Furion 6 Flybarless Build Pictures

[dauste]

Hi Rob, this one keeps cropping up with the FBL head.

Hi Rgoh, read from the bottom of page 6 to p 11 in this thread. I had the same issue. D

[dauste]

Please someone! Find me a decent camera man... LOL Thanks Trevlett

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SOcQ8M-cU8[/ame]

That was all taken from the one flight and that's not actually my Furion6 that he has used in the still shots, but it tells a story!

[trevlett]

Ahh crap sorry dude, thought i was being clever! Searching out your thread and stealing pics!

My apologies for the camera work, Dauste's to quick for me!


Thanks to who ever i stole the pics from!


Trev

[Thrasymedes]

Nice video Dauste!

Trev where have you been hiding!? Now get yourself a Furion 6 and shoot a tandem video, and that's an order

[edsel.labao]

Maidened mine today. This thing flies like a dream!! My trex 700E is powerful, but the furion is powerful, fast and smooth.

Here are some pics:






And here is a comparison pic with my trex 450, 600, and 700. The 600 has a nitro canopy that is why the nose is longer.

[Brian James]

Looks nice, glad to hear you enjoyed the maiden!

[edsel.labao]

I got more flights this weekend and dialed in the vbar. All I can say is this is the best flying heli i have ever flown. I flies so much like the sim, it is so precise and so powerful with 12s. here are my setup and settings that can help others in starting out.

BLS251 Tail
JR8717 cyclics
Hercules super BEC
castle 85HV
Scorpion 4035-500
VBAR blueline (PRO)
Venom 3200 6s 30 packs for 12s
CY 600 FBL blades

Castle ESC settings
Governor set rpm 2000, 2200, 2300
gov gain 17 (will raise this more when batteries are broken in)
PWM 12 KHZ
timing low
13T pinion

VBAR settings Version 5 PRO
Rotor;
100 Agility (may increase that a little more)
90 gain cyclic
optimizer 50, 50
style Medium
Pitch setting 98 or 13 degrees
cyclic setting gain 88
cyclic ring 67
servo horn ball distance 20mm

Tail
110 yaw rate
92 gain (13.5 mm ball from center on servo horn)
Optimizer 50,50

Thank you Brian from MA for helping me out on the build. Calling and getting a live person to assist in the build was priceless. I think I will sell my T700E when MA comes out with a 90

[dauste]

Back to work tomorrow!!

I hope you all had a great Christmas & New Year. I managed to get 8 flights done over the break and here is a quick round-up.

I tached the head at 80% throttle with the Jive governor mode, speed was 2120 rpm. I'll play around with this a bit more for my various flight modes in days to come.

At this head speed I look to be burning around 450mA a minute in flight.

I have an issue with vibes, the Vbar logs vibrations during flight and I have raised vibration warnings throughout all my flights. I have tried tracking these down on the bench with the in-built spectrum analyser and without blades on they are at acceptable levels. Looks like I'll have to try and dynamically balance the tail and main blades.

Changing over the battery packs at the field is a dream, very easy to do with minimum fiddle factor!

The telemetry on the DX8 works a treat. Today from the temp sensor wedged between the Jive heat sink I got a min reading of 2 deg C and max was 13 deg C.

So how does it fly?? Well what can I say.. The Vbar seems to perform perfectly with the Furion. I haven't had to tweak anything on it other than run the in-built optimisers.

I was doing things with the F6 on the first flight that I have never done on my F450's in 2 years and by pack 8 I was impressing myself as well as the plank flyers!!. The speed and stability are amazing, I'm sure this will take me a long way.

I'd just like to say thanks to the folks in Billings for an amazing machine and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next size up is gonna look like!

David

(edit) Hi zoomtt, any chance of some vid of your 12S set-up in flight. Would like to see that.

[edsel.labao]

Will do. Just need to find a better camera than an iPhone 4.

[Thrasymedes]

Congrats Dauste, it sounds like you have a very nice machine there. Hope you get a lot of enjoyment out of her in 2011!

[fenwayrick]

I had my first wreak with the 6 tonight and all I can say is this thing is rough as hell!!! I was doing aileron tic tocs touching the snow and got a little too low....well it was only about an inch of snow.

Main shaft
Spindle
2 links
1 ball
2 servo horns
belt
canopy break away mounts
+ main blades

[hjscm]

Yeah had my mishap too. lost it in sun. looks like only lost boom and blades and auto rotation hub. the one way bearing doesn't engage anymore. i am going to replace main shaft and spindle just in case. but doesn't look like anything is wrong. oh lost tail blades too and landing gear, and one break away canopy mount. going to get new canopy as well don't like the scratches.

[dauste]

Ok, I'm going to put off flying this weekend. You know these things come in three's!

[hjscm]

yeah i know i said well ill take one more flight before heading home. well last time i say that.

[dauste]

I took my lucky Rabbits foot with me today (just in case) and all was fine. It was absolutely freezing in the wind and the only people down at the field were the poor kids playing football, having been dragged out by their parents in the vain hope that they will be the next David Beckham!

I've been struggling with the raised vibe message on the Vbar and I was getting this message at every 10 sec interval throughout my flights. I stripped the tail down and balanced everything, checked the belt tension and adjusted the gear mesh (using some slightly thicker paper as suggested by Thras at .006"). To my untrained eye, that seems to give a more comfortable amount of backlash.

