Cursed Heli - Am I alone?

[jbaum81]

I guess if try as many as mine your bound to have at least one heli that's cursed..

My current cursed heli happens to be one of my most favorites... I hope this doesn't change.. My new(ish) Protos 500 has been benched for repairs more than in the air.

The first incident was a broken vert stab thanks to me not paying attention while transporting.

The second incident was a bent feathering shaft after a tumble off of my son's top bunk (where it is stored).

Third was another broken vert stab thanks to my 2yr old son grabbing it off the kitchen counter.

All of this was before my first 'dumb thumb' in the air doing flips in reverse flight which didn't cause too much damage.

Just got her back in the air and went out flying last night hit idle up 2 and started ripping it around and the tail gear blew out. Got the death spin and nuked a new boom and ate up a cyclic servo wire that was clearly not secured well enough. Probably a main shaft and feathering shaft too. Blades came out ok though...

Been flying a mini-p for a while now so I got the 500. I absolutely love both. In fact so much so I recently picked up another protos airframe I plan to have as an identical backup to my main.

I'm afraid I might get to the point of not liking the protos anymore. Even though none of the incidents were really it's fault, Except maybe the tail gear which I'm going to attribute to damage from the previous crash which was left unnoticed. Either way I ordered the $10 upgrade CNC tail gear.

[mkovalcson]

I understand the sentiment. I had a few issues like that with one of my helis. Most recently I had a FBL controller peel off one of my helis.

However my Protos 500 has been my luckiest heli ever since my wife named it "Googley Eyes" a couple years ago. I haven't crashed it once. Those are the same main blades that have been on it for two years. It has more flights than any of my other helis do at this point, but my 550SX is catching up fast!

[jbaum81]

Originally Posted by mkovalcson

I understand the sentiment. I had a few issues like that with one of my helis. Most recently I had a FBL controller peel off one of my helis.

However my Protos 500 has been my luckiest heli ever since my wife named it "Googley Eyes" a couple years ago. I haven't crashed it once. Those are the same main blades that have been on it for two years. It has more flights than any of my other helis do at this point, but my 550SX is catching up fast!

The only way those eyes could get better is if you were to paint on a huge grin..

[Maypole]

Been there, done that. Fortunately though, at least for me anyway, I've found these things to be somewhat cyclical. Don't give up on the heli in question, and quite possibly the worm will turn, and it will become a favorite.

[Himilou]

My 600N is like this. Second flight ever it popped a collective link. It currently has a tail wag I cant seem to solve for the life of me. While testing to see if I solved it last week I was taking off just started a hover, all of a sudden it leaps into the air about 5 feet shakes violently side to side and the motor shuts off. Its a flybar heli too!

[jbaum81]

Originally Posted by Himilou

My 600N is like this. Second flight ever it popped a collective link. It currently has a tail wag I cant seem to solve for the life of me. While testing to see if I solved it last week I was taking off just started a hover, all of a sudden it leaps into the air about 5 feet shakes violently side to side and the motor shuts off. Its a flybar heli too!

Sounds suspiciously like a bad rx to me. Here is how I would approach your situation.

First I would make sure the tail is silky smooth with little to no slop. Check and make sure your gyro is receiving proper gain, an easy way is to check rate vs headlock function. Also check the mechanics of the head.

Next up I'd check for excessive vibes, make sure your tail and head are as balanced as possible, try adding another bearing to the torque tube (if tt). Get your gyro on some quality mounting pads to get it as isolated as possible from the vibes that can't be avoided. Also if belt make sure tail is rotating ccw, I reversed once by accident.

If using a spektrum setup I highly recommend running a minimum of one satellite to the opposite side of the frame from the RX itself. Also make sure your using a quality bec/battery make sure your not getting any low voltages to the RX.

[Funky]

My Rave 450 is cursed. The last 3 flights have ended in crashes (ESC quit, one cyclic servo locked up, TT gears stripped in flight). I understand when I dumb thumb one in but this heli is setup with top of the line components and I feel like I can't keep it in the air for longer than 2 mins. 2 of those crashes broke the frames (along with plenty of other parts) and all 3 broke the tail case. After the last crash I gave up and hung it on the wall (about 2 years ago). I don't plan on getting it back down any time soon. My main Trex 450 has been wrecked 50+ times and I have never had a crash on it cost as much as any of the last 3 crashes on my Rave. It flew great the first year I had it but once it started crashing, I couldn't take it to the field without bringing it home in a box

[Feral]

My trex700 is definitely cursed

[cjpainten]

My goblin 700c was cursed at the beginning...

Maiden: strap breaks on batt tray sending lipos into the mains. Total rekit + 2 5000 packs.

Re-maiden: lose signal on my dx7s halfway through the flight, sending Heli straight into the ground. $450 on Heli + 2 5000 packs and I had to replace the radio I smashed on the floor and buy a 14sg and a few Rx's.

Flight # 4: link pops out of swash, but I was able to auto down.

Flight # 6: servo arm strips midflight (again somehow got it down in one piece).

Flight #8: dumb thumbed it into a dirt nap... $700 + 2 5000 packs

Almost at the 100 flight mark and Heli has been problem free since then (knock on wood)

[BladeScraper]

Every micro I've ever had

[banditpowdercoat]

Nuked a tail gear!!??? Never have I heard that! I backstuffed mine into a chainlink fence that vapourized the tail literally. Only think I DID find was the tail gear on the bent shaft. Still good too.

For fin's, ya the stock seem a little brittle for sideways loads. I have the Lynx G10 tail and holds up well. Heck, I even dumb thumbed mine in a botched Piroflip 2 days ago about 40ft up. Hit TH, figure shes needin parts. Nope, straighten blades and finished 2 more packs.

Figure maybe it growing pains? I just got this new to me 700n. Now not new to Nitro, but Nitro helis ya. So far, 4 sets of tail blades, 2 rear fins, 2 tail drive gears, 1 auto rotation gear, and now today, 1 OS 91HZ........ This is all in basically 3 weeks! Seems its one stupid thing after another. Todays engine, I dunno. Just went stupid lean before I could even notice whats goin on, Hole in piston....

I feel your pain bro, but we gotta carry on

[BeamHangar]

I haven't got to "flying" yet so i don't know if my heli's are cursed...... but for all the hassles i'm having getting my head around heli's "stuff", i stongly feel I MAY BE.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by BeamHangar

I haven't got to "flying" yet so i don't know if my heli's are cursed...... but for all the hassles i'm having getting my head around heli's "stuff", i stongly feel I MAY BE.

Patience grasshopper. Soon it will all come into focus

[BeamHangar]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Patience grasshopper. Soon it will all come into focus

Hahahaha, im the wrong side of 50, been in the hobby for 18 months, and still can't even program a Tx....might get to all upright orientations before i end up in the box i guess.

The optimist says " Well, it's still progress"

The pessimist and addictive personality say's "I can't afford to keep buying stuff i can't use"


FOLKS..... if nothing else to offer, when you begin in this game; DON'T BE THE ODD ONE OUT..... unless your some kind of savant superior being, it just extends the process 10 fold.

Sook & rant over.

[ashikoman23]

Probably a couple thousand 130x owners agree we've been cursed. I just wish I didn't love it when it does work.

[banditpowdercoat]

Originally Posted by BeamHangar

Hahahaha, im the wrong side of 50, been in the hobby for 18 months, and still can't even program a Tx....might get to all upright orientations before i end up in the box i guess.

The optimist says " Well, it's still progress"

The pessimist and addictive personality say's "I can't afford to keep buying stuff i can't use"


FOLKS..... if nothing else to offer, when you begin in this game; DON'T BE THE ODD ONE OUT..... unless your some kind of savant superior being, it just extends the process 10 fold.

Sook & rant over.

Hey, I'm not that far off. Some say I'm on the wrong side of 50.... But really, anything I can help with shoot me a PM. I am a industrial programmer/Instrumentation technician by trade. So I might be able to help. Its what I love about HF!!!! Getting help, and returning it!

