A HUGE THANK YOU to all my friends at Helifreak

[copterboy]

Well, as far as the umbrella gears are concerned, I marked the front one's with a red mark, and the rear ones with a blue mark and put them all together - trying to keep the workbench tidy. I'm sure they are the same, but I'll proabably check in the align forum and with my digital calipers before I give it a try.

I finished the mechanical re-building last night, but I still had the problematic HS5065 AIL servo. So again, I've stripped it down, and had a look at the gears and case. Seems the output gear with the BB, has got a couple of bent teeth on it. Not sure how that can happen, but I'm going to order a new gear set, and for good measure a new case, just to be sure it's not both that are the problem.

Glad to have figured all that out, have become bogged down with servo issue's of late. I can get back to the last servo on the 600 now

So, I only need to find another £50 for spares, which should see me complete all of the issue's I have with my 3 smaller heli's, and have enough for another crash on the 450.

Just need to get the extension wire installed on the 600 and that will be good to try again. However, that will still need another £60 for a 2nd hand JR servo (so I can return Suttys), or maybe get a set of align servo's as Gaz has already suggested.

Gonna take a couple of days to get ready for christmas now, and I'll try and get back to it by Friday (when the rain stops ).

[copterboy]

Guys, can you help me out?

It's time to get some spares ordered

My Internet access is restricted at the moment, so can you give me some links to where I can find servo cases and gears for Hi-tec 5065mg's and align ds415m's. uk preferably, but not essential.

Cheers

[sutty]

Hitec Gears

Hitec Cases

Align Gears

Align Cases

All one supplier. All in stock. Good ol' FL.

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Haha...cheers sutty. I normally check them first, and last time I checked they were out of stock on at least one bit. As I said before things are not normal for me at the moment, so thanks for checking it out.

Just hate browsing heli spares on an IPhone!! Makes me go cross eyed and get headaches with all the squinting!!

[Tomstoy2]

Might I suggest laying off the iphone porn then?

[copterboy]

Hahah....Luckily Tom, I'm back on the laptop tonight. So I don't have to squint anymore

Well I had a few weeks of discontent at home, so there has been no progress on building my new workbench, and things are still as they were a few weeks/months back.

Luckily, things are back on track now. At least for the foreseeable future. Almost ended up moving in with Avant Girl, not in a relationship, but my mum & dad were on the brink of kicking me out permenantly, so I've not been living at home the last few weeks!! Has been a tough time, but it seems things are back to normal for the foreseeable. Oh, apart from having to pay for a solicitor Was really hoping it wouldn't come to it, but it has become an unavoidable situation.

Anyway, glad to be back home and glad to be able to get on with my projects as planned this year

[copterboy]

Just pulled the trigger for 13 Items in my shopping basket
My first order for 2013

Feel it's going to be a lucky year

Most importantly, the main blades and servo spares for the 450 are ordered. Plus a few extra packs of shafts, main gears and spare TT. New main shafts and gears for the CX2 (for Jack), and new servo links for the mCPx.

Can't wait to get stuck in, but I've still got the workbench to finish at home, and another weeks work to do after this one. Just glad to have all the spares ready and waiting. Thankfully, logged onto FL's and it still had all the stuff I saved in my basket a few months back when I made my list, so it wasn't that hard once I finally got back to it on my laptop.

Found the white gears have been out of stock there for the last week, so I ordered some 'new' black gears. Not sure if I'll like them, as I always liked the white gears over the Blue, as an added orientation indicator. Jury's out for now!!

All we need now is some nice warm weather

[sutty]

Originally Posted by copterboy

All we need now is some nice warm weather

Not half.

Come on summer!

[copterboy]

Well I ordered my spares Tuesday night, and FL's sent them out on Wednesday. It's now Friday and there is still no sign of my parcel.

Opted to have them delivered to where I'm working, so I'm just hoping they have not gone missing in post and they will arrive tomorrow or Monday!!

[sutty]

The last delivery I had from Fast Lads was meant to be shipped first class, as requested, but the Post Office wrote a big 2 on it, suggesting it was under funded for first. Turned up after several days, but fortunately just in time for the given weekend's flying. Maybe this has happened to yours?

Hope it turns up soon. Not that we can fly, the weather is just horrible.

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Know what you mean about the weather!! Brrrrrring on summer, it's freezing and blowing a gale

Well it's re-assuring to know it may still be the post. Will keep my fingers crossed it shows up!!

[copterboy]

Phew it was just the post!! Finally got it

[sutty]

[copterboy]

Finally, I can say I have finished the 450 (again), 4th pack almost charged and I'm ready to test it. Hopefully won't need more than 2 packs to check it, so if time permits (which it should because of the lighter nights) I will get out to a field somewhere later.

It wasn't too hard to finish. It's been that long since I last touched it, I had forgotten where I was upto. I did manage to get some spares from the LHS last year, so I'd already replaced the shafts and main gears before it got put into storage. All I had left to do was fix the servo, balance and install main blades (but they were spot on out of the box this time). I also checked the screws in the head and frame and tail, give it a few drops of motor oil, and adjusted the main gear mesh as it felt a little loose. I think this main gear maybe a little warped, as I noted what appeared to be a wobble on the head during start up. So will be watching out if it has any detrimental effects on the gyro with vibes, and swap it out for a new one if I think it needs it.

The Hi-Tec servo case was OK. I only needed to replace the top 2 gears. So now I have 2 spare cases, and some spare small gears leftover.

I will be tackling the Align servo's during the course of today. The rest of the spares I bought with the servo parts, are for this years stock. And there was me thinking I still had it all to do. Well time to get out and try it, the last battery has finished now!

[copterboy]

Well, so far so good. 3 packs through her now and it's getting trimmed out nice. I've saved the 4th pack for now, as I want to watch the CCPM setup vid again, and watch another vid about setting up the Align GP780 gyro.

I've never ventured into messing with the gyro yet, other than the gains via the remote. Think I would like to check the servo limit, as it sounds like it is binding a bit when the slider is to the right (looking at the heli from behind). Maybe some part of the boom or tail must have pushed together further than before during the re-build, therefore moving the centre point over slightly.

There is also a bit of an occasional waggle on the tail. Only seems to happen in a gust, so if I can't program it out, then I will look into the head wobble again, and probably start by swapping out that brand new warped main gear with one of the new black one's.

[sutty]

Glad to hear you're successfully back in action, small tweaks aside. Only to be expected anyway.

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Well, I managed to get all 4 packs re-charged and got to the field this afternoon.

First 2 packs I took it nice and easy, not even inverted on the first. Just fwds and bckwds cicruits 8's. 2nd Pack starting some rolls flips, and inverted hovers. 3rd pack I spent tweaking the gyro with little effect, so only really hovered about. The 4th pack I was feeling a little more confident in myself and the heli, so I did relax and start to enjoy it.

Tested my new Vcurve setting for idel up 2, 95-92-90-92-95 (don't think my packs liked the current draw from flat 100% curve, and the heli felt to twitchy for my liking). The 100% flat curve gave a HS of about +3300rpm. But what I have now for idel 2 gives about 3100-3200rpm, according to my helitech app. I find it much better for doing tik-toks, and surprised myself at how much more fixed in the air I could keep the heli. Was more like going back and forth, instead of loosing altitude and bogging the head, as I experinced with my idel up 1 Vcurve of 100-90-80-90-100 (Which gave me a HS of about 2900. Keeping the head speed a little higher keeps it at a more constant rpm and definately helps with the tik toks - I like it

Naturally, tried some piro-flips and they were ok for starters. Not as good as what I have done, but after the break I was happy to be doing it again on my first outing. Even spent a short time just constantly flipping it over with a half or full piro, bringing it back to a hover or inverted hover and then puching it back over again, with another flip or half flip (depending on how fast it was heading towards the ground . Lots of fun and I managed to come home in 1 piece with no incidents!!

Packs on charge ready for another go tomorrow. Now back to the main gear being replaced and fixing the busted align servo

[rapidgaz]

Sounds like you enjoyed Dennis. I have not been much at all this year due to rain work home. Will have to learn to hover again.

[copterboy]

Howdoo Gaz Indeed it was a bit fresh in the wind today, but I couldn't wait any longer and went anyway!

Tried calling you at weekend but your phone went straight to voicemail. I assumed you were still on those funny shifts (or watching GP), so I thought I'll catch up later in the week. I want to get the 600 sorted next, so wanted to see if you were up for going to the club in next week or so?

On the 450, I got the main gear swapped and ready to test more thoroughly in morning. Tried a quick spool up indoors, and it seems better. Noticed the lower gear was also a main offender, so I bent it back a little and it also seems much better. The head still has a wobble, as does the lower gear but much reduced. I'll just have to see how much it affects the tail performance tomorrow. Maybe swap the main shaft and lower gear/OWB collar just to check that didn't get bent. Still don't fully understand what that Delay function is on the GP780, so some more playing about with that % value might help also. And if none of that works - to heck with it, just fly the god darn thing!! Doesn't stop the thing from flying reasonably well. It just breaks my concentration, as I always seem to think the worst, like it's the start of some bigger failure, then it just settles down again.

I've just finished the repair to the Align servo, so they are all ok again. Took 2 new big gears, the small plastic gear and the upper servo case. Not sure what to do with them now, so will keep them for backup. Just doesn't feel right having them and a few spare receivers and a gyro just sat there doing nothing. Better stop myself, as I can see where that is going

Better get some sleep now so I'm fresh for the morning

[copterboy]

Well it didn't take long All it took was getting to the 2nd cycle of charging the packs when I started thinking....all this time having to babysit 4 packs charging individually is not time well spent, and the process should be made more efficient

Noticed Quantum have started doing a parrallel charging board with an array of different connectors, including XT60 which I currently have. Reasonably priced between £18-£22 depending on what connectors you have. Figure that is worth paying if it saves me 2-3hrs on every charge cycle for a few more months.

I only have a 50W Imax B6 charger at the moment, but that will get upgraded to a 1000W PL6 later this year. So I figure charging the 4 x 3S 2200mah packs simultaniously on a 50W charger is better than doing them individually. Should be done in around 3 to 4 hrs if I'm charging at 5.0A/12V, plus the added bonus of not having to change packs over. Just hook em all up and let them do their thing (within safety guidelines of course!).

I've tried XT60 connectors now, and I have to admit I still find the EC3 connectors more appealing for my lack of soldering skills. So, if I'm going to change, I figure I should change now, so when the charging staion gets finished it is all done with EC3/EC5 connectors. So naturally, the parrallel board should be EC3 and I will get a 10 pair bag of M&F connectors so I can get everything converted.

I've been thinking, it would be a nice way to end this thread if I get a little video of the 450 PRO now its re-incarnated from those early/stupid crashes. Will get round to digging out and dusting off my hat cam in the next day or two, then I think this thread will be concluded