Electrostratus 700 project update

[Laurens]

I kept killing gears and it just wouldn't fly well with the BW mixing arms. I think changing to the stock bellcranks would be better for the resolution needed to get a good flying heli, but its a big investment. Also I've been very busy with the airforce, I haven't flown in 3 months...

[Thrasymedes]

Ah, who needs to fly helis when you are around the big stuff? How are things going with that?

What do you think was the biggest factor in tearing through main gears? Pinion, mesh, total power, main gear size?

[Thrasymedes]

Today started out well waking up to a helicopter fly low over my place, wop wop wop wop...

More work done so far...

Got the motor, motor mount, pinion, and motor shaft counter bearing all mounted up with lockwashers and loctite. Also set the pinion mesh. I chose to use int. tooth lock washers up against the frame so that when tightened the little mini teeth dug into the CF frames. That is, bolt/washer/lock washer, in that order and then with loctite. That assembly isn't going to budge.

Got the pem nuts Chuck sent me converted into the frame to correct the two that were incorrectly sized from the kit.

Because of the 140 swash I had to modifiy the two aileron servo-to-arm link lenths. Got all those links mounted up.

Got the Tail servo horn on and the horn ball, set it to center, and checked throw.

Started on the tail rod assembly but need to make a run to the store. Did a perliminary check though and the second hole in the Mikado horn should work well for it.

Got all the directions set for the swash and wiggled the swash unit around. The BLS451 servos seem to have amazing power, even on 4.8v.

List is getting smaller, and so is the parts bag.

[CatchmyCorsair]

I must be missing something? Why is switching bellcranks to stock MA a big investment? I think for my flybarred EStratus I need the BW bellcranks. My flips are slow, even with KBDD paddles.

Norman, good to hear. Get her flying! Mine is packed away for winter hibernation. I'll only fly the 450 during fall and winter. Oh, and I bought an E36 M3, so I'm spending my weekends tearing up country roads before the snow falls. I'm having a blast!

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by CatchmyCorsair

I must be missing something? Why is switching bellcranks to stock MA a big investment? I think for my flybarred EStratus I need the BW bellcranks. My flips are slow, even with KBDD paddles.

Norman, good to hear. Get her flying! Mine is packed away for winter hibernation. I'll only fly the 450 during fall and winter. Oh, and I bought an E36 M3, so I'm spending my weekends tearing up country roads before the snow falls. I'm having a blast!

Congrats Steve, I know that was a wish of yours for sometime!

Very happy with how things have turned out today. Did a few more things and hope to solder up the ESC tomorrow and power it up partially using my 10S batteries. Want to set motor direction before putting in the pinion set screws.

But, mostly hope to get a couple of Razor flights in!

Will share some pics then.

[Laurens]

I think mainly because of steering with an less then ideal flybarless setup takes too much power from the motor. I'm almost done with bootcamp, so after that I should have more time to play with heli's again. So far Im just not sure what to do with my Estratus project.

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by Laurens

I think mainly because of steering with an less then ideal flybarless setup takes too much power from the motor. I'm almost done with bootcamp, so after that I should have more time to play with heli's again. So far Im just not sure what to do with my Estratus project.

Ah, I see, so you are thinking maybe the off ratios driving the blades was loading the powertrain hard/quickly, and because of the governor you were getting sharp power spikes from the motor, and the gear was taking a beating?

You put all your power train into the RJX right? How is that flying?

Good luck with boot camp!

[Thrasymedes]

Got very little done today, but I did fly which was way more of a priority than building.

• I did manage to pin the boom.
• Also ordered all the last tidbits to finish all things mechanical.

As promised, here are some update pics. The wiring is still a mess, but I will do that at the very last. There may be some other things "pop" up soon. Hope to decide on a canopy direction this week. The open area in front of the receiver will be a a mount for a gopro HD camera I hope!

My goal is the finished product will be an electric heli worthy of the MA name.

[Thrasymedes]

Oh, and by the way, with the metal head and 710 blades, the Stratus is "whao" big. It makes my Razor 600 look a bit small. Well worth the extra long build time.

[Thrasymedes]

Still on schedule, I hope! I am in the process of getting the canopy ordered. I found this one by Insane Canopy and my eyes exploded. I feel lucky, as things worked out in my favor to get one. I will be paying full price to Insane, but it won't be out of pocket from me, so whoot! I never win stuff in raffles or give-aways but I somehow lucked out on being able to do this.

I will still have my stock white fiberglass canopy that will go on for the maiden flight and until I get it trimmed out, then I will slip this on.....



They are going to do it on a Stratus canopy minus the nitro pipe cut-out. 4 to 6 weeks delivery so I need to get the order finished up, now! Hopefully it will be here in time!

[prototype3a]

That's awesome! Isn't it just great when things work out?

