300X - The Weight Watchers Tread

[SHYguy]

For the time being this is my mostly used heli and therefore I spend a lot of time tinkering with it.

It's bit of a bastard as to size and a quite new size in the RC heli world.

As I understand the disk loading (is there btw an official calculation for this? Weight / Blade area?) on this thing is high compared to smaller and bigger helis. Which means we need to be very careful not to make it even heavier!

That being said, I find it a really great size! It flies way bigger and better than a mCPx, and not that much worse than a 450. And it's so small and light (relatively) it is easy to take with you.

What I thought we'd do in this tread is:
-post the weight of your heli and tell us what's onboard
-make a full overview of all possible option parts, and weight them vs. the stock parts (I can update a matrix here)
-tips and tricks on how to save weight without sacrificing durability

The stock 300X BNF with battery is 491 grams

[SHYguy]

OK, I'll go first:

Mine is at the moment 512 grams with the stock canopy and 533 grams with a Fusuno canopy. So that means a Fusuno adds approx 20 grams over stock canopy.

21 grams + vs the stock heli is not that bad IMO. The motor upgrade alone makes out a 14.8 grams increase in flying weight.

It's sporting:
RKH alu grips - 6.69 grams vs stock 6.59 grams (0.10 grams increase)
RKH alu head (w/o head stopper) - 3.53 grams vs stock 3.34 grams (0.19 grams increase)
RKH alu swash - 9.31 grams vs stock 10.91 grams (1.6 grams saved)
Wicked motor 11T - 54.2 grams vs stock 320H 39.4 grams (14.8 grams increase)
Turnigy SuperBrain 40A ESC - 34.8 grams vs stock 25A 41.2 grams (6.4 grams saved)
Turnigy Nano-Tech 3S 1300 mAh batteries - 119 grams
Lynx CNC slant gear & pinion - gear is 11.2 grams vs ...
450 aftermarket skids
Lynx dampers
Blade carbon tail boom
Fusuno tail fins
Blade alu tail grips
Blade carbon tail blades 32.5 grams (balanced) vs. stock wooden blades 36 grams
Blade carbon main blades
Lynx carbon frame stiffener on right side - adds 5.95 grams
Astroid Designs carbon stiffener on left side
All else is stock

Things I plan to do in order to reduce weight:
-direct solder the motor to the ESC + shorten wires (also better for performance)
-see it I can get away with ditching the boom supports + upper tail fin
-find a real low pro & light landing gear (or make my own)
-try to find lighter main blades (I do believe the Blade ones are a bit heavy)
-I'd love to buy (if it comes) a full titanium screw & shaft kit
-I will whip out the reamer and start perforating the stock canopy... lighter + better cooling. Maybe less drag too?
-paper canopy?

[sn00p]

Heres the details for mine.... im NO dieter but im pretty pleased with the outcome so far...

So far im running:-

Blade CF Main blades
Savox 0257's (cyclic)
Savox 0264 (tail)
Scorpion 2213-14 (13t) Gov 3500 HS
Turnigy AE45-A ESC set at 6v output
AD brace
Lynx HD head, tail blades and ultra dampers
Fusano tails fins
Align tail hub and grips (plastic)
zip tie landing gear
AR7200BX in stock position but using 3m tape
Deans Ultra Connectors

AUW 431g (does not include battery) (+ Stock lipo 119g or Nanotech 45c 116g) 547g all in...

Future Upgrades:-

Aluminium main grips (await Lynx)
Slanted 1 way (await Lynx)

Possible Upgrades

Tail case +
CF Tail blades

[sn00p]

ShyGuy when you mentioned your weight did that include the battery??? im thinking not but wanted to judge just how fat mine had grown lol...

Anyone know the weight of a stocker???

[SHYguy]

Yes, with the battery - ready to fly. The stock weight is in #1 post.

There's lots of good servos with metal gears, but for this heli I'd actually stick with the stockers (ok for the 450X though). Given they don't withstand even the slightest crash. But performance and weight vise they are VERY hard to beat!

The goal should be to get this baby under 450 grams ready to fly... who will be the 1st?

For instance 100 grams + may not sound much, but it's actually a 20% total weight increase, not good!

I have a 450X and T-Rex 450, and even for that bigger size heli I really prefer the feel of the 450X vs. the T-Rex. And IMO it's a lot to do with the 15% lesser weight of the X.

Just to think out loud here - maybe the way to go is not adding a bigger and heavier motor, in stead make it lighter, smaller & lighter batteries... and you get a better power to weight ratio.

Anyone got the link to that 4S battery tread for 300X? I'd like to see what it ends up like weight wise...

Anyone tried 6S yet???

