flights on my 6HV and had a blast! I started experimenting with adding maneuvers within a maneuver. Like while performing a nose-in funnel, do a half piro flip to change the position of the heli. From nose down to inverted tail down.

After the second flight, I realized I was out of charged battery packs, so I called it a day. Later Bob came over and we wrenched on his broken blade 3D… Saturday mid afternoon, John came over Saterday and offered me his second 7HV. Complete kit with blades, MKS BL950/980 HV servos, Xera 4350-500 motor, and some extra parts.

I bought the motor

However, my buddy/heli student Bob saw this heli and has fallen in love with it! So he might buy it. The 7HV is hangered at my house until spring! What a friend

"I love the smell of Nitro in the morning!" ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1961 Heli-Log 10:4:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1960 Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:36:33 GMT Well here it is...October already!

And as promised, my take on the Align 3GX FBL controller…this could be a bit lengthy! LoL


Part 1...the mechanical setup:

I’ve had the opportunity to install, program, and upgrade the Align 3GX controller. The first challenge was on Bob’s new Trex 550E heli, with version 1.2 software, and the second attempt was on Nick’s Trex 450 V2 combo, with version 1.1, and then upgrading to V2.1…what a journey that was!

Bob’s new heli wasn’t that bad to build, it was enjoyable. Laying out the electronics wasn’t that terrible. The side frames provided extra small holes to route the servo and ESC wires. Mounting of the 3GX is like any other gyro/FBL controller. The programming section of this controller is where it gets interesting. The programming is divided into two half’s, one half is in the radio, the other is in the 3GX. After trying to read the manual on how to start the programming, I turned to the internet and consult the heli forums!

I found the answers I needed to get through the programming part of the build, someone made it easy to understand what was going on! With the Total-G controller, I stumbled a bit, but understood most of what was going on. Later I called and asked lots of questions to verify my understanding, and now it’s no problem programming. Same thing happened with the Beast X controller. Once shown how to program one (by a friend of mine)…10 minute vs. a couple of hours. The Beast X is super simple to program…once you’re shown how.

Starting with Bob’s heli…it was confusing on how this little FBL controller programmed. I was working with version 1.2. First thing I did was to make sure everything in the radio was set to zero, trims at center, and all compensation inhibited. You need to enter “DIR” mode which disables the gyro's to mechanically set up the machine. So, per the directions, turn the radio on, press and hold the button on the 3GX, and turn the receiver on, then release the set button before lights flash from 1 - 5. That takes two people for that step. Like most, we were using a dean’s connector for the heli power. Now it becomes hard to press and hold the button AND plug the battery in, but we managed.LoL.

Now you’re in the “DIR” mode. Once in “DIR” mode, you can set the correct servo direction (Norm/Rev) in the radio. This includes setting the Swash Mix +/- for proper movement. Then center all the servos…after you center the throttle stick. I had a couple of servos that needed some sub-trim to get exact center, the rule of 90 degrees. I couldn't find anything in the controller menu that would allow this, so I used the sub-trim menu in the radio…not sure if this is correct. I was trying to use the servo horns that came with the heli. Once the servos were centered, I leveled the swashplate and zero'd both main blades.

Then I went back to the swash mix in the radio and set the +/- collective pitch range. I choose +/-12 degrees pitch for Bob’s Trex 550E. Next is the cyclic geometry, setting the cyclic range for 8 degrees pitch…aileron and elevator. This is also done in the swash mix menu, normally you would adjust this for full throw without binding the linkages.

Once the pitch range and cyclic throw was set, I pressed the button on the controller and advanced to the 2nd green led. This is the elevator limit. You set the collective pitch to zero/50% throttle, and move the elevator to its max throw without any aileron. Hold for ~3 seconds ( ~ is short hand for “about”). Then press the button on the controller again, now the 3rd led will flash. This is the elevator reverse compensation; I know getting a bit confusing. Basically, if you pick up the tail of your heli, tilting it forward, the swash should compensate by tilting in the opposite direction.

So getting back to the programming, if I pick up the tail and the swashplate moves in the same direction, I move the elevator stick on the radio up or down until the led changes color…to red. That will reverse the direction of the swashplate. Tilt the heli again to verify the swash moves in the opposite direction.
Push the “Set” button again to led 4, repeats steps 2 & 3 for the aileron.

Next up is the rudder gyro setup. If you are familiar with the gp750/gp780 gyros, the menu's and how to setup is exactly the same. To enter the gyro setup menu, simply hold the 'Set' button for about 2 seconds, the Status LED should flash indicating you’re in gyro mode. The first led is asking for the servo frequency, it’s either 1520 or 760hz. This sets the “bandwidth” of the servos, or frame rate the servo can operate at. Using the rudder stick (left and right) will change the value. The status light will change colors yellow/green, 1520 is green and 760 is yellow.

Push the “Set” button to save the settings and move to the next step. This step sets the type of servo you’re using, digital vs. analog. Green is for digital, red is for analog, once again using the rudder stick to select an option. Press the “Set” button to save the settings. This step sets the direction the tail moves when the wind tries to move it for you. The pitch slider should compensate as you move the tail. Move the tail left, the tail blades should turn to move the tail right.

Pressing the “Set” button to save the settings. This step is setting the max travel of the tail blades. Push and hold the rudder stick until the pitch slider moves to its maximum travel without the servo buzzing, meaning forcing the pitch slider to move more than it can. Let the rudder stick return to center and within a second or two, the led will flash red meaning that value is set in the 3GX controller. Do this for left and right throws. Push the “Set” button to save the settings.

This next step, the delay, is something I don’t thoroughly understand, so I left it alone. I might mess with it later on. This completes the mechanical setup of Bob's heli.

On with the flight mode settings! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1960 Heli-Log 9:25:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1955 Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:31:15 GMT Saturday here in the Midwest was quite windy, gustier that steady. However, that didn’t stop Bob and I from wrenching on his heli’s. I upgraded Bob’s little Blade 450 3D heli with a better gyro. Last weekend I removed all the dual rates and most of the expo on everything. Then tried some tail maneuvers to see if the stock gyro could/would handle backward flight, it didn’t...well, to a point, then the tail blew out. So we installed a different gyro…a Hitec 5000. We harvested it from one of his Trex 450 V1 heli’s. Well, it works, has a little wag to it, but holds solid. I was able to perform many backward maneuvers despite the wind. Then Sunday Bob and I meet with Jeremy at the Suburban Aero Club of Chicago (SAC), in Tinley Park. A great group of guys their! They welcomed us and instructed us on the rules and where to fly. It didn’t matter if we flew helis or airplanes, they were happy to have us fly with them and said anytime we wanted to come back we were more than welcomed. I think Bob and I will be returning many times! The reason for going was Jeremy had offered me to fly his Rave Ballistic (90 size electric) heli, kind of hard to pass that up! And WOW, was that fun! I have a Rave 90ENV FBL and just love the way it fly’s. The Ballistic feels very close to my Rave ENV, but has a bunch more power!! I pulled a couple of cool maneuvers that even impressed Jeremy. I enjoy seeing how others fly, copying some of their moves and sharing some that I do. It makes us better pilots, opens the imagination skills! I put one flight on my Compass 3D+ and three flights on my Rave. After a few flights, I was able to “settle-in” to the size of their field and started having fun. The conversations were full of info on the latest goodies, who’s doing what, what was needed for this heli, what that heli can and can’t do, etc. Needless to say, Bob was busy getting to know the locals and learning more about helis…kind of re-enforcing everything I’ve been teaching him. The winds started to calm down some and Bob decided to show us how heli flying is done, LoL. And that ended somewhat badly. The grass had caught his landing skid as the Blade was coming off the ground. Then the grass let go and the Blade rocked backwards hitting the tail on the ground, causing it to rock back even farther… Bob gave forward cyclic and proceeded to over correct. Bob quickly decided to dump it into the ground versus it coming any closer to him. Well this didn’t do any good to his confidence. So we will start over, fix his heli, and get him back into the air…on a much calmer day to start. I really need to get Bob flying his Trex 550E. I believe it will install a lot more confidence in his flying skills, not to mention having a lot more power and stability. That pretty much ended our day there, now for the long ride home. However, we decided to stop at Chili’s and grab a bite to eat, that was good! Saturday here in the Midwest was quite windy, gustier that steady. However, that didn’t stop Bob and I from wrenching on his heli’s. I upgraded Bob’s little Blade 450 3D heli with a better gyro. Last weekend I removed all the dual rates and most of the expo on everything. Then tried some tail maneuvers to see if the stock gyro could/would handle backward flight, it didn’t...well, to a point, then the tail blew out. So we installed a different gyro…a Hitec 5000. We harvested it from one of his Trex 450 V1 heli’s. Well, it works, has a little wag to it, but holds solid. I was able to perform many backward maneuvers despite the wind.

Then Sunday Bob and I meet with Jeremy at the Suburban Aero Club of Chicago (SAC), in Tinley Park. A great group of guys their! They welcomed us and instructed us on the rules and where to fly. It didn’t matter if we flew helis or airplanes, they were happy to have us fly with them and said anytime we wanted to come back we were more than welcomed. I think Bob and I will be returning many times!

The reason for going was Jeremy had offered me to fly his Rave Ballistic (90 size electric) heli, kind of hard to pass that up! And WOW, was that fun! I have a Rave 90ENV FBL and just love the way it fly’s. The Ballistic feels very close to my Rave ENV, but has a bunch more power!! I pulled a couple of cool maneuvers that even impressed Jeremy. I enjoy seeing how others fly, copying some of their moves and sharing some that I do. It makes us better pilots, opens the imagination skills!

I put one flight on my Compass 3D+ and three flights on my Rave. After a few flights, I was able to “settle-in” to the size of their field and started having fun. The conversations were full of info on the latest goodies, who’s doing what, what was needed for this heli, what that heli can and can’t do, etc. Needless to say, Bob was busy getting to know the locals and learning more about helis…kind of re-enforcing everything I’ve been teaching him.

The winds started to calm down some and Bob decided to show us how heli flying is done, LoL. And that ended somewhat badly. The grass had caught his landing skid as the Blade was coming off the ground. Then the grass let go and the Blade rocked backwards hitting the tail on the ground, causing it to rock back even farther… Bob gave forward cyclic and proceeded to over correct. Bob quickly decided to dump it into the ground versus it coming any closer to him.

Well this didn’t do any good to his confidence. So we will start over, fix his heli, and get him back into the air…on a much calmer day to start. I really need to get Bob flying his Trex 550E. I believe it will install a lot more confidence in his flying skills, not to mention having a lot more power and stability. That pretty much ended our day there, now for the long ride home. However, we decided to stop at Chili’s and grab a bite to eat, that was good! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1955 Making all size Night Blades http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1954 Wed, 26 Sep 2012 04:11:50 GMT Making all heli night blade sizes from 250 up (working on perfecting 130X and possibly McpX)

I have on hand most times a selection of carbon fiber and fiberglass blades.
I use -
- brand new 1 cell lipos (70mAh up to 250mAh) on each blade and test them and then put back on a storage charge before shipping.
- Switches on each blade to conserve battery power between flights.
- Charge connectors on each blade and I include a parallel charge lead to charge both batteries at the same time with your charger, included are either 4mm bullets for direct connection to your charger or a connector of your choice (Jst, Deans/T-type, Banana and some others upon request).
- I use silver coated copper electrical trace tape that won't tarnish like plain copper.
- LEDs and appropriate resistors for each one. You can choose how many LEDs, which colors (I have every color LED they make), and the spacing. I also put one on the very tip, visible from the top bottom, and eye level which helps with flying orientation because you can always see that tip LED no matter which way the heli is angled.
- For carbon fiber blades I isolate the carbon fiber blade edges to prevent fast battery drain.
- For Nitro or gasser helis I spray a clear coat over the whole blade.
- I take my time with each blade and solder each trace joint and also put a thin coat of CA over them and all along the trace tape edges and LEDs and resistors. I also use double sided foam tape between the battery and blade then wrap the whole battery and blade (and charge connectors and switches) with strips of strapping tape and finally a quality shrink wrap over all of that.
- Lastly I weigh and balance the blades so they are ready to fly when you get them.

*For prices please PM me here on HF or email me at timotreo@yahoo.com

* I guarantee my blades with a one time fix of any problems with them (not crash related) if they are sent back to me. I will cover return shipping back to you.
*I can not guarantee the batteries because anyone can kill any lipo battery if not used correctly. I can replace them though for a fee. I always use brand new lipo batteries and test them before shipping.
*I can also fix crashed night blades if the actual blade is not destroyed (price depends on what needs to be fixed).



To see some pictures of some of the night blades I have done click on the picture below my name and then you will see the album with the night blades. Thanks for looking! Tim :peace ]]> Timtreo http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1954 BlHeli Setup 7.0.0.1 BETA http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1953 Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:26:17 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1953 BlHeli Setup 7.0 BETA http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1952 Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:09:53 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1952 Heli-Log 9:17:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1950 Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:59:45 GMT Well yesterday wasn't all that exciting… I Met Bob at a restaurant for breakfast, then we headed out to our practice field. The winds started to pickup and made the rest of the day not as enjoyable.

Bob talked to me about adjusting his Blade 3D Pro for more performance on Saturday night. So the next day, I readjusted his setting in his radio. I took out all the dual rate settings, left a little Expo to soften the center, increased the collective, aileron, and elevator controls in the swash mix. I took his little heli out to see how much of a difference it made.

To my surprise, this little heli can jam! I was flipping it, tic tocing it, funnels, inverted stuff, piros, etc. The only problem I encountered was the tail. It blew out with any real speed. It just will not hold. My first thought was the tail blades were too small, but quickly realized it’s the gyro. It cannot hold the tail that well. We will try a different gyro to see if that makes a difference.

I put 2 flights on my 6HV and Protos 500. We called it quits early, due to the winds picking up.

I started asking around about what is everyone is using (motor brand, servos, FBL controller (BX / Brain), etc.) on their 90 size heli. I have a Castle Creation Ice2 160HV opto ESC and would like to build a heli around it. I’ve whittled my selection down to two heli’s…a Ballistic…or a Whiplash. A friend of mine has offered to sell me his motor, X-era 4035. However, I have plenty of time to collect everything I need. More to come on this build. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1950 Heli-Log 9:16:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1949 Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:20:06 GMT Saturday was a beautiful day to fly! The temperature was 81 degrees and the wind were 5-10 mph. Bob and I meet at my house to solder on some dean connectors on 3 batteries he bought from John. Then we headed to out our practice spot to get some serious flying in. John Cook and Eric Brandenburg meet us there and the flying was off the hook!

Eric had rebuilt his 7HV that he flew in the XFC. A couple of adjustments and his heli was flying great. John was having a blast with his 7HV and Compass 3D+. His 7HV decided to strip out the main gear big time. A piece of the main gear was actually missing! Then several flight later, John planted his 3D+ boom first into the ground. It was raining parts!

Last weekend, at the NIRCHA fun fly, in Belvidere, I broke the tail blades and the control arm coming from the yoke...and landing gear. I had ordered the replacement parts and was waiting / stalling for the mailman to deliver them. He did, so I took my 3D+ with. I fixed it at the field while John and Eric were flying. A quick charge on the flight pack and it was in the air!

Boy it felt good to fly my 3D+ again! I put up 5 flights on it. Earlier in the morning, while waiting for Bob to come over, I changed out the dampeners on the Rave. It was getting bouncy...bobbing too much. Now it's flying much better, like when it was new! I had brought me 6HV and Protos 500, but they never made it out of the truck! LoL I was having too much fun with the Rave and 3D+.

Bob was having a great time as well. I had forgotten to bring my 9303 radio that is being used to body box with Bob's new Trex 550E heli. Oops! I tested out one of the new battery packs Bob bought and was amazed how well it flys. Bob liked the way I was flying his heli and wants to model my flying style for his style. Bob likes the smooth graceful 3D. Slow for most 3D pilots, but fun to watch. I tried to "bang" on the sticks with his heli, but the 3GX settings were more suited for a slower smoother style of flying...perfect for Bob to learn on.

Today, after church, Bob and I are planning to repeat yesterday and this time I have my 9303 in the truck!

More to come! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1949 Heli-Log 9:10:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1947 Mon, 10 Sep 2012 11:02:00 GMT What a nice weekend!

Bob and I attended the NIRCHA (Northern ILLinois Radio Controlled Heli...) fun fly, in Belvidere ILL. Not a lot of people attended due to the winds, 15-25 mph. It was a lot of fun hanging out with friends and watching others fly. I took my Rave, Compass 3D+, and Compass 6HV.

