Used Protos plastic questions

[BHChieftain]

I've build a CF standard, a Plastic standard, and a CF stretch. I really like the plastic frame-- great design (has carbon content to help with grounding), rounded edges, lighter weight, places to hide the wires...

Only downside is a weak point where the motor mount attaches to the frame. This area will wear out quick, and if you get any slop there you'll probably need to replace the frame (which is super easy since the screw count is relatively low).

There is a great new mod which reinforces the motor mount slots:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=584142

Chief

[sp00fman]

Hey thanks, i did read about those. The previous owner really liked to torque down screws hard. Most of the washers for the frame screws are cup-shaped now, along with an indentation in the plastic frame. IF it wont assemble back together properly i wil get the new frames along with the modified washer you noted.

[sp00fman]

I have been meticulously rebuilding every part of the heli. Well worth the time as i picked up some serious errors:
Long linkage balls on the inner swash, making the links damage because it hit the outer swash.
no grease on thrust bearings which promptly rusted,
re-greased the swash bearing, some dirt had made it gritty.
Tail pitch slider was assembled backward so the rotating part would have hit the pitch fork arm,
bushing missing on tail box roller, making it wobble.
missing washers on front roller,and made is almost melt,
missing shim on top of the pinion,
bend the boom back in shape.
l further replaced all frame bearings and new tailshaft installed, bought a few long ball-links to replace the worn ones.
Did not have the correct bearings for the non-thrusted tail so i put in 3 smaller bearings per grip. It seems to work well like that.

Tedious stuff but the head and servos are back on now. The mainshaft just slid down the 3 bearings without a hint of resistance The swash moves super smoothly over the shaft, but without play. Love MSH quality

The flawed tail pitch design got the Lynx metal pitch fork. it is very smooth right now.

I have the Lynx plastic dampners in the head, making it completely rigid. Im a bit worried the protos will mis its dampners... i have the 15T pinion on it and will run 6S lipo. The manual states it will do 3000rpm with that combo, so that would match the stiff head better than low headspeed. i want this to be my hard 3d heli anyway.



What do you guys think is best, run it with stock dampners or keep the hard ones in?
(425mm blades, V-bar FBL)

[Mikej]

When I first set up my Protos I have a HS of around 3000(by mistake), it was absolutely ballistic. I generally fly around 2600 now

[sp00fman]

Getting close to finishing the heli. It is both very similar and very different to the miniP at the same time. Cant really explain. Motor spools up with a hint of vibration but it seems not bad enough to justify rebalancing. The sound of the geartain is really strange. so quiet, its just a hum. I like how the mini sounds a bit better. has a nice whoosh sound. Oh well, wont even hear it in flight.
That lipotech motor sure does run warm, even witout any load on it. Im not so worried about it now i replaced the top bearing. At first i thought that was binding and giving off the heat, but it is similar with the new one.

I did find a possible catastrophic problem on the heli when spooled up.... it is my first heli that actually throws sparks! I'm gonna name this one Tesla.

When i held the front of the heli and touched the tail i got a pretty noticeable shock, enought to really want to let it go. and my tailblades are not even on yet! I measured resistance on the heli, and the frame is conductive, but the tailbox and boom holder are not. I will make sure to ground it properly. Will run a wire from the tailshaft bearing to the boom, then from boom to frame and motor-mount.

Even got a snapshot.

[Mikej]

Love it - great photo - Mr Van de Graaff would be proud of you (sounds like he should have been a compatriot of yours )

[DoubleCH]

Originally Posted by sp00fman

Even got a snapshot.

Wow! Set up a ground wire close to but not touching the tail shaft bearing. Makes for a good nite-flying setup.

[sp00fman]

Or extend the tail with a miniature tesla coil and power it off the belt. the other pole would be a big shiny sphere on top of the rotorhead, throwing big sparks at each other... if only there was a way to insulate the electronics from it


Speaking of power, was bored yesterrday evening and got a 100A YEP for the $30 buddycode The 60A was just $20 locally but it is about the same weight anyways and.... whatever. forgot the reason why i bought it

[sp00fman]

Ok guys, static problem resolved without any external wiring nor spending a dime

Still had some copper tape from bulding night blades, so i made the boom clamp conductive. I have conductivity from thatshaft to motor pinion now.


