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gs550t1981 · 11-19-2012, 10:07 PM

cool thanks for the pics.

Digger1973 · 11-20-2012, 02:51 AM

John, how are you mounting your camera? The image is clearer than most I see.

Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2

FR4-Pilot · 11-21-2012, 08:15 AM

I stick it to the bottom of the canopy with a soft, but strong, putty-like material. I think it's called fun-tack, or handi-tack. The key (well, there's at least two) is that putty is the only thing between the camera and the heli so it can absorb all of the high-freq vibes (no velcro straps or anything else that can bring vibes to the camera). The second is near-perfect blade tracking (or in general, a smooth running heli) to reduce low-freq vibes. The camera will easily show blades that are out of track, or a bouncing tail, if even just a little.

Kind of interesting, it was because of a camera that I found problems with the (brand new) metal arms on my green Mini-Titan SE. The resulting video clearly showed the heli had a tracking problem, even though it was very difficult to see with the eye. Turned out that the 8 bearings in the 4 metal arms (upper mixer & lower washout) were pressed too far "in" (probably no spacers) so the arms could slide in/out on their mount screws more than they should (about 0.015"). For comparison, I have metal arms on my other Mini-Titan, whose bearings are seated properly (can measure with calipers) and there is no slop nor tracking problems. This slop was causing the tracking issue - everything else on the head was fine. I put some plastic arms on (with proper bearing-to-bearing spacers) and the slop and tracking issue disappeared - I didn't adjust any of the push-rods. I've since purchased new metal arms but have not installed them yet.

Another camera story - this summer I was flying in a field near work during lunch. After the flight I noticed one of the rubber spacers I added to the NX's canopy (at the struts) was missing. Looked all around where I did my pre-flight stuff - nowhere to be found. Later while watching the video I noticed something odd in a few frames. The rubber spacer was kind enough pass in front of the camera (don't know how that was even possible) before it left the heli. I could see where-about the heli was at that time and sure enough, I went back to that spot in the big field after work and found the little spacer

That was almost as cool as hovering for the first time ! But seriously - I traced the path that spacer had to take in order to be seen by the camera and it makes absolutely no sense. It had to dislodge itself, move forward along the bottom of the canopy, while the heli was moving forward, then turn left and pass in front of the camera before finally jumping off. Kinda like the magic-bullet theory (?)

Digger1973 · 11-21-2012, 10:26 AM

I am going to have to try that. I am thinking of a gopro once I maiden the heli (hopefully my next weekend off). I have to rebuild my mini titan though. Just about every bearing in it is toast now. I would expect them to last longer then 240 flights though I do abuse the collective a bit on turns, etc with hard direction changes.

FR4-Pilot · 12-02-2012, 06:30 PM

December 2nd and it's 65°F in Chicago - what's up with that? Doesn't matter - got to fly a couple of packs today with the new 550/85mm red/black/white CF blades on my NX. It's hard to believe how much more lift there is with only about 2" more of disc diameter. I had to keep positive collective during my loops otherwise she kept floating upward! Also had to reduce flying time from 5min to 4:30 to keep battery drain in check. Motor/ESC/Battery were a little warm after flight, but not bad at all.

MotorRotor · 12-02-2012, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FR4-Pilot

December 2nd and it's 65°F in Chicago - what's up with that? Doesn't matter - got to fly a couple of packs today with the new 550/85mm red/black/white CF blades on my NX. It's hard to believe how much more lift there is with only about 2" more of disc diameter. I had to keep positive collective during my loops otherwise she kept floating upward! Also had to reduce flying time from 5min to 4:30 to keep battery drain in check. Motor/ESC/Battery were a little warm after flight, but not bad at all.

Good to hear that you had some fun today. Some of the performance difference you may have felt may have been due to the colder weather and some of the shorter battery time would also be atribbuted to the colder weather.

FR4-Pilot · 12-02-2012, 11:09 PM

It's actually warmer here that it should be - near 70° tomorrow (?) I was thinking the extra current draw was due to the longer blades and their additional drag ... but cold does have it's effects as well.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KErWNdQle20[/ame]

FR4-Pilot · 07-07-2013, 12:18 AM

Final lazy flight of the day on the 4th of July.