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by prototype3a

That's awesome! Isn't it just great when things work out?

Thanks! And heck yeah!

Now that the canopy has been ordered, it is now time to show you guys what I had been talking about, as far as something I had been working on. Not that it has taken me a lot of time to design, I've just been busy with other aspects of the build.

Below is a rendering of a bottom base plate I have designed specifically for this project. It replaces the bottom plate that is designed specifically for mounting a nitro engine and fuel tank, with something more fitting of an electric model....






Some key differences this plate will include are:

• The front mounting holes for the skid will be counter-bored like the rear ones. This is so the bolt head is recessed flush so that it does not interfere with the batteries.
• The two pad strip areas are uncut and smooth so as to adhere velcro strips firmly to the plate, the rear is notched inward to save on weight, but without adding complicated routing time and leaving the appearance simple and clean.
• There are two notches towards the front, left and right, as areas intended for velcro hook and loop straps I bought from Home Depot, to tie down the batteries snuggly.

This will be machined out of appox 5mm carbon fiber, same as the nitro plate. I might could have reduced the thickness, but I didn't want to stray from a known design element. It will mount and and function much as originally engineered, just more tailored to batteries.

Here is a picture of the original plate, to compare...

[prototype3a]

Not concerned about the skid screws tearing through the CF in a crash?

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by prototype3a

Not concerned about the skid screws tearing through the CF in a crash?

Not really, there will be more weight up front with the batts, but this piece on whole is already so tank like. Even with the added counter bore if I crash it hard enough to pop or crack that area the rest of my heli will probably scatter like the guts from a busted pinata.

[Thrasymedes]

Just ordered a set of the Voltz 6S 5100 batteries. I sure hope they work well, the price was a lot less painful than 12S 5000's used to be. I remember when I first got into the heli portion of RC a 12S 5000 setup was a $700-$800 investment, at best. ....And I used to think $56 for my RC car battery was stiff....

That was one of the last pieces for this 2 year project!

I'm so excited now, I might pee myself....

[cgbole]

Na, we crashed several times and the bottom plate was the least of the worries..
I just bought a new frame set on RR so i can get mine put back together. It is the
newer type with tail servo under the boom, (no more lever). Also i noticed one frame
half is not cut out where the throttle servo went. This was a weak spot on the original.
I'll have to cut out a plate to reinforce the other side that is cut out for the servo.

Looks great Norman..
chuck

[Thrasymedes]

Thanks Chuck! Also congrats on getting the parts you need, and looking forward to seeing your bird back in the air.

As this helicopter keeps coming together, I'm liking it more and more. I won't go into all the little details that I did this weekend to get it to the stage you see below. However, I will note that my fix for canopy clearance when using the 100th main gear was very simple....I just added two more canopy stand offs like the front ones, and like magic it clears the gear by plenty. Very simple, using a stock MA part.

Also another huge important note, I will not have to take the canopy off to change out the main batteries. I have just the right amount of room to easily access the batteries, and the battery straps. This is a huge plus for ease of use! No fidgeting with a canopy between every flight, ease in, ease out!

Closer and closer and closer.....and this point it's mostly the details.

[[X]Outlaw]

Looking very sweet man...I have just a few more things to do on my spectra conversion but it is also coming along well. I even managed to put my hands on a FAI tail pitch slider for it

I solved the canopy rubbing issue the same way except I used some JR standoffs from the Vibe 50.

If MA would make their own mounts for the conversion I'm sure alot more MA guys would give this a go.

I must say as an electric she looks very very clean and sleek! I hope I get to spool her up in a couple weeks.

[cgbole]

We were a little bit ahead of the times in '07 i guess.. There was a lot of interest in it when we first did it.
I guess i sold about 20 to 30 mounts.. Batteries were still high and really only 1 or 2 decent choices on motors.. Things are different in the E Heli world now..

chuck

[Thrasymedes]

Originally Posted by [X]Outlaw

Looking very sweet man...I have just a few more things to do on my spectra conversion but it is also coming along well. I even managed to put my hands on a FAI tail pitch slider for it

I solved the canopy rubbing issue the same way except I used some JR standoffs from the Vibe 50.

If MA would make their own mounts for the conversion I'm sure alot more MA guys would give this a go.

I must say as an electric she looks very very clean and sleek! I hope I get to spool her up in a couple weeks.

Thanks [X]Outlaw! Glad you found that FAI slider you wanted, it is one saweet piece.

Made a prototype of the final new base plate design out of some foam core cardboard, cut with a hobby knife. I did a couple things to simplify it and also added a notch to put a hook and loop around the ESC. I didn't cut out the center section because I didn't think the proto material would be strong enough. This will hold me over until the real part gets here, and also to completely verify the design so I can be certain when I do get the part, it will fit up as planned. But mostly for fun.