A HUGE THANK YOU to all my friends at Helifreak

[copterboy]

Well guys, I just wanted to come back to this as I feel a little guilty about something and want to clear my concience.

I just want to say in my defense, that I had my own personal reason's for doing so, which I will come back to later. But I learned a little more about how this build was put together, and understand now that at one point, it came down to just needing servo's.

For me to sideline the Align servo's so soon, after everyone being so generous may make me seem a bit of an idiot and made some of you guys think - what the hell is he doing? And rightly so, because I then went on to go against the advice given out on the forum about getting new one's, or repairing what I had been so generously given. So if I have caused any offence to anyone then I am sorry. What you guys did still brings a smile to my face now, and I will always be extremely grateful even if I didn't take the time to explain it properly then.

I already knew from Gaz that Align servo's are good servo's, and I didn't want to sideline these one's so soon. For my own personal reason's I just needed a quick fix to ensure it was back in the air ASAP, and not become another workbench queen like the 600! So I just went with what I knew would be ok.

I don't want people thinking I beleive the Hi-Tec's are superior to what was so kindly donated by you the HF collective. I didn't take the time to explain properly at the time, because of the limited time I had supporting that damn sexy girl through a rough time! Think that also applies in someway to some comments I made about the ESC). I do not plan on upgrading the ESC, even though I did make a comparison to other's. I wasn't hinting in anyway, but I think it could have been interpreted that way, after reading it back myself. Again, I didn't explain clearly enough at the time. I love the soft start on the align ESC, so it's staying put until I abuse it to death Which I know will be a very long time.

So - why did I do it? First of all, I wanted a quick fix for the heli, because of the pending FFFD. Didn't want to run the risk of needing more spares, and not have it ready for some action.

Second, I also have a big project coming up at home, and I need the place I live in cleared out for probably 4-6 weeks. Having the 450 becoming a workbench queen like the 600 simply was not an option. Soon, the plasterboard ceiling will be dropped, a new suspended ceiling going back in, new fire/heating, re-skimmed, new lights, painting decorating etc oh and if enough money leftover, I'm doing a nice tiled fire surround in natural stone with some mosaic/border tiles. Bit of a display of my skills for potential customers. Hopefully, start planning it with my mum this weekend and setting budgets, then sourcing materials with a view to starting it in about 2-3 weeks!

This room I live in at the bottom of the garden has become a dumping ground for all my work tools/materials, paperwork, heli stuff, amongst my other personal belongings. Never thought I would end up with so much stuff!! It all needs a good sort out before I clearout the room ahead of the planned works, and move into the main house for the duration. Once completed we'll be well into winter. But I should be getting back online a little more and that's when I can start to come back to the hobby and finish the charging station just intime for christmas. Then I need to get all my paperwork upto date and get a tax return completed, so that will keep me busy for January! Work always goes quiet after the festive season, so I expect February will be a tough month financially, then March I will get some money together again to start on my 1st FBL project and start flying at the club again, ready to get stuck into it next flying season.

As far as the servo's you guys got for me are concerned, I will be looking at repairing them as soon as possible and keeping them. Either backup for the 450 or on a future project. If in the meatime (and once repaired) any person who contributed to this, needs to borrow a spare servo, then you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be the first to step up and pay to have it or them sent to you. It's the least I can do after what you guys did for me.

Finally, there are a few items and spares which I no longer need for my V2. So watch this space next week, as I will be offering them up via PM to the people who contributed. Anything that doesn't get shifted, will be flogged on ebay so I can in a small way start a FBL fund in my PP account for next season.

So that's it my concience is cleared, and I apologise again if anyone was offended, or simply wondering what the hell is going on with him!! And it also explains why I need a break, after the generousity that everyone has shown. I am not being ungrateful in anyway.

For those of you that have toleranted my ramblings for the past years, will understand that the learning curve has been a roller coaster for me, and so has my personal life which is obviously affecting it. So you will understand that I need some time to clear my mind and bedroom, and come back to this hobby fresh for next season. Tidy bedroom = Tidy mind and all that.

Carpe Diem!

[jperkosk]

Denis, we have pooled up to donate because we like you for who you are and how you're coming around with your life and we felt you needed a good break for a change, not so you would feel obligated to fly the thing around the clock. Simply, you have become a friend to many of us so just shut up and carry on with your life, mate

As for offering us the extra spares, best sell them to finance the fbl conversion, everyone contributed what they could spare, don't worry about it. I don't think any of us live below the poverty line, even if Tom likes to show this image to the taxman:

[Tomstoy2]

Damn,,,,!!!!!!! Poor as a church mouse, I say!

[copterboy]

@ Luke - thanks for clarifying about the frame side. Does seem a big job, but I will definately try it next time the need arises....which I hope is going to be much longer than it's first major re-build!

@ Jerry - Glad you understand. And that image is similar to what I like to portray to my ex

Anyway, I hope that clears a few things up, and I certainly look forward to getting the most out of it next year.

[jperkosk]

Originally Posted by copterboy

@ Jerry - Glad you understand. And that image is similar to what I like to portray to my ex

Hehehe, see what I mean by you turning around quite nicely? You just understand life.

So do I and so does Tom with all his exes that I don't have enough fingers to count

[copterboy]

I do know what you mean Jerry, I have grown up more in the last 3 yrs, than I have in the previous 20 yrs! Mostly due to becoming a father, but also wanting to move forward in life and not be stuck in a rut with personal debt. Also, being part of this hobby learning more and more about the engineering and electronics side, aswell as enjoying the flying when life/time permits.

As they say in the tiling game - every day is a learning day!!

Looking back now, for me personally, I'm really happy I can carry on with my projects next year as planned. Not having to buy another 450 and DX8 first, so if I haven't said it enough already I am eternally grateful to everyone. For me, that and knowing I have made some good friends here is the best thing to come out of
it

[sutty]

Glad you're feeling positive Denis, and have a plan for going forward. Friends try not to let each other down, but I've let you down, as yesterday events at work overtook me, and I had to work all day, which is unusual, so I missed the opportunity to pack up the servos.

Won't get chance today either, so they will have to go off Monday, unless you want to meet up somewhere on Sunday, on middle ground to save us both some distance. Trafford Centre carpark maybe, or somewhere equally notable?


Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Hahaha...I was at the Trafford Centre not 3 hrs ago!! I'll probably go again next week to get Jack some extra track for his train set. So it's not a problem for me, I guess it comes down to whether you have any other commitments, if so then just drop them in the post when convenient. I feel I should pay the postage, but will deal with it once we sorted a new plan.

If anyone understands about how work can go on and on and on, then that would be me. I don't feel let down at all, so don't feel bad about it. I expected they would arrive after weekend, so I was already used to the idea that having another crack at the 600 this weekend was out of the window. And, as Jack is here next weekend, I know it will be another 2 weeks minimum, before I can get back to the club to have another crack at it.

I've been thinking about this irratic servo behaviour some more, and call it wishful thinking, but I'm starting to think it may well be a dirty pot that is causing it. When you and I were looking at the servo problem, I had previously wiped some fluid off the top of the servo, then noticed the servo wasn't centered the same as the others when I first powered up, so I had to do an adjustment to the servo disc (which is probably what was causing it to jump, if say the servo has it's own mechanical end point moulded to the casing or gears).

So, I suspect said fluid has penetrated the servo case, causing the pot to get dirty, and the servo to loose it's centre, requiring the servo disc adjustment? When I pulled the pipe off a few weeks back to drop the engine and replace the clutch and fan, the pipe was flooded with about 200ml of fluid. As I pulled the pipe away and upwards from the heli, the fluid poured out of the pipe and down one side of the heli - the same side that I now have a dodgy servo. A smaller amount of excess fuel residue also poured out when I dropped the engine, but it didn't splash the heli on that occasion!! So looking back, it seems too much of a coincidence, and definately needs further investigation before contemplating my next move.

Once I get yours onboard, I will strip the offending JR servo down and take a good look inside. So anytime in the next week is fine I'm just grateful I will get a few more attempts to tune it this season, as I doubt that would be possible if I had to save up for a new servo first or buy a new set.

Would be nice to shelve it before my home project starts, and have some peace of mind that it is ready for next season. Thanks again buddy

[Tomstoy2]

Originally Posted by jperkosk

Hehehe, see what I mean by you turning around quite nicely? You just understand life.

So do I and so does Tom with all his exes that I don't have enough fingers to count

[copterboy]

Thought this might make some of you smile....