[jbaum81]

Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat

Nuked a tail gear!!??? Never have I heard that! I backstuffed mine into a chainlink fence that vapourized the tail literally. Only think I DID find was the tail gear on the bent shaft. Still good too.

Think backwards flight doing backwards flips a little too close to the ground. I stuffed the tail HARD, There is another thread I posted about breaking in the new protos you can see the boom there to get an idea. I think that's when it happened.

Originally Posted by BeamHangar

I haven't got to "flying" yet so i don't know if my heli's are cursed...... but for all the hassles i'm having getting my head around heli's "stuff", i stongly feel I MAY BE.

Beam If you need any help feel free to PM me if you have any questions. You really need to find someone to buddy box with. Join a club and make a friend bud.. Don't feel discouraged Heli's have a stiff learning curve.

[mjohnson]

I have a 130X that is in dire need of an excorcism.

Maybe do the Jimi Hendrix ritual on it.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=Z4QghNBwyt8

[Icanfly]

I find these things cyclical, when your spending a lot of time trying to work out the bugs or keep crashing and or little mistakes because your spending a lot of time with it it usually passes after all the troubling details get worked out.

A certain old school new school Shuttle I'm nearly finished to get ready to fly has sent me a monkey wrench this evening. It would not start no matter what I did and could see a lack of fuel getting to the carb through the see through final line. When it finally gave in the tx was set to st1 without my knowledge, zing it goes. When it ran I thought I was able to lower the idle speed by pulling back the throttle stick but the revs went higher so back to center it went. It took all but a few more seconds for me to hit the th switch shutting it off all the while I'm holding on to the rotor head. Dang was that a silly mistake, but I was angry at trying to start it for most of the morning with no luck. I shortened the input fuel line and primed the carb with fuel before starting, this helped greatly.. It went sideways yesterday due to the gyro or a bad link failing, and the tail servo was not the correct size for the job so out it went.

I hear something about using Spectrum satellites with a 3gx that it is a bad idea. The morning was spent trying to hook up an AR8100. Got most everything properly wired but cannot run sats from the gyro and the rx needs an independent bec, which I have. For now I'm sticking with the satellites and will read up to help decide to go with the rx/sat/gyro configuration instead. I moved the rear sat from the side boom mount to an inch below so static will not zap it, I hope.

A 300 I had went through so much repair and mods it is in no way a Blade 300 any more. I got fed up playing with cheap blade product and benefited from adding some 450 parts. It went through a lot of crashes, now it's my most fun.

[jbaum81]

Originally Posted by Icanfly

I find these things cyclical, when your spending a lot of time trying to work out the bugs or keep crashing and or little mistakes because your spending a lot of time with it it usually passes after all the troubling details get worked out.

A certain old school new school Shuttle I'm nearly finished to get ready to fly has sent me a monkey wrench this evening. It would not start no matter what I did and could see a lack of fuel getting to the carb through the see through final line. When it finally gave in the tx was set to st1 without my knowledge, zing it goes. When it ran I thought I was able to lower the idle speed by pulling back the throttle stick but the revs went higher so back to center it went. It took all but a few more seconds for me to hit the th switch shutting it off all the while I'm holding on to the rotor head. Dang was that a silly mistake, but I was angry at trying to start it for most of the morning with no luck. I shortened the input fuel line and primed the carb with fuel before starting, this helped greatly.. It went sideways yesterday due to the gyro or a bad link failing, and the tail servo was not the correct size for the job so out it went.

I hear something about using Spectrum satellites with a 3gx that it is a bad idea. The morning was spent trying to hook up an AR8100. Got most everything properly wired but cannot run sats from the gyro and the rx needs an independent bec, which I have. For now I'm sticking with the satellites and will read up to help decide to go with the rx/sat/gyro configuration instead. I moved the rear sat from the side boom mount to an inch below so static will not zap it, I hope.

A 300 I had went through so much repair and mods it is in no way a Blade 300 any more. I got fed up playing with cheap blade product and benefited from adding some 450 parts. It went through a lot of crashes, now it's my most fun.

When using sats on the 3gx govemor gain is on channel 5 and gyro gain is moved to channel 7. I recommend against using the 3gx there are better fbl controllers.