I really like how gentle this heli is at 1700-1800 RPM. I just installed a set of triple bearing tail grips which seem to be working great. There was a 10ft glider off to my right, so I couldn't use the entire flying area during this flight.

5S 4000mAh pack, on-board data logger and LCD display all working great as well. The ESC was a little warm after the flight due to my keeping the heli close by and not speeding around like usual

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkLR1Hk_DKs

FR4-Pilot · 08-06-2013, 07:10 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL48r06SGio

Great day of flying at Busse Woods

ricoalonso · 08-08-2013, 01:00 PM

As usual, very nice relaxing flight to watch. And, the way you overlay the 2 videos looks really cool

You made it all look so simple.

I envy those wide loops.

FR4-Pilot · 08-09-2013, 07:01 PM

Thanks Rico!

Chris DeSain · 08-15-2013, 09:18 PM

Prototype Helicopter flight 5 (3 min 16 sec)

Chris DeSain · 08-15-2013, 09:26 PM

This was a prototype 90% Had to make some of the parts to get it in the air...
Wow that was some time ago !
Says flight 2 but flight 1 was a hover :-)

Flight 2 (3 min 47 sec)

MotorRotor · 10-10-2013, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris DeSain

This was a prototype 90% Had to make some of the parts to get it in the air...
Wow that was some time ago !
Says flight 2 but flight 1 was a hover :-)

Flight 2 - YouTube

Very nice Chris!! What were you using as a power system?

DaMayor · 10-23-2013, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FR4-Pilot

Heli Flight - Dual Camera - YouTube

Great day of flying at Busse Woods

Wow! I really like the Dual Camera Video. I recognize Busse Woods as I have been there and flown planks there some years ago. I'm down in Romeoville now just flying Heli's mostly....all Century's!

FR4-Pilot · 10-25-2013, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaMayor

Wow! I really like the Dual Camera Video. I recognize Busse Woods as I have been there and flown planks there some years ago. I'm down in Romeoville now just flying Heli's mostly....all Century's!

Thanks for watching! I just started flying planes there too - I can get much better video from the plane than I can with the helis.

Have fun

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EgcN_bKVG8

ricoalonso · 10-25-2013, 02:00 PM

Cool video John

I bet the next thing you will do is one from a multi-copter

FR4-Pilot · 10-25-2013, 03:54 PM

Thanks Rico! I'd like to try one from an FPV plane first ....

11-20-2012, 02:51 AM	#62 (permalink)
Digger1973 Registered Users Join Date: Aug 2010	John, how are you mounting your camera? The image is clearer than most I see. Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2 __________________ B400(retired),Mini Titan V1(Retired),Radikal G20 (scrapped),Align T-Rex 500pro DFC,Synergy E5s

11-21-2012, 08:15 AM	#63 (permalink)
FR4-Pilot Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: .	I stick it to the bottom of the canopy with a soft, but strong, putty-like material. I think it's called fun-tack, or handi-tack. The key (well, there's at least two) is that putty is the only thing between the camera and the heli so it can absorb all of the high-freq vibes (no velcro straps or anything else that can bring vibes to the camera). The second is near-perfect blade tracking (or in general, a smooth running heli) to reduce low-freq vibes. The camera will easily show blades that are out of track, or a bouncing tail, if even just a little. Kind of interesting, it was because of a camera that I found problems with the (brand new) metal arms on my green Mini-Titan SE. The resulting video clearly showed the heli had a tracking problem, even though it was very difficult to see with the eye. Turned out that the 8 bearings in the 4 metal arms (upper mixer & lower washout) were pressed too far "in" (probably no spacers) so the arms could slide in/out on their mount screws more than they should (about 0.015"). For comparison, I have metal arms on my other Mini-Titan, whose bearings are seated properly (can measure with calipers) and there is no slop nor tracking problems. This slop was causing the tracking issue - everything else on the head was fine. I put some plastic arms on (with proper bearing-to-bearing spacers) and the slop and tracking issue disappeared - I didn't adjust any of the push-rods. I've since purchased new metal arms but have not installed them yet. Another camera story - this summer I was flying in a field near work during lunch. After the flight I noticed one of the rubber spacers I added to the NX's canopy (at the struts) was missing. Looked all around where I did my pre-flight stuff - nowhere to be found. Later while watching the video I noticed something odd in a few frames. The rubber spacer was kind enough pass in front of the camera (don't know how that was even possible) before it left the heli. I could see where-about the heli was at that time and sure enough, I went back to that spot in the big field after work and found the little spacer That was almost as cool as hovering for the first time ! But seriously - I traced the path that spacer had to take in order to be seen by the camera and it makes absolutely no sense. It had to dislodge itself, move forward along the bottom of the canopy, while the heli was moving forward, then turn left and pass in front of the camera before finally jumping off. Kinda like the magic-bullet theory (?) Last edited by FR4-Pilot; 11-21-2012 at 10:40 AM..