I had 4 great flights on the Rave, 2 on the 3D+ with a minor mishap, and 2 on the 6HV. The next day, I traded my 3D+ for the Protos 500. It was still windy, 10-20 mph, but had fun with the wind. I brought my JR 9303 and programed it for Bob's Trex 550E...I tried to copy the file from his 9303 to mine, but it didn't take, so I did it by hand.

Bob finally had the chance to hover his new heli, and he loves it! His knees were knocking big time, but can't wait for more stick time. Now he needs to get some battery packs for it. I gave him one that was left over from a theft. I had 3 out of 4, 6-cell 5000mAh packs stolen from me. I don't have anything I can fly with that pack. It fly's the 550 well, not great, but well. Well, enough for Bob. Just for fun, I used one of my 6-cell 3300mAh packs, 4 minute flight with plenty of power!

We ended the weekend with a little target practice. Shooting 9 mm rounds in a new rifle...at 550 feet away. Now that was fun! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1947 Heli-Log 9:4:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1944 Tue, 04 Sep 2012 20:47:37 GMT Well here it is September…already. The weather here in the Midwest was cloudy and rainy at times Saturday, cloudy and windy Sunday, then sunny and hot Monday. Saturday started off by helping one of our club members to finish building his Trex 450 Pro V2 combo kit. The kit comes with Align mini servos, Align’s 3GX…version 1.1, Align blades, motor and BEC/ESC. Most of the usual subassemblies are built at the factory. Nick did a great job at assembling his new heli and needed help with setting up the 3GX flybarless controller. The programming was a piece of cake, considering I just learned how to program one a week earlier. Note: I’ll go into details of my thought on the 3GX controller later. Nick told me during the servo centering stage, one of the Align servos (a cyclic) was bad out of the box. During the first spool up flight test, the tail was unresponsive. The tail refused to move under load. I found the outer bearing on the tail blade was broken! This from a brand new heli, then after the second flight, the other tail blade outer bearing let go. Nick researched this problem on one of the heli forums and found this is normal for Align. Really?!?! Are you kidding me…now I have to fix a brand new heli?!?!...I’ll buy some other brand then! I set Nick’s heli for expert and boy does this 450 have some pop! I added some expo to soften the center and wow, this little heli was a blast to fly. I let Nick have a crack at the sticks before the battery drained too much, and it was way too much for him. I set his dual rates to 70% and increased the expo to -15%. This was way better for him and it allows him to remove the dual rate setting as he feels more comfortable with it. In the meantime, Nick is having a blast with his little heli. Nick is looking at my Protos 500 and Compass 3D+ as his next purchase. *Compass 3D+* After I changed out the motor ((TT Redline 53) in my Compass 3D+ with an O.S. 50 hyper, my 3D+ fly’s great! The motor is fairly new, so it needs breaking in. I finally flew my 6HV yesterday. It’s been almost a month since the last flight. The Rave and Protos are just fine, just add batteries and fuel. This weekend is NIRCHA’s fun fly, looking forward to seeing the gang one last time this year. Well here it is September…already.

The weather here in the Midwest was cloudy and rainy at times Saturday, cloudy and windy Sunday, then sunny and hot Monday. Saturday started off by helping one of our club members to finish building his Trex 450 Pro V2 combo kit. The kit comes with Align mini servos, Align’s 3GX…version 1.1, Align blades, motor and BEC/ESC.

Most of the usual subassemblies are built at the factory. Nick did a great job at assembling his new heli and needed help with setting up the 3GX flybarless controller. The programming was a piece of cake, considering I just learned how to program one a week earlier. Note: I’ll go into details of my thought on the 3GX controller later.

Nick told me during the servo centering stage, one of the Align servos (a cyclic) was bad out of the box. During the first spool up flight test, the tail was unresponsive. The tail refused to move under load. I found the outer bearing on the tail blade was broken! This from a brand new heli, then after the second flight, the other tail blade outer bearing let go. Nick researched this problem on one of the heli forums and found this is normal for Align. Really?!?! Are you kidding me…now I have to fix a brand new heli?!?!...I’ll buy some other brand then!

I set Nick’s heli for expert and boy does this 450 have some pop! I added some expo to soften the center and wow, this little heli was a blast to fly. I let Nick have a crack at the sticks before the battery drained too much, and it was way too much for him. I set his dual rates to 70% and increased the expo to -15%. This was way better for him and it allows him to remove the dual rate setting as he feels more comfortable with it.

In the meantime, Nick is having a blast with his little heli. Nick is looking at my Protos 500 and Compass 3D+ as his next purchase.

Compass 3D+

After I changed out the motor ((TT Redline 53) in my Compass 3D+ with an O.S. 50 hyper, my 3D+ fly’s great! The motor is fairly new, so it needs breaking in. I finally flew my 6HV yesterday. It’s been almost a month since the last flight. The Rave and Protos are just fine, just add batteries and fuel.

This weekend is NIRCHA’s fun fly, looking forward to seeing the gang one last time this year. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1944 Heli-Log 8:30:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1942 Fri, 31 Aug 2012 12:59:01 GMT Here it is…the last day of August. Since IRCHA, Bob and I have managed to get and fly after addressing some heli issues. My Compass 3D+ has been acting up. The new tank is fine, but the header tank has a small leak and the motor is still giving me fits. The last flight I had with it, about a week ago, the glow plug lost the element. I replaced the plug and the threads in the head stripped out! Great, now I need to buy a new Thunder Tiger 53 head…or find a used one that I can buy. So I pulled the motor and stuffed in an O.S. 50 Hyper…with muscle pipe (MP5). I’ll test it this weekend. My Rave is flying great (should have taken it to IRCHA!), I re-tuned the motor and now it’s performing fine. My Trex 700 on the other hand started acting up with the motor running rich / lean. Something let go in the motor and now it is making a clicking noise. Looks like I’ll re-install the YS 91 SR 3D motor and let John tune it up. The Protos 500 and Compass 6HV are still flying strong, I just throw batteries at them. Bob and I started in on his new Trex 550E heli…Bob couldn’t take it any longer! LoL! So we decided to build his heli at my house. I started by cleaning off my work bench and pulling out all the tools we would need. Then I gave Bob my chair to sit in and told his “he” was building his heli and I will assist/instruct. I was amazed at the kit, there isn’t a whole lot of parts to this heli. The build went as instructed, however, when we got to the main frames, I gave Bob some sandpaper and we started sanding ALL the edges. I explained why and by the time we started installing the electronics, it became apparently clear to Bob why we did all that sanding. I tool all the normal precautions when routing wires through the frames. We got to the point of needing to center the servos. This is the point I hijacked the build, and Bob was Ok with it. We learned how to program the 3GX FBL controller, and found out it has version 1.2 software in it. I thought about updating it right there, but decided to try it out first, then decide if we want to upgrade the software. Monday it was time for a test flight and Bob was excited! The 550 lifted off the ground smooth and steady, the controls were a bit touchy, but quickly fixed that with 7% expo. I proceeded to try every maneuver I know and this little heli did just fine! It’s not as fast as I would like it, but will be plenty for Bob…for now. The 550 has plenty of room to grow adjustment wise as Bob’s skills increase. And in the meantime Bob told me he has performed several back flips with his Blade 450 3D heli?!!! Cool! Now I need to adjust his radio settings for a more aggressive feel. This is the first year Bob has been flying heli’s. So hopefully Bob and I can get out and do some serious flying this weekend…providing it doesn’t rain all weekend! Until then…happy flying! Here it is…the last day of August.

Since IRCHA, Bob and I have managed to get and fly after addressing some heli issues. My Compass 3D+ has been acting up. The new tank is fine, but the header tank has a small leak and the motor is still giving me fits. The last flight I had with it, about a week ago, the glow plug lost the element. I replaced the plug and the threads in the head stripped out! Great, now I need to buy a new Thunder Tiger 53 head…or find a used one that I can buy. So I pulled the motor and stuffed in an O.S. 50 Hyper…with muscle pipe (MP5). I’ll test it this weekend.

My Rave is flying great (should have taken it to IRCHA!), I re-tuned the motor and now it’s performing fine. My Trex 700 on the other hand started acting up with the motor running rich / lean. Something let go in the motor and now it is making a clicking noise. Looks like I’ll re-install the YS 91 SR 3D motor and let John tune it up. The Protos 500 and Compass 6HV are still flying strong, I just throw batteries at them.

Bob and I started in on his new Trex 550E heli…Bob couldn’t take it any longer! LoL! So we decided to build his heli at my house. I started by cleaning off my work bench and pulling out all the tools we would need. Then I gave Bob my chair to sit in and told his “he” was building his heli and I will assist/instruct.

I was amazed at the kit, there isn’t a whole lot of parts to this heli. The build went as instructed, however, when we got to the main frames, I gave Bob some sandpaper and we started sanding ALL the edges. I explained why and by the time we started installing the electronics, it became apparently clear to Bob why we did all that sanding. I tool all the normal precautions when routing wires through the frames.

We got to the point of needing to center the servos. This is the point I hijacked the build, and Bob was Ok with it. We learned how to program the 3GX FBL controller, and found out it has version 1.2 software in it. I thought about updating it right there, but decided to try it out first, then decide if we want to upgrade the software.

Monday it was time for a test flight and Bob was excited! The 550 lifted off the ground smooth and steady, the controls were a bit touchy, but quickly fixed that with 7% expo. I proceeded to try every maneuver I know and this little heli did just fine! It’s not as fast as I would like it, but will be plenty for Bob…for now. The 550 has plenty of room to grow adjustment wise as Bob’s skills increase. And in the meantime Bob told me he has performed several back flips with his Blade 450 3D heli?!!! Cool! Now I need to adjust his radio settings for a more aggressive feel. This is the first year Bob has been flying heli’s.

So hopefully Bob and I can get out and do some serious flying this weekend…providing it doesn’t rain all weekend!

Until then…happy flying! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1942 Heli-Log 8:24:2011 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1941 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:45:17 GMT The first day at IRCHA…

Once we arrived, we picked out a place to setup. Put up our pop-ups, then off to get our carts. I started the tour for Bob & Greg with a trip to the AMA museum. Then it was back to camp and some flying!

I dugout my heli and support equipment, radio, starter, fuel, etc. First flight was on my Protos 500, I wanted to “test the water” so to say…basically a warm up flight. Bob kept telling me not to wreak “his” favorite heli…Bob loves my Protos 500! Next up was my Compass 3D+. First flight was no problem…however, second flight, close to the end of the flight, the motor acted up during a back flip.

I landed safely as the motor quit. Upon arrival, I noticed the pressure fitting on the muffler came off. The threads stripped out! Great…now I need new muffler. This not how I wanted to start IRCHA. So I took a trip down the flight line, and I found one at a price I liked. I also noticed the fixed fuel tank was leaking…again! This time it was the main fuel fitting. Ok, I brought an extra tank with, so I replaced it. Took the muffler off, removed the old tank and installed the new tank. After that, we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, and then checked into our rooms.

The next day, I finished setting up the new tank and installing the new muffler, then I tried a flight. It was ok, but I had a few issues to address. I ran out of time as I signed up for flight line duties and there was much shopping to do, demos to watch, and people to talk to.

On Saturday, I spent some time with Greg’s heli…and it decided to give me fits! The motor didn’t want to run right, the tail sensitivity for some reason was too high, and the trims were all over the place. But I did manage to knock it back into shape and flying right.

Greg decided to pull the classic abandon his friends (Bob and I) for the tear-down and pack stuff up for a real heli ride! Just as Bob and I were securing the pop-ups to the top of the van…here comes the heli and it stops right by us. Greg is yelling hi to us. Bob and I…we ignored him…just a bit pissed off at this point! There was several thing that happened on our trip that I won’t go into, but I doubt Greg will be coming with us next year…if he continues his shenanigans. Oh yea…per Greg’s insistence, we traded the SWARM PARTY for a live band at some bar down town Muncie. Needless to say Bob & I were… Well, let’s just leave it at that. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1941 RC Freak Episode 65: IRCHA 2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1940 Wed, 22 Aug 2012 20:14:15 GMT Hey all,

Here is the usual IRCHA interview special. Interviews with Savox, Horizon Hobby, SAB, Henseleit, Gaui, and Synergy. So check it out and enjoy.

It's up on iTunes and right here: http://rcfreakpodcast.com/home/RC%20...Freak%2065.mp3 ]]> Dicey http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1940 Heli-Log 8:22:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1939 Wed, 22 Aug 2012 10:29:16 GMT Well...IRCHA is over!

This year was great, the weather was fantastic! Well, except for the rain on Thursday afternoon and through the night. The flying there was really cool, and the night fly was the best yet. During the week, I was able to test fly a Whiplash electric! That experience was unbelievable, now I want one of those as well...LoL!

I brought two friends for their first time at IRCHA...needless to say, both were overwhelmed. There was so much to do that Bob was the only one of us three that didn't fly. And he was ok with it, however, next year Bob will get many flights in during the IRCHA experience! Bob got bit by the heli bug and bought a Trex 550E complete kit. So I know what I'm doing...instructing him how to build his heli.

All 3 of us won some goodies. Greg won a 50 size Scorpion motor and a 3 cell LiPo. Bob won a 4035 500KV Scorpion motor, and I won a Castle Creation ICE2 160HV opto ESC. Looks like we will be building some heli's around our prizes! Me...I guess it will be a Whiplash, just not sure which one to start with first... I have some time to figure it out.

Until then... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1939 Twinn Rexx FBL upgrade http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1938 Wed, 22 Aug 2012 04:32:48 GMT The new flybarless module finally arrived yesterday - a new MSH Brain. I spent the last few hours setting it up, and it looks pretty promising so far.

Also, I have the new flybarless heads installed. Below is a picture of how the tandem looks with one of the 450DFC heads installed.



The initial flight was scary due to major pitch oscillations, which were expected. After fiddling with settings, I'm starting to get somewhere. My goal is to optimize the gain settings so I have a good starting point for the self-levelling feature.

More pictures to come.
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]]> jolyboy http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1938 BlHeli Setup 6.11 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1937 Wed, 15 Aug 2012 18:37:14 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1937 Heli-Log 8:6:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1935 Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:54:33 GMT 9 Days and counting! IRCHA! Saturday I managed to get out to our practice flying site. I brought 4 heli’s to fly, but only flew my Protos 500. In keeping a flight log…I “was” 3 flights away from breaking 100 accident / crash free flights. So I put in 4 flights, making the total 101 flights. I was helping Bob get some flights in as well. And during this time we were there, we watch the slow start of a super nasty storm move in. It wasn’t long after my 4th flight that the sky started turning black, the temps falling fast, and the winds died down, then picked up. We headed back to my house to play on the sim and watch heli videos. During the video, the winds picked up to ~50 mph! The trees in my neighborhood were bending way over, rain became horizontal. We didn’t see any lightening until after the brunt of the storm had passed through. I said to Bob, “hey, let’s go flying!”. Bob was too willing in a kidding way. The storm lasted a good 45 minutes, then rained steady for roughly an hour after. Sunday Bob and I worked on his van, making a way to hold all of our heli’s on the shelf Bob built. We did a trial fit of the stuff we plan on bringing to IRCHA. It will all fit with some room to spare. Not sure if I will get any flying in this week, kind of want to save my heli’s for IRCHA…don’t want to break anything now! We shall see!!! 9 Days and counting! IRCHA!

Saturday I managed to get out to our practice flying site. I brought 4 heli’s to fly, but only flew my Protos 500. In keeping a flight log…I “was” 3 flights away from breaking 100 accident / crash free flights. So I put in 4 flights, making the total 101 flights.

I was helping Bob get some flights in as well. And during this time we were there, we watch the slow start of a super nasty storm move in. It wasn’t long after my 4th flight that the sky started turning black, the temps falling fast, and the winds died down, then picked up. We headed back to my house to play on the sim and watch heli videos. During the video, the winds picked up to ~50 mph!

The trees in my neighborhood were bending way over, rain became horizontal. We didn’t see any lightening until after the brunt of the storm had passed through. I said to Bob, “hey, let’s go flying!”. Bob was too willing in a kidding way. The storm lasted a good 45 minutes, then rained steady for roughly an hour after.

Sunday Bob and I worked on his van, making a way to hold all of our heli’s on the shelf Bob built. We did a trial fit of the stuff we plan on bringing to IRCHA. It will all fit with some room to spare. Not sure if I will get any flying in this week, kind of want to save my heli’s for IRCHA…don’t want to break anything now!