I spooled up on the bench with tail blades on and got very low vibe levels (under 35 constant), so was very happy with that. The next thing was the main blades. I checked the Edge 603's for CoG and it differed by about 2mm. I soon discovered that you have to use a heap more tape on bigger blades for it to have much effect on such things, also meant that I had to add a fair chunk to the other blade to get the weight the same. Also sanded down the blade roots ever so slightly, they were fairly tight and because they are nice and smooth (like the grips) I had to pinch them up quite tight to stop them falling under their own weight when tipped over on the side. I’ve decided that because they are so slippery and heavy, they will always be like that. They don’t rock or move in the grips so I’m happy if they flap around a bit!

Anyway I flew with it like this the other week and checked the flight log and was still getting the vibe message. I was going to try all sorts of other 'stuff' today after my morning flights, but when I was hovering today with white cloud behind me and the black tape on the blade, I could suddenly see that the tracking was off .5". I had checked this on my initial test flights, but adding the tape etc. must have altered something.

Anyway a full turn on one of the links and it was perfect again. Now when I have checked the log after getting in, I have some 'good' readings in amongst the vibe warnings. Feel like I'm getting there now and will soon be able to knock his issue on the head.

Spool up still shakes like a jelly, I want to reduce the soft start time on the Jive down to 7 sec as it will then spend less time in various 'wobbly' power bands. The shakes have been so bad I've got a crack on the canopy around the rear grommet hole! Looks like I’m going to have to invest in a Proc card1 just to do this??

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by dauste

I had to pinch them up quite tight to stop them falling under their own weight when tipped over on the side. I’ve decided that because they are so slippery and heavy, they will always be like that. They don’t rock or move in the grips so I’m happy if they flap around a bit!

Do you mean just the blades are now not falling down on their own weight? Or do you mean when you hold the heli on its side with all the heli's weight on the blades by holding both blades they stay put? On a FBL heli especially you should be able to do the latter, at least. Flapping is not so good with FBL.

Originally Posted by dauste

Looks like I’m going to have to invest in a Proc card1 just to do this??

Yes you would need the programming card. Luckily it is very easy to use, and also one other advantage for you for the servos you have on your machine, BLS452/BLS251 is you can up the BEC voltage to 6.0V.

For the spool up shake up..try this if you like, spool the heli up completely and lift off until the bad vibes disappear. Land and hit TH letting it spool down on its own all the way to stop at 0 pitch. Mark a line from each grip to each blade. Fold the blades back like you are putting it away, then fold them back out aligning the marks between the grips and blades. Spool up again and see if she fairs better.

Good luck!

[dauste]

Originally Posted by Thrasymedes

Do you mean just the blades are now not falling down on their own weight? Or do you mean when you hold the heli on its side with all the heli's weight on the blades by holding both blades they stay put? On a FBL heli especially you should be able to do the latter, at least. Flapping is not so good with FBL.

Yeah, I wasn't very clear about that. They are not flapping (up and down), just fold down under their own weight if I put the heli on it's side and the blades parallel with the ground.

Yes you would need the programming card. Luckily it is very easy to use, and also one other advantage for you for the servos you have on your machine, BLS452/BLS251 is you can up the BEC voltage to 6.0V.

I've already got Prog card 2 to get 6v from the BEC, now need card 1 to adjust softstart. Unless anyone in the UK wants to lend me one for 5 minutes!

For the spool up shake up..try this if you like, spool the heli up completely and lift off until the bad vibes disappear. Land and hit TH letting it spool down on its own all the way to stop at 0 pitch. Mark a line from each grip to each blade. Fold the blades back like you are putting it away, then fold them back out aligning the marks between the grips and blades. Spool up again and see if she fairs better.

Good luck!

I don't think these shakes are down to the blades not being straight out (I could be wrong)! So, I'll see if I can do some more balancing using the spectrum analyser on the ground with main blades on and let you know.

[Thrasymedes]

Oops, my mistake, I didn't notice card 2 doesn't adjust the start.

[dauste]

I'd like to say I've been getting loads of flights in on the F6. Unfortunately the weather over here has been complete pants for the last month. Just wind and rain every weekend.

What I was really pleased about during the few flights I have done so far was how easy it was to swap batteries at the field.

I've ordered mounting plates for all my packs, so no need to mess with Velcro straps or keep putting the packs on/off the tray. The packs are securely fixed and get charged like this as well. I've run a bead of hot glue along the top edge where the battery leads may chaff on the plate.



The way I configured the electronics leaves a nice gap between the frames.



So batteries complete with y-lead drop right in.



Leaving the connectors free under the frame. This give easy access to them even with the canopy on, so I can connect up the power once out on the flight line.



I had my final delivery of batteries turn up the other day, so all ready for spring now!




Seeing as though I haven't been able to get to the field, I've been messing about with head speed in the garage and got the following values from the DX8 and Jive:

65% = 2000 rpm
73% = 2100 rpm
83% = 2200 rpm

I assigned these throttle settings to the 3 flight modes and then decided to have a look at the bank switching on the Vbar.

This was very simple to set-up, just assigned the Aux (gear channel) to the flight mode switch on the TX, then adjusted the endpoints/sub trim/reversing to get flight modes 1,2,3 corresponding to Banks 0,1,2 on the Vbar. This has allowed me to apply different agility settings to the different head speeds. So at the low head speed I have sport mode, mid- mild 3D, fast- aggressive 3D.

I'm hoping to get 8.30 mins of flight time at the low head speed. I now need a break in the weather to test the gyro gains and also run optimiser flights for each of the different modes. Come on weather!!!

[fenwayrick]

Great job!! I also keep my batteries mounted on the trays while charging. I wrapped the same edge with the soft side of velcro.
How are your batteries holding out? Also how many cycles on them?