What did you do to your Beam today?

[olemil]

Thought I would try this tread on here and see how it goes. I started one over in the Blade SR forum and seems to be pretty popular, nice place to post your days events.
For me I decided it was time to try my CY carbon blades to see how they worked. I was tired of how tight the stock glass blades fit in the grips knowing they probably wouldn't swing much in a blade strike. So I checked the CY blades last night for balance and they were perfect, very impressed. Took it out in the garage today to check tracking and it was still spot on. I can't believe how smooth and quiet these blades are, my God you can hardly hear the rotor. I received my replacement Chinook Elite tach yesterday too so I tweaked the gov setting a bit in my ESC. So before my pack was low I popped it up in a hover and I was so happy with the new blades and how smooth it hovered. Think I'll be leaving them on for now and hopefully figure out if I can use my V2 grips on my V1 head so I can use my stock blades that way. Guess that's my story for today, sorry for the boring post but just wanted to get this thread started. Happy Flying!!!!

P.S. I have a RC Logger digital pitch gauge coming Thursday so that will be a new toy to try out next....lol.

[dpelletier]

I've been curios about the CY blades...
I tried Mavrikk... but they don't fit well without shims (which I don't have). Ended squeezing the grips which makes tracking a nightmare, back to stock blades (I actually really like these)

Whats the difference between the V1 and V2 grips...

my Beam is all V1 at this point... been thinking of moving to Advanced once my spares count gets low and the to FBL

[olemil]

Originally Posted by dpelletier

Whats the difference between the V1 and V2 grips...

I'm wondering that too! The V2 grips have two ball bearings installed but the spacing between them is wider than the V1 on my head. Also there are no thrust bearings in the V2 grips, not sure how to install them?

[dpelletier]

Originally Posted by olemil

I'm wondering that too! The V2 grips have two ball bearings installed but the spacing between them is wider than the V1 on my head. Also there are no thrust bearings in the V2 grips, not sure how to install them?

Now I'm really confused... I have ball bearings in mine and no thrust bearings ?!?

[olemil]

Originally Posted by dpelletier

Now I'm really confused... I have ball bearings in mine and no thrust bearings ?!?

You should be ok. Going by my manual(s) there are two types of holders, one with out thrust bearings and one with. Also my manual that came with the Beam shows the ball bearing type with only two ball bearings but the addendum page shows it with three!! So there seems to be three different types of grips I guess, wish we knew for sure what was what. Mine has two ball bearings, one washer with a bearing race on one side and the nut. Going by the manual there should be two ball bearings, a spacer (8x0.5mm), large I.D. washer, thrust bearing, small I.D. washer and then the nut. So I am missing two washers according to the book, really confused on the correct parts as well. Im about ready to just by a brand new head hoping the parts are correct in it.

P.S. I think this is what I need to complete my set-up, but it still doesn't include the 8x0.5mm shims so I will still be short on parts!!!

[Bluerocktj]

Originally Posted by dpelletier

I've been curios about the CY blades...
I tried Mavrikk... but they don't fit well without shims (which I don't have). Ended squeezing the grips which makes tracking a nightmare, back to stock blades (I actually really like these)...

Thuderpower 325 is suppose to be the CF blade of choice for 450 size helis. Anybody here flying them on their Beam?

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=175562

I'm running Stealth blades right now. They're nice, but they are the only ones I have any experience with. I'll try Thunderpowers one of these days. Anyways to stay on topic, I haven't done anything to my Beam today except put it back on the shelf for next weekend.

[cliffkp]

Put most of the head back together.. new parts in places that were broke and replaced a few other parts that were worn. Put new edge blades on (only flown align woodies previously) so can't wait to try them out, already liking how they sit in the blade grips much better! Installed new KBDD orange rotor blades.. pretty . Placed my order for one sweet custom canopy that canomod is going to put together for me... looking at a month out on that probably closer to one and a half months. If I get time today I plan to get a flight out of it and make sure everything is rock solid and smooth. After that I will start up my next project.. Installing my new co pilot ii

[Inverse]

I put my edge main and tails on and I'm just about to pop some stickers on my canopy

[scoyle]

Now that I can get parts again (THANKS A MAIN HOBBIES) the Beams have come out of mothballs. The new tail belts are much better than the originals. They don't have a tendency to fuzz up and fray.

