Daily chat. Talk about about MX/X400s

[kenpsych]

Originally Posted by kenpsych

So I installed a new main shaft and I still see "walk" in the head. Now this is observed during slow turning of the motor, with blades on. Could the main head be bent? This is an all metal head.

Well, I have not idea here, but it seems to fly ok. I also installed a Dean's antenna and got rid of the old clothesline! Pics later...

[helisforfun]

Originally Posted by kenpsych

Well, I have not idea here, but it seems to fly ok. I also installed a Dean's antenna and got rid of the old clothesline! Pics later...

I have noticed the same when turning the main blades by hand my theory is the swivel ball joint that the main shaft runs through is not perfectly centered but like yours flys great.

[kenpsych]

I flew over the weekend at the club field and had a great time. Once you get this "control" thing down, flying a heli is a blast! It did a couple of rolls and a front flip! I just flew back and forth and felt ok with this heli flying back at me!

[Kushal_22]

Originally Posted by kenpsych

We are back on the flight deck! I received my parts from Grandrc.com and Towerhobbies on Monday. Spent many hours piecing it all back together...still waiting for alloy parts....

WOW thats Fast Service. Crash on the 5th up and flying the 7th. Wish I could get Service like that

Regards
MAl

[h2xmark]

well anyone get any new stuff over the Christmas holidays?? I got a new Futaba radio and some extra parts, weather has been a little bad around here so not much flight time right now.

[a320jockey]

Hello all,

I wanted to share my latest experience so you may save yourselves from a big headache. Yesterday while doing my usual hovering practice 30 ft up with my MX something happened, a bang and immediately a strange and sudden change in the blades' noise, like a flapping sound and it went into the ground, not at full speed however a hard hit into the pavement. After disconnecting the batt I went on to check the wreckage: a broken left landing gear, stripped top dome screw and a broken main MX carbon blade, the other one was also damaged. A more detailed inspection showed a missing pitch control linkage in the rotor head, the one which goes from the swash plate to the main blade control lever. Everything else was in place however both blade control arms were apart from their links as well, maybe a consequence of the crash. It seems the missing linkage went off the rotor head in flight causing the corresponding blade to flip, hence the change in noise and later flapping sound -the top dome was found displaced upwards on that blade's side, probably hit by the blade's control arm suddenly going upwards- and control was lost. The rotor did not stop turning because of its rotational moment, which may explain the lower speed during the fall but the heli was no longer controlable.

Later I noticed that the ball link on the swash plate had its sides flat instead of round when compared to the other ones which were visible so it seems like that was the one which failed. I never found the complete linkage. Going back into my maintenance procedures I remember to have been working on these linkages, specifically on the swash plate links in order to adjust blade tracking which is the normal procedure, however I never took a more detailed glance into the ball links' condition. Lesson learned the hard way: always do a regular check of the ball links specially on the rotating segment of the rotor head, a flattened ball link can an will cause trouble, worst if it happens during flight.

The MX seems repairable as far as I can see: replace the landing gear, a new linkage set, new set of main and tail blades, however being so difficult to get spare parts for the MX at a decent price here in Ecuador, I may be declaring my poor MX a total loss and leave it as a spares source if I can get a conveniently priced MX. Anyway I had a really good experience learning to fly this small heli and would have continued to do so if this accident did not happen.

Cheers and happy (and safe) flying to all,

Carlos A. Cordova
QUITO - ECUADOR
(Now-considering-to-build-that-stored-TRex-ha!)

[h2xmark]

wow, thanks for the info, guess i need to check my heli over

[z_man_95]

Or I may just be a little slow.
Has anyone seen this site? http://www.arktaiwan.com.tw
Check out the upgrades:
canopy mounts
paddle mounts
tail pitch set pro (secured top and bottom - haven't seen this before)
trex style head

[h2xmark]

wow, they have some new stuff out. like the new pro tail and head assy

[KITEPILOT]

Originally Posted by a320jockey

Hello all,

I wanted to share my latest experience so you may save yourselves from a big headache. Yesterday while doing my usual hovering practice 30 ft up with my MX something happened, a bang and immediately a strange and sudden change in the blades' noise, like a flapping sound and it went into the ground, not at full speed however a hard hit into the pavement. After disconnecting the batt I went on to check the wreckage: a broken left landing gear, stripped top dome screw and a broken main MX carbon blade, the other one was also damaged. A more detailed inspection showed a missing pitch control linkage in the rotor head, the one which goes from the swash plate to the main blade control lever. Everything else was in place however both blade control arms were apart from their links as well, maybe a consequence of the crash. It seems the missing linkage went off the rotor head in flight causing the corresponding blade to flip, hence the change in noise and later flapping sound -the top dome was found displaced upwards on that blade's side, probably hit by the blade's control arm suddenly going upwards- and control was lost. The rotor did not stop turning because of its rotational moment, which may explain the lower speed during the fall but the heli was no longer controlable.

Later I noticed that the ball link on the swash plate had its sides flat instead of round when compared to the other ones which were visible so it seems like that was the one which failed. I never found the complete linkage. Going back into my maintenance procedures I remember to have been working on these linkages, specifically on the swash plate links in order to adjust blade tracking which is the normal procedure, however I never took a more detailed glance into the ball links' condition. Lesson learned the hard way: always do a regular check of the ball links specially on the rotating segment of the rotor head, a flattened ball link can an will cause trouble, worst if it happens during flight.

The MX seems repairable as far as I can see: replace the landing gear, a new linkage set, new set of main and tail blades, however being so difficult to get spare parts for the MX at a decent price here in Ecuador, I may be declaring my poor MX a total loss and leave it as a spares source if I can get a conveniently priced MX. Anyway I had a really good experience learning to fly this small heli and would have continued to do so if this accident did not happen.

Cheers and happy (and safe) flying to all,

Carlos A. Cordova
QUITO - ECUADOR
(Now-considering-to-build-that-stored-TRex-ha!)

the 1st thing ya wanna do is go around the head area or any moving parts and replace all those funky screws with allen heads, also use some locktite, models costing this low arent exactly perfect....

[Raven_darkcloud]

get a set of steal balls to replace the alumi ones. This happens on trex parts too. align has a steal ball upgrade that works great. Don't forget the loctite on screws in metal.

[Stableblade]

I see that same Microheli main gear I have. Mine is very noisy and does not seem to mesh well. As a matter of fact it is so bad I just use the stock gear which is just fine anyway.

SB

[Raven_darkcloud]

Put a thin coat of lithium grease will quiet it and it will wear in after a few flights.

[LTCOBRA1]

can you use the 400 metal parts on the 400 pro? For the head?

[Raven_darkcloud]

yes. the 400 /pro / 450 all use the same parts (except the longer boom on 450)

[LTCOBRA1]

I applogies ahead of time with this question incase I asked in another post yesterday. When I tried to extend the boom to accomidate the 325 size align blades. It seems that tail is not fast enough to handle the new blades? Do I need a different belt other than the longer mx400 belt?

[Raven_darkcloud]

Stiffer tail blades. Use the align se style tail grips http://www.grandrc.com/inc/sdetail/49375
or the k and b dream ones.

[LTCOBRA1]

I have the align tail hub and grips..just need to purchase the align tail blades. Thanks again for the help and advice.

[LTCOBRA1]

Not yet but thinking about it. It's been about a year and not sure when they should be changed. Better sooner than later.

[bgagnon]

Guys, I just got a small tail strike that broke one of the tail holder do you recommend going with the red alu tail holder, the Align tail or others?


This is a repost. Just wanted it in the right sub folder.

Thanks