Spools up with tailblades without excessive vibration or binding of the tail the slider. Its time to pick my tailservo and gyro.

Will go with the mini-sized HK-732MG Coreless Digital MG/BB Servo 28g / 3.5kg / 0.07s

have to decide on the Tarot ZYX or the X-bar gyro..... hard choice here, i know the Tarot inside and out and will be able to tune it with two flights with my cellphone. The Bar is almost untested and needs the computer at home. It does have better features and the potential to get it dialed in better (confirmed better piro-consistency comparing to tarot)


On with the photos :

[alexf1852]

Nice!

[sp00fman]

Electronics are installed. Weight without lipo is 1180g. That is amazing!
My hurricane 425 weights in at 1600g

One thing i am a bit stuck on now is my mainbades wont fit the grip. The blade root is hitting the spindle-bolt. It is a cheap set of Pro3D carbons, and i am in the process of filing the root a bit shorter.

If all goes well i can maiden it tomorrow.

[flint723]

Originally Posted by sp00fman

Electronics are installed. Weight without lipo is 1180g. That is amazing!
My hurricane 425 weights in at 1600g

One thing i am a bit stuck on now is my mainbades wont fit the grip. The blade root is hitting the spindle-bolt. It is a cheap set of Pro3D carbons, and i am in the process of filing the root a bit shorter.

If all goes well i can maiden it tomorrow.

That just means you do not have the original feathering shaft bolts. The originals are button head but many people (me included) use normal socket head cap screws because it doesn't strip out so easily. Some blades have issues, some don't.

[sp00fman]

Blades are filed shorter and fit, FBL setup done.

IT FLIES!!

Had 2 tuning flights and headed to the big field together with the miniP and a bag of lipo's. It was great! Flying back to back with the mini, both birds show their potential. I still like how the mini flies the best, but i should be able to fine tune the p500 to get the dull cyclic feeling resolved.

Vibration log only shows "raised vibration a few times" possibly during harder moves. Learned not to touch the motor after flight to check the temperature. Best bring some bacon next time to fry on the motor-can, so having a snack between flights.


One thing missing... ain't got no blade-foam with the kit
Unfolded I'ts a pain carrying it for 10 minutes to the field.

Put on the new Lynx canopy after the test hops. It's really nice in the air.

P500 (4 min 39 sec)

REC 0002 (5 min 55 sec)

[sp00fman]

YEP 100A came in today. it took me 3 hours to solder it up and install it. darn obsession to get it perfect. Even went so far as to double up the servo wire directly from the PCB to the Rx for redundancy of the 5V line. ESC motor leads cut down to 4cm saved 10g.

Heli is 1610gram now with lipo. hope to get some flights in tomorrow. My new packs are on cycle charge now to get ready.

[Mikej]

Any chance you can take a close up photo of the board with the components on if you haven't fitted it yet please?

[sp00fman]

Sorry, it is already tucked away in the nose. I will make a pic of the 45A version and note where i soldered on the extra leads.
I used 20AWG wire for the extra power lead. Bit thick to put in a servo connector but voltage drop over distance should be lower.

[sp00fman]

Some pictures. It's close to finished. I want an extra capacitor on the voltage line, braid the tail servo lead and still need a new tail servo mount. The temp fix is working, but the metal upgrade part would look good there.

I used some hot glue on the battery tray for grip. I dont like veltcro that much. As long as my batteries don't get so hot to melt it again, there should be no problem.

[Mikej]

Thanks mate

[sp00fman]

Strange stuff today.... Had some shaking during spoolup for Gov store. pulled through waiting for the blades to straighten out. when done hit Th and had a major wet dog shake at spooldown. Found one blade cracked at the airfoil right next to the blade root. cause or effect....i need to sort that out before i try again. i did a little fiddling on the heli when i had the heli on its head in the grass. i was gentle but perhaps cracked it at that point... i dont know.


Need more blades now..... perhaps go for some cheap $10 glassfiber ones first or try a set of align 425 and sand the logo off....

[sp00fman]

Lol, €7,07 EUR shipped to my door for a set of 430mm blades.... guess im going to find out how these work.