We shall see!!! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1935 Heli-Log 8:3:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1934 Fri, 03 Aug 2012 12:58:28 GMT Just a quick update…

I pulled the fuel tank out of my Compass 3D+ and cleaned all the Zap-A-Dap-A-Goo off. It doesn’t stick too well on these tanks. The leaking fuel “was” coming from the vent hole. On the top of the tank is a molded port that a pressure fitting threads into, it cracked along the seam. It wouldn’t be all that bad, however, besides the fuel slashing all over my heli, creating a nice mess to clean up…I lose muffler pressure, enough to have me constantly adjusting the needle valves on the motor! Not good…

For some unknown reason I decided to pull the main fuel line inside the tank. The fuel tubing was in bad shape! It was beginning to break down. As I was pulling the line out, part of it ripped. Ok, time to replace that. I pulled out my plastic welder and proceeded to fix the crack. I welded the crack and added a thick new collar around it. After it cooled off some, but still mildly pliable, I re-tapped the hole. After an hour, I installed the brass pressure tap and put some silicon around it.

In the meantime, my new replacement tank is on its way! Wednesday night, while cleaning my Trex 700, I noticed the loops on the tail boom had moved…interesting…minor fix. As we get closer to IRCHA (12 days!) I become hesitant to fly, don’t want to break anything until I’m there. It did this once…

I was flying my X-Cell Fury Extreme and disaster struck. I piled it into the ground…hard. Frames, boom, boom supports, torque tube, tail blades, tail output shaft, landing gear, many bearings, mainshaft, main gear, feathering shaft, flybar, blades. You know, just over half the kit. I took this mess to IRCHA and searched every vender for parts. A long story short, I found everything I needed and even started rebuilding my Fury, but I gave up fixing it. I wanted to enjoy IRCHA…at that time.

But I do have a couple of heli's I won't be bringing, so I'll fly those...for now... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1934 Heli-Log 8:2:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1933 Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:15:18 GMT IRCHA...13 days and counting! Last night was our club meeting. I arrived at the field a couple of hours early, wanted to try out my Compass 3D+ and Trex 700N. I started with the 3D+ due to I didn’t charge the battery and had enough for only two flights. The motor ran a bit sluggish due the temperature change, but this was ok for now. I wanted to see how the new clutch was going to hold up. So far it’s working fine. I will keep an eye on it for awhile. I did notice though, the fuel tank is leaking more than normal. The top of the tank was completely saturated with fresh fuel…ok it’s time to fix this. I have ordered a new tank from Nankin’s, but I’m not going to wait for it. I’ve plastic welded before when I worked in a car stereo shop (my younger years), so this isn’t anything new to me. I cleaned up my 3D+ and pulled the Trex 700N out. It too was running a bit sluggish, and the tail was somewhat mushy and over controlling…I’ll elaborate. I had setup some expo on the tail to make the center just a bit soft, but I went the wrong way in the settings…minus instead of plus, so I fix it. Then the gain was a bit low, I’m moving it to more sensitive slowly. Well that fixed the tail and some motor retuning fixed the rest. I had replaced the main gear and pinion and the main bearings, now the gear mesh is tight once again. The only thing I noticed differently, It might be me or the new gears have dropped my head speed some. But I’m thinking the temp change has a lot to do with this problem. Outside of that, the Trex 700 is flying great once again! I am getting the itch…the IRCHA itch. The time is moving upon us fast. I’ve been talking to some of the guys at Heliproz about the new Whiplash heli. But I’ll have to wait until February to order one…tax returns. IRCHA...13 days and counting!

Last night was our club meeting. I arrived at the field a couple of hours early, wanted to try out my Compass 3D+ and Trex 700N. I started with the 3D+ due to I didn’t charge the battery and had enough for only two flights. The motor ran a bit sluggish due the temperature change, but this was ok for now. I wanted to see how the new clutch was going to hold up. So far it’s working fine. I will keep an eye on it for awhile.

I did notice though, the fuel tank is leaking more than normal. The top of the tank was completely saturated with fresh fuel…ok it’s time to fix this. I have ordered a new tank from Nankin’s, but I’m not going to wait for it. I’ve plastic welded before when I worked in a car stereo shop (my younger years), so this isn’t anything new to me.

I cleaned up my 3D+ and pulled the Trex 700N out. It too was running a bit sluggish, and the tail was somewhat mushy and over controlling…I’ll elaborate. I had setup some expo on the tail to make the center just a bit soft, but I went the wrong way in the settings…minus instead of plus, so I fix it. Then the gain was a bit low, I’m moving it to more sensitive slowly. Well that fixed the tail and some motor retuning fixed the rest.

I had replaced the main gear and pinion and the main bearings, now the gear mesh is tight once again. The only thing I noticed differently, It might be me or the new gears have dropped my head speed some. But I’m thinking the temp change has a lot to do with this problem. Outside of that, the Trex 700 is flying great once again!

I am getting the itch…the IRCHA itch. The time is moving upon us fast. I’ve been talking to some of the guys at Heliproz about the new Whiplash heli. But I’ll have to wait until February to order one…tax returns. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1933 Flybarless Twinn Rexx http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1932 Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:00:20 GMT I'm now in the process of upgrading my twinn rexx to flybarless :clappp. Reasons for doing so are:
  1. Simplified set-up
  2. Mechanically better (less "slop")
  3. Lighter
  4. Better for use with autopilots in the future
  5. More crash resistent
  6. Ability to run an ultra-low headpeed for FPV flying (no flybar requiring inertia to operate)

I'll be running 2 x Tarot 450DFC heads, with one Tarot ZYX-S flybarless unit fed into a TH-2 tandem mixer. The tandem mixer settings will be the same as when I was running an FB system.

So far, I only have the heads and the electronics installed, but still need to perform the rest of the set-up process. The process will be as follows:
  1. Set servo arms at 90 degrees to shafts @ midstick
  2. Level both swashplates
  3. Set blade pitch to zero degrees @ midstick
  4. Perform initial Tarot ZYX-S setup process
  5. Reduce gain on elvator axis, then adjust static rotor pitch for balance between rotor's thrusts (no up/down pitch in hover)
  6. Complete final ZYX-S setup

Among the FBL upgrades, I'm also upgrading the M2 x 20 bolts going through the miter gears, as they have all turned into "S" shapes. Turns out they are under rated for my application. I'll be trying out some M2.5 x 20 bolts with shoulders (ie. not threaded the whole way along).

Another upgrade I'll be doing is the addition of 600 size landing gear. I currently use "doubled up" (two zip-tied together) 450 skids, which are too low to the ground. The new ones are much wider and higher and will allow for harder landings without damage to the battery. ]]> jolyboy http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1932 Heli-Log 7:30:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1931 Mon, 30 Jul 2012 19:27:25 GMT 16 more days until IRCHA!!!

Saturday was a great day to fly! I met up with John Cook and then later, Eric Brandenburg. I basically flew my Compass 3D+…and one flight on my 6HV. I studied some of the maneuvers John was doing, wanting to copy some of them for more transition type maneuvers. We discussed how learning that one maneuver / orientation can unlock a host of new possibilities.

With me, it was learning to fly right side up backwards. I could do it, but I was very uncomfortable with it. The tail would want to drop down, or so I thought, and prevented me from perfecting it. But while I was training 5 new pilots…and getting into conversations on how to learn new maneuvers, and breaking them down. It was obvious I had to do something about my own skills.

To recognize where your problem spots are, areas your heli fly’s that make you nervous / unsure, and then working on them until you can do them in your “sleep”, not that you would ever do this…but keep practicing them until it doesn’t bother you anymore.

So I decided to take my own advice and show them the process. It was amazing how everything started coming together by just learning this one maneuver! Maneuvers I struggled with are now simple. I just need to clean them up some…by performing them a half a million times! LoL. Not really, but it seems like it at times.

However, it was great to get out and fly with John. We talked about the “how-to’s” with some of the more advanced maneuvers, things I haven’t quite worked out / figured out…and then tried some of them. Now I understand what John was trying to explain to me earlier in the year. I just hope this sudden epiphany continues before the snow flies…did I say snow out loud??? OOPS!

In the meantime, my Compass 3D+ started having problems in the clutch / bell area. The day started with a rattling metal sound that would go away as I spooled up! After the third flight, I was convinced the clutch had lost one of its shoes.

Once home, I pulled the motor out and sure enough, the clutch shoe broke off and was lying inside the clutch bell. Then I noticed the clutch bell didn’t have a liner in it! Oh??? Somehow the liner dissolved / disappeared. This clutch bell was a replacement to the original one that I burned out…crashed at 80% throttle.

I bought a replacement clutch liner for my Compass, but it was so brittle that it shattered trying to bend it. So I bought [after ordering a new clutch bell] a Trex 600 liner. The Trex liner is a bit thin, so I added a thick piece of paper stock lightly sanded and smeared in JB Weld. The clutch now fits fine. I will have to wait to try it out.

A short time back, I was having a fuel tank issue in my Compass. I have a plan on how to fix that! Just need to find the right type of plastic…plastic welding! It seems replacement parts are always (well, most of the time) “out of stock”. Very frustrating! Make me look for parts from other helis that will fit my 3D+, no matter what heli it is from. Sorry, don’t mean to rant, but I get tired finding common parts out of stock…like the landing gears seem to be on the continual list of “out of stock”. Kind of like Gen Ace LiPo’s…“out of stock!” OK, I’m done…

Currently my Trex 700 is waiting for some new main bearings to finish the stripped main gear issue. They should be here in the mail later today. Last week, I thought I had everything I needed to replace the stripped main gear. However, during the removal of the stripped out main gear, I checked the condition of the main bearings and found both are bad…oops!

The cause of the main gear stripping out wasn’t due to having 332 flights on my Trex700 with the original yellowing in color main gear and possibly shrinking in diameter due to age and usage…instead it was from the pinion gear. Yep, that’s right, the pinion gear. I bought the upgrade M1 gear that comes with a matching pinion, tail drive gear, and front transmission gear (basically bigger teeth compared to the original gear).

When I took the clutch stack apart to replace the old pinion with the new pinion, I found the two bearings on the top of the pinion gear had worn down the grounded surface on the pinion gear. Enough that it created too much gear lash on the main gear.

Wow, I guess I’ll have to check this every 100 flights! It was about 200 some flights ago, sometime last year that I worked on / replaced the bearings in the clutch stack and replaced the clutch bell.

It won’t take long to install both bearings and put the rest of my 700 back together. It should be ready for a test flight Wednesday night just before our club meeting. And I’ll try out my 3D+ as well; verify the clutch is working fine. I wonder if an MA clutch liner is thicker. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1931 BLHeli-Setup 6.1 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1929 Thu, 26 Jul 2012 09:01:41 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1929 Heli-Log 7:23:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1928 Mon, 23 Jul 2012 10:57:15 GMT How ironic...23 days to IRCHA and it's the 23rd of July!

Yesterday was another great day! Saturday started out not so good. I took all 3 nitro heli's out to continue breaking motors in, but disaster struck! I started with my Trex 700, first flight, 3 minutes into the flight, I pulled into a gentle back flip and heard a crunching noise. The motor revved up and I started loosing head speed! Crap...caught inverted once again. I managed to flip right side up and now most of the head speed was lost. Yea it's going to crash. I did the best I could to minimize the soon to be damage, hit throttle hold to save the revving motor and bounced landed. I hit throttle kill, a cool feature on the DX8, and proceeded to retrieve my heli.

Popped both collective links (one link broke), broke both skids, and stripped the main gear. After inspecting the damage, I noticed the main gear lash was too much. There is no way of adjusting it. The main gear has 332 flights on it, so I suppose it was time to replace it...well it is now! LoL.

Next was my Rave...I decided to try tuning the YS motor in the hopes of getting it to run right. No such luck there. I get it close, but just can't seem to get it right...so I put it aside. Last was my Compass 3D+. I managed to get 2 flights on it before it decided to act up. At the start of the third flight, the clutch decided to fail. One of the shoes decided to spread out enough to in-gauge the clutch while starting. That was a simple fix. I have the old original clutch at home. I replaced it due to cooler weather making the one way start bearing, start slipping. I'll pick one up at IRCHA. That was enough for one day.

Sunday was a lot better day to fly! When I got home Saturday, my parts were in the mailbox for my O.S 91 HZ motor. This engine has a history with breaking the connecting rod. It never hurt the piston or ring, but makes a big mess inside the crankcase. However, this time the piston was trashed. The connecting rod bent and shattered the piston sleeve...and crunced the groove the ring was sitting in, so it was easier to replace the ring as well. This time I replaced the crankshaft (due to the possibility the pin was bent), connecting rod, piston and ring, and both bearings. The rebuild was simple and quick. I then pulled the YS motor out of the Rave and replaced it with the newly rebuilt O.S. motor. ***Oh...on a side note...the main and front bearings for the YS motor are the same exact bearing for the O.S. 91 HZ motor...who knew?***

First flight on my Rave was on Sunday, and it runs a hole lot better! I put 2 flights on it, now I'm looking to get it broke in before IRCHA. I put in one flight on the other 3 helis (except the 3D+ with the old clutch), and 4 flights on Jerry's airplanes. The 3D+ decided to loose one of the bolts holding the muffler on during the 2nd flight. I was feeling the need for speed / fast stick banging fun. But the muffler had other ideas. So I landed half way into the flight to save the motor and whaled on my Compass 6HV. It was the first time I've done this to the 6HV, normally I fly it easy to medium...not wild and fast.

In the meantime, Jerry was fighting a migraine headache and wanted to see some of his repaired planes fly...so he insisted on having me fly his planes. Generally I don't like flying someone else's planes due to something bad happening, and in his case big airplanes. And sure enough...it did...twice!

Jerry had me fly his P51 Mustang. Everything was going great until it was time to land. The right landing gear decided to fold right as I touched down causing it to veer into the bean field and flip up on its nose. During the flip up, that stupid wheel popped back down and locked into place! Grrrrrrrr!

Then Jerry had me fly his P40. Once again, the air retract system failed in flight! I performed a belly landing and saved his plane. That scared the crap out of me. I was looking at a complete rebuild of his plane. I could see the muffler pipes catching the ground and pulling the nose down ripping the motor off the firewall and then possible flipping the plane nose first, but it didn't. It worked out great, only a small 1/4" area that lost some covering. Now I'm Jerry's top pilot for all his planes! He was hoping I would be able to go to a warbird fun fly with him to fly his planes, however, that's during IRCHA week. So I told Jerry, sorry IRCHA comes first. He was cool with that, but if I didn't have anything better to do...

I was really impressed with how well the rebuilt O.S. motor was running yesterday. The idle is suprisingly smooth and low...purr's like a kitten. I started the needle valves (mid & high) at 1-7/8" turns out. There is plenty of smoke and the motor's backplate is warm to the touch...just right. Too bad the weather is forecasted for 106 degrees today, I would have liked to put some more flighs in on my Rave...maybe tomorrow when the temps are in the mid 80's to low 90's. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1928 First Flyable Config http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1927 Sat, 21 Jul 2012 11:52:20 GMT This is the first flyable configuration I did. I have done revised versions of this for better CoG, but now I'm in the process of upgrading to flybarless due to the horrible quality of the blue rotors (bearings jamming, screws breaking :arggg:). The new rotors will be Tarot 450DFC heads, which allow better pitch range than the flybarred heads and much less slop.

