Logo 700 at Visalia steals the show!

[10pilot]

If you weren't able to make the Visalia Hobbies funfly in Tulare, you sure missed quite a show. The goblin may have been dominant at Helifreak, but the Logo 700 was the rage at this event! Dave made himself available to graciously answer all my dumb questions and he did me the greatest honor of checking out my 700 build with a fine toothed comb. This was no quick, "yup, looks good." He easily spent 20-30 minutes going over everything and anything, as well as giving me some good tips. Many, many thanks Mr. Dahl, for taking the time away from flying and enjoying a quiet day to spend some time with me. This was the perfect event to get some one-on-one time with two guys that don't just like this hobby, they live it, breathe it, bleed it. Kyle was his usual humble self. Not only did you miss Kyle wowing the crowd with his 700 flights (you can catch my video of his flight under kc10plt on youtube [ame]http://youtu.be/z6jArqtCz10[/ame] but it's not as good as being there!), but he demo'd his spectacular fixed-wing abilities. Inverted flat spins, rolling circuits to the left and right (clock and counter-clockwise, amazing) and a bunch of other maneuvers an airplane just shouldn't be able to do.

I also got a chance to spend some time with Gilbert Russell. He was awesome with his multiple 800 and 700 Xxtreme flights. He gave me some great info, too. His 6S Thor packs seemed to be doing the job quite well. I think I'll be picking up a set to try out.
Shortly after Mr Dahl checked out my 700, I forced Greggor McGrath to fly it. He was kicking and screaming the whole way (just kidding!). You can catch that video on youtube, too. You can really tell he's hating it the entire time. Again, just kidding. He was absolutely giddy the rest of the day.

Big, big kudos to the guys (Visalia Hobbies) who put on the fun fly. They did a great job setting up the flight stations, getting the food prepared, and had a really good raffle. Fantastic! You guys rock! All the other pilots and spectators were super nice and great to be around. It was just an overall great experience! Despite the fact that fog took out most of Friday, rain ruined Sunday (Saturday was off-the-hook beautiful weather), and the chilly air at night, my room is reserved for next year.

So if you were there, I was the guy with 13 helis in the back of the truck next to the A Main Hobbies tents. Many thanks to all the folks with kind words. Some of you even accused me of actually being a good pilot! You're way too kind. I will say this, though, the Logo 700 does make me look like I know a little about what I'm doing. I don't think I've ever been so comfortable so fast with a new heli. Love it!!!

Cheers--

Steve

[OICU812]

Cool story Steve. Yes in person the Dahls are truly helpfull and great representatives to Mikado and the hobby. Sounds like the event was great!!

[kevinbj]

Care to share any tips you picked up about the logo 700?

[sgrim80]

Where did you get that pretty, matching, fluorescent tape for the fins Steve?

[taoY]

Steve, nice write up and videos. Thanks.

The tail fin looks great with orange over yellow. It completely mirror the canopy. I should have double checked your picture when I copied you idea.

Another Steve, I don't know what Steve uses. I use the ultracote film. I brought the canopy to my LHS and found the almost exact match colors.

[10pilot]

Hey, thanks, you guys. It sure was a great time.

About the tail fin, I actually do that with all my helis just because I think it gives a better view of the whole thing and looks really cool. The tail often gets lost and all you see is the pod. The 700 offered its good looks due to the double fins ( a suggstion by the Dahls to Mikado because the large one was too flimsy, so they added the second smaller one to strengthen instead of making the CF thicker). I was mulling over what I wanted to do and it just clicked. It was a little extra work but it was worth it. I got the vinyl tape from Hobbytown. They sell strips of it in 4' x 4" sheets. If you notice, I do the same thing with the skids. Helps my old eyes to see which way the heli is leaning.

Mr Dahl had so much to tell me, but I don't think it was anything he hasn't mentioned to anybody else or posted on HF. He did mention that the lower motor shaft radial bearing (the one that keeps the pinion in place) will probably be the first to go but has a long life anyway. It's the same radial bearing as in the Logo 600 blade grip, so if you need one, use that. He mentioned that everything else had pretty long life comparatively speaking. Even in crashes, the heli managed to be pretty resilient, but then I mentioned that he hadn't seen me crash yet! If you do crash, the main shaft radial bearings need to be checked for notchy-ness (sp?). I found the info about the YGE controller mosst interesting, though. The protective plastic shielding around it, should be removed if you plan to fly in HOT weather. That being said, it does hold everything together, so he mentioned the circuit boards (especially the one above the capacitors) and capacitors need to be secured via another method (hot glue?). If you plan on doing this mod, I would suggest talking to Mr Dahl about it thoroughly before-hand. When I do it, I'll post my process unless someone has done it already. I saw that Gil had done his already. Speaking of which, Gil showed me a mod for the motor wires off the ESC that I liked, My wires go from ESC to motor without any security. I do see how after time and vibration, the wires could break from the solder joint on the cicuit board. He used a piece of foam around the middle wire and then zip tied them together to prevent movement and to absorb vibration. I'll definitely be doing this. Mr Dahl also mentioned to ROUTINELY check the bolts that hold the tail boom supports. He said both ends were hugely susceptible to backing out, resulting in one of the supports falling down and usually going through the blades or forcing Kyle to move it while landing. He also showed me in great detail about the fix for the tail gear mesh. His suggestion was that the gears should not have any backlash, but shouldn't be pressed together, either. They should just be touching. Remove the tail shaft from the case and tail blade hub, put the shaft in a drill press or equivalent and shave a slight amount of plastic off the umbrella gear, check for fit (only shave 1/10mm at a time. Then use shims on the other side of the gear (left of the umbrella gear looking top down from the rear). He mentioned he knew somebody that sold shims with a 1/10 thickness and a 6mm ID. Gil mentioned there were shims in the kit, but I have yet to find mine. They're probably there, just need to look. Let's see, he said they never had to replace a belt, ever, so no worries there. And the best way to get the canopy on was to turn the blades 90 to the heli (out to the left and right vs over the tail and nose), and hang the nose just over the edge of a table. Then bring the canopy up from the bottom and around the main shaft. I had to giggle when I did this because I tried going straight in, and I have to say, using his way worked like a champ. I can't explain the difference, but trust me, much better. Additionally, the pinion/main gear mesh was not nearly so critical as on the 600. You can afford to be just a little bit more loose. Still, the procedure is pretty similar to the 600. I actually have just a touch of backlash in mine, which wouldn't work for the 600.

