Whats happenin' with your Atom right now??

[Ah Clem]

"I fly the stretch more than the 500... Yes a boom, belt and tailrod are all you need."

Same here!

[Relisys190]

Mornin' guys.

Question. How long are you getting from stock Delrin dampers in your compass 500 / tracx head?

I blew out a set of KBDD in my last crash on my spare tracx 500 head and only have the delrins available right now.

How many flights are the delrins good for.

Thank you,

-Markus

[cyclo]

Originally Posted by Relisys190

Mornin' guys.

Question. How long are you getting from stock Delrin dampers in your compass 500 / tracx head?

I blew out a set of KBDD in my last crash on my spare tracx 500 head and only have the delrins available right now.

How many flights are the delrins good for.

Thank you,

-Markus

The stock delrin dampers for me are only good for around 50 flights on the stretched Atom... After that they become sloppy. On the stock Atom probably 60-70 flights.

I have KBDDs on both my Atoms right now but no KBDD spares, only delrin.

[Relisys190]

Thank you for the info Cyclo.

I'm not a compass pilot. But the compass/tracx head is just sooo good that I run one on my aging t-rex 500. As a matter of fact I own two Tracx FBL heads for good measure! lol

I'm crawling the interwebs looking for those 4114 KBDD. But until than, delrin's will do.

Thanks again,

-Markus

[cyclo]

Originally Posted by Relisys190

Thank you for the info Cyclo.

I'm not a compass pilot. But the compass/tracx head is just sooo good that I run one on my aging t-rex 500. As a matter of fact I own two Tracx FBL heads for good measure! lol

I'm crawling the interwebs looking for those 4114 KBDD. But until than, delrin's will do.

Thanks again,

-Markus

Hey Markus no problem! They are still advertised at vrchobbies.com but appear to be out of stock currently. I hope vrchobbies will have them back on stock in the near future.

[Ah Clem]

I flew my stretched Atom again today.

I put a new motor in it and also recently upgraded the Robird to X-Bus using JR's new SXD Adapter (changes X-Bus Protocol to S-Bus for those devices that do not support X-Bus).

Amazing what the change from PWM to X-Bus did for it in terms of a quicker, more connected feel!

[aburkhardt]

Still flying (and crashing) my Atoms on a regular basis. Just rebuilt my night ship for IRCHA, should have done this sooner!

[jc318]

Flew a few packs through my 500. Got some pretty cool pictures. Finally getting it dialed in with the vbar but still can't figure out y when I use a new set of kbdd dampers it bobs pretty bad in flight. Even with gain as low as it will go! Plenty grease,good bearing,nothing bent or loose..stock dampers flies perfect. Anyone else experience this? Also running flat 90 on stock motor 9t.

[jc318]

Nice day to cut some grass

[cyclo]

Crashed my Atom 500 last Sunday on the last pack. Was practicing funnels when it happened. It went in hard inverted head first. The pack was slightly tacoed but looks to be still usable.

Still deciding if I will resurrect it or give it a proper burial. Broke both frames, bent blade grip FBL driver holders, destroyed the main gear, OWB, a tail grip, plus bent the tail hub. Good thing the FBL drivers popped off and a servo arm was broken and the electronics appear to be unscathed. The ESC casing was damaged though but it looks like it is still fine.

[lcc014]

I hope that you could resurrect it .....

[Ah Clem]

Cyclo,

I am sorry to see that your Atom went in.

I have done it a couple of times over the years.

It is a bit sadder to see it happen now that they have been discontinued. It was/is a great machine and still very competitive with other machines in that size range.

On the other hand, there is the eXo (sort of like an Atom on steroids) and it runs the same size (mini) servos that the Atom does-so the electronics could be moved over.

[stark]

Sorry to hear about your crash, Cyclo. Since the frames broke it seems like it was a nasty crash.

[cyclo]

Originally Posted by lcc014

I hope that you could resurrect it .....

Thanks Icc014, I am still evaluating the options right now.

Originally Posted by Ah Clem

Cyclo,

I am sorry to see that your Atom went in.

I have done it a couple of times over the years.

It is a bit sadder to see it happen now that they have been discontinued. It was/is a great machine and still very competitive with other machines in that size range.

On the other hand, there is the eXo (sort of like an Atom on steroids) and it runs the same size (mini) servos that the Atom does-so the electronics could be moved over.

Richard, this is the oldest surviving heli in my fleet... I have been flying it for 5 years and has been my go to heli when it is windy and also when trying to learn/practice moves.

I have no doubt I will be flying the eXo one of these days... Probably as soon as the middle of spring or early summer. Still not quite sure what to do with the Atom as I still have parts for it except for the frames, blade grip holders, and two sets of Compass 430mm blades.

Originally Posted by stark

Sorry to hear about your crash, Cyclo. Since the frames broke it seems like it was a nasty crash.

Yes it was. On my surviving Atom 5.5 I will add CF pieces (from my stash of broken frames and tail fins) to support the front of the frame which hopefully will allow it to survive a similar crash intact. I might not even need replacement frame on the Atom... Maybe I could just JBWeld CF onto the broken ones.

Pic shows the broken CF at the front of the frame... Both sides had the same damage as the Atom went in head first inverted in hard as a rock ground... It was around 0*C when I was flying but there was no snow to cushion the impact. You can also see the broken pitch servo horn and main gear in the pic.



One of my custom Atom 500 canopy will probably be retired:

[ARM_Coder]

My 5.5 is performing better than ever, even after a 1 year rest on the shelf. I'm slowly resuming the hobby, this is the 2nd weekend out of 3 that I flew my Atom 5.5 and my 500L.

(At least I kept the birds clean and the belts lubed during their extended vacation. And I took care of the batteries too, keeping them balanced and at storage voltage).

I updated the iKon units in both helis to the latest version and got really impressed with the difference. My iKons are 1st generation, it's amazing how far they could improve the software for a so old hardware.

I still didn't fly my 12S machines after the comeback (6HVU & 7HV). I'm taking my time to regain some more confidence before doing so. I didn't even take care of their iKons yet!

I really feel sorry to know that the Atom is not only discontinued, but obtaining parts for it is becoming problematic. It's a really nice machine that survived the test of time.

PS: Cyclo, are you going to resurrect your Atom 500?

Cheers!

[cyclo]

Hey Arm_Coder good to see you back! Yeah it is too bad the parts for the Atoms are getting scarce. As I said in another posting I am still not sure if I will try and source the parts for it to bring it back to life. My Atom 5.5 is still going strong though.

[stark]

Cyclo,

If I were you, I'd use the crashed atom for parts for the atom5.5. Maybe electronics could be moved to a new beater heli. I wouldn't put exo in the beater category though. I don't think it was ever meant to be an Atom replacement.

[ARM_Coder]

I just did a Main Rotor overhaul in my 5.5:

* replaced the dampers (in fact the rubber O-rings of the Delrin dampers - the Delrin bodies are still OK)
* checked the radial bearings
* re-greased the thrust bearings
* finally I shortened the Delrin link tubes so the 0-pitch is achieved when the swash sits on the template
* replaced ball links
* eliminated some play along the spindle by inserting two 0.1mm shims (the bearings and dampers most likely settled over time)
* replaced the upper swash screws (should they break flush to the swash, the swash is lost - so I replace them regularly to avoid fatigue)

Will most likely test it in the middle of the week.

Cheers!