Furion 6 Flybarless Build Pictures

[Thrasymedes]

Hi Dauste, I was wondering if you could please do me a quick favor, could you please tell me how much your Canomod canopy weighs, rough number?

[SunDevilPilot]

I am still building my Furion 6, which will be converted to Flybarless when Futaba releases their CGY750. For now I have one with a flybar on it. I need to address the radio antennas and I am waiting on the final items to be delivered so I can install the speed control and the Furion will be more or less done. Here is where I am now.

SunDevilPilot

[dauste]

Hi Norman, 182g with the gromets fitted.

Looking good SDP!

[fenwayrick]

Are you sure it's 182 grams, isn't that like 6+ ounces.

Mine is 4.8 ounces.

[dauste]

6.4 oz, is it a bit over weight then? Nothing to compare it with, so I thought they were all that heavy (about the same as a 2200 3s lipo!)

The RTF weight of the heli is around 8lb 13oz which I thought was a bit heavy considering I only have 4000 5S batteries.

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by dauste

6.4 oz, is it a bit over weight then? Nothing to compare it with, so I thought they were all that heavy (about the same as a 2200 3s lipo!)

The RTF weight of the heli is around 8lb 13oz which I thought was a bit heavy considering I only have 4000 5S batteries.

That's probably about what my Arizona Heli canopy weighs for my Razor 600, mine may actually be heavier but I don't have a gram scale atm. I can believe weight would vary from canopy to canopy being that it is a hand painted process. Also probably in the ballpark for any 600 FG canopy painted up nicely.

With my FG canopy my Razor 600 was coming in at 9lb 6oz RTF with 10S 4200. About half a pound heavier than your Furion 6! Switching some things around and using the stock "milkjug" Razor canopy I'm am at 9.0lb flat, roughly. This is much more in line with the Furion 6. I haven't flown it this way yet but I'm going to!

[dchekas]

I'm looking at picking up a Furion 6 FBL soon, planning on running a 10S setup.

What kind of charging setups are you guys using?

If I could get something that I can get two packs ready every half hour or hour, I'd be pretty happy.

I don't think my Triton EQ is going to cut it for charging 5S 5000mAH packs.

[fenwayrick]

I can only charge at 1.5C and it takes me about 35-40 min. My power supply is the weak link so assuming you get a good power supply and charge at 2C you would be able to meet all your needs.

[Thrasymedes]

I use...

• BK 1692 power supply set at 13.8V
• Hyperion Duo Charger

This will do two 5S batteries with ease. I charge at 2C and my batteries are charged and balanced in approx. 30 minutes depending on how much I discharged them.

The power supply isn't cheap but it holds rock steady voltage no matter the amp load and BK's are known for lasting pretty much a lifetime of use. Buy once and be done. I also got this particular power supply because the voltage is adjustable over a wide range allowing me to perform tests or supply power to just about any DC device I want.

I do not use the old 80% lipo use rule. I personally would only use this for airplanes and for helis I do more like 70%. This makes for happier batteries over a longer period and the side effect is decent charge times.

Just one option, there are many others.

[prototype3a]

Thras, that's a really nice power supply!

Why not set it to 15V since the Duo can handle it and is able to run more efficiently when powered by higher voltage sources?

[Thrasymedes]

Thanks. That's a good question. I probably should give that a try. I have to charge up some packs to store charge today and will crank it up to 15V, double check the Duo's power supply setting, and see how it behaves. It should be better.

[heli21]

I run a Hyperion DUO off a 0-60v 0-18a (30amax) lab powersupply.
I usually run the ps at 26.1v, it cuts down on the amperage considerably

[dauste]

I’ve been religiously checking the weather forecasts and yesterday was looking like it was going to be ‘the day’ for the maiden flight, so just a few things to finish up.

Took the Jive back out of the frame (only way I could get the EC5 soldered on) and programmed it up, set endpoints, checked motor direction etc. Also looked at where the telemetry unit was going to sit and how I was going to get power to it and voltage feed from the batteries. I decided to splice in to one of the Jive BEC outputs for a power source and cut off the EC5 I had already soldered on to the ESC battery leads, so that I could fit another but with the voltage sensor wires embedded.