[stevebaker]

Similar weight for mine - 527g all in with an additional satellite and telemetry module

Stock cyclics, except for one D922MG
Hyperion tail servo
MH Carbon blades
Turnigy AE45 ESC
Parkfly motor
Honey Bee Canopy
Lynx head

[65L88]

Here you go:

Blade alloy hub and grips
Blade alloy pitch slider
Wicked 4800kv motor
Savox 0257 cyclics
Hyperion DS11-GCB tail servo
Tarot 450 Pro tail grips and hub
Fusuno tail and horizontal fin
CC Ice Lite 50 esc
Astroid frame braces
Gaui 255 blades
Nanotech 1300mAh 45-90c

everything else stock

AUW=542g

[JustStartingRC]

I'm interested in the other side of things. What happens with, say, 150g? Does the heli still fly?

[SHYguy]

Originally Posted by JustStartingRC

I'm interested in the other side of things. What happens with, say, 150g? Does the heli still fly?

Yes I don't think that'd be a problem. I saw a video on YouTube of a 700 lifting bricks... just amazing how much it could take!!!

[AThom]

I am messing around with my backup 300x mounting Camera up Front on battery tray..Moving Battery to the undercarriage ..
In order to have plenty of clearance for battery not to hit the ground on a hard landing I took 8 extra motor mount caps(( I don't know what they would be called ..They are the round metal things that that bolt goes through before going through frame and motor))<-----Round ones in the middle...Stacked 2 on top of each other on each landing gear hole and used blade grip bolts to hold them onto the frame...

I can take pictures if anyone is interested in it....It gives a lot more ground clearance and is real sturdy....


My weight with

Camera

Stock cut canopy

Align Aluminium tail hub

450x blades cut down

Microheli Head

Hi Tec Cyclic Servos

And the rest is stock





Here is what it looks like






I have not flown it since I moved the battery move and mounted the camera up front..

Will try to get a video up tonight or tomorrow...

[Nelsonisms]

Friggin' cool AThom. I'm interested to see how that video turns out.

I put one of those 808 cameras on mine this weekend (secured with Velcro under the canopy) but obviously it resulted in very shaky video. It's still fun to watch (like a rollercoaster ride) but it would be much better if the camera was hard mounted and had some kind of stabilization.

[SHYguy]

+1, looking good there!

I gotta get my GoPro mounted myself!

[AThom]

I will put a video up tonight...Still trying to get as much vibrations out as possible...
She still flies good with everything on her...4 and a half minute flights and I come down with 30 -40% Battery remaining...

[SHYguy]

So I gave the canopy 1 hours work last night. I had expected more profits though. And it's very hard to punch actually. Reaming is not easy either as it's a bit flimsy for that Very tedious and not so much gained...


Before


I used a Hudy reamer and a hole puncher


After

In flight today it did not seem to have any side effects, and components for sure get some VERY good cooling!

I will for sure make it even more of a swiss cheese... In order to get it down to 450 grams flying you gotta take away weight at every possible place. And I guess I need to revert back to the stock motor as well...

Contemplating some very thin landing gear made of out carbon rods...

I think I'll ask lans99 on here if he can make a paper canopy for it... TDR stylee... has anyone made something for it already?

[sn00p]

Wow ShyGuy are you sure your heli isnt suffering from an eating disorder? Ive heard Bulimia cases dont go this extreme :-D

Whilst weight is probably king here, I just couldnt bare going back to the noisy stock motor

[SHYguy]

LOL! You ain't seen nothing yet my good sir!

Well, actually when you do the Loctite mod (while new or fairly new). AND set the PWM to 16, it's actually not half bad. Not like the Wicked, but with PWM set to 8 it's a noisy bugger! But not a "bad" sound anyway.

It's be interesting to know what PWM setting the stock ESC uses. My guess is 8.

[sn00p]

Originally Posted by SHYguy

LOL! You ain't seen nothing yet my good sir!

Well, actually when you do the Loctite mod (while new or fairly new). AND set the PWM to 16, it's actually not half bad. Not like the Wicked, but with PWM set to 8 it's a noisy bugger! But not a "bad" sound anyway.

It's be interesting to know what PWM setting the stock ESC uses. My guess is 8.

Mine had a horrible screachy sound like the bearings where gonna weld together at approx 66% throttle up to around 80% when spooling up. Good luck.

oh and you didnt mention your weight loss bu im guessing a few grams say 3

[AThom]

I had to edit the video quickly before work so not the best but I think I found a good Vibe killer...Moon Gel

Need to do a couple more test and tweaks but all in all she flies a tad heavy but not much at all...Let me know what you think of the video and the vibes..

[SHYguy]

That'll probably be the bearing problem then. Fully understand. My 450X was just fine, then I did the Loctite mod on the 440H too, just to be on the safe side. It had developed a nasty groove already. After the mod it's now a lot more noisy, seems to have vibrations and don't perform as good as before. My guess is it cured off center.

You mean the canopy? It's only like 1,3 grams so far = not really helping. I'll take off some more but I agree that 3 grams is most likely all there is to get from that. That's why I'm thinking a paper canopy might be a better (and much easier) solution.

But as said, cooling is awesome now! Not sure if it'll reduce drag too...

Could someone please weigh the stock landing gear?

[SHYguy]