Post Your Vibe 50 Pics

[jameson]

Originally Posted by DCflyer

It is a notorious issue vibes have. Vertical play. - not axial. If you have axial play you. Need new bearings in your blocks. I have about .25mm of vertical play. You can try shimming it and snugging the collar as best you can but it is a common issue.

i have horizontal play and the heli had it before it even had a drop of fuel through it..

[DCflyer]

Now that is odd. I don't have that. I finishd installing the new bearing blocks last night - parts came and I checked this. Tightened the blocks into place with the main shaft in place to make sure it was all lined up perfectly. Main shaft drops in like butter - rotates very smoothly. I tugged on it a little bit to check for play and have zero. Perhaps after a dozen flights i'll check it again but right now she feels very tight.

[jameson]

Originally Posted by DCflyer

Now that is odd. I don't have that. I finishd installing the new bearing blocks last night - parts came and I checked this. Tightened the blocks into place with the main shaft in place to make sure it was all lined up perfectly. Main shaft drops in like butter - rotates very smoothly. I tugged on it a little bit to check for play and have zero. Perhaps after a dozen flights i'll check it again but right now she feels very tight.

ya im pretty dissapointed and not sure what to do. im wonderinf ig im bgoing to have to buy new bearing blocks/bearings or machine a new shaft.. do you think the older vibe 50 bearing blocks would fit ? i dont see why not. have any suggestions for me ?

[DCflyer]

Originally Posted by jameson

ya im pretty dissapointed and not sure what to do. im wonderinf ig im bgoing to have to buy new bearing blocks/bearings or machine a new shaft.. do you think the older vibe 50 bearing blocks would fit ? i dont see why not. have any suggestions for me ?

How old is your mainshaft? Do you have your main shaft collar spaced correctly on the mainshaft so there is zero up and down play? Just thinking out loud here. Where in the shaft is there the most play or is it the same all throughout no matter where you pull on it?

V3D blocks should fit fine. They're pretty cheap. Be worth a try to buy a set of them and try them out, preferably with a new main shaft and collar and see what that does.

[jameson]

Originally Posted by DCflyer

How old is your mainshaft? Do you have your main shaft collar spaced correctly on the mainshaft so there is zero up and down play? Just thinking out loud here. Where in the shaft is there the most play or is it the same all throughout no matter where you pull on it?

V3D blocks should fit fine. They're pretty cheap. Be worth a try to buy a set of them and try them out, preferably with a new main shaft and collar and see what that does.

main shaft had the play the day it was built. the shaft has zero play up and down..the play seems the same throughout. i have a new shaft in the package and will prolly order v3d main bearing blocks

[DCflyer]

Finished tuning up the Vibe. Took some pics.

Work done:
-New main bearing blocks, main shaft and collar.
-Disassembled and cleaned one way bearing hub. Put main and auto gear back on with fresh loctite and cleaned and re-greased OWB.
-Quick UK needle valve adjusters added
-New links and linkages ALL around along with Da Vinci 2.5mm turnbuckles from bellcranks to swash and swash to blade grips. Links had to be drilled out from 2mm to 2.5mm for proper fitment.
-Align metal servo wheels with 3x8mm cap bolts added
-CNC metal swash mixer arm, A-arm, and A-arm base.
-New tail pitch control links
-ASG metal pitch slider and carbon arm
-Synergy head
-New glow plug















The finished product:

[JesusFreak]

Looking good DC. I have all the parts to convert to FBL now. I'm trying out a set of the new Spektrum HV Servos. Have the JR FBL head parts, and a new IKON FBL unit. Also have a YS 55 to upgrade from the 50, but I may hold on that.

[DCflyer]

Upgraded a few of my birds to carbon pushrod assemblies this weekend. The Vibe got the same treatment. Used a 3/4 inch carbon rod with stainless endcaps and Quick UK "Rocket City" links. Big beefy links fit perfectly on the JR balls. The center guide and stainless slider are Align units I had laying around. The cleans up the boom a lot and is sooooo much stiffer. Tail should feel more locked in now and hopefully I can ramp up my gain another few clicks for those fast funnels.

[JesusFreak]

Looks nice. What tail grips are you using there?

[DCflyer]

It is a Quick UK hardened steel/polished hub with Gforce grips that have built in "chinese weights" to help eliminate the centrifugal self-centering forces of the pitch slider at full rpm. They are nice grips but pretty hard to find these days.

[zosek]

Hello JR community!

Anyone still flying the vibe? Seems like this heli is slowly getting pushed out of the heli community.

Nevrtheless i'm still loving mine. It has been almost two years since the last time i've flown anything, but this weekend was the time i went back to helis. I made sure my whole fleet went airborne. Here are two pics

[justinspicer]

I flew my NEX 50 Sunday. Burned almost a gallon. Had to finish the break in on my new OS 55 hz.
With that engine and 620 blades it flies bigger than a 600.

Long live nitro!

[DCflyer]

I've been flying primarily electrics mostly this season, but I took the day off on Thursday and got the Vibe out to my local turf field. Hadn't started it for almost 10 months now with the motor full of after-run keeping it fresh. Took it to the field and spent the first hour of the morning just function testing everything without blades, canopy etc. Getting it started, letting it run, checking for leaks etc. I replaced all the fuel tubing with Lynx fuel line this past winter and also installed a new fuel tank, new fuel stays, and an OS bubbles clunk. To my amusement she started right up and idled perfectly. After a couple more heat cycles I fueled up and set off.

