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Next D . Fast Lad Performance . Ace Hobby

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e-HeliDirect HDX 300-600 > HDX300, continuing saga
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

Boiling the links

I just got some new links for the head/swash. I have heard that some fols are boiling the plastic parts to make them less brittle/less succeptable to cracking. How long should a guy boil them for?
08-16-2008 04:16 PM
 
 
gmcullan
Veteran
Location: Southbridge, MA

I would think 15 minutes or so. It's amazing the effect it has on making the plastic more pliable.

Gerry Cullan,
HB CP2, T-Rex 450 SE & SA, HDX300, MicroHeli Monster, Mini-Titan, Blade 400
08-17-2008 09:08 PM
 
 
gmcullan
Veteran
Location: Southbridge, MA

composite main shafts.

I've been PM'd on this a couple of times so I thought I'd answer in the open so that all will know.

I've had some good results with a composite main shaft consisting of a stainless steel outer sleave and a carbon fiber inner core. This is similar to a slot car axle that I make.

Two issues have slowed the developement of this concept into a commercial product. First is the demand for slot car axles, which has been greater and more consistent than anticipated. Second has been the procurement of the Stainless Steel tube with the proper specifications. I am currently flying three of the shafts with good results in my HDX300, MicroHeli airframe, and a highly modified HB CP2. Once a consistent source is identified, I hope to have them available through an existing RR advertiser.

Gerry Cullan,
HB CP2, T-Rex 450 SE & SA, HDX300, MicroHeli Monster, Mini-Titan, Blade 400
08-17-2008 09:15 PM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

thanks for the update. I think I may just have to bite the bullet, and get some erod stuff, and try to make my own.
08-18-2008 08:53 PM
 
 
gmcullan
Veteran
Location: Southbridge, MA

nexgen, if you go with the ejector rod stock, don't skimp on the drill bits whe you go to put a hole through it. Cobalt at the least, Tungsten Carbide is better, but the TC is very brittle and won't handle side-loads at all. I use a "V" fixture to hold the rod and a good drill press. I also use a point grinding bit to remove the surface hardening at the point of drilling.

Gerry Cullan,
HB CP2, T-Rex 450 SE & SA, HDX300, MicroHeli Monster, Mini-Titan, Blade 400
08-18-2008 10:27 PM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

thanks for the tip! now I have a quandry that I hope all the seasoned HDX300 pilots can help me with. (keep in mind this is my first belt heli, with a head setup like this, my onlu other cp heli is a Walkera 52)




So I have been doing some adjustments on my head, I had to replace a bent main shaft (V3 ), and some servos. I went over everything testing in stages, heres what I came up with:

-The links on the head were a little off (v3 head), the washout arms and the mixer arms were not parallell, so I adjusted the linkage rods. The flybar cage was still a little off, and I need to work that out still.

-Spinning up the heli with no blades, and tail disengaged, the head is spot on with no vibes.

-Reconnecting the tail, with no main or tail blades, there is a small vibe in the tail, need to check the shaft to see if it's bent. no vibes in the head.

-added tail blades, no main blades, still a little vibe in tail, but none in the head.

-Balanced, and added main blades, and setup pitch on my pitch gague, and took her out to fly:

-The blades are off track and the head shakes like crazy!! I adjusted the tracking, and it looks good in my hand, but when I set the heli down and lift off, the whole thing is shaking, and barely has any lift (plenty of headspeed, can 'hear the pitch' in the blades). When I look at the heli from behind while it is in the air I can see the rotor disk, and heres the wierd part the onlu spot that it looks like the blades are out of track are from about 9 to 11 if 12 oclock was at the nose side of the disk, and 6 oclock was at the tail.

It's like that 1/4th of the disk is out of track.


I can only think that this is because either; the head is vibrating like it is, or maybe that the flybar cage is a little off, or the tail has some vibes


I think that the blades seem a little heavy, so I can see how a minute balance problem could add big vibes on the head.

I'm just not sure where to start, I guess I'll go over everything. I also have some smaller tail blades that I got here
that I want to try, thinking that the smaller size/weight may help the tail vibes. The ones I have on there now are about 10mm longer I think.


One thing I am having trouble with is the link lengths. I have seen posts on it, but they are always a little different, what has worked for others for link lengths on the v3 head. Also if anybody knows how high the swash should be from the frame that would give me a great place to start as I have no Idea!
08-19-2008 07:47 PM
 
 
gmcullan
Veteran
Location: Southbridge, MA

Check your swash plate. it's either getting loose or you have a loose ball (ask me how I know about that one!)

Also, check out your spindle dampers. If they are overly loose your tracking goes all to heck. On the other hand, if they are too tight, your heli will shake like a wet dog.

You also want to make sure that your three CCPM servos are solid, with no play or skipping of the gears.

Gerry Cullan,
HB CP2, T-Rex 450 SE & SA, HDX300, MicroHeli Monster, Mini-Titan, Blade 400
08-20-2008 02:34 AM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

I worked out the vibes. I found that there was a little (1mm or so) slop in the feathering shaft/blade grip setup allowing one of my blade grips to move outward slightly, this could cause one end of the disk to be slightly longer than the other one if that makes sense. I added a couple washers to tighten everything up, Also I have the JGF 400 and 3s, and was running a 9t pinion. I switched to 8t and everything is smooth as butter. I think that the slight drop in headspeed is all that I needed.

