Rakon Nano Mainframe - Not Impressed :(

[naga]

Having recently bought a beautiful 130x which is actually completely constructed from Lynx upgrade parts except the main board and which oozes quality and flies wonderfully, I decided to make a Rakon Nano since I had many of the parts in my stash already.

So my Rakon Nano with it's "Advanced" CNC frame was all set finally to fit the Rakon landing gear. Except it would not fit, the rear socket was too small. So I tried the standard landing gear, same problem. I had to ream the socket to get anything to fit. I thought this was supposedly engineered to micron tolerances, and here I am modding it to get the parts to fit together!

Then, just to cap it I had a bit of a crash on the first flight, just from the height of a few feet from a hover onto soft earth, nothing serious I though. One of the aluminium canopy pins snapped off. I cannot believe how fragile it is.

I have to say I am not at all impressed with the quality of the Rakon kit for the Nano, and will not be throwing away any more of my money on what now appears to be pure bling, rather than quality upgrades as I had hoped.

Your experiences and comments would be welcome.

[Inat90degrees]

I modded my NANO by replacing the swash plate with the MicoHeli swash plate because I was breaking to many plastic swash plates. I have also added the red 0 rings to the links and 2 between the board and the frame. Then my second mod was the Pin Fixer Gizmo because I was breaking pins. IMO, I think the PFG made the NANO fly more solid. I have a set of AIRTIME skids but I have not installed them. I have not gotten into more aggressive flying so I have not added a solid tail boom. I would like to up grade to the brushless motor but I am waiting on HH to improve the set up before I make a purchase there. So most of my up grades have been on the light side since I am still flying with the brushed motor. Not real pretty but I think these improvements I have mentioned have been well worth the money spent.

[naga]

What is Pin Fixer Gizmo? Links?

[nickyd]

Npfg

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=639314

[NCcraig]

You might as well tie a string with a brick attached to it to your stock nano then install a Rakon frame. You'll get the same results and save 40 some odd bucks.

[naga]

Originally Posted by NCcraig

You might as well tie a string with a brick attached to it to your stock nano then install a Rakon frame. You'll get the same results and save 40 some odd bucks.

Well, the plan was (and I suppose still is) to fit a brushless motor in it, something quite pokey rather than Blades P&P upgrade. I figured the Rakon frame would cope better with the stresses than the stock frame.

I think the reason she went down seems to be the gyro on the board is knackered, she is all over the place. I swapped the board out and she flies nice and stable.

I have learned a lesson here: Lynx stuff is great. Nuff said already about Rakon, particularly in view of the poor fit.

[Varc]

I did a review on the Rakon frame when it first came out. It looked cool, not too heavy to fly, but it was too stiff and it damaged my board. I prefer the MicroHeli frame or stock frame.

If your building a hangar queen, than the Rakon frame is awesome!

[naga]

Originally Posted by Varc

I did a review on the Rakon frame when it first came out. It looked cool, not too heavy to fly, but it was too stiff and it damaged my board. I prefer the MicroHeli frame or stock frame.

If your building a hangar queen, than the Rakon frame is awesome!

Hi again Varc.

Got a link to that review?

[Varc]

Don't know, it's pretty old review. If I was going to go with an aftermarket frame, I'd go with MicroHeli. I had their red one on my red-bird and I liked it.

[JEBSi]

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/F3PDrives

Yannicflight is the best brushless aftermarket frame, imo. It's pretty tough and lighter.

[Varc]

Originally Posted by JEBSi

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/F3PDrives

Yannicflight is the best brushless aftermarket frame, imo. It's pretty tough and lighter.

I don't know about the toughness without looking at one. But from my knowledge and what I read about the Lynx 3D printed landing gear, those 3D printed parts are on the fragile side. the material is porous and not very strong. I like the idea of this frame, and kind of dig the white look, but I'd be afraid of it snapping in half.

[naga]

Looks like it is made of nylon, but without checking it out hard to say how tough it is. Gota been tougher than the Rakon bling frame!

[laberge]

In general, I'd avoid any aftermarket mainframes like the plague. I guess some make sense but I just don't think they add any real value and only more weight. Same thing goes with landing skids. Might as well break stock ones over and over rather than the expensive aftermarket ones.

The 3d printed frame looks rather interesting but I'm not sure how it fits a custom BL kit in it.

[naga]

Custom BL upgrade is why I went for the Rakon frame!

[laberge]

damn! well I'd really like to know if anyone has tried this frame: http://www.xtreme-production.com/xtr...oducts_id=8488

Has BL capabilities, replaceable body mount and isn't aluminium

[naga]

That frame looks very interesting. And I have more confidence in Xtreme productions than microheli, or Rakon after my experience with the ali "advanced" frame!

[JEBSi]

More pictures and info about the yannicflight frame and my finished build post #390:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...459685&page=20


I broke a canopy pin which was more easily fixed than any other frame because of the design. I broke the kbb landing gear and went with stock MCPx. Other than that, I really haven't changed a thing besides making custom canopies for it, so I think the parts that I used in that build are the best combo for brushless reliability and performance. Speaking of which, I need to change to a custom double fetted board from asteroid design to continue to reliably run MCPx batteries through it. I think the parts design is the best and will continue to buy only those exact parts, as I have bought all the rest. Experimenting is expensive and fun.

Prior to the yannicflight frame I used the Rakonheli which needs the tail boom supports so the frame doesn't bend which makes it way too heavy on top of being heavy.

I bought 2 yannicflight frames for like $20 and still haven't used the 2nd. The frame is tough and for $10, it's a steal.

[naga]

That is a nice build JEBSi.

I am having ongoing problems with my build. I fitted the Blade brushless upgrade before going with one of the HP03SE motors in my stash since it would be easy being P&P.

I tore one of the battery cables off the ESC when putting on the standard canopy. Soldered that back on this morning and took her out for a flight.

The rotor briefly spun then stopped. When I looked, the pinion was missing from the Blade brushless motor. Tried to find it but nowt! I cannot seem to win!

At least I was able to glue the busted canopy pin back on the Rakon frame. I cut a small piece of a paper clip that was just the right diameter and used superglue to hold it all together. The paper clip runs through the hole in the pin and frame, reinforcing the repair.

I am going to get this bird in the air one day!