As you know, Avant Girl popped up on my radar again, but I was warned by my friends that she was a party girl, and only interested in herself. Hence why I said she comes with alot of baggage, is high maintenance, and why I was playing it cool. Well despite a fantastic few weeks together, the last week these warnings have rung true, and she has gone back to her old ways, despite telling me that she wants to change.

So, last night I basically said, I was f*cked about for the last 5yrs by my ex and I'm not going to let it happen again. If you want to be friends then be a friend, but if you want to be disingenuous then I would rather be left alone.

She was a damn sexy thing, and I'm a bit gutted things never got that far. But I feel better with myself for doing it. I am not her emotional prop for when she falls off the wagon.

As I said to the lads at the FFFD, she has an a$$ like Gaz's old avatar, so I couldn't help myself to have a go....infact, that sounds wrong, but I can't think of another way to word it

Enough said

[jperkosk]

A right woman has the capacity to multiply the man's capabilities by a huge factor, the wrong one will bring him down in a blink of an eye. It must've been like this since the beginning of creation, yet it's almost funny how much it costs us to learn to distinguish between the two...

[Tomstoy2]

Any more, if I meet a woman and have any interest in her I just buy her a house and walk away!

[Luke Warmwater]

Hehe....some said the same to me after my divorce; "Next time, don't bother with marriage, just find a woman you don't like and buy her a house, it's cheaper!"

[copterboy]

Originally Posted by Tomstoy2

if I meet a woman and have any interest in her I just buy her a house and walk away!

Nice one Tom, I knew you would say the right words.

@Jerry - Indeed, a woman like her could have inspired me, but I could see right through it. Total game player, and I wasn't prepared to be dragged back into all that.

Back on topic then!! I managed to get upto the club for an hour today. Got held up at work earlier, so got there just before sunset. All regular members had gone home, so cabin was locked and I couldn't get my tent back But there was a plank guy practicing with his heli's - a Twister Storm and Raptor .50. I only managed 2 packs before the light got too bad to fly in, as I had to take turns with the other guy just hovering his big nitro. In the fading light, I have learned not to push it, as that's when I tend to loose orientation, so I just played it safe and flew around getting a feel for the new 450PRO.

After my 2nd pack, the other guy went up to the flight line with his Twister Storm, and I heard his belt was slipping. He wasn't sure what to do, so I spent a little time sorting out the belt tension, checking the gyro setup and general feel. He hadn't much experience with heli's, so I sorted out the belt and gave him a few tips to check on the workbench. Eg. Remove the boom, and check for missing teeth on the pulley and belt, try to get the main rotor to freespin a little easier, get the gyro gain as high as possible without causing a wag, setup in rate mode with the servo at 90 and pitch slider giving 6-8 degrees of pitch etc. Also, had a look at his throttle and pitch curves as the heli was very unresponsive. At that point I found out he was being coached by one of the other members, so at that point I stepped back and told him I won't change it, unless he is instructed to do so by the guy coaching him.

Felt sorry I didn't have more time, but felt good to have helped the other guy out a little. Can't wait to go back in a couple of weeks

[sutty]

Servos on their way Denis. No need to worry about postage, it wasn't expensive. I only sent it normal 1st class, so no isurance, or anything like that. Just taking a little gamble, but seeing as Royal Mail are almost 100%, it should be pretty safe.

Since I didn't test them before I sent them, it might be wise to set up your test rig right now, which you plan to use for yours, after you get them out, just to run these through their paces before you put them on the heli. They used to be okay, so I hope they still are, but of course it's not impossible, and if there is any issue, just bang them back to me, and disappointing though it will be it will have been worth the try anyway.

Let me know when you get them.

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Thanks again Sutty. Your a top man

I've made a good start on the big clean up tonight and got the workbench nice and tidy ready to receive them Same plan again for tomorrow night, then I should have some time Wednesday and Thursday for the 600, and some time in the evenings this weekend to go on and look at the 450 servos too. They will presumably need some spares, once I examine them, so that might have to wait till after weekend before I get them everything looked and fixed if possible.

Realise I should take this servo change on the 600N as an opportunity to get the AR8000 and TM1000 re-installed and bound to the DX8

[copterboy]

Poetic justice?

My first crash with the 5065MG's onboard the 450 PRO has seen me strip a couple of teeth off the RH AIL servo gears!!

