Furion 6 Flybarless Build Pictures

[dauste]

I'm sure you will enjoy it lots!!

Quick update: I tried the 13 tooth pinion the other day just to see if this made any difference to the vibes I've been experiencing and also to check out the governor on the Jive. I found with the lower end head speeds I run, the motor and ESC came down much warmer and my flight times were reduced. At 2000 rpm the throttle was only at 48%. I'm going back to the 12 tooth as I don't need a 2400 head speed just yet!!

I've decided to head over to the 3D Masters in Venlo, Holland this coming weekend. The weather doesn't look like it's going to be that 'hot' (lets just say wet). Anyway hoping to bump in to the MA guys and maybe some pics and vids of the Whiplash (I'll try).

I'm taking my F6 along as I've been told that flying may be allowed in the camp site we are staying at and if Brian is around, maybe you could have a look at my main gear issue?? ...(weekend report to follow)

D

[dauste]

Phew... Not been back long from a great week over in Holland.

I said I'd try my best to get some new pics/vids etc. for you, so here they are:

The weather wasn't so great, windy with scattered showers. Fortunately it was dry long enough for Bobby Watts to do a demo flight with the Whiplash. Sorry it's a bit jerky, I had to poke my camera through a safety fence and my field of view was restricted, enjoy!!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D34NltEFheY[/ame]

The MA chaps were airside and I was refused entry to that part of the field, but being determined and with some surreptitious help from a new friend (thanks other David), I managed to get in.







And with 'the man' himself.



Now as you may know Bobby has a partner in crime, so I couldn't let them get away without a snap for the album (thanks guys).


After the weekend's events were over it was back to the camping site we were staying at. On the site were a couple of the pilots that had competed in the event. One was from the Experts class and I asked him if he would like to have a go with my Furion6. Well he gave it a thorough working out and I asked him what he thought of it after. I don't think he could believe how good it was and actually told me it was the best performing heli he had ever flown and wished he could have flown that in the comp instead of his own model.

Next I got one of the 'Master' pilots to give it a go and he commented as to how good he thought it was set-up. As you can imagine I was glowing with pride for my machine and I think all you guys out there with a Furion 6 or in the process of building one can rest assured that you really do have one of the best heli's on the market.

Here is a vid of the 'Master' pilot putting my F6 through it's paces, bear in mind it wasn't his, so he was holding back a bit!! (again the weather was poor and the camera was struggling in the low light)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35EpDTV1B8w[/ame]

The only problem is, now I know any performance issues when I fly are solely down to my poor skills!! Doh!!

[dpelletier]

Now I understand why you where so excited in your PM...

Video of "Master" flying your F6 is Private?!? Can't view it

[dauste]

Opps! Sorry, can you let me know if that is OK now? Thanks!!

[dunkonu23]

Looks awesome Dauste! Glad to see everything is working the best it can be!

Congratulations!

Scott

[dpelletier]

Originally Posted by dauste

The only problem is, now I know any performance issues when I fly are solely down to my poor skills!! Doh!!

Great video.

Frankly D... this is why I chose the Furion 6... As Newbie, I didn't want to have any doubts that any difficulties are solely mine and not the quality of the heli or its components. Also why I bought my Beam E4.

The quality of the Furion is certainly not lacking, but yours was obviously well put together! Good job.

Sounds like you had a great trip... thank for sharing mate.

[Thrasymedes]

Way to go Dauste, keep having a blast!

[dauste]

Thanks guys. Here is a little report I did on the weekends events, that you may find of interest.

David

[dauste]

OK, so watching all those 3D Masters & Experts only makes you push yourself harder with predictable results! The heli has been flying fantastic and I was getting used to the additional power from the 13 tooth pinion, the tail was behaving at 2250 plus head speed. Well it was bound to happen....





It was a bad one! Anyway all fixed up within a week and I decided to go for a new canopy as the original is in a sorry state.


The main blades are some new Torsion Solids that I purchased direct from Petr Novotny whilst camping at the 3D Masters (thanks Petr)! I tend to fly quite far out and was having trouble seeing these as they are all black except for the fluro yellow disc on the ends. I added some holo stickers, but it didn't make much difference. In the end I sprayed a splash of undercoat, fluro orange and some laquer on them, I can see them better now (it's an old age thing)!




The blades fly very well and my tick tocks are coming along nicely.

I dropped back to the 12 tooth whilst the heli was in bits and I knew it would happen... I've got used to the extra head speed the 13 was giving me, so I think I'll be going back and will have to forego the extra flight time. The tail is blowing out at the sub 2200 head speeds again as well.

I fitted some KBDD 95mm Pro blades for the tail. Again fluro orange to match up with everything else. These are around 5mm longer than the stock blades and stiffer, they are tapered a bit at the ends as well. I've found the little bit of extra length doesn't make much difference to the tail at the lower speeds, so looks like the new speed up pulley is in order if I want to keep getting the longer flights. I've got the rest of this week off work, so I'll be doing some experimenting over the next few days.

[dpelletier]

Great post... as usual.

I already ordered the new pulley and the KBDD, but green.

[Corvette & Copter Guy]

Very nice thread! My buddy just bought a Furion 6 and I will be as well. Great info here. There was one post about using a SK720 on the heli, but no pics showing placement. I will be going to my second fun-fly at the end of the month. I cant wait! I am also hoping to see a holiday sale so I can purchase the F6!

[dauste]

I hope you manage to find one!

I noticed with the skids set as they are in the manual, the heli tends to sit back on it's tail a bit, also when the blades are folded back when not in use it will rock back on to the tail fin.

I tried moving the skid tubes back in the struts and that had a levering effect on the rear strut and spread it out somewhat when the weight was on it

In the end I thought I'd try something a bit different and fitted the rear strut on backwards. Pushing the skid pole back fully, this works very well, it doesn't look odd and makes the heli nice and stable when sat on the floor. So less chance of chopping the grass on spool-up and no need to prop the boom when in storage.

[dauste]

As you may have read a while back, I purchased the Pro tail pitch slider for my Furion 6 and have been having some issues with setting up the throws etc. with the Vbar. In the blade grip there are two fixing holes to choose from when fixing the links and I ended up running with a link in a different hole for each grip. Not the best solution, but it was working. Anyway I had another crash when the tail blew out on me whilst inverted and as that isn’t an orientation I’m that good at yet, we ended up going in.

So, whilst rebuilding I thought I’d go over tail pitch slider again to see if I could figure out where the issue was and how I could make the geometry better. I know some other pilots have mentioned that they have had similar issues and have gone back to using the stock slider, so I hope this is of some use to you. Please bear in mind this is what I have found on my unit and others may not be the same.

The problem:

To get the geometry near perfect i.e. bell crank at 90 deg with correct blade pitch for a solid tail during hover in rate mode, it seems as if there needs to be a hole in between the two all ready available in the grips. Not enough material to do that, so first I had a look at why that is.

The tail was in bits, so I had both sliders side by side to compare. I measured from the control ring ends to the middle of the links to compare the distances.





What I found was roughly a 1-1.5mm difference, the Pro slider having the shorter reach (no exact figures here as I didn’t write them down at the time).

I then measured the distance between the grip holes and that is approx 2.5mm.



So if you have your stock tail set-up fine and replace with the Pro slider and use either of the available holes your tail blade pitch is going to change. Adjusting this to get you back to a stable hover then means that you end up with pretty uneven throws. My Vbar software tries to compensate for this, but it has struggled to give even piro rates in each direction.

The solution:

I had a look at seeing if the Pro slider could be packed out with a spacer similar to the brass spacer already fitted on the stock slider. That would have given the extra reach on the Pro slider and I could then stick with the standard blade grip holes.

Unfortunately there isn’t enough room on the brass slider to add anything else and still fit the retainer. The other option was to remove some material so that the optional (curved edge) blade grip holes would line up and could be used. I stripped both sliders down and had a look at the yokes. The Pro slider has some additional plastic where it butts up against the control ring and is wider in this area.



So I carefully started to remove this by sanding it down. Basically I figured I wanted to get the yokes to roughly the same thickness at this point.



Once done I reassembled and re-fitted the Pro slider on the heli, then it was off to the back garden to set up the pitch on the tail in rate mode. Lo and behold the tail was now perfectly stable with the bell crank at 90deg and even throw available on the slider.

You can see in this picture that the yoke has moved along the brass slider some 1mm, so I now have the correct pitch in relation to the blade grip holes and even throw available in both directions.



A fairly simple fix if anyone that has been having a similar issue wants to try it out. Depending on the size of your tail blades and head speed, you may have to remove a little more or less that I did, just test as you go.

Having flown down at the field since, the tail now behaves better than it ever has and the Vbar software optimiser confirms that it is more comfortable with the new geometry.

If you have a Vbar, just a little warning that going from rate mode back to lock in the tail settings, resets the tail rotor parameters to default.

[watdazit]

What do they say - "above and beyond the call of duty". Thanks for your efforts Dauste.

[ahahn]

I've tried to resist......but I can't.......last time I checked, eggs have yolks, but this tail assembly has a yoke! No jolk! Sorry...


But I really do appreciate your build thread. Just received my F6 today when the UPS truck dropped it off. A really big box compared to my Furion 450 or my TRex250. Most of it being the fuse.

[dauste]

LOL, OK so it was late (my excuse)!!

[RobertAbles]

First weekend of testing captured a little on video... Stills and a list of my setup as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/p1frank#p/u/8/twubjzqsGrE

[dunkonu23]

Good job, sir! You know, we've been round and round on the tail. I'm glad you figured it out with the pro slider.

Scott

[watdazit]

I have finished the frame in my build and about to start on the swash and head. I have not encountered any problems but have changed one detail. I have installed the gyro plate (Page 13) so that the countersunk head bolts are on the top and the socket bolts are on the bottom. This presents a flatter surface for gyro/Vbar. I could not see any reason not to have it this way unless I have missed something.

[dauste]

That will be post no.33 in this thread! I ended up turning it back round the other way as the bracket was rubbing on the elevator servo.