T-Rex600 Rebuild....

[copterboy]

Was poor light by 2.30!! So just ended up at the hospital field

I'm off work for 2 days now, so having a day with AG 2m, and going the club on Wednesday.

[jperkosk]

Originally Posted by copterboy

Was poor light by 2.30!!

It's called "romantic setting", Denis.

Originally Posted by copterboy

I'm off work for 2 days now, so having a day with AG 2m...

Sounds like a very sensible decision to me

[copterboy]

Hehe...cheers Jerry

Felt a bit bad about not going, but I never explained my lateness properly, as I got home from work at 10.30 last night, and I was rushing to get round to AG's for the night. After a hectic few weeks at work, I managed a nice lazy morning in bed today, and I'm just going for a nice hot bath to soak my aching back from laying 1m x 0.5m large format natural stone!!

I waited for my last pack to charge (one of the old duff one's). When it finished charging, I realised I had mixed up a pack, and still had one uncharged. I set it off charging, and after another half hour, I thought to myself, 2.30 already, hmmm, by the time I get to the club (another 30-40 mins), there'll be hardly any light left at all, and I maybe waiting to fly in turn with other club members. Hence why I just darted to the local field instead - to ensure I got as many flights in as possible, and to save myself the fuel in my van.

I'm off out for some drinks with her tonight and then she's staying at mine. After I make us a cooked breakfast, I'll just have to see how she reacts when I kick her out to make some time for the heli's

[copterboy]

Well, that last bit never happened Least my hours are getting back to normal again, and I caught up on some chores at home the last couple of days. I'm pretty sure I'll be working upto christmas now including the project at home, which is going to start in about 2 weeks. I just have a large restoration quote to finish, which hopefully should be a good job to line up for late spring/early summertime next year

So, I finally pulled the trigger on the servo extension wire, which should be here by weekend Will definately be making more time for the heli's again, now I know christmas is sorted. I sort of decided to hold back on ordering just a wire, as I wanted to wait until I had the time coming up where I can actually work on it and added the idea to get the mcpx sorted for winter

Still can't beleive the price of stock mcpx servo's Not ordered any frame upgrade yet, but hoping I can get it in before christmas, along with some other bits I've been longing for, namely a 2nd hand JR cyclic servo for the 600 and the charging station is still sat there waiting to happen, bar a few nylon screws and some plexi glass

[copterboy]

So here we go again!! It is out of storage and back on my albeit temporary workbench again. The wind is a bit stronger today than yesterday despite the same speed in the forecast. So I decided I'm keeping the 450 safe and having a look at the 600 to see if it can be finished (again ). Wind may die down later, so will hurry out if so.

Have tidied up the wiring of AR8000 and decided on the location of the TM1000 telemetry module and fixed that, plus used some self adhesive mounts to run the TM1000 antenna along the frame just above the main gear. I previously managed to get the engine temp sensor lassooed round the head, with the resistor located in the recommended place (underneath), so all I had to do was route that wire back to the TM1000, so that is all good for now.

I did get stuck on connecting the battery voltage sensor wire. Wanted to try and slot it into the JST plug going to the 2-1, but I couldn't pull the wire and connector out. So, a couple of 2 or 3mm bullet connectors added to the voltage regulator input wire, and the voltage sensor wire wedged inbetween the bullet is probably the way I will do it. And no surprises, I don't have any spare bullet connector could of swore I did. Looked everywhere, but to no avail

So other than the extension wire for suttys servo's, I also had to get new servo horns/wheels. I did get them installed along with the servo's. But I need to finish off by moving the steel balls from the JR horns to the Futaba horns.

Going to have another look for these alleged spare connectors, but if they don't show up I will look if I can get them and that parrallel charging board. Will permit myself a sneaky little order to get those bits, as it's not to far from my birthday. At least without the voltage wire installed, it will not hold me up on any flying. I just won't be able to monitor the pack voltage at first. So no great loss, I can land and check on the 2-1 indicator anyway. Would just prefer to try and use the telemetry so hopefully, I ll get an alarm on the DX8 if the 600 flight pack voltage drops below my preset level during a +10min Nitro flight.

Got to love this new technology (if it works...as I have read on another thread!!)

[copterboy]

Those boys at fast lads are erm, fast!! 4pm - Rang to check I can still get the order sent today, they can. 4.03pm I go online to process the order for bullet connectors and my parrallel charge board, paid extra for next day delivery. 4.06pm order confirmation. 4.11pm Goods are picked and dispatched. Just hope postman does his bit now

So bullet connectors should be here tomorrow Will move them balls and check the new servo's and do whatever head setup is required this evening. If anything else crops up, then I can finish off in the morning whilst I wait for the postman.

Incidentally, got told off for burning holes in my dads lawn after the last test with the 600, so garden testing ist verboten!! Will be hoping I can find a way to sneak only the quickest of hovers in, as he is away at the moment. So something laid down to protect the grass should help me get away with it.

[Luke Warmwater]

Paving slabs!

Just one or two make a great removeable heat shield / landing pad.

Or of course, a LiPo, ESC and motor....

[jperkosk]

Angle the exhaust hose sideways.

[sutty]

+1 on the E conversion. I've just done an E conversion myself to E-cigs. We'll see how it goes.

Good luck Denis. Let's hope we soon have a hat cam vid of you tearing up the sky with it.

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Well good luck with it Sutty. I beleive they can also become very addictive so be aware. A good tip is to keep it out of sight, and not to hand all the time! Otherwise you just end up grabbing it and having lots of small hits. I managed about 5-6 weeks last time on patches, then just went back to the old 20 a day routine. Cutting down again at the moment, now things are settling down at home I will be having another crack in the not too distant future.

And I've mentioned before, I'm not going to convert to E yet. Won't convert anyway, think it will be better to have a big N and E of the same make/size. Anyway, I'll not struggle to find a protective covering for the grass whilst my dads back is turned Angling the hose I will also try Thanks for that one Jerry

Better get another hour on this before bed then

[copterboy]

New servo's finished, and checked. Had to reverse 2 channels (AIL and ELEV I think)and change ELEV swashmix from +60 to -60. Then I changed it to -50 as the swashplate was binding on the washout. There's plenty of room between swash and frame at full neg pitch, so definately going to take a bit of futher adjustment of the links and head. Discovered a small error I made previously. Had put the servo fixing tabs of the ELEV servo inside the frame. So by the time I put the servo horn and balls on, it was way out of alignment to the linkage. Had to remove the servo and relocate so the tabs were fixed on the outside of the frame. As a result of going flying and these extra bits it's got late, so I'm going to leave the head setup till morning, while I wait for postie to arrive with the bullet connectors.

The AR8000 and TM1000 are both bound, installed and tested. If I just shove the wires into the JST plug, I can get a voltage reading on the TX. If I put my hand over the temp sensor, the temp increases, although I am concerned my body temp only registers 23oC Thought it would go a little higher, so will just have to see what data I get from a real flight, and set the alarms up after a few tests are completed.

Seems I accidentally went into program mode of the Spartan gyro, which is another thing I have had no need to look into with great detail yet, other than when I first maidened it (and borrowed the lead of Lankey). Unlikely I have changed any settings by accident. But I better check anyway and do a crash reminder course on the Spartan DS760 setup before I do fly again

Looks like this should get re-maidened in the garden tomorrow Can't wait

[copterboy]

Still not got to check the head setup yet, but should get it done before bed. Spent a bit more time on the 450 tail tonight, but I will tell that tale in a moment on the other thread. Think I have figured out what's causing the tail wag

Somehow, I had mixed up the gear and rudder channel when swapping RX's or maybe when mounting the telemetry unit, as I'm sure it was ok when I first powered up after bringing out of storage So it took a bit of head scratching to figure out what I did wrong and get it right again. Even with the wires in the wrong channels, I still somehow managed to reverse the rudder channel yesterday. So finally, I got the servo reversed back to normal, reset the servo limit end points manually, then hooked the gyro up to the PC via the USB flashlink and had a look at the fine tuning. I recall the tail was a little slow too, so I made some changes that should sharpen it up a tiny bit. Will obviously need testing and probably some more tuning later.

Also, realised I had not copied any throttle or pitch curves over yet, so got that done also

Got the bullet conectors soldered on and checked the voltage sensor on telemetry is working. Was a very fiddly job getting the wires inbetween the bullets, as someone had suggested on a 'how to' vid. I found it difficult and opted to solder the wires to the 2in1 side. Got there in the end and not to shabby. May put an extra peice of heatshrink over those connectors now I look at it. Don't want a short!

Finally made a trex600 album, so here are the first 2 entries

[Tomstoy2]

You have certainly been one busy beaver here this week! You must have been jonzing really bad after all the reconstruction crap this last winter.

Glad to see you are enjoying your time off.

[Luke Warmwater]

Nice....but beyond my tech understanding. It seems to have some sort of old fashioned engine type thing in it.....is it steam powered?

[sutty]

[copterboy]

Originally Posted by Tomstoy2

You must have been jonzing really bad after all the reconstruction crap this last winter.

Sums it up well. Defo enjoying it Cheers

[jperkosk]

Originally Posted by Luke Warmwater

It seems to have some sort of old fashioned engine type thing in it.....is it steam powered?

No, it's much more eco-friendly and time-honored than that. It uses the undrinkable fraction from half-botched moonshine production process

[Tomstoy2]

That would explain why the more it consumes the more it wobbles. Come to think of it, that description could also apply to Sutty!

[copterboy]

It is done...again!!

Got the head setup now, running +/-12, with no binding of the kasama head at all

Anticipate the need to track the main blades when I get to the field, but that is no big deal.

So, all I got to do now is wait for the rain to stop pack up my things and get down the club

[copterboy]

Well today will be the day. Hoping I will get a good flight in with it, and finally break the cycle of test, buy spares, tune, test again

Gaz - if you look in, I haven't got my phone on me at the moment. I am still going to the club for about 2-3pm. Forecast says it maybe raining till about 4 or 5, so I might leave it a little later and stay till it gets too dark. Hopefully, I'll get my phone back off my buddy once he wakes from his drunken stupor!! Was my brothers 40th last night, so a few beers were consumed. Didn't have too many so I am reasonably clear headed for today!!