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Click image for larger version Name: SNV15419.jpg Views: 234 Size: 49.4 KB ID: 936 ]]> jolyboy http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1927 Heli-Log 7:16:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1925 Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:41:36 GMT Well here we are at the start of week three, of July…only 30 more days till IRCHA!!! I’m still praying this hot weather will leave / change by then. In the meantime…I finished the rebuild on my YS motor and reinstalled it into the Rave. This last weekend, I was invited to fly at Jerry’s place…wow, I’ve been dreaming of a place just like his! He has an actual hanger along side of his house, big enough for two Cessna’s. However, Jerry likes big airplanes, scale airplanes, both military and civilian. He also fly’s heli’s! Too cool… So I brought out 5 of my heli’s. I wanted to try my Rave, see if I could get it dialed in after the rebuild. Nope! It is so stubborn! I have fuel running out of the carb…grrrr. This motor is really trying my patients, and it’s getting the best of me. So, instead of messing with it, I set it aside. Jerry would have liked my Rave over my smaller helis, due to its size. I pulled out my Trex 700 and proceeded to put on a show with it. I cycled through my fleet several times despite the hot weather. Jerry was just besides himself, he really like seeing my heli’s go through their paces. It was a lot of fun, wide open space (100+ acres) to fly in, no bugs bothering us (too hot!), a hanger to relax in, cold drinks, good friends, a semi perfect weekend. I put up many flights on my heli’s, including a few on Jerry’s airplanes. Gregg came out with his Trex 600. I was hesitant to buddy box with him there, due to his wild “I want to fly around first vs. learning to hover first” mentality. However, Greg surprised me this time. He hovered quite well without me needing to take over and correct his heli. But he still wanted to move around some. I’ll keep working on him. My Trex 700 converted its muffler into a rattle can…I would really like to know how this is happening! So I have another pipe I can use… The Compass 3D+ is running great. Just little nuisance problems, problems I can live with. The Compass 6HV and Protos 500 heli’s?...what else can I say but perfect, just charge and fly. My Rave on the other hand…I’ll mess around with the motor some more. If I can’t get it running right, I’ll pull it out and slap in an O.S. 91 / 105 something! I’m half tempted to pull the Total-G out (send it in for the free DSMX upgrade) and try a Beast X in it, see how that feels. I also would like to try out the Radix V2 FBL blades… All in good time. While I’m contemplating all the things I would like to do to my heli’s, IRCHA is rapidly approaching us. I need to save up for some shopping… In the meantime, I’ll fly what I have and practice, practice, practice. Oh, today and tomorrow will be 99 degrees, or 100 again! Is this a precursor to the type of winter we will have??? Well here we are at the start of week three, of July…only 30 more days till IRCHA!!! I’m still praying this hot weather will leave / change by then.

In the meantime…I finished the rebuild on my YS motor and reinstalled it into the Rave. This last weekend, I was invited to fly at Jerry’s place…wow, I’ve been dreaming of a place just like his! He has an actual hanger along side of his house, big enough for two Cessna’s. However, Jerry likes big airplanes, scale airplanes, both military and civilian. He also fly’s heli’s! Too cool…

So I brought out 5 of my heli’s. I wanted to try my Rave, see if I could get it dialed in after the rebuild. Nope! It is so stubborn! I have fuel running out of the carb…grrrr. This motor is really trying my patients, and it’s getting the best of me. So, instead of messing with it, I set it aside. Jerry would have liked my Rave over my smaller helis, due to its size.

I pulled out my Trex 700 and proceeded to put on a show with it. I cycled through my fleet several times despite the hot weather. Jerry was just besides himself, he really like seeing my heli’s go through their paces. It was a lot of fun, wide open space (100+ acres) to fly in, no bugs bothering us (too hot!), a hanger to relax in, cold drinks, good friends, a semi perfect weekend.

I put up many flights on my heli’s, including a few on Jerry’s airplanes. Gregg came out with his Trex 600. I was hesitant to buddy box with him there, due to his wild “I want to fly around first vs. learning to hover first” mentality. However, Greg surprised me this time. He hovered quite well without me needing to take over and correct his heli. But he still wanted to move around some. I’ll keep working on him.

My Trex 700 converted its muffler into a rattle can…I would really like to know how this is happening! So I have another pipe I can use… The Compass 3D+ is running great. Just little nuisance problems, problems I can live with. The Compass 6HV and Protos 500 heli’s?...what else can I say but perfect, just charge and fly.

My Rave on the other hand…I’ll mess around with the motor some more. If I can’t get it running right, I’ll pull it out and slap in an O.S. 91 / 105 something! I’m half tempted to pull the Total-G out (send it in for the free DSMX upgrade) and try a Beast X in it, see how that feels. I also would like to try out the Radix V2 FBL blades… All in good time.

While I’m contemplating all the things I would like to do to my heli’s, IRCHA is rapidly approaching us. I need to save up for some shopping… In the meantime, I’ll fly what I have and practice, practice, practice.

Oh, today and tomorrow will be 99 degrees, or 100 again! Is this a precursor to the type of winter we will have??? ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1925 Heli-Log 7:13:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1923 Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:31:50 GMT Just a quick update… I received the piston ring yesterday in the mail. After a few choirs, it was down to the hobby workshop and started in on the YS. I removed the motor from the Rave and stripped the YS down to its case. The sleeve has some marks / scratches that is only visible, I’ll microscope (30x eye loop) the sleeve to verify this. The piston isn’t pretty, half of the top section, above the ring, is shattered. I believe it was from switching from rich / lean / rich condition. Once hot, the extra fuel for rich setting helped to shatter the top section of the piston. It’s the same effect as getting a crystal bowl hot…180 degrees, and then put ice cream in it. The extreme temperatures will cause to the crystal to shatter. Well, that’s my theory any ways. I couldn’t find any FOD (Foreign Object Debris), metal shavings / chunks in the crankcase area. But just to make sure…I cleaned it out and flushed the rear bearing. It took me a few minutes to figure out how the boss pin came out, but finally got it. So now it’s a matter of inspecting everything and then reassemble the motor. Hopefully I will be able to test fly the YS tomorrow. Just a quick update… I received the piston ring yesterday in the mail. After a few choirs, it was down to the hobby workshop and started in on the YS. I removed the motor from the Rave and stripped the YS down to its case. The sleeve has some marks / scratches that is only visible, I’ll microscope (30x eye loop) the sleeve to verify this.

The piston isn’t pretty, half of the top section, above the ring, is shattered. I believe it was from switching from rich / lean / rich condition. Once hot, the extra fuel for rich setting helped to shatter the top section of the piston. It’s the same effect as getting a crystal bowl hot…180 degrees, and then put ice cream in it. The extreme temperatures will cause to the crystal to shatter. Well, that’s my theory any ways.

I couldn’t find any FOD (Foreign Object Debris), metal shavings / chunks in the crankcase area. But just to make sure…I cleaned it out and flushed the rear bearing. It took me a few minutes to figure out how the boss pin came out, but finally got it. So now it’s a matter of inspecting everything and then reassemble the motor. Hopefully I will be able to test fly the YS tomorrow. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1923 Heli-Log 7:12:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1922 Thu, 12 Jul 2012 13:06:54 GMT Yesterday was our club meeting, so it was a good time to try out the Rave loops on my Trex 700. The meeting was ok, had the usual info, and I received a CD from our secretary with photos from our heli fun fly! Will post them later.

I put up 2 flights on my 700 with great results! The motor is breaking in fine, and the loops work. I just need to add a small piece of wire tie (like the instruction state) to each that will help in tightening them down more. So hopefully this will end the constant maintenance and start flying the blades off instead.

The piston came in yesterday for my YS 91 SR 3DS motor [that’s in the Rave], just waiting on the ring. It should be here today or tomorrow at the latest. I see an engine rebuild in my future! LoL.

After giving this some thought…the first flight of our fun fly was my Rave. The motor was acting goofy, it started out rick as heck, then lean out. It didn’t matter where I turned the needles. The mains were 3-1/2 turns out…at one time they were 4-5 turns out and still ran lean. I kept thinking it was a problem in the carburetor. But at the fun fly I was told to check the one way valve, I did and hopefully fixed this weird issue. Now If I can just get this motor running once again.

My YS engine pro/expert is out of commission for awhile, which forces me to learn this on my own…and with the help of my heli brothers on the forums! The other thing I want to check once the motor is apart…again! To see if the piston is cracked down the sleeve, this would cause a tinging sound coming from the muffler, a lot like a broken baffle weld.

Speaking of broken baffles…the pipe on my Trex 700 has a broken baffle. Once again I have a rattle can! I need to find someone that has an aluminum welder that could fix this for me…or learn how to do it myself… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1922 Heli-Log 7:9:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1920 Mon, 09 Jul 2012 10:47:20 GMT Saturday was the last day of 100+ degrees!!! Not sure how long this will last, but I'm enjoying it. I decided to get out early Saturday before the temps got too high, I really wanted to test both 90 size machines!

First up was the Rave. I had everything ready to start and the motor didn't want to turn over. I pulled the plug thinking I had a hydraulic lock, and it still won't turn over. So I removed the fan shroud, then pulled the backplate first before the head. The inside was clean and the crank turned easily. So I removed the head and found the piston broken...great! I have a new piston and ring on order.

I pulled out my Trex 700 and managed to get 3 flights on it. At the end of the third flight, I noticed one of the loops on the boom holding the tail control wire had broke. So much for putting more flights in this heli. Yea, I could fly it some more, but didn't want to risk loosing control of the tail, or bending the wire. So I took it home and used the extra loop I have for my Rave. They are a bit big, but as you tighten the screw, it locks down to the boom. I had one that I needed to use a longer screw and nut...problem solved!

So I finished out the day with my Protos 500. I had 4 packs that I needed to cycle through. On the last flight, it had reached 102 degrees! It was time to go home.

So I might get some flying in laster this week, providing it stays somewhat cool. We shall see... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1920 Trial fit of components http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1919 Sat, 07 Jul 2012 02:18:01 GMT Attachment 924 (http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=924) Attachment 925 (http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=925) Attachment 926 (http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=926) Attachment 927 (http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=927) Attachment 928 (http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=928) Attachment 929 (http://www.helifreak.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=929) Click image for larger version Name: SNV15405_1.jpg Views: 230 Size: 354.9 KB ID: 924

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Click image for larger version Name: SNV15404_1.jpg Views: 197 Size: 299.2 KB ID: 929 ]]> jolyboy http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1919 Heli-Log 7:6:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1918 Fri, 06 Jul 2012 14:39:03 GMT These last 4 days have got to be unreal…100+ degrees!? How much longer will this last? I’ve been talking to the other two guys that are coming with me to IRCHA this year, and we decided if the temps are in the upper 90’s or 100’s…we are not going. There is no sense in enduring that kind of heat and risking our health. So with that said…what is winter going to be like? Anyhow…I started looking at my heli’s after the fun fly to see if I could address some of the issues I am still having. The Rave is still acting up, running rich then lean, back to rich and then lean. I asked this question amongst the pilots at our fun fly, and a couple of them told me to check the “one-way” valve. Some of the springs are too tight/strong to work properly, making the fuel flow inconsistent. I was told you should be able to blow air through the valve. Well I tried that and started turning red in the process, anther words, I couldn’t blow anything through it. I opened the valve and it was clean. I blew through it verifying air came out easily. As suggested, I cut a couple of loops off the spring and reassembled the valve. I did the air test again and now it works as explained. If the weather breaks some…I would like to try this mod out! Next up was my Trex 700N. During the second flight of the day on Saturday, the heli developed a twitch. That was most bizarre. As I continued flying the heli, the twitch started becoming more frequent! Well, it’s auto now time! I landed safely and in one piece…no broken parts. I put it aside for the day and was content to fly the other 3 heli’s. So I took the canopy off, unfolded the blades getting ready to power up the electronics on the workbench. Then I noticed the red battery wire fell out of the EC3 connector. I had made an adapter to go from EC3 to Deans. I haven’t decided which way I wanted to go…EC3 or deans. Apparently I didn’t get the bullet hot enough to wick the solder inside the bullet. Will this time it worked. I checked the other bullet and it is just fine. So both heli’s are ready for flight once again. Now, if this supper hot weather would just let up! Today the temp is forecasted for 104 degrees with a heat index of 110 degrees! These last 4 days have got to be unreal…100+ degrees!? How much longer will this last? I’ve been talking to the other two guys that are coming with me to IRCHA this year, and we decided if the temps are in the upper 90’s or 100’s…we are not going. There is no sense in enduring that kind of heat and risking our health. So with that said…what is winter going to be like?

Anyhow…I started looking at my heli’s after the fun fly to see if I could address some of the issues I am still having. The Rave is still acting up, running rich then lean, back to rich and then lean. I asked this question amongst the pilots at our fun fly, and a couple of them told me to check the “one-way” valve. Some of the springs are too tight/strong to work properly, making the fuel flow inconsistent.

I was told you should be able to blow air through the valve. Well I tried that and started turning red in the process, anther words, I couldn’t blow anything through it. I opened the valve and it was clean. I blew through it verifying air came out easily. As suggested, I cut a couple of loops off the spring and reassembled the valve. I did the air test again and now it works as explained. If the weather breaks some…I would like to try this mod out!

Next up was my Trex 700N. During the second flight of the day on Saturday, the heli developed a twitch. That was most bizarre. As I continued flying the heli, the twitch started becoming more frequent! Well, it’s auto now time! I landed safely and in one piece…no broken parts. I put it aside for the day and was content to fly the other 3 heli’s.

So I took the canopy off, unfolded the blades getting ready to power up the electronics on the workbench. Then I noticed the red battery wire fell out of the EC3 connector. I had made an adapter to go from EC3 to Deans. I haven’t decided which way I wanted to go…EC3 or deans. Apparently I didn’t get the bullet hot enough to wick the solder inside the bullet. Will this time it worked. I checked the other bullet and it is just fine.

So both heli’s are ready for flight once again. Now, if this supper hot weather would just let up! Today the temp is forecasted for 104 degrees with a heat index of 110 degrees! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1918 Modified Twinn Rexx with rear-mounted motor http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1915 Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:59:35 GMT This blog is to keep track of my progress on the Twinn Rexx build I undertook a few months ago. There have been many issues from the lack of the availability of parts, so I have modified the design as a work-around. The only part sourced from Tech-MP is the TH-2 tandem controller, since all other parts are no longer available.

So far, the chassis has been the most challenging part of the build, but luckily I have access to laser cutting and water-jet cutting for free. I have cut two versions of the chassis - the original style of design, and a modified version.

The original-style design was reverse-engineered using CAD and measurements taken from a Trex clone (servo positions), and dimensions of the parts that would be used (ie main shaft bearings and miter gears).

When I realised that I could not source the front main shaft and motor mount from Tech-MP, I decided I could modify the design to negate the need for custom front main shaft, and utilise the original Trex 450 motor mount. The new design drives the transverse shaft, rather than the front main shaft. By mounting the motor on the rear of the heli, I was also able to mount the motor on the centreline.



For the sake of Tech-MP's copyright I will not share CAD files, but I will post photos of my design.

Here is my parts list so far:


Store Amount Description
sdp-si $40.52 5mm x 1000mm drill rod
sdp-si $56.55 4 x Miter gears, 8 xbore reducers
H King $8.99 TURNIGY TRUST 45A SBEC
HKing $19.23 4 x 325mm Fiber Glass Main Blades
Ebay $3.70 XT60 Male Female Plug Connector + Red Black Heat Shrink
Ebay $2.99 Micro Screw Pitch Gauge Blades Adjuster for T-Rex 450
Ebay $6.40 RC JR/HITEC SERVO PLUGS Gold Plated x 10 Pairs
Ebay $3.10 1000mm servo wire
Ebay $42.76 6 x Hitec HS-65HB Gear Set ~HRC55013
Ebay $25.25 Hitec HS-65HB Karbonite Micro Servo
Ebay $9.56 2 x F-H45094 Frame Hardware for TREX T-rex 450 Sport align
Ebay $10.38 2 x Frame Hardware For T-Rex Trex 450 Helicopter RHS1122-SL
Ebay $5.95 Nylon Insert Lock Nuts M2.om x 20
Ebay $5.85 2x Main shaft bearings
Ebay $7.40 Flybar Rod/190mm HS1006
H King $114.09 ESC, LiPo Battery, Charger
JGF $87.50 JGF 500T Brushless Motor
Ebay $11.98 4x Main shaft bearings
Ebay $11.95 4x Main Blades
Ebay $69.23 3xHiTec HS-65
Ebay $69.23 3xHiTec HS-65
Jaycar $39.90 Copper Clad board, 300 x 300 x 1.6mm, x2
Miter 10 $24.00 Aluminium square tube, 19.5 x 19.5 x 3000mm
Ebay $33.98 2x GY48V Gyros
Ebay $247.47 Spektrum 2.4GHz DX6i
Tech-MP $163.44 TH-2
Ebay $95.98 2x ARF 450V2 Metal

TOTAL AU$1,217.38 ]]> jolyboy http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1915 BlHeli Setup 5.0.2 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1905 Tue, 03 Jul 2012 21:55:51 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1905 Heli-Log 7:1:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1914 Mon, 02 Jul 2012 16:14:25 GMT This last weekend was our “Heli’s Over Rockford” fun fly. We had a great turn out despite the hot temps. The high...93 degrees, with 25-30% humidity. Winds were at 0 – 5 mph. We had 3 scale heli’s, 2 Goblin’s, 2 Gaui X7’s, Raptor G4, a Rave Ballistic and a couple of Nitro ENV’s, plus many other brands.

Flying was off the hook!!!! Mitch Marozas (who took 8th in the XFC) put on many demos with his Gaui X7. That boy is fast! I've seen some new maneuver from him that I could only dream about trying. I almost wanted to run out and buy a Gaui X7.

The Goblin’s were awesome to see sitting on the tables as well as in the air! Pictures of the Goblin, and even videos truly do not do any justice to this wonderful heli. The mechanics alone is impressive. The pilot behind the controls were awesome as well. The Goblin's danced all over our field. Some of our club member liked the red color scheme over the green.

2 guy’s brought 3 scale heli’s for our treat, an apache, a Huey, and a heli that looks like an A-Star (I can’t remember the name). They put on a show that almost sounded real and at times looked like the real thing in the air…I’ll post pic’s later. Next year, they are planning to bring a turbine powered scale heli…much bigger!

I had forgotten my camera so I borrowed Ed’s. He will make me a CD with all the pic’s and what videos he shot. Thanks Ed!

I brought all 5 of my helis and put a minimum of one flight on each. I am still having issues with the YS in my Rave. The guys at our fun fly suggested replacing the one way check valve. I was instructed how to do the blow test to verify it working properly.

My Trex 700 is running great, however, there’s a new problem with it. It is twitching in flight, I think it’s my on/off switch is acting up. So that was two heli’s grounded. My Compass 3D+ is flying well. Had an small issue with the remote glow, so I relocated it…problem solved. The Compass 3D+ & Protos 500 are still running strong!

I managed to put in 11 flights on Saturday and 3 on Sunday. Yesterday was hot and humid. Not many came out, but had enough to utilize half of the field. So I let the plankers have some fun and fly. They too didn’t stick around too long as the heat started wearing on them as well.

By the end of Saturday, most of the electric heli’s were having thermal issues. So it wasn’t just one person or heli (motor / ESC).

Overall, it was a great day for a fun fly…a heli fun fly that is! I’ve started talking to our club president about a heli fun fly for next year. What we could do differently, finding a vender ahead of time, etc. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1914 Heli-Log 6:28:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1913 Thu, 28 Jun 2012 17:36:39 GMT Last night I finished working on my Trex 700N. I plugged the laptop into the Total-G and ran through the control setup…aileron, elevator, collective, tail end points… The aileron & elevator 11 degrees deflection was off…it was 7 degrees. The collective pitch was low as well. But now everything is back to normal.

I changed the bad link and made sure I couldn’t pop it off by hand! LoL… One of the Radix blades had a chip / nick on the bottom of the blade close to the tip. I filled it in with some thick CA. And while inspecting the rest of the blade, I discovered a scratch or crack at the leading edge by the blade grip. I looked at it using an eye-loop 30X magnification and really didn’t like what I saw. The crack appears to be deep enough, under the top clear coat. This “scratch / crack” is about 4 inches long.

My better judgment said to replace the blade, and that’s what I did. I had a spare blade the same length and type. Put both blades on a balancer and the replacement blade was ½ outside of the bubble line. I used some reflective tape to pull it back into balance. Now the Trex 700 is ready for more motor breaking-in fun.

The Zap-A-Dap-A-Goo was set up nicely on the Compass tank, so I installed the tank and performed a once over for the second time. The Compass 3D+ is finally ready for flight…motor break-in. I’ll have to put many flight on it to catch up with the Trex 700…that won’t take long.

I received the Boca replacement bearings for my YS 91 motor. And with the temps today in the 100’s…I’ll stay inside and strip down the YS 91 and replace both bearings. So when ever this hot weather breaks, I’ll have a lot of flying to get caught up on!

Our heli fun fly this weekend is going to be miserable, hot & humid. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1913 Heli-Log 6:27:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1912 Wed, 27 Jun 2012 13:17:23 GMT Yesterday I finished (almost) working on the Compass 3D+. This motor has been modified for more power, better fuel economy, and out fitted with an O.S. carburetor. However, the adaptor plate was drilled and 2 grub screws were used to hold the carb on place. In my case, the carb kept coming loose! And one of the grub screws would no longer work, it was locked in place.

So I heated the adapter plate, removed the grub screw, and cleaned the hole out. Then I drilled and tapped 2 new holes 90 degrees apart from the first 2. So now I have 4 screws holding the carb…hope this works! I flipped the 3D+ inverted on the workbench and proceeded to install the motor. Part way into the install, I noticed fuel leaking on my workbench! What the heck!? There was some fuel left in the tank and I clamped both lines off while working on the motor.

The leak was coming from the top of the tank by the vent hole. Ok, I removed the tank and cleaned it well, then flipped it inverted and seen fuel coming from the pressure fitting for the vent line. I tried to tighten the brass fitting only to see a crack along the seam the brass fitting goes into. FINE! Remove the fitting, clean everything well with alcohol, used some Zap-A-Dap-A-Goo around the threads of the brass fitting, installed the brass fitting into the tank, then glued all around the fitting and tank making sure some of the glue was smeared into the crack.

I set this aside to dry undisturbed, and started in on my Trex 700N. I found why I lost tail control and feel stupid for it! This has happened before with my Trex 600N…and the 700… (It sucks getting old!). It was a link failure, but the link didn’t break, it was loose to the point that I could remove [pop] the link off with little a pressure, using just my finger! Putting it on required some force, but removing it…

The strange part to all of this, the day before I put 8 flights on it. I was flying inverted tail first, funnels nose in and transition into tail in, pirouetting funnels, 4 point tic toc’s, etc. Grant it, I wasn’t doing them fast, but to give out the next day? Ok, so maybe temp & humidity played a part from one day to the next… Who knows for sure…

The lesson here…check your links religiously! Apparently I didn’t do that the day before when I was cleaning my 700, but I did discover the control arm standoff was loose. Ok, I’m done beating myself up. So far the damage is one broken skid (have a spare), a bent boom (have a spare, the carbon fiber aluminum one), and the front gear set (have extra of that…common replacement part). I should have my 700 back on its feet by the end of today…and ready for more fun.

Hind sight… Check your links! Make sure you can’t pull/pop them off by hand/fingers! Save you spare parts for the dumb thumb / botched new maneuver(s). ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1912 Heli-Log 6:25:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1910 Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:02:14 GMT Yesterday I was prepared to spend some serious time flying my Trex 700n. With 11 flights on a newly rebuilt motor, a new radio setup, and being able to practice some new maneuvers while breaking in the motor without taxing it too much. But things didn’t work out as planned. Switching into idle 2 right after lifting off the ground…the tail started swinging to the left as if a link broke. So I slammed it to the ground before it got out of control. Creased the boom, broke one tail wire loop, and broke the rear landing skid…so far. That put a damper on the rest of the day! I pulled the Protos out and put up 2 flights, then I tried the Compass 6HV, only one flight on it. After that I really didn’t feel like flying anymore. The weather was hot at 88 degrees. I was in a constant sweat, and everything metal in the sun was extremely hot to the touch. So Bob and I just hung out under the easy-up I brought with. Even Bob didn’t feel like flying, but we finished fixing his Trex 450. Which reminds me, I need to find a pinion gear for his Blade 450, and it’s on backorder. Go figure! Our heli fun fly is this weekend…and it’s going to be hot! 90+ degrees! Yuck! Oh well, with the weather a month ahead…maybe August / IRCHA will be much cooler! Like September weather. That is my prayer! Yesterday I was prepared to spend some serious time flying my Trex 700n. With 11 flights on a newly rebuilt motor, a new radio setup, and being able to practice some new maneuvers while breaking in the motor without taxing it too much. But things didn’t work out as planned. Switching into idle 2 right after lifting off the ground…the tail started swinging to the left as if a link broke. So I slammed it to the ground before it got out of control.

Creased the boom, broke one tail wire loop, and broke the rear landing skid…so far. That put a damper on the rest of the day! I pulled the Protos out and put up 2 flights, then I tried the Compass 6HV, only one flight on it. After that I really didn’t feel like flying anymore. The weather was hot at 88 degrees. I was in a constant sweat, and everything metal in the sun was extremely hot to the touch. So Bob and I just hung out under the easy-up I brought with. Even Bob didn’t feel like flying, but we finished fixing his Trex 450.

Which reminds me, I need to find a pinion gear for his Blade 450, and it’s on backorder. Go figure!

Our heli fun fly is this weekend…and it’s going to be hot! 90+ degrees! Yuck! Oh well, with the weather a month ahead…maybe August / IRCHA will be much cooler! Like September weather. That is my prayer! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1910 RC Freak Episode 64: Yardbird Helicopters http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1908 Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:28:32 GMT Hey all, The show is now back to the name from where it came. Jonathan from Yardbird Helicopters talks about their new 550-700 class helicopter as well as pricing and when we might expect to see these at your local flying field. Check it out and enjoy. As per usual, it is on iTunes and right here for direct download: http://rcfreakpodcast.com/home/RC%20Freak%20Podcast%20Files/RC%20Freak%20Episode%2064.mp3 Hey all,

The show is now back to the name from where it came. Jonathan from Yardbird Helicopters talks about their new 550-700 class helicopter as well as pricing and when we might expect to see these at your local flying field. Check it out and enjoy.

As per usual, it is on iTunes and right here for direct download:
http://rcfreakpodcast.com/home/RC%20...isode%2064.mp3 ]]> Dicey http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1908 Steady as she goes http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1907 Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:54:11 GMT It's been a while since I've flow anything other than a sim.
On my Pantera I lowered my swash pitch down to +- 8 degress rather than the 11 or 12 degrees I had and lowered the others to +- 6 degrees.
On startup the Pantera went WOT, killed throttle, not sure how but my throttle servo was reversed. Fixed that and restarted, started right up :clap. It was 90ish degrees outside and my engine was running rich. I like it that way so left it. A few test hovers gave me the answer I wanted. I now have a much more steady and level hover with better response and precision. I'm getting where I want to go with her.... I did some basic hovering around tail - in circles and a few punch outs to test tail hold. All looked good. I tested idle up which also looked good albiet I have the end points lowered to prevent an overspeed due to gearing (probably wouldn't happen due to the pitch but never hurts to be safe)....

I plan to stay gov free and might change when I start inverted. I need to get more flight time.

I got a few flights on my MCPX, circles, figure 8's, then hit some wind and had a rough landing. Lost a grip link.

On the way home I stopped by the LHS to pick up some MCPX grip links. Their computer shows 6 packs in stock but we can't find 1 on the shelf. It's not organized very well. Guy at the LHS said it's possible someone pocketed them as it's normally not hard to find at least 1 pack... I ordered two packs and will wait for them to call. I have 2 spares at home so I'm ok...

The heat was a bit too much for me so I called it a day.
Jer ]]> Jermo http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1907 Heli-Log 6:24:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1906 Sun, 24 Jun 2012 16:35:13 GMT Yesterday was a great day to go flying! Eric and I decided to go to our other place to practice...and it was a good thing we did. Later Chuck stopped by and informed us our flying field was full, both sunshades! A field of nothing but plankers! We wouldn't have been able to fly as much as we did.

I started out with my Trex 700N FBL heli. I had just transferred the settings to my DX8 and was itching to try it out. First flight...the tail gain was quit low which I would rather have vs. too high. The swashplate needed some right trim, but this kind of defeats the purpose with a FBL controller. Well, for this flight I added the trim necessary for stable flight. Next the aileron & elevator control was very sluggish...so I had some tuning to do. Then I noticed the flight gain wasn't working / responding properly.

During the first flight, I addressed the aileron & elevator controls. Kept upping the tail gain until it started to hunt during clockwise nose-in funnels...still haven't reached that point...yet! By the second flight, I wound up setting the travel adjust for the aileron & elevator to 95. For the Total-G, the max limits are set in the computer program...during setup, and the sensitivity is set in the radio in the travel adjust / end point adjustment. What ever, it's working much better now!

After checking the settings for the flight gain, which I thought wasn't working was actually working. It seemed like the second flight everything started working like it was intended. By the third flight, I kept having a tail twitch problem while performing forward flips. This was driving me nuts! It didn't do that before... On the fourth flight I realized I still had some aileron & elevator trim mixed in and now I could see the effects. So I landed, adjusted the trim out and poof! All better now, but the tail was still acting funny.

During clean up of my 700, I discovered the small metal block the holds the tail lever was loose. This caused a lot of slop in the tail blades. Removed the tail control rod, the control arm, the 3 screws holding the side plate, and finally the small metal block. Toctited the screw, then reassembled everything. This should fix it, I'll find out later today!

Now that the 700 is flying 98% better, it was time to work on the Compass 6HV. The 6HV was easy compared to the 700, I just needed to adjust the tail gain and now it flys as well as it did on my 9303! The rest of the day was spent flying and practicing old maneuvers and working on new maneuvers. All in all, 12 flights total for the day. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1906 Heli-Log 6:21:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1903 Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:51:53 GMT I want to test fly the 3 heli’s I added to my DX8, however, the weather here in the Midwest has been hot…90+ degrees, and windy…35+ MPH. So this was a good time to start working on the Compass 3D+ motor…a Thunder Tiger 53…modified. I removed the muffler from the motor and expected to see piston debris in the exhaust port, but I didn’t. Now I’m really curious as to what happened to this motor.

As soon as I could get the motor out, I opened it up and found nothing! What? No metal shavings / debris (FOD) of any kind. It wasn’t until I moved the piston down, and removed it, that I found what happened. I found small bits of exhaust gasket RTV in the bottom of the motor. Apparently I applied a bit too much gasket sealer to the exhaust port and muffler. Some of it broke off and was lodged along the side walls of the sleeve and piston. This eroded the cylinder sleeve and piston causing a drop in compression.

I ordered a new cylinder sleeve, piston & ring, both bearings, and a connecting rod. The sleeve, piston, & ring were damaged…of course. However, the bottom of the connecting rod was sloppy loose on the crank pin. Now I’m kind of wishing I bought a new crank. The front bearing was bad; it leaked and was gravelly feeling. The front bearing came out very easy…after applying some heat; however, the rear bearing didn’t want to come out. So I cleaned it really well and checked it out, added some oil to it and it feels smooth, very smooth.

I installed the front bearing and crankshaft, removed the boss pin and assembled the new piston, connecting rod, and ring. I made the same modifications to the sleeve as the old one, and then put the motor back together…well for the exception of the backplate. Next is to modify the carb adapter. I bought this motor used, and the stock carb was replaced with an O.S. carb. However, the grub screws won’t hold the carb anymore, so I will drill two new holes, tap them and use socket head screws. This will give the carb 4 screws to hold it in place.

So time will tell how well this will work. ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1903 Heli-Log 6:13:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1901 Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:20:55 GMT I have my Rave and Trex 700 helis setup and bound to my DX8 radio. With the Rave, I went through the setup process due to a broken link and bent pitch ball/arm. I learned how the gov & gyro channels are assigned, which is different from the 9303/9503 radios.

I also checked [after working on the Rave and channel assignments] my 6HV. I wanted to make sure I had the right channel assigned and that it was working properly…it is! So that makes 3 more heli’s setup on my DX8. All that’s left on my 9303 are 3 heli profiles for buddy boxing and 2 plankers (Sopwith Pup & Super Sportster, gassers).

Next, I will start in on the motor rebuild on my Compass 3D+… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1901 Heli-Log 6:12:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1899 Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:51:28 GMT Sunday was spent recovering from a stomach bug…ick! After much needed rest, I started in on the Rave, repairing the tip-over damage. The repairs were easy and somewhat quick. I replaced the boom and carefully reassembled the split boom support, wrapped it with thread, and soaked it in thin CA.

Later, I tried to bind my Rave to my new DX8, but it wouldn’t work! I searched the internet for answers, but only found that I would need to send both Total-G’s in for updates. That will put both my 90 size heli’s down. I’m not sure I like that idea! Monday, I created a post and asked if anyone knew how to bind the Total-G to a DX8 radio. I did receive one reply and he mentioned changing the radio to DSM2 mode.