I've gone through it now, and replaced the parts I had in stock. I managed to match up a pair of blades, so thankfully no need to buy them. I also managed to find an old V2 main gear, that appears to be a match with the existing 150T PRO gear, so I can throw that on and get it sorted.

Found the tail push-rod control has bent, and a linkage rod from the pitch control. So will replace them too. So all in all, not a bad crash financially. I'm just a bit annoyed with myself for making such a silly mistake that could have/should have been avoided

So, as this is my second crash with the PRO, I should stock up on shafts/gears/boom and TT's, but might have to leave that till my next crash (hopefully long into the new year!).

Just gonna pop to the LHS to grab said bits and get it all back together this evening

[copterboy]

Originally Posted by ragge1

Denis , you might not have damaged the gears , I've had the same type servo 410M now for along time with many crashed but never stripped the gears but the top pastic cover - HSP41051T , not sure if they will fit the 415 but I think so

edit : you might need this: link

Thanks for the tip Ragge. I finally got around to looking at the align DS415M cyclic servo's for the 450.

First reported I thought 2 of them were damaged. It now seems one of the damaged servo's was just stuck, and was ok once I plugged it into the test rig I setup.

The one problematic servo remained, so I unplugged it and stripped it down. After closer inspection, and just playing around with the gears to check for smooth running, I removed what appeared to be a shard of gear tooth from inbetween two of the gears at the point it 'felt like' it had lost teeth. Anyway, it seems this shard stuck between the gears, or more likely caused by the original crash impact, caused a 'bump' in the gear mesh. I think the impact has transferred the shock to the minature gear shafts inside the servo case. This in turn has caused the moulded plastic hole for the 2 gear shafts to elongate, and become sloppy.

I remember it being mentioned here, and I think a freshly moulded upper and lower servo case should remove the gear slop, and fix it. So thanks for the link to the part number Ragge - it is the set in the edited link. I'll probably order a second case for spare and try to get a spare gear set at the same time. Least I will have a spare set incase of any more problems with the Hi-Tec's.

I managed to spend £30 on 450 spares today, and I think I got everything I needed to finish the re-build. They didn't have the right gear set for the Hi-Tec 5065MG's, so I was given FOC another set from a HS85 servo to try, which is supposed to have the same plastic sacrificial gear. I've yet to pull the servo off the heli. For today, I've got all the shafts replaced, the matched blades balanced, and the new boom and TT installed.

I noted from where the tail snagged on the washing line, I had almost completely stripped the lower gear on the small front drive gear. Was surprised to see I hadn't broke any teeth on the umbrella gears, given I hadn't just scrapped the tail blades on some grass

Had a nice trip to the LHS. Was good of the guys at Rev Mods to let me have a go of the NanoCPX bound to a DX18. Tried a flip, got it inverted without the tail blowing, but hit a coat on a chair when trying to level out and get it back to a stable hover Was on TH quick, so was able to pick it up, put it down and fly again. The batt only had another min left on it, so I just did a couple of circuits round the shop before putting it down safely. TX had a really nice feel to it, plus I got to drool over a real TDR

[sutty]

Nice one Denis, sounds like fun. On the gear sets, I've found that the bottom one seems to go most often. The cone gears mesh really well and tend to survive. Of course I've done them too, but that bottom tail speed up gear is a beggar for losing teeth.

Glad to hear she'll soon be sorted. I was already to give the 450 another test today, after my mishap, but decided to wait until after lunch, at which point it started raining, and never stopped. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Interesting Sutty, I was under the impression that the umbrella gears were the worst culprits, but you are saying it's the front one. I'll just try to ensure the front one's stay in stock aswell.

I was wondering, does anyone here that own's a 450 PRO happen to know, if the front and rear umbrella gears of the Torque Tube are identical? And can be interchanged?

My reason for asking is I now have about 5 spare cone shaped gears (2 front and 3 rear), 2 output shafts, and 2 front drive gears. I would just like to put them all in the same clip bag of spares. Do I need to mark the front umbrella gear because they are different in someway? They look exactly the same when I compare by them by eye, and seem to have the same gear mesh, but I'm wondering if there is some minute difference that isn't so obvious.

I have to say, this re-build was much easier than the first. Mind you I wasn't messing about replacing servos and moving the ESC this time. Much preferred working on the PRO frame to the V2 frame. Can't remember who said it earlier, but the different sections just seem to click back into place and then you screw it all together at the end