My nano build, mods, tips, and failures thread.

[LawnDartHeli]

To you guys using the stock skids (or mcpx), you can boil them and it will make them less prone to breaking..especially where the front legs attach at the batt tray. I usually heat up the water and then hold them completely submerged with plyers, do that untill the tiny bubbles cover the entire skid. Once I started doing to in my BL mcpx and msxr, I stopped breaking skids.


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[hovermon]

Hey LawnDart,
Thanks for the tip. I wonder if that would
help with the frames being so brittle in
cold weather?

[LawnDartHeli]

Don't boil the frame, different plastic. We had a guy try a mcpx frame a while back....it deformed it badly.

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[LawnDartHeli]

The skids are made from delrin, the frame is another kind of plastic. Never found a sutible method for the stock frames. Music wire to reinforce the pins, but adds weight..then the very tip breaks off. Been down that road as well.

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[hovermon]

Thanks again !!

[LawnDartHeli]

No problamo!

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[tchilds]

Originally Posted by LawnDartHeli

To you guys using the stock skids (or mcpx), you can boil them and it will make them less prone to breaking..especially where the front legs attach at the batt tray. I usually heat up the water and then hold them completely submerged with plyers, do that untill the tiny bubbles cover the entire skid. Once I started doing to in my BL mcpx and msxr, I stopped breaking skids.


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Cool tip on boiling the stock skids. I have one set that never breaks, rest are junk. The main problem with stock skids is how squishy they are though. Stock skids do not protect the board from hits or provide stability when landing on ceiling/wall or bumping the floor mowing the lawn.

Good luck but I suggest airtime skids as they protect the board and make the heli much more solid. If you put cf tube into the airtime struts instead of the pieces it comes with it can also be pretty light, about 0.9g for cf skid/plastic strut hybrid airtime setup.

If you do use stock skids, put some packing foam on the two lower corners of your main board. My first main board has a rounded off lower corner from all the hits, it lasted about 14 hours of flight before it started shorting batteries. If that's not bad enough, my canopy cracked where the board kept hitting it over and over too.

The airtime skids prevent all the above issues and are not heavy if they're your only weight gain. If you start to go over 27g with all the bling though, the skids will bee very heavy/scale feeling on the nano.

[LawnDartHeli]

I bought some Airtimes for my mcpx when I had it..they certainly hold up well. The boiled skid trick is just for those who wanna make due with stockers . Im gonna try and keep this one as light as possible for now, but I'll prolly buy some AT skids at some point.

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[kingmeow]

Yep, that boiling trick is for NYLON only and makes them more supple and less prone to breakage.

[nicholask1993]

Looks like I'll be boiling my next set if skids to see if it helps. Always break them right where the side frame connects to the front battery tray.

Like you though I'm trying to keep weight down until I go BL.

[dragnse7en]

Originally Posted by kingmeow

Yep, that boiling trick is for NYLON only and makes them more supple and less prone to breakage.

Isn't Delrin just a fancy name or brand name for nylon?

[spiff72]

No - actaully Delrin is Dupont's trade name for its version of acetal.

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[LawnDartHeli]

Call it what you want, but boiling them works.

EDIT: I asked a Blade rep what they were made of, he confirmed they were a nylon plastic polymer blend...not Delrin as I had been told by numerous people. Just dont boil the frame

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[dragnse7en]

Originally Posted by LawnDartHeli

Call it what you want, but boiling them works.

The whole "what are they made of" argument has been hashed time and time again back in the old mcpx threads. The general consensus by those in-the-know was Delrin.

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?p=3697184

Hydro knows his stuff, been a Blade man from way back..

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+1 to that.

It works great with carbon-reinforced plastic parts on my TRF cars, etc. The key is to let them sit for about 6 hours, because the inside moisture can still re-freeze from the cold outside, and crack the part worse.

Boiling them in vegetable oil is also a plus, but they're harder to keep submerged.

[LawnDartHeli]

Hmmm...what role does the oil play? Soften the surface tension?
I hold mine submerged with plyers anyway, so keeping them downs not an issue.

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[dragnse7en]

Originally Posted by LawnDartHeli

Hmmm...what role does the oil play? Soften the surface tension?
I hold mine submerged with plyers anyway, so keeping them downs not an issue.

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Veg oil, I was told, would coagulate and thicken, but I never tried it. I still use water, and then let the parts get back to room temp before using . . . .

[LawnDartHeli]

Originally Posted by kingmeow

Yep, that boiling trick is for NYLON only and makes them more supple and less prone to breakage.

Correct, and as I edited above Mr. James concurred they were in fact a Nylon blend.
My bad fellas!

[dragnse7en]

Originally Posted by kingmeow

Yep, that boiling trick is for NYLON only and makes them more supple and less prone to breakage.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that exact same technique works 110% for Tamiya TRF carbon-reinforced plastic parts as well. Everyone who races uses that. So it's not the only item that affects it in that process . . . .I can certainly refer you to hundreds of pages over on the TamiyaUSA forum about it, from 2005, but no thanks. You can do that homework for yourself!

Yeah, in general, I agree that it's the thing to do!

[tchilds]

If it works or not, making them softer will only make the board strikes worse.

If they don't break, its because they've gotten flexible enough in the process of breaking in to bend. This means more board strikes.

Only new skids that haven't been crashed on will protect the heli well enough, be stable enough for fun landing on wall/ceiling, and stable. Worn out skids that don't seem to "break" are still pretty bad to crash on as they flex out of the way. Again, another example of a part outliving its usefulness.

Breaking the skids in so they are so flexible that they don't break isn't really a productive solution to me. The heli will just suffer much harder hits to the canopy posts, canopy itself, and main board as well.

The upgraded skids are nothing like stock. Airtime skids are wider, stronger, and much better option to make the heli feel and look solid. The wider stance has so many advantages its not even worth comparing them to stock.

The only beef I have is the lowers are heavy on them. The weight down low really adds up fast and installing CF tube or square lowers would be a worth while mod.

[LawnDartHeli]

I've never had a board strike on either of my mcpx's (BL &stock), msrx, or Nano so far. And I've crashed hard. The Nano board doesn't hang any lower than an mcpx, couple that with an extra bl esc mounted...never once struck the board. Ya'll must be doing full speed nose dives into concrete...well wait, I've done that too..still never damaged a board.

I do agree it makes them saggy, and that would make ceiling landings a little more challenging. But broke skids suck.
It's one of those things where you have to weigh your options..its not for everyone, just like this heli.

I not saying that a board strike isn't possible....maybe not as probable as a broke set of skids.

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