That caused a frenzy in my head. I started consulting the manual…nothing! Next I looked all over the internet…more nothing. I went back to the forums and started searching there and found a minuscule bit of info…frame rates. Hhmm…how could that be linked to DSM2/DSMX mode? From what I understand, frame rates have to do with the servo speed, 11msec vs. 22msec, digital vs. analog. And I read somewhere that the DX8 is capable of detecting the type of receiver being bond to...DSM2/DSMX. In this case, a Total-G with Spektrum sat's, it may not be able to tell...I'm not sure. I’ve seen Frame Rates in the system setup menu, a selection for frame rates, as well as in the main menu in servo settings. So I looked into to it and lo and behold, there it was at the bottom of the screen.

I scrolled to it and clicked on it to change the setting from DSMX to DSM2, then changed the servo speed to 11msec…I have ALL digital servos in all my heli’s. Once changed, I tried again to bind the Total-G to the DX8 and this time it worked!!! It was getting late and I needed to eat, so I called it a day. Tonight I hope to finish working / programming the Rave and start in on my Compass 3D+.

I still need to go over the 6HV in the DX8 to make sure everything is good. So far this is becoming repair / change-over radio week! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1899 BlHeli Setup 4.1.0.0. http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1898 Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:49:48 GMT Rev 2.0 (for Silabs-ESC only) and contains Hex files of latest BlHeli Firmware Revision [2.4, 3.4, 4.0 and 4.1]. Supported ESC's: DP_3A Supermicro_3p5A Turnigy6A XP_3A XP_7A XP_12A To do: save Motor KV /pole/Pinion info somewhere Changes to 4.1.0.0: Added BlHeli 4.1 Hex files. Changes to 3.4.0.0: Added BlHeli 4.0 Hex files, dropped 3.2 and 3.31. Added support for higher Gain values in Rev 4.0 Changes to 3.3.1.0: Added BlHeli 3.4 Hex files. Changes to 3.3.0.0: Added BlHeli 3.2 and 3.31 (fixed 3.3) Hex files. Now user is asked after Flash to assign prior settings to the new firmware (only if EEprom Rev. is the same) Changes to 3.2.0.0: Added BlHeli 3.3 Hex files Changes to 3.0.0.0: Headspeed calculation integrated. Some improvements (Hints show longer, double click on Hex Item in list starts flashing) Changes to 2.4.0.1 Early BETA 3.0.0.0 containing BlHeli 3.2 and 2.4 Hex files Changes to 2.4.0.0 - presumably unflashed ESC's will now be erased before flashing Changes to 2.2.0.1 - Now BlHeli Setup is an ALL-IN-ONE solution. It contains Hex files of latest BlHeli Firmware Revision . Changes to 2.2.0.0: - less warning messages when flashing a n ESC for the first time. Changes to 2.0.0.4: - User message improvements when flashing hex files - added feature to disable re-arming every motor start (valid for Rev >2.2) Have fun]]> The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here
Here is BlHeli Setup 4.1.0.0.

It supports flashing and setup with BlHeli >Rev 2.0
(for Silabs-ESC only) and contains Hex files of latest BlHeli Firmware Revision [2.4, 3.4, 4.0 and 4.1].

Supported ESC's:
DP_3A
Supermicro_3p5A
Turnigy6A
XP_3A
XP_7A
XP_12A

To do: save Motor KV /pole/Pinion info somewhere

Changes to 4.1.0.0:
Added BlHeli 4.1 Hex files.

Changes to 3.4.0.0:
Added BlHeli 4.0 Hex files, dropped 3.2 and 3.31.
Added support for higher Gain values in Rev 4.0

Changes to 3.3.1.0:
Added BlHeli 3.4 Hex files.

Changes to 3.3.0.0:
Added BlHeli 3.2 and 3.31 (fixed 3.3) Hex files.
Now user is asked after Flash to assign prior settings to the new firmware (only if EEprom Rev. is the same)

Changes to 3.2.0.0:
Added BlHeli 3.3 Hex files

Changes to 3.0.0.0:
Headspeed calculation integrated.
Some improvements
(Hints show longer, double click on Hex Item in list starts flashing)

Changes to 2.4.0.1
Early BETA 3.0.0.0 containing BlHeli 3.2 and 2.4 Hex files

Changes to 2.4.0.0
- presumably unflashed ESC's will now be erased before flashing

Changes to 2.2.0.1
- Now BlHeli Setup is an ALL-IN-ONE solution. It contains Hex files of latest BlHeli Firmware Revision
.
Changes to 2.2.0.0:
- less warning messages when flashing a n ESC for the first time.

Changes to 2.0.0.4:
- User message improvements when flashing hex files
- added feature to disable re-arming every motor start (valid for Rev >2.2)

Have fun
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]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1898 Heli-Log 6:11:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1897 Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:05:59 GMT Bob and I decided to head out early Saturday morning, due to the higher temps forecasted for the day. I took the Trex 700, the Compass 6HV, and Protos 500. First flight was on the Protos 500 while the electric starter batteries were on the charger. I helped Bob with a couple of his flights, and then broke out the Trex 700. First flight, it was running great. Having the needles set to 1-7/8 out. By the time I got to the bottom of the tank (~7 minutes), the motor started to run lean. Landed fast and dropped the throttle to zero.

Yep…the motor was hot, but not too hot. So I let it sit for a couple of hours to cool off. In the mean time, I worked on Bob some more trying to get him to fly a circle with his Trex 450se. Bob finally managed to get through his first circle for the day, it was ugly, but it was a circle! And after another minute, he tried it again! This time his 450 rolled into the ground.  He applied too much aileron during the turn instead of rudder.

Damage, surprisingly was minimal. Mainshaft, feathering shaft, boom, belt, main blades, paddles (they were carbons), and flybar. Bob had everything needed with him except for the mainshaft and main blades. I repaired his 450 and everything will be good once again. While repairing his heli, I asked Bob if he would be nervous trying the circle again? Yes was his reply. That’s normal I told him and “we” will work on it together.

Before we go out again, I will have him sit at my sim and practice the maneuver several times to get a better understanding of how the sticks need to move…then we will venture out and try it for real.

Once done with Bob’s heli, it was time to fly the Trex 700 some more. Second flight, as the 700 lifted into the air, the motor started to go lean!??? Totally confused at this point…so I turned both needles out one half turn, now at 2-1/2 turns out. This time the motor was “fat and happy”! Plenty of smoke, rich sound coming from the muffler, and a good head speed. This time I was able to fly the whole tank with the same mixture/richness.

Third flight, up in the air and started flying around. During the 3rd / 4th lap around the field, the motor picked up some rpm. Not sure if this was a good thing. Landed, checked the backplate, and it was warm to the touch…but not hot! So I continued flying. Normally, while breaking in a new motor, I fly around in normal mode, flat, no aerobatics or 3D for many flights. However, I did switch into idle 1 and performed a big loop. First I slowly got up some forward speed and then let inertia take over. The motor loaded up a little, about 5 seconds worth, and returned to normal for a couple of minutes.

Before calling it a day, due to it getting really hot, I put in two flights on my 6HV…that felt really good! Bob and I decided to get out of the heat and go get some lunch, it was a semi good day! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1897 Banshee price and delivery announced http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1896 Mon, 11 Jun 2012 02:05:50 GMT

After weeks of speculation Banshee Helicopters have announced the price of their helicopter at an impressive Euros 2499 ! however that includes 19% local tax which will be excluded for overseas orders and the heli is pre-built !

The heli now holds the FAI speed record for a production model helicopter of 239.68 km/hr :wow2:

The heli features a novel 2-stage belt drive system and 100 spindloe with needle roller bearings in the head as opposed to the normal radial. I am sure we are gonna see a Baznshee or two at this years IRCHA Speed Cup
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]]> Mercuriell http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1896 Heli-Log 6:8:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1895 Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:06:13 GMT Well I started working on the Trex 700 motor rebuild last night. It was a mess inside, mostly at the top, between the piston and head. Most of the piston that broke was imbedded in the head. I took my dremel with a cutoff wheel and carefully cleaned the debris off. Inside the crank area was as bad as you would think, but there was enough damage in there as well. The sleeve needed a little attention, as the ring left some remains on the side walls. A small piece of Scotch Brite pad and emery cloth sandpaper cleaned it right up! There were a couple of burrs on the side wall that I removed using a jewelers file and Scotch Brite pad. I also bought a new set of bearings from Boca Bearings (not ceramic). That was a good decision. The rear bearing was badly messed up, very gritty. So I used my heat gun, one used for shrinking Monokote (plankers) to heat up the case. This worked great! Once hot (~275-300 degrees) and a light smack on the workbench, the rear bearing fell out. So I did the same for the front bearing, and used a screwdriver to lightly push the bearing out. Thoroughly cleaned everything, installed the connecting rod to the new piston, carefully installed the piston ring, and then applied a light coating of lube to the crankcase, piston, and sleeve. I heated up the crankcase again and installed the front bearing. Slid the rear bearing on the crankshaft, and slid that assembly into the crankcase. The rear bearing just popped right into place. With the rear bearing on the crankshaft, it holds the alignment of both bearing as the crankcase cools down. Installed the piston, sleeve, head, fan hub, rear crankcase cover (backplate), and carb. During the carb installation, I found the rubber “O” ring had a chunk missing. Could that have caused this motor to go from rich to lean at high rpm??? Possible…or like Mythbusters would say “plausible.” Once everything was together, I flipped the motor over several times (great compression!), I once again heated the cylinder and head to tighten the head bolts. It’s the same process as installing aluminum wheels on a car… Put the rims on, drive for ~20 minutes, stop and retighten them. Otherwise, the head WILL come loose. Ask me…I know! :face Installed the motor back into my Trex 700, and all is well…once again! Later I will transfer the settings into the DX8, and then start working on my Compass 3D+. I also need to look into what is going on with my Rave…the YS 3D motor. More on that later… The saga continues! “May the force be with you!” Well I started working on the Trex 700 motor rebuild last night. It was a mess inside, mostly at the top, between the piston and head. Most of the piston that broke was imbedded in the head. I took my dremel with a cutoff wheel and carefully cleaned the debris off. Inside the crank area was as bad as you would think, but there was enough damage in there as well.

The sleeve needed a little attention, as the ring left some remains on the side walls. A small piece of Scotch Brite pad and emery cloth sandpaper cleaned it right up! There were a couple of burrs on the side wall that I removed using a jewelers file and Scotch Brite pad. I also bought a new set of bearings from Boca Bearings (not ceramic). That was a good decision. The rear bearing was badly messed up, very gritty.

So I used my heat gun, one used for shrinking Monokote (plankers) to heat up the case. This worked great! Once hot (~275-300 degrees) and a light smack on the workbench, the rear bearing fell out. So I did the same for the front bearing, and used a screwdriver to lightly push the bearing out. Thoroughly cleaned everything, installed the connecting rod to the new piston, carefully installed the piston ring, and then applied a light coating of lube to the crankcase, piston, and sleeve.

I heated up the crankcase again and installed the front bearing. Slid the rear bearing on the crankshaft, and slid that assembly into the crankcase. The rear bearing just popped right into place. With the rear bearing on the crankshaft, it holds the alignment of both bearing as the crankcase cools down. Installed the piston, sleeve, head, fan hub, rear crankcase cover (backplate), and carb. During the carb installation, I found the rubber “O” ring had a chunk missing. Could that have caused this motor to go from rich to lean at high rpm??? Possible…or like Mythbusters would say “plausible.”

Once everything was together, I flipped the motor over several times (great compression!), I once again heated the cylinder and head to tighten the head bolts. It’s the same process as installing aluminum wheels on a car… Put the rims on, drive for ~20 minutes, stop and retighten them. Otherwise, the head WILL come loose. Ask me…I know! :face

Installed the motor back into my Trex 700, and all is well…once again! Later I will transfer the settings into the DX8, and then start working on my Compass 3D+. I also need to look into what is going on with my Rave…the YS 3D motor.

More on that later…

The saga continues! “May the force be with you!” ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1895 Heli-Log 6:7:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1894 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:01:41 GMT Yesterday was a great day to fly, winds around 5 mph! I just had to put some flight time on my Rave, however, disaster struck. The first flight was great, motor running smooth and a bit on the rich side. By the end of the flight, it started to lean out a bit. I checked that idle needle (fuel flow) and it had moved just a little or so it would seem. I turned it out an 1/8th and everything [once again] was fine.

At the end of the second flight, during an auto, the motor died slowly, as if I had the idle trim set too low. A quick check in the radio programming for the throttle hold setting, and sure enough, I had it set low enough the motor would barely run…simple fix. Third flight, upon spool up, the swashplate was tilted to the left and it quickly tipped over, before I could react, causing the heli to spin around as the blades dug into the ground…oops! I’ve been meaning to change the parameter in the Total-G programming to prevent this. Damage is minimal as far as I can tell. Broke a link on the swash going to the blade grip, cracked one carbon fiber boom support (easy fix), slightly creased the boom, and dinged the blade from the blade grip. It was more embarrassing that anything else.

So I put away my Rave and proceeded to put in 2 flights on my 6HV and Protos 500. In the meantime, Bob had his Blade 450 3D fixed and flying great. The screws on the mixer and washout had come loose after many flights. I showed him how to tighten them and how to check them for slop. Early yesterday, Bob went to fly his Blade, second flight, and it wouldn’t spool up! Upon careful inspection, the motor shaft had broken, so it is laid up for the time being.

Bob got brave and tried out his Trex 450 SE…without me assisting! I was hoping to buddy box with him for the first couple of flights to allow him time to get used to the controls…and power! But Bob did great and loves the power and stability of his 450. On the second flight, I almost witnessed him planting his 450 into the ground. Bob has been trying to fly circles, counter clockwise, and messed up the turn coming into him. However, he learned or should I say did his first struggling recovery! Yea, his knees were knocking together after that one!

I reassured him it was ok and he alone saved his heli (great job!), now just fly from side to side of a little while…something he know how to do very well. After some time to rest and collect his thoughts…Bob went up again. This time I talked him through the process of making turns slowly and carefully…then I gave him some “homework” to work on.

Tonight and tomorrow night is work on heli’s night. The piston, ring, and bearings have arrived, so now I can rebuild that Align engine! I will fix my Rave and finally transfer the programming to the DX8 radio...and the Trex 700. Why shoot...I might do the same for the 6HV! I am really liking the feel of my DX8. But...now the DX18 is almost out and it looks great! It's a bit pricey, $799.99. So I'll use the DX8 for a while, let the DX18 wear-in a bit...working out the bugs. Then maybe...

More to come… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1894 BlHeli Setup 4.0.0.0 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1893 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:57:45 GMT The most recent Revision of BlHeli Setup can be found here ]]> 4712 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1893 Heli-Log 6:5:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1892 Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:11:32 GMT I managed to get a couple of flights before our club board meeting yesterday, on my Rave. I am really liking flying right side up backwards, a lot less cleaning to do! My boom and tail has very little oil residue. My Rave is running great…so far. Just need to look into a couple of things…rpm sensor, a small vibration issue, and I would like to transfer the Rave to the DX8 radio. However, the weather is nice again and the desire to run out and put in more flying after work is great! But I have several things I need to do... Bob wound up crash landing his Blade 450 3D yesterday. A little black bug flew behind his sunglasses and started bouncing off his eye lid and his sunglasses! The Nat then flew into his eye and he panicked, landing his heli somewhat hard nose first. He bent the spindle shaft, stripped the main gear, bent the flybar, broke the landing gear, and cracked the main blades. Not all that bad considering what could have happened if he was higher. I told him it was time to breakout his Trex 450se. However, when he turned the radio on, it started beeping. Turns out the battery voltage alarm was going off…8.3V…oops! And I didn’t bring my charging station which had a charge cable for his 9303 radio. Well, Ok then, were done for the day. We spent the rest of the day (couple of hours) enjoying the cooler weather and sun set. We also started discussing plans for IRCHA! I managed to get a couple of flights before our club board meeting yesterday, on my Rave. I am really liking flying right side up backwards, a lot less cleaning to do! My boom and tail has very little oil residue. My Rave is running great…so far. Just need to look into a couple of things…rpm sensor, a small vibration issue, and I would like to transfer the Rave to the DX8 radio. However, the weather is nice again and the desire to run out and put in more flying after work is great! But I have several things I need to do...

Bob wound up crash landing his Blade 450 3D yesterday. A little black bug flew behind his sunglasses and started bouncing off his eye lid and his sunglasses! The Nat then flew into his eye and he panicked, landing his heli somewhat hard nose first. He bent the spindle shaft, stripped the main gear, bent the flybar, broke the landing gear, and cracked the main blades. Not all that bad considering what could have happened if he was higher.