This is my nitro "trainer" - it really is the perfect little nitro heli for me. I've spent a lot of time making it better and doing various upgrades to the airframe, but I still fly it pretty hard despite the fact that parts are now pretty scarce for it.

I put three hard flights through it, the first of which was mostly a tuning flight, and the last flight I couldn't resist smacking it off the deck.

Quick shot of the last start-up of the day my gf took while I was busy;

[DCflyer]

Got the Vibe 55 out this past weekend. 40 degree weather and denser air had the machine feeling extra responsive this weekend. Still such a nice flying machine. Brings smiles every time I get to let loose with it.

[JesusFreak]

Lookin good. We're well below freezing here in PA.

[DCflyer]

Don't know how many here still fly Vibes, but I managed to get some video of mine last weekend. It was quite a hot day so I was flying Dunkan B. style.

I fly this heli harder than anything else I own at the moment. Its just so forgiving and easy to smack around. This was the 2nd flight after new bearings and piston ring on the motor. Flying ungoverned on throttle curves and still using the molasses slow DS8311's on cyclic so the head isn't as responsive as my newer stuff, but man..........in terms of fun, this machine is still tops. I ran it out of fuel and had to auto in twice that day as I just didn't want to stop flying it!

The OS55 needs a full rebuild though. Its a very tired motor and i'm only running 11.5 degrees collective and can still bog it quite easily. I am going to fly it as is for this season and reassess this winter. It will need a fresh motor and some decent cyclics in there to make it fly right. At the moment i'm just having fun with it.

JR Vibe 50 Making Smoke (4 min 28 sec)

[DCflyer]

Man I must be the only person still flying this machine I guess!

Few months ago I thought about selling the airframe all together, but it didn't make sense as its almost worthless now anyway.

Recently scored a deal on a brand new OS55HZR and Powerboost III pipe. So I decided to swap the tired OS55 out and throw in the pumped version.

While motor was out I also put in a new clutch, pinion, and pinion support bearing & block. New clutch shaft as well. New shroud. And also installed a new tail pushrod / links. Can't wait to break it in - should make for a very powerful setup on 30% rotor rage.

20 flights ago, it also go a new fuel tank, clunk, line, etc. Somehow, this turned from a machine I was going to sell to having one heck of a plumbing / power setup.

Thought some pics were in order.

Waiting for new motor.


Quick UK metal fan thrown in.


Motor in and fuel setup rigged up.


Throttle setup received new servo, linkages, links, balls, horns, etc are also all brand new. Threw the old worn and stripped out horns and phillips screws out. All new hardware. This took quite some time. Pos Hitec 5625mg servo went right in the trash. Swapped in the Savox 1290mg which is actually a tail servo I had lying around so I thought, hey, might as well try it. So far so good.

Savox horn, Align balls, SAB links, and an unknown brand turnbuckle I found in my drawer ended up making up the linkage assembly. Took some time, but 100% improved over the old setup. No more play, nice and responsive, and made for a little better throttle resolution. Can't wait to see what kind of difference all this will make.

Lastly, you can also see the check valve there which then connects to an OS 3-way valve and 90's into the tank. The exposed nipple will be the pressure release. Just haven't capped it yet.





For the pipe, I dabbed some red RTV onto the flange and sealed it. Must ensure no pressure leaks anywhere with the new pumped setup. Powerboost III pipe is a little bit bigger than the old II version.




Ready for first startup. Looks much cleaner and more purposeful with the new setup. Glad I kept this awesome heli.




Cheers.

[zosek]

Ay, vibes are slowly dying out. Mine is still waiting to get repaired. A month ago my exhaust pipe screw unscrewed, so i almost lost my pipe in the air. Had to do some maintenance on the pipe and while i was at it i bought new FBL head (yeah, i was still rocking flybar). Now i'm just waiting for some fuel and she is back in the air. Should be next weekend, cant wait

ps: we need some action pics

[DCflyer]

Originally Posted by zosek

Ay, vibes are slowly dying out. Mine is still waiting to get repaired. A month ago my exhaust pipe screw unscrewed, so i almost lost my pipe in the air. Had to do some maintenance on the pipe and while i was at it i bought new FBL head (yeah, i was still rocking flybar). Now i'm just waiting for some fuel and she is back in the air. Should be next weekend, cant wait

ps: we need some action pics

Yea I don't think there's but a handful of people still flying these. Parts are only available through a few resources now. Over the years I have modified mine with modern components to keep it relevant and it honestly looks like a newer style heli with the canopy on. Still a very capable machine. I will keep flying it until I can't anymore I think. It is, after all, the first helicopter I ever purchased so it has some sentimental value as well.

Action shots/video are further up the page. Hope you get yours in the air soon.

[DCflyer]

Another flight from that day. It was a very hot day. This was a video my buddy took and we had pretty comical few words at the end. I had a little bit of a moment at 2:40 which was cool.

JR Vibe 50. Hot Day. Hard Flight. (5 min 20 sec)