11-21-2012, 10:26 AM	#64 (permalink)
Digger1973 Registered Users Join Date: Aug 2010	I am going to have to try that. I am thinking of a gopro once I maiden the heli (hopefully my next weekend off). I have to rebuild my mini titan though. Just about every bearing in it is toast now. I would expect them to last longer then 240 flights though I do abuse the collective a bit on turns, etc with hard direction changes. __________________ B400(retired),Mini Titan V1(Retired),Radikal G20 (scrapped),Align T-Rex 500pro DFC,Synergy E5s

12-02-2012, 06:30 PM	#65 (permalink)
FR4-Pilot Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: .	December 2nd and it's 65°F in Chicago - what's up with that? Doesn't matter - got to fly a couple of packs today with the new 550/85mm red/black/white CF blades on my NX. It's hard to believe how much more lift there is with only about 2" more of disc diameter. I had to keep positive collective during my loops otherwise she kept floating upward! Also had to reduce flying time from 5min to 4:30 to keep battery drain in check. Motor/ESC/Battery were a little warm after flight, but not bad at all. Attached Thumbnails

12-02-2012, 11:09 PM	#67 (permalink)
FR4-Pilot Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: .	It's actually warmer here that it should be - near 70° tomorrow (?) I was thinking the extra current draw was due to the longer blades and their additional drag ... but cold does have it's effects as well. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KErWNdQle20[/ame] Last edited by FR4-Pilot; 12-15-2012 at 09:13 AM..

11-19-2012, 10:07 PM	#61 (permalink)
gs550t1981 Registered Users My HF Map location Join Date: Jun 2012	cool thanks for the pics.

07-07-2013, 12:18 AM	#68 (permalink)
FR4-Pilot Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: .	Final lazy flight of the day on the 4th of July. I really like how gentle this heli is at 1700-1800 RPM. I just installed a set of triple bearing tail grips which seem to be working great. There was a 10ft glider off to my right, so I couldn't use the entire flying area during this flight. 5S 4000mAh pack, on-board data logger and LCD display all working great as well. The ESC was a little warm after the flight due to my keeping the heli close by and not speeding around like usual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkLR1Hk_DKs

08-06-2013, 07:10 PM	#69 (permalink)
FR4-Pilot Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: .	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL48r06SGio Great day of flying at Busse Woods

08-08-2013, 01:00 PM	#70 (permalink)
ricoalonso Registered Users Join Date: Oct 2007	As usual, very nice relaxing flight to watch. And, the way you overlay the 2 videos looks really cool You made it all look so simple. I envy those wide loops.

08-09-2013, 07:01 PM	#71 (permalink)
FR4-Pilot Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: .	Thanks Rico!

10-25-2013, 02:00 PM	#77 (permalink)
ricoalonso Registered Users Join Date: Oct 2007	Cool video John I bet the next thing you will do is one from a multi-copter

10-25-2013, 03:54 PM	#78 (permalink)
FR4-Pilot Registered Users Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: .	Thanks Rico! I'd like to try one from an FPV plane first ....

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