I told him it was time to breakout his Trex 450se. However, when he turned the radio on, it started beeping. Turns out the battery voltage alarm was going off…8.3V…oops! And I didn’t bring my charging station which had a charge cable for his 9303 radio. Well, Ok then, were done for the day. We spent the rest of the day (couple of hours) enjoying the cooler weather and sun set. We also started discussing plans for IRCHA! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1892 Heli-Log 6:3:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1890 Sun, 03 Jun 2012 11:55:43 GMT Yesterday was a blast! The weather was great and a little breezy. I brought the Rave, Compass 6HV, and Protos 500. I finally had the time to workout the motor issues with the YS 3D motor. After several failed attempts, I just couldn't get this motor to run right. It would start and run, rich on spool up, then lean out once in idle 2. Had a couple flame outs! I wound up draining my starter trying to get this motor to run right. So I placed my starter on charge, and while it was charging, I put in two more flights on the 6HV & Protos.

Sitting quietly for 20 minutes, I remembered a similar problem I had with a YS 120 SR 4 stroke motor. It was the idle needle mixture control that was giving me fits! It was way lean!!:oops: This needle controls the amount of fuel going into the carb. It was almost one half turn lean. Once I adjusted it, the motor came to life and now performs flawless...well ok, it runs great! Now I need to look into why the rpm sensor on the Total-G isn't working.:face

All in all, it was a great day, put in 13 flights. Feeling totally comfortable flying right side up backward, turning both directions! I'm hoping to get out later today and put some serious stick time on my Rave!

Until then...have a great day! :YeaBaby: ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1890 Heli-Log 5:31:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1888 Thu, 31 May 2012 13:38:09 GMT Well it finally happened. The carb on my 3D+ came loose on the second flight, and went lean in flight which resulted in ruining the piston! So this time, I’ll order a new piston and ring, buy all new loctite [red and blue], and silicon gasket sealer. I will rebuild it and try it again, and if that doesn’t work…I’ll buy a new motor.

So far the parts ordered for the Thunder Tiger motor comes to $65.99 [piston, ring, connecting rod (just in case)]. I also ordered a piston, ring, and bearing set for my Align motor. Somewhere this motor is sucking air! It runs great for a couple of flights, then goes lean. It doesn’t matter at what level the fuel tank is, I’ve been watching this.

Thankfully, my 6HV and Protos is flying well. I put in one flight on each then called it quits, the temps were falling (63 degrees) and I was getting cold (no jacket!). All in all, 4 flights for the day. Looks like I’ll be flying my electric more until I get both nitro motors fixed.

Today, it is raining, so I’ll take this opportunity to transfer the radio setting of my Protos 500 and Compass 6HV into my DX8. I’m really getting to like the DX8 over my JR 9303. The sticks are smoother, the countdown timer is on the throttle, and for some reason…all the switches are easier to reach without needing to look or feel with my fingers. I think some of that is attributed to the spacing of the switch locations. They seem further apart so my big fingers can fit between them comfortably.

However, I’m a bit leery of the battery in the DX8. When charging [according to the manual] the transmitter, the light [Spektrum’s bars] never changes color or even goes out when the charge cycle is complete. I guess [considering it’s raining] I can try charging the pack outside of the radio and watch what my charger says.

Time will tell… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1888 Heli-Log 5:29:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1886 Tue, 29 May 2012 23:34:58 GMT The start of the three day weekend…Saturday was a mixed weather day, cool and rainy in the morning, windy and warm early afternoon, cooler and calm early evening, then back to windy…35+ mph! I Managed to get out flying Sunday after church, and only one flight yesterday…too windy again! I worked with Greg for a good portion of Sunday, hover practice. And we did make some progress after his training gear started failing! Greg bought this 5 legged, cone type training gear for learning to hover with. I was expecting two sticks criss-crossed, and strapped to the bottom of his heli. Well during Greg’s third flight, the “leg’s” of his training gear started dropping off in flight! This started bothering Greg’s concentration; he kept loosing focus on his hovering skills. I affirmed him that I will take care of the landing situation and continue to practice. But no such luck, Greg just couldn’t take it any longer, so I took over and started flying crack style trying to shake off the two remaining leg’s. But as one would expect, the last two leg’s remained attached, so I was forced to land this way. I wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, basically the two remaining leg’s were easy enough to bend and I landed Greg’s heli without any damage. So the remaining flights, I gave him control while the heli was in the air. I managed to get some much needed practice myself. I’ve been working on four point tic-toc’s and getting better acquainted with flying right side up backwards. Mind you, I can fly backwards…but never felt truly confident with it. While working with flying backwards, I’ve been performing them in a large circle, with reversals (figure 8’s). As I get better and better, I’ve added slow pirouettes rotating with the circle…even on windy days. It helps to keep the heli in one spot. Early this morning, I started practicing everything I did on Sunday inverted…that was interesting! However, it is progress and my new trainees are witnessing first hand at the process it takes to break down cool looking maneuvers and learn the parts that becomes the whole. The Align motor has a hole in the piston, so I will need a new piston and ring. My 3D+ tried to eject the carburetor once again! Not sure how to fix it this time…maybe some red loctite and a locking nut! The start of the three day weekend…Saturday was a mixed weather day, cool and rainy in the morning, windy and warm early afternoon, cooler and calm early evening, then back to windy…35+ mph! I Managed to get out flying Sunday after church, and only one flight yesterday…too windy again!

I worked with Greg for a good portion of Sunday, hover practice. And we did make some progress after his training gear started failing! Greg bought this 5 legged, cone type training gear for learning to hover with. I was expecting two sticks criss-crossed, and strapped to the bottom of his heli. Well during Greg’s third flight, the “leg’s” of his training gear started dropping off in flight! This started bothering Greg’s concentration; he kept loosing focus on his hovering skills. I affirmed him that I will take care of the landing situation and continue to practice.

But no such luck, Greg just couldn’t take it any longer, so I took over and started flying crack style trying to shake off the two remaining leg’s. But as one would expect, the last two leg’s remained attached, so I was forced to land this way. I wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, basically the two remaining leg’s were easy enough to bend and I landed Greg’s heli without any damage. So the remaining flights, I gave him control while the heli was in the air.

I managed to get some much needed practice myself. I’ve been working on four point tic-toc’s and getting better acquainted with flying right side up backwards. Mind you, I can fly backwards…but never felt truly confident with it. While working with flying backwards, I’ve been performing them in a large circle, with reversals (figure 8’s).

As I get better and better, I’ve added slow pirouettes rotating with the circle…even on windy days. It helps to keep the heli in one spot. Early this morning, I started practicing everything I did on Sunday inverted…that was interesting! However, it is progress and my new trainees are witnessing first hand at the process it takes to break down cool looking maneuvers and learn the parts that becomes the whole.

The Align motor has a hole in the piston, so I will need a new piston and ring. My 3D+ tried to eject the carburetor once again! Not sure how to fix it this time…maybe some red loctite and a locking nut! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1886 Heli-Log 5:23:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1885 Wed, 23 May 2012 16:32:46 GMT Yesterday was a beautiful day for flying! I had two heli’s to test out and not a lot of time to do it in. I started with the Trex 700 first. Within 5, or so, minutes I blew up the Align motor. Prior to this flight, I had changed all the fuel tubing, moved the header tank lower and stuck it to the side of the main tank. I opened the needles to two turns out and started tuning the motor. Everything was going great, nice smoke trail, had some power, but still on the rich side. Then I decided to perform a few funnels letting it warm up a bit. However, on the third lap around, I noticed the smoke stream narrowed and became lite. I hit throttle and right at that time the motor popped and stopped running! I pulled the back cover of the motor and nothing but grit! I really don’t know the condition of the piston, but can only imagine it has a hole in it. I haven’t done anything else to it…yet, but I am convinced my Trex 700 is possessed! It doesn’t like Align motors…LoL! If I had the money…I would buy the O.S. 105 and pipe in a heartbeat! I haven’t touched the YS motor in my Rave…after the swap. In the meantime…My 3D+ is flying fantastically!!! I transferred the setting into the DX8, dropped the gyro gain to 50%. The gain is at 60% and feels great! I had bought some replacement stick ends for the transmitter, due to the soft ends on the DX8, my thumbs kept slipping off the controls! Not good! However, I bought the long ones and now I need to shorten them about an 1/8”…no biggie. So I put in three flights on the 3D+. Worked on slow pirouetting funnels and 4 point tic toc’s with reversals. Someday I’ll work into pirouetting tic toc’s. Overall, it was a good day! Too bad I didn’t have more time to fly, next time… Yesterday was a beautiful day for flying! I had two heli’s to test out and not a lot of time to do it in. I started with the Trex 700 first. Within 5, or so, minutes I blew up the Align motor. Prior to this flight, I had changed all the fuel tubing, moved the header tank lower and stuck it to the side of the main tank. I opened the needles to two turns out and started tuning the motor. Everything was going great, nice smoke trail, had some power, but still on the rich side. Then I decided to perform a few funnels letting it warm up a bit. However, on the third lap around, I noticed the smoke stream narrowed and became lite. I hit throttle and right at that time the motor popped and stopped running! I pulled the back cover of the motor and nothing but grit! I really don’t know the condition of the piston, but can only imagine it has a hole in it.

I haven’t done anything else to it…yet, but I am convinced my Trex 700 is possessed! It doesn’t like Align motors…LoL! If I had the money…I would buy the O.S. 105 and pipe in a heartbeat! I haven’t touched the YS motor in my Rave…after the swap.

In the meantime…My 3D+ is flying fantastically!!! I transferred the setting into the DX8, dropped the gyro gain to 50%. The gain is at 60% and feels great! I had bought some replacement stick ends for the transmitter, due to the soft ends on the DX8, my thumbs kept slipping off the controls! Not good! However, I bought the long ones and now I need to shorten them about an 1/8”…no biggie.

So I put in three flights on the 3D+. Worked on slow pirouetting funnels and 4 point tic toc’s with reversals. Someday I’ll work into pirouetting tic toc’s. Overall, it was a good day! Too bad I didn’t have more time to fly, next time… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1885 Heli-Log 5:20:12 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1882 Mon, 21 May 2012 13:34:09 GMT As of Friday, last week, my work hours changed, so now I can fly in the mornings! Took my Trex 700 and the Compass 3D+ out early in the morning Friday. I started with the Trex 700 to tweak the Align motor I installed. A few adjustments and it was off and flying! I was having some rich/lean problems and wasn't able to track it down. For the most part, the motor was on the rich side. So I started practicing some new maneuvers.

On the On the third flight, I noticed something odd. The tail was moving, meaning the tail blades were not totally vertical, it was tilted 10-15 degrees to the right! The boom was spinning in the boom grip at the body while in flight! Great! I had just replaced the old grip due to the plastic key the end of the boom fits into was sheared off. so this time I sanded the end with some 180 grit sandpaper, drilled two holes on both sides and "pined" it, and last but not least I used some goop on the boom. Yea, it's not going to move now! While I was fixing that, I noticed the end on the torque tube was very loose. So I pulled the pin, removed the end, cleaned inside the tub and the end, took a sticky note, cut it to fit around the end and carefully inserted the end into the torque tube. Pressed the pin back in to hold the assembly, slid the plastic retainer in place...fixed!

While I was working on the fixes for the tail, I started thinking about my rich/lean problem. I think a lot of the problems I was having was due to the header tank being up over the top of the carb. Normally you would think that would flood the motor, gravity feed. I was noticing the header tank would start emptying before the main tank, but not all the time. So I decided to move the tank down even with the main tank. I used double sided tape to secure the header tank to the main tank. I'll see how this works, hopefully achieving a consistent run.

Now it was time to try out my Compass 3D+ on the Spektrum DX8. First flight turned out not so good! The tail was very touchy in a hover. I landed, brought the travel adjust back to 100% left & right side, and tried it again. This time the sensitivity was way too hight...another classic example of not reading the instruction! The tail started hunting violently, and I quickly landed...hard. Using a new radio and not able to find the throttle hold switch fast enough...I planted the 3D+ on the ground, breaking the tail fin, rear landing gear, and breaking a tail blade holder.

The damage wasn't too bad, called it a day and went to work. Once home, the repairs were simple. This time I will read the manual on how to set up this new radio. Both heli's are ready for another test flight, with hopefully better results! Today is a bit windy with high gusts, so I'll wait until tomorrow...winds at 8 mph. In the meantime, I'm wondering what to do about my Rave... I'm not quite sure if I should replace the Total-G with a Beast X. After flying both Compass's, the Trex 700, and the Protos, the Rave just doesn't feel right! Both Compass's and the Protos have the Beast X, but the Trex 700 has a Total-G... I'll have to work on that a bit.

Until tomorrow! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1882 Good things come in small packages... http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1881 Sun, 20 May 2012 23:28:22 GMT It's a sunny but windy day in the carolina's. I got off work and decided to fly a few packs with the MCPX in the yard. Since it was windy I removed the verticle stab. 6 minutes for each pack. I found it fun to try and maintain position in the wind while working on slow piro trying to maintain altitude and position. With the wind it was even more of a challenge. I believe I'm up to 10 flights on this bird and am loving it. I did use some oil on the swash, grips, and anything that looked like it moved. I was bothered by an odd buzzing noise coming from what I thought was the main motor. Once while nose in the wind blew the model about a foot from my face and I noted that the sound was actually coming from the tail motor :thumbup: . The more I fly this little one the more I appreciate the low cost and practical flight time it affords me while at the same time lowering stress from fear of potentially crashing. I'm going through the Pantera head, doing a re-level and checking the setup just to ensure it's all good. The 500 just needs some throttle curve tweaks and it will be where I want it.

At the end of the day it's about flight time and building on successes.

Jer ]]> Jermo http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1881 You have to know your limits and how to mitigate them... http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1879 Sun, 20 May 2012 11:00:58 GMT My fiance' and I spent Thurs/Fri/Sat at Joe Nall this past week. If you've never been and have the opportunity you owe it to yourself to attend. It's primarily a fixed wing event but the rotary group is growing and healthy.
We had a really great time with Jeff, Cindy, Chuck, Ed ( Tom and Jeff L showed up but didn't camp). I didn't fly because they wanted $50 a day to fly :wow2: . $65 for the week. We originally were only going to stay one day and asked how much... $50... needless to say I didn't fly my 500 or Pantera.
I'd been looking for a small micro to fly indoors and/or in the yard just to get more stick time that wasn't on the sim. Jeff, Chuck, and Ed all three have the Eflite MCPX. My past experiences with Eflite weren't good....Jeff let me fly his bird and I have to say I was hooked :bacon . It somehow handles the wind very well. The stock bird flies very well (I am running 45% expo where I'd normally not run any). Jeff knew a guy and I got a great deal on a BNF. Dropped by Harbor Freight on the way home to pick up a case. I used a coathanger with a battery charger to cut the stock foam down to fit in the case and VIOLA!! instant compact carrying case. I'll be modifying the foam a bit more to hold the charger and spares. I also picked up a parallel charging board from RC Accessories.

Overall Joe Nall was a great experience. RC Jets, Jet powered gliders, Planes of all kinds doing just about anything you can imagine. At night the skies appeard to be filled with UFO's of all shapes and sizes... the warm exhaust sounds lulling us off to sleep....

The main bath house was definately high rent. I've not seen such a well run and well setup event. I look foward to next year and will probably pre-register (and may even take the week to be there. ).

Two things I hope are fixed for next year:

1. I hope they take the weekly pilot fee and divide it out per day and have a lower daily rate. It was silly to charge $50 for someone to fly one day (or even two). The Helicopter flight lines were often empty.

2. Keep the fixed wing pilots in compliance with AMA. We had planes flying over us, the helicopter flight lines, and other cars/campers/people constantly. A few times we came close to having collisions. I had occasion to speak with one of the volunteers who said they were briefing pilots every morning and throughout the day. Things would get better for a while then pilots would start extending too far down again. I have to believe it's an honest mistake with a limitation on depth perception at extreme range. At the extreme distance you can't really tell that you're over X area. Maybe put orange barrier material accross the top of the tree line at the boundry so pilots can see it ? I'm not sure if that would work but who knows.. ?

Jer ]]> Jermo http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1879 Thoughts on Forums... http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1878 Sat, 19 May 2012 14:44:30 GMT Forums are great and I am an avid user of this one in particular, but I have a few pet peeves regarding some peoples posts.

It already difficult enough to find specific things in a forum that has nearly 4 million posts in over 400 thousand threads by more than 160 thousand members.