[Inverse]

Right now I am dialling it in mechanically and in the Vbar to the n'th degree.
I'm having a nerdgasm.

[olemil]

Didn't do too much to my Beam today other than stare at it sitting on shelf as I was heading off to work. Can't wait for the holiday weekend next week so I can hopefully get it outside and put some time on it, working way too much OT to get into it right now. I have a new 8FG super on the way so I will be setting everything back up from scratch again, not looking forward to that but pretty excited about the new tx!!!

[akshaw]

I have an 8fg. Great tx! Easy to set up and very flexible. At first I thought it felt too light and small, but quickly got used to it. Now I love it! BTW, if the sticks feel to low, raise them up.

[olemil]

Originally Posted by akshaw

I have an 8fg. Great tx! Easy to set up and very flexible. At first I thought it felt too light and small, but quickly got used to it. Now I love it! BTW, if the sticks feel to low, raise them up.

Thanks, you just made my morning!! I was worried I may not like the change but the more I read about people owning them (8FG), I feel better.

[dpelletier]

Finally had a chance to get out today, first time in two weeks.
So I popped over to one of my club's fields today with my Beam and a big smile on my face...
Unpacked everything...
checked everything...
Powered everything up,
checked everything again...
came out of hold into idle 2
spooled up nice and steady(I love this part)...
Started getting light on the skids...
POP... one of the tail grips came flying off!!
I never got off the ground
and I never found the grip!

Dring, dring... Hello is this A Main Hobbies?
I need some stuff...


Added one day later...
You know when Finless Bob says that he always takes apart pre-assembled stuff even if only to check for locktie... well he definitely know what the hell he's talking about

[dpelletier]

OK... new tail blades and grips on...

Went out for a quick hover... awesomeness is back... I love the sound of this little guy

[dpelletier]

I went out and practiced hover only...

And I ran through all 7 packs... a first for me, usually 2 packs, maybe 3, and I'm done.

Tail in,
left side in
right side in at least 15 seconds each orientation

The following was all tail-in:
move slowly forward 20 feet
move slowly back, pass over center, 40 feet
back to center
move slowly right 20 feet
move slowly left pass over center 40 feet
back to center and land

and start it all over again until timer sounds

I know it sounds awfully boring, but it really is not very easy to do.

[Inverse]

The basic stuff is a necessity anyway.
I went out last week and did 4 back to back packs of piro hovers.

[rjathon]

I'm methodically using John Salt's training course which is a big help:

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/how-t...licopters.html

Russ

[olemil]

Originally Posted by rjathon

I'm methodically using John Salt's training course which is a big help:

http://www.rchelicopterfun.com/how-t...licopters.html

Russ

I love his training lessons and videos. I have watched them over and over so many times, I almost have them memorized...lol.

[olemil]

Yesterday I finally got the Beam outside where it belongs, garage hovering is ok, but really sucks to have this big bird inside. I was puttering around with my Blade SR outside for awhile and decided it was time to break out the Beam. This was the first time I had it outside with out the training gear so it was interesting. So I spooled her up, gently picked it up off of my cement landing pad and just smiled. I can't believe how precise and solid the E4 is, it just sits there in a low hover waiting for me to make a stick movement. So I slowly moved it around in the back yard paying real close attention to all the obstacle's (bushes, trees and my weather station) and it was feeling real nice. So I got it in a 3' hover and decided pitch pump time. At first I was a little nervous, but after a few more it was just plain fun!! It was great to see it shoot straight up 30' in a blink of an eye and be able to manage it easily when I lowered it back down. I did move forward slightly when I stopped to get out of the dirty air which helped alot. So after my first pack, I waited a few minutes and thought why not burn another, so I did. Can't wait to get in an open area to be able to practice some FF, this thing handles so smoothly it's hard to describe!!!! Love the Beam E4!!!!