This all seemed fine and so I mounted everything back in the frame and did a final systems check, guess what, the ESC would not arm, no LED on it, nothing, the BEC was working but the rest appeared completely dead. Arrggghhh this was on Christmas day as well and having a look on the forum, it seemed that the unit may have keeled over... nooooooo! I was resigned to no flying over the hols as it would have to go back to Kontronik for a replacement. Anyway I stripped it out again, went over all the wiring, tried again and this time it worked fine??? Not sure what I had done wrong, but I don’t care, it’s working now!!!

Here are some pics of the telemetry unit mounted, still nice and hidden inside the frame, I’ve just got to tidy up the wires a bit. I have the temp monitor in the ESC heat sink fins, taking note of Thrasymedes warning, I thought this would be a good way to keep an eye on cooling in that area. Battery location is great and I can get to the plug with the canopy on.





And I've just run the antenna wire down one of the boom struts.




Anyway, yesterday was the day. I hadn't even spun up the head without blades in the house, but just went straight out to the field with a couple of new battery packs and fingers crossed. No laptop, just some default recommended settings on the Vbar. I just wanted to do the hover trim with battery 1 and then see how it performed in flight with battery 2.

On the Vbar I have the following settings:
Main Rotor
Flight style set on medium
Agility 90
Gyro gain 90

Tail Rotor
Yaw rate 100
Gain 90

I took my Dad and handed him my camera, he is 75 so easily confused by such things, but after numerous lessons (this is on, and this is off) LOL, he got the videos of the first ever spool-up and lift off and then my first test sport flight up high (no 3D from me yet, just keep the glasses on Norman). I was a bit much to show him how the zoom works, so it is a bit distant looking at times!

So, the very first spool up, you can imagine where my balls were!! LOL

Trim flight (in 2 parts as he hit pause)! It was worth the time getting the CoG just right, most of this flight is hands off the stick and as you can see it is not really moving around at all. When I checked the Vbar after, it had applied minimal adjustment on the cyclic.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soNVPgUfphg[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4xvQk2aQpM[/ame]

I couldn't believe the amount of downdraft this thing was producing!!

Then the first real flight, wasn’t sure what it could do or how it would feel. All I can say is it flies just like my Furion 450 (only bigger), I was probably over correcting a bit, never flown FBL before. I was impressed with the roll and flip rates and just need to get used to the collective pitch changes (you can see I fell out of that FFF roll)! That flight lasted about 4.30 min and I used up 50% of the battery capacity, so 6.30-7 min flights shouldn’t be a problem with my current flying style.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INEMlgJwwAE[/ame]

No idea what the head speed was, I just set for 80% throttle and Mode4 on the Jive. I’ll check it later (when I calm down) and tach it with Redbirds HeliPort.

The Vbar setting seemed fine to me, I don't think I'll even need to tweek them at this stage, the tail was solid and no bobbing, so the gain settings all look OK. Not sure I'll even need to do the optimisation flight.
So after a long wait, got there in the end and it is

p.s. Isn't it funny how you look 10lbs heavier on video?? LOL (or maybe it was all that christmas pud)!

[Thrasymedes]

Very well done Dauste! Congratulations!

Judging by the spool up I will take a wild stab and say it sounds 2250ish rpm in the second video.

Your father did a good job with the camera, my father tries to fidget to get the best view too much so his vids of me are zooming in and out and moving here and there.

Looking at the flight you might want to test 75% throttle curve and see how she performs. You shouldn't lose much headspeed. If not you could always bring it back to 80%.

Very powerful and well flying machine, great job! Hope you enjoy it!

[Brian James]

Looks good!

[dchekas]

Thrasymedes, which Duo charger are you using?

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by joe1911

Thrasymedes, which Duo charger are you using?

I am using the older EOS0610i 180W+180W. There is a newer Duo out there and I'm sure it has the latest features. I bought mine from Ready Heli almost 3 years ago and it has performed flawlessly. It is a really smart charger, and has a great store charge and balancing system.

[heli21]

What are you guys getting for measurements on the Servo-Swash links and Swash-Grip links?

Rob

[spootman]

I have a Fly bared kit and the lengths in the manual seem to be spot on for me (servo to swash). I have noticed from looking at other peoples pics that the links they use are gray and the ones in my kit were black (not sure if there is a difference).

[Brian James]

The linkages and ball links are different from the Flybar, and Flybarless model, which is why you are seeing a difference. The FBL version uses longer linkages as the swash plate rides higher on the main shaft.