Pet peeve number 1-More powerful search tool would certainly help

Pet peeve number 2 (and the reason for this post)
It would be very helpful if members gave more details when posting things.
A post that says, "I changed the setting and it flies great now", is about as useful and t@ts on a bull.
What did you change and on what? changed it from what to what? Grant it that usually the thread will provide clues as to what was changed. but not always, especially if there were many various setting discussed.

So please folks try to help out those of us that are trying to learn, or looking for answers to specific difficulties we are having.
Give a little detail, the more the better. :clap

:bacon ]]> dpelletier http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1878 Beam E4 V1 has gone Flybarless http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1876 Thu, 17 May 2012 16:59:21 GMT I was visiting my dad last weekend and brought the Beam with me. I thought he would enjoy discovering the makings of an RC Helicopter, so he helped me as I finished running the wires and tying everything down on the now flybarless Beam E4 V1.
I'm using a traditional receiver with a brand spanking new Skookum 540, so there are lots of wires.

I placed the 540 on top with the tape supplied, but that tape is rather to spongy for my liking. I zip tied it down (all I had at hand) to secure it, it will do until I can get back to my workshop.

Then we went out for a test flight... the thing just floated up solid. This is actually my favorite part of flying, when it first lifts slowly off the ground and settles into a nice hover.
Tracking was a little off but it flew real nice and the tail was very solid.
I am using the same Edge blades (Flybar version), probably makes no difference for my skill level.
I floated around a little doing small circuits and then pulled it into a power loop followed by a couple of rolls and flips. My Dad really seemed to enjoy this from the exclamations and remarks! (Will not be repeated in public)

On my drive back from my Dad's, it occurred to me that I had not tightened the Jesus bolt holding the head on the shaft, nor the bolts holding the swash followers that also tighten the head onto the shaft.
I haven't even dared look at it since, almost afraid to see of the nut is still on the bolt and/or how close to disaster that flight was...

Pre-flight check, Pre-flight check, Pre-flight check, Pre-flight check, Pre-flight check, Pre-flight check...
Oh and one more thing... Pre-flight check!
You may also want to add... A Post-flight check!

:bacon ]]> dpelletier http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1876 Heli-Log 5:17:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1875 Thu, 17 May 2012 15:18:20 GMT Short update... Finally dug into my Trex 700... Upon removing the muffler, there was a bunch of oil sitting in the exhaust port. Then when I removed the back plate, more oil poured out…not fuel, but oil from the fuel. There was about an ounce total just sitting in this motor. The motor was running way rich. Ok, no problem…cleaned it up and swapped motors with my Rave. At the time, the YS 91 3D motor was in the Trex 700 and the Align/O.S. 90 was in the Rave. Now the YS is in the Rave and the Align/O.S. is in the Trex 700. So far the Trex ready to go after I set the end points in the radio. I still need to install the motor in the Rave, but after I open up the regulator, check it for FOD or damage, and throughly check the carb and needle valves. More to come... Short update...

Finally dug into my Trex 700... Upon removing the muffler, there was a bunch of oil sitting in the exhaust port. Then when I removed the back plate, more oil poured out…not fuel, but oil from the fuel. There was about an ounce total just sitting in this motor. The motor was running way rich.

Ok, no problem…cleaned it up and swapped motors with my Rave. At the time, the YS 91 3D motor was in the Trex 700 and the Align/O.S. 90 was in the Rave. Now the YS is in the Rave and the Align/O.S. is in the Trex 700.

So far the Trex ready to go after I set the end points in the radio. I still need to install the motor in the Rave, but after I open up the regulator, check it for FOD or damage, and throughly check the carb and needle valves.

More to come... ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1875 Heli-Log 5:15:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1873 Tue, 15 May 2012 18:04:51 GMT Well…so much for flying tonight! 30+ mph winds with the threat of thunder storms. In the meantime, the Compass 3D+ is ready to fly, including being flown with my new DX8. I wasn’t sure how compatible JR and Spektrum are, so I copied the profile from the JR 9303 to the DX8…by hand. I tried the transfer function, but that didn’t work. Once bound, it seems to be an exact match, everything checks out. But time will tell when I go to test fly it, if it works...it will make my life a lot easier transferring everything else. I had ordered some replacement radio stick ends for my DX8, due to the top of the sticks currently on my DX8; they seem to have been sanded down. I should have received them Friday, considering I live 4 hours away from Horizon Hobbies! Maybe I should have driven there. Instead, I received one of those, “Oh, we missed you” cards from the postman…signature required...for a $13.00 part!?!?!?:arggg: Next time I’ll have my LHS order from them! It will be a lot faster. I started looking into my Trex 700 before I stopped working on my heli’s to fixed dinner. So far the YS motor has some compression, a bit weak possibly due to a lack of fuel/oil. I’ll find out tonight…while it’s raining! More on that later… Well…so much for flying tonight! 30+ mph winds with the threat of thunder storms.

In the meantime, the Compass 3D+ is ready to fly, including being flown with my new DX8. I wasn’t sure how compatible JR and Spektrum are, so I copied the profile from the JR 9303 to the DX8…by hand. I tried the transfer function, but that didn’t work. Once bound, it seems to be an exact match, everything checks out. But time will tell when I go to test fly it, if it works...it will make my life a lot easier transferring everything else.

I had ordered some replacement radio stick ends for my DX8, due to the top of the sticks currently on my DX8; they seem to have been sanded down. I should have received them Friday, considering I live 4 hours away from Horizon Hobbies! Maybe I should have driven there. Instead, I received one of those, “Oh, we missed you” cards from the postman…signature required...for a $13.00 part!?!?!?:arggg: Next time I’ll have my LHS order from them! It will be a lot faster.

I started looking into my Trex 700 before I stopped working on my heli’s to fixed dinner. So far the YS motor has some compression, a bit weak possibly due to a lack of fuel/oil. I’ll find out tonight…while it’s raining!

More on that later… ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1873 Heli-Log 6:14:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1872 Mon, 14 May 2012 15:03:09 GMT Finally…some nicer weather to fly in!!! The last three days produced some much needed flying. I’ve watched enough videos and practiced on the sim, but couldn’t fill the need to get out and fly in real time. My Protos 500 and Compass 6HV are the two heli’s that haven’t needed any attention other than charging batteries and flying. However, the Protos has a new nick-name… It is now called the Green Hornet! Ok, ok…I was having problems seeing my Protos in overcast conditions, with the top of the canopy being black. The orange under the front nose really stands out in most lighting conditions. So I have some florescent green trim tape (Monokote with adhesive on the back) left over from a glider project and decided to add a couple of green stripes in the black area. So I cut out 2 slightly curved and tapered stripes and placed them along side to the word “Protos.” Now the canopy looks like it has a pair of large fangs…Cool! Once at the flying field, Eric asked about the new green stripes. He thought I bought a new canopy or painted it on. So then he asked when I was going to fly the “Green Hornet.” What?? The Green…what? Oh I get it… It’s funny how nick-names happen…and stick! I decided to pull out my Trex 700N FBL and give it a workout, however, the motor started acting weird and flamed out on the second flight…inverted of course! Did a partial blade stop during the flip out to right side up, but managed to gain some head speed to land safely. However, my Compass 3D+ wasn’t so lucky! Just got it all tuned up and flying the way I like it, but forgot to start the countdown timer on the 3rd flight! Well…the 3D+ survived the less than gentle landing in the tall grass. Bent the long screw on the blade grip holding the control arm, and so far that is all I have found. It will live to fly another day…tomorrow!! In the meantime, I’ve been working on right side up backwards flight, performing hurricanes, funnels, figure “8” , anything involving backwards flight. Also, I’ve managed to get my 4 point Tic Toc’s down and somewhat low to the ground without moving around too much. Now to reverse the direction! Finally…some nicer weather to fly in!!! The last three days produced some much needed flying. I’ve watched enough videos and practiced on the sim, but couldn’t fill the need to get out and fly in real time.

My Protos 500 and Compass 6HV are the two heli’s that haven’t needed any attention other than charging batteries and flying. However, the Protos has a new nick-name… It is now called the Green Hornet! Ok, ok…I was having problems seeing my Protos in overcast conditions, with the top of the canopy being black. The orange under the front nose really stands out in most lighting conditions. So I have some florescent green trim tape (Monokote with adhesive on the back) left over from a glider project and decided to add a couple of green stripes in the black area. So I cut out 2 slightly curved and tapered stripes and placed them along side to the word “Protos.” Now the canopy looks like it has a pair of large fangs…Cool!

Once at the flying field, Eric asked about the new green stripes. He thought I bought a new canopy or painted it on. So then he asked when I was going to fly the “Green Hornet.” What?? The Green…what? Oh I get it… It’s funny how nick-names happen…and stick!

I decided to pull out my Trex 700N FBL and give it a workout, however, the motor started acting weird and flamed out on the second flight…inverted of course! Did a partial blade stop during the flip out to right side up, but managed to gain some head speed to land safely. However, my Compass 3D+ wasn’t so lucky! Just got it all tuned up and flying the way I like it, but forgot to start the countdown timer on the 3rd flight!

Well…the 3D+ survived the less than gentle landing in the tall grass. Bent the long screw on the blade grip holding the control arm, and so far that is all I have found. It will live to fly another day…tomorrow!!

In the meantime, I’ve been working on right side up backwards flight, performing hurricanes, funnels, figure “8” , anything involving backwards flight.

Also, I’ve managed to get my 4 point Tic Toc’s down and somewhat low to the ground without moving around too much. Now to reverse the direction! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1872 Synergy and Gaui Helis are back in Stock! http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1871 Sat, 12 May 2012 11:07:33 GMT Seems like starting an online business in a world of the 'BIG' guys can be frustrating. Been working hard to get www.circlecityhelis.com noticed. While I am getting some traffic, it is hard to get people to buy.

I now have a system that allows me to provide special pricing on many products. Come over and check it out. I am carrying Synergy, Gaui, Align, Castle, KDE, Outrage Torq servos, Rail rotor blades on my helicopter dedicated shop.

If you are into Quads, UAVs check out www.hobby-drones.com. This shop carries the best components available including DJI, Avroto motors, Maytech ESC, and APC props.

Check out the shops for specials. They change frequently so bookmark the urls and come back frequently.

I hope to see you all at IRCHA.

Lou ]]> lperagallo http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1871 1 is the loneliest number . . . http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1868 Thu, 10 May 2012 18:12:39 GMT Thurs 5/10/2012.

Nobody was going to the field today besides me. The weather is a beautiful Carolina day around 70 degrees with a slight breeze (and some gusts). Scatter clouds but no rain.

I packed up the car as usual but left all the repair parts and extra tools at home. I'm feeling good!! I expected to only be there about an hour so I left the chairs and canopy at home as well.

Preflight on both birds went without incident. Pulling and pushing, tugging and jerking..everything feels and looks good. Oiled the parts that use it and fueled up the Pantera. Pulled pack 1 for the Trex 500 out and mounted it. I'm now ready for some flying.

1st flight was on the Trex 500. I have the timer on about 4m30s. These packs are 3300mAH but I suspect they are near the end of usable life since they come down around 80% or so..still working out my safe flight times for them. Running 12T at about 75% throttle the packs come down a bit warm. I changed the timing and degree of the ESC last night and it came down MUCH cooler. Did mostly tail in since this is the first flight. I did do some nose in just to get used to it. While flying the 500 a huge gust of wind knocked my hat off, knocked the Pantera off the table and some other stuff. It was hard to stay focused on the 500 but I managed. From 50% to 100% throttle it's a flat 75% with no gov mode. Linear pitch curves. The bird is still a bit bouncy but that could be the wind.

2nd Flight the Pantera started right up. The YS 61 is running like a swiss watch now that I know a little more on how to properly manage the fuel cutoff. I did some sport flying (turning towards me), some nose in, some tail in, T patterns. Brought her down once to check engine temp. Increased the hover needled 2 clicks rich. I'm amazed at just how steady and responsive the Pantera is. Much so more now that the engine is setup closer to correct. Landed without incident.

3rd flight with the 500. Mostly nose in and sport flying. I'm still getting small boughts of dumb thumbs at times when flying to my right. I need to focus and concentrate more on flying to my right most often until it's no longer an issue. I only had to bail out once with full collective and right rudder. A gust of wind bounced her in the air and I adjusted wrongly. Easy recovery and no issues afterwards.

I called it a day after that. Just wasn't as much fun to fly by myself. Robin was home doing house stuff and it's past 1:30PM.

Tomorrow is yet another day.
Jer ]]> Jermo http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1868 Heli-Log 5:9:2012 http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1867 Wed, 09 May 2012 13:45:56 GMT I managed to get out for some flying fun last night. I was planning on teaching the new pilots, but it was too windy for them (23+mph wind). I was planning on staying in and working on my 3D+, but “little” Eric said he was heading out…so I met him at the field!

Once again…no plankers! Man, they must have a serious problem with flying in the wind. Oh well, Eric and I had a good time even though the clouds moved in and threatened to rain on us. I flew my 6HV first, I am feeling more comfortable with this heli. Then I pulled out my Rave…all I can say is what a big difference! My Rave acts very sloppy, so now I need to reevaluate my radio programming. I can still fly it, but it doesn’t feel locked in. The controls almost feel too sensitive.

So I put the Rave away and pulled out my Protos 500, now I feel better at the controls, a much tighter / connected feeling. Maybe it’s the Beast X controller…Beast X vs. Total-G. I’ll go over the radio setting and see if I can get the Rave to fly / feel like my others.

In the meantime…the Compass 3D+ is grounded, trying to solve the irregular swash movement…I have parts on order. And while I was in an ordering mode…I ordered some replacement gimbal stick ends for my DX8. Apparently someone ground down the “nubs” [pointy ends] on the stick ends making it very smooth. Normally I would have an issue with this, however, I rely on those pointy ends to keep my [feels like] ultra smooth thumbs in place and not slip off the controls.

Looking forward to getting out tonight, need much practice! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1867 <![CDATA[Heli-Log 5:8:2012 [edit]]]> http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1866 Tue, 08 May 2012 14:37:45 GMT Went flying last night after work, :bacon What a blast we had! Wasn't sure we would be going due to it had been raining most of the day. Met a couple of the guys at the flying field. I was a bit surprised none of the plankers were out…their loss!

I pulled the Compass 3D+ out first. During the first flight I noticed the elevator was acting strange, and shortly after…every time I used the collective, the heli would tilt forward or backwards. The elevator link was coming loose! :face

So I landed and tightened the inner arm and the outer control arm. It helped, but there is some other related issues I need to look into…side note; ordered some replacement parts for peace of mind.

I pulled out my 6HV and WOW, truly impressed with this heli. I really don’t want to fly it for fear of ruining it. It fly’s so precise, it’s scary. So I started practicing all my maneuvers with it. I’m really starting to like flying electrics better than nitro. The power is unbelievable, however, 5 minutes is way too short imo…compared to 8+ mins with nitro.

I’ve been trying to do pirouetting Tic Toc’s…in steps. I mastered performing Tic Toc’s on all 4 sides (tail down, both sides, nose down), and at every orientation. Then started with a tail down Tic Toc and on the inverted side, pausing for a split second, I turned the tail 90 degrees to place the heli sideways and do another Tic Toc, keeping this up until I complete a full revolution. As I’ve been getting better at this, I’ve been trying to keep the heli in one spot, but keep drifting out. I apply too much collective and the heli climbs! Or turn the tail too much and now it’s a diagonal Tic Toc! Grrr!!

The nice thing about all this, the more I do, the more I knock off the rough edges and the smoother and better/easier it becomes. Yea…only 200,000 more to go! LoL But I will get there…patience young grasshopper!

I switched to helping Bob with his Blade 450 3D. I watched him fly the full length of his pack moving his heli side to side with some partial turning the heli slightly sideways, and flying out and back. Bob is ready to start flying circuits, shallow figure “8.” I took the opportunity to readjust the settings in his radio…adding some negative pitch, upping the head speed some, and taking some of the expo out of the tail (77% can you believe that!!..)

After making the adjustments, I tested his heli and now I like it better…I almost flipped his heli while testing it! Oops, getting to comfortable flying this little thing! Once Bob’s radio programming is close to where it should be…I’ll try flying it 3D style. I know beginners like to see what “their” heli’s are capable of. That, sometimes, gives them the incentive they need to push their limits, try new things.

We are planning to go out tonight and get more flying/practicing in! ]]> rcnut http://www.helifreak.com/blog.php?b=1866