Well, the fog is almost gone, I need to run a couple more packs through this gorgeous machine. Mr. Dahl, if you're reading this, I hope you're smiling about how closely I paid attention. Thank you, again, sir. Please feel free to add, subtract or clarify!

I hope you guys liked the video. Wish I would've caught the fixed-wing stuff, too. Man, that dude is just phenomenal. I can't imagine the stick movements for an aileron rolling loop. His technical accuracy is just stunning. I never get tired of watching a master do his thing.

[kevinbj]

Thanks so much for taking time to share with us all.. Excellent!!

[10pilot]

Absolutely!! My pleasure. Geez, did I write all that? I should be working... Uh-oh. :-)

[zguy]

Great info, thanks!

The lower motor shaft bearing is listed as an assembly with the bracket, MIK4545 Mikado Counterbearing, LOGO XXtreme, and is $19 Can this bearing be replaced separately?

[10pilot]

Originally Posted by zguy

Great info, thanks!

The lower motor shaft bearing is listed as an assembly with the bracket, MIK4545 Mikado Counterbearing, LOGO XXtreme, and is $19 Can this bearing be replaced separately?

I would think so as it is the radial bearing from the logo 600 blade grip. Haven't really researched it though. I could be wrong.

[rcmarty]

Yup , dave said it's the same as the 600 grip bearing.

Old oven for 10 mins and that should pop right out.



Martin

[dahld]

Just knock the old one out cold, and gently press the new one in. No issues, and the bearings are cheap.

That bearing takes a lot of abuse as they are spinning fast, and the pinion is always trying to be spit-out from the main gear (same with all helis).

Don't get me wrong, it's not like the bearing fails every 10 flights. It's just that after many many flights, it's likely to be the first bearing on the heli you need to replace.

On the flip side, the bearings we've never had to replace in two years, going all the way back to the 800 prototyping days in early 2011, are the torque tube bearings. For some reason, they just never wear out.

(-: Dave

[zguy]

Great info Dave!

What are the first tell-tale signs of it going out? Noise?

While on the subject, how are the motor bearings holding up and do you oil them?

[c-ro]

Originally Posted by rcmarty

Yup , dave said it's the same as the 600 grip bearing.

Can you tell us the article number of this bearing, please?

Thanks a lot
Chris

[faxxe]

Originally Posted by dahld

....... are the torque tube bearings. For some reason, they just never wear out.

(-: Dave

Just to know; how many ~ rpm makes the torque tube on the xx800 ?

-Heimo

[dahld]

Q: "Can you tell us the article number of this bearing,..."

A: The Logo 700's counter-bearing (bearing only, not including the bearing block), is Mikado part number 0954, which as stated, is the same bearing as used on the Logo 600's main blade grip radial bearing.

Q: "how many ~ rpm makes the torque tube on the xx800"

A: The head to tail ratio (on both the Logo 700 and XXtreme 800), is very close to (if not exactly) 5:1. So if you are running the XXtreme 800 at say 1800 head speed, then the torque tube is spinning at 9000 (as compared to the motor shaft, which is spinning around 20,000).

(-: Dave

[dahld]

@ zguy,

Quote, "What are the first tell-tale signs of it going out? Noise? While on the subject, how are the motor bearings holding up and do you oil them?"

I've never gotten to the point of "noise" with the CB (-: The motor is so easy to remove (and since the gear mesh is way less critical than say the Logo 600, it's thus easy to re-install), I just pull the motor and the CB bearing block every so often, and inspect.

We're not anal about oiling the motor "exactly" every so many flights, but on average, it gets oil every 15-20 flights or so. As for motor bearing life on the 4525-520, with the large 10mm shaft going through the motor, the bearings are necessarily large, and apparently in this instance, "size matters". We've had zero issues with the 4525-520 motors.

With the 4035 series on the 600, we'd replace bearings a couple times per season when the 600 was Kyle's primary machine. But we went through all of 2011 with the 800, and all of 2012 with the 700, and never replaced a motor bearing. The bearings in the motors are beefy, and hold-up extremely well.

(-: Dave

[c-ro]

Originally Posted by dahld

Q: "Can you tell us the article number of this bearing,..."

A: The Logo 700's counter-bearing (bearing only, not including the bearing block), is Mikado part number 0954, which as stated, is the same bearing as used on the Logo 600's main blade grip radial bearing.

Thanks a lot, Dave!