This thing flies nicely now that it doesn't bounce all over the place. I am getting a renewed faith in this little guy. I will say that sometimes it's as if it is made of glass, ans I am afraid to touch it for fear that it will shatter, and revert to the crazy hot potato on the ground.
08-20-2008 04:24 PM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

I took the heli out on my lunch break (I'm at work). I noticed that with a full pack the heli had some slight vibes and a little of the tracking issue that I mentioned in a previous post. About 2 min into the flight, everything settled down, and she flew nice and smooth.

I will have to do a little more fiddling to make sure everything is dialed in all the way. My theory is that with a full pack (the most headspeed of the flight), I am on the edge, and the adjustments needed are more noticeable. I will post my findings with subsequent flights.
08-20-2008 06:34 PM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

I was able to shorten my head lengths and lengthen my servo lengths to move the swash up slightly. Now I am getting +-10. I also had to adjust my servo travel under neg pitch to not get binding, I now have full collective travel, and much better climbout than before. The ehli still has some small vibes at the beginning of the pack, but I think that the dampers are perhaps a little to hard. I may try the trex orings to see if that helps.
08-21-2008 05:57 PM
 
 
Whopper Chopper
Senior Heliman
Location: Atlanta, GA

Ball Links

Could I change the HDX300 balls to Trex balls on the whole head? I have changed the ones on the swash but would love to change them all. What's your take?

"Helllooo Roto"
08-22-2008 05:07 AM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

I think it could work, although it looks like if you have a v3 head it may be a tight squeeze on the flybar cage where the upper mixing arms pass that ball.
08-22-2008 02:12 PM
 
 
gmcullan
Veteran
Location: Southbridge, MA

It all depends upon what head you are using. I've given up on the V2 and V3 heads. Too much mass too high on the end of a too small diameter main shaft. I've bent stock shafts with just aggresive flight maneuvering.

I'm currently flying with a home-made composite main shaft and using a MicroHeli aluminum head. Flight characteristics have become very good. With this head, I'm using the following pitch/throttle curves and it seems to be working well:

Normal mode: -2/0, 5/50, 10/100
Idle-up 1: -10/100, 0/50, 10/100

I have Idle-up 2 set as: -10/100, 0/100, 10/100 but have not flown the heli in this mode.

I was using the longer FG blades sold through HeliDirect and liked the performance of these blades. Unfortunately, the lower main-blade position of the MicriHeli head (main blades below flybar) cause interference with tail rotor blades. I'm currently flying E-Flite Blade CP carbon fiber main blades with this setup. Flight times are down about 15 seconds with these blades, but that is to be expected as the wider chord is more "draggy" than the narrow chord HeliDirect blades.

Gerry Cullan,
HB CP2, T-Rex 450 SE & SA, HDX300, MicroHeli Monster, Mini-Titan, Blade 400
08-24-2008 03:11 PM
 
 
lryansl
Senior Heliman
Location: Yuma, Arizona

gmcullan, Have you done any 3d with it using the current setup that you have and have you had any problems with the main blades hitting the tail blades. Im curiose cause ive been running the same setup ever sense the microheli head was release and have noticed how close they are as well. Im considering doing some flips but it kind of concerns me.
08-27-2008 03:51 AM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

I have been able to do some mild 3D (flips, and rolls), and some hard turns, and such using the v3 head and stock main shaft. So far no trouble with the shaft. gmcullan, you spooked me saying that v3 head/shaft bent on you during 3D flight. I will have to keep an eye on it.
08-27-2008 05:16 PM
 
 
COOKIEULT70
Senior Heliman
Location: CAMERON PARK, CA

Sorry if this is in the wrong spot but.. I have a first production run HDX300, never finished or flown, and I'm wondering what it's worth. I can get pics if interested.

Eric.

GAHH!!! Someone call 911!! My wallet is bleading heli parts!!
09-02-2008 07:16 AM
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
gmcullan
Veteran
Location: Southbridge, MA

nexgen, I've bent a couple of main shafts in flight with the V3 head. it got to be enough of a problem that I went to a shorter main shaft and the MicroHeli head. I had to use the shorter E-Flite carbon fiber blades due to interference between the longer FG Blades from HeliDierect and the tail rotor. Stupid me, I took out two tail rotors before I figured that one out!

IryansI, I have looped, flipped, and rolled with the current setup with no issues. Control response is softer than with the V3 head. This is actually a plus for me, as it fits my gentler, open manner of flying.

Gerry Cullan,
HB CP2, T-Rex 450 SE & SA, HDX300, MicroHeli Monster, Mini-Titan, Blade 400
09-02-2008 12:24 PM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

Tested the dirt brakes yesterday!! ;)

I had my first crash with this guy last night. I dumped her in the grass at my local ball field from about 40 feet up. Right before impact i hit throttle hold, and watched as the canopy exploded! I ran over there, heart in my stomach thinking "ok here comes a week of repairs, and $$ for parts. When I got to the heli I gave it a good once over to assess the damage. I was pleasently surprised to find that the only damage sustained was a broken skid, slightly bent shaft (wow for V3), and of course canopy pieces all over the place. Everything else was fine. I even spun it up to see how bent the shaft was, and I could fly ok, allbeit with a shudder, so I finished the pack and went home.

I will be replacing the bent shaft tonight. I have replaced the skid's with the wider curved ones. I added spacers on the rear skids to give it a forward stance kinda like the Outrage helis, and I reