Super FP blade grips on my MSRx

[giiba]

I got the idea from a poster on a forum somewhere I can't remember anymore... but if they have followed through I cannot find any record of their efforts.

I ordered a Walkera Super FP rotor head set just to experiment. I had figured I would need to machine an MSRx shaft to the Walkera 2.5mm head, but upon inspection it looked like the interior dimension of the blade grips was identical between brands. I then proceeded with some difficulty to squeeze the thicker Super FP feathering shaft into the MSRx rotor head. Once done the rest was easy.

my heli has a brushless main (hp03s 13k) and an MCPx boom with KBDD tail rotor

see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTbtObOrZfI for a poorly done flight video.

So far this is what I've found:

- the angles from the swash to grips seems less than ideal as after about 50% travel the links run out of motion on the grip balls and bend through the rest of the travel.

- despite this the flexing of the links doesn't seem to cause a loss of rpm

- full sized MCPx blades seem to produce odd swash movements as the as3x system is confused... not bad, but could be more related to the head links

- cut down a bit (see picture below) the MCPx blades work really well

- if shimmed properly for the holders NanoCPx blades might work really well, I haven't had materials to test them properly

- for amusement I put on 130x blades; liftoff at less than 30% throttle, and hard to test indoors... this also created significant tail wagging


Blades in picture:
-uncut MCPx
-uncut NCPx
-trimmed MCPx
-stock blade


At this point I have ordered a microheli blade grip for the Super FP as these Walkera ones break easily (though in fairness I keep repairing them and getting more flight time with just CA glue, till the next crash at least).

Around where I live there is often wind, rarely super strong, but often blustery and swirling. I enjoy flying the MSRx in these winds and I find the trimmed MCPx blades are better in the wind. The extra mass really adds stability, and the broader blades provide much better low rpm control. I find stock blades below 35-40% throttle don't really provide any cyclic control making it hard to descend in a strong gust. By contrast, the MCPx blades seem to provide strong cyclic control below 20%.

The extra mass does make scale flying indoors a bit touchier as once moving the rotor disc really wants to.

Anyhow sorry for the long post, but I thought I should share my success with the community. I'll update as I learn more.

[giiba]

So you can tell I had a free day...

I spent the day cutting down banged up MCPx blades to try out different things with blade shape. From left to right in the photo below:

- MCPx weighted main blades -- uncut -- waaaay too heavy, the MSRx lacks the cyclic authority to move these. Trying to turn in FFF was amusing at best as the heli just keep moving straight though banked for a turn... Also way too much lift, hover around 40% thr.

- MCPx 3d blade -- cut -- this was the second attempt I made at a blade set, going for a wider rotor disc without too much extra lift. These work really well for FFF and zooming around, but get floaty in the wind. I figure they'll be for fair weather flying.

- MCPx 3d blade -- cut -- this was my first attempt at blades, and after cutting them down in length still had too much lift so I started mimicking the stock blade shape. Ended up with these stubby but functional blades that give me longer flight times (up to 7 mins) and great wind performance; same ones I had in the above post.

- MCPx 3d blade -- cut -- I read about this design somewhere once and had to try it, cut a brand new pair of blades to try it. Surprisingly they work, and not bad, though it got dark so I'll test them more in the mornning

- NCPX blade -- uncut -- works alright when poorly shimmed, very 'floaty' in the breeze. Need better shims before testing further


All three of the blades I've cut produce lift similar to the stock blades, and all handle the wind differently. I'm going to go out tomorrow and give them a proper test.

[giiba]

Filmed a better video of the grips this morning, in action with the green blades from above. It's over in the rotor blades forum:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?p=5030604

[ABaze]

Have you found any of the blade combinations to perform better than the stock blades? Specifically combatting wind?

[giiba]

In the wind yes!

The shortest of the blades above blew me away. I went out in fairly high winds in my area just to try this out. They perform very well in the wind, because they provide good cyclic control down below 20% throttle; by comparison the stock blades stop doing much below 40% throttle. In high winds this meant I could fly at very low throttle through gusts up to 30km/h (my guess). With the stock blades in the same gusts all I could do was kill the throttle and let the heli fall from the sky to keep it from blowing away in the wind from all the extra lift (yes the stock blades still do that...) The other bonus is I seem to get 10-15% longer flights with these blades. I'd highly recomend them.

The longer, skinnier black blades provied too much lift in the wind and I get 20% shorther flighs. Thy are also the heaviest of the three. I need a calm day to test them in FFF.

The green blades are unique. They fly well in the wind. They have very good stability in the breeze and slice through the wind in FFF. Fast is the best way to describe them. Like the shortest blades, the green the increased surface area gives them excelent low throttle control. Due to the extra disc size these blades had a harder time with the gusts but I could still keep flying. They were easy to make, but difficult to balance. If you've the time and inclination. I would recomend them, but it makes me longer for a 3d printer. Flight times were slightly longer than stock, and takeoff was surprisingly stable.

I might buy more mcpx blades just to try out more options. The extra weight of MCPx blades really adds stability to this tiny heli. Unfortunatly I don't have a scale so I cannot weigh them.

Anyone have Ideas on how to shim a nano blade to an MCPx grip?

[giiba]

So this video is inaccesible, sorry if anyone actually wantedto watch it. Google is holding my videos hostage till I sign up for Google+... #@%& you Google!

For now even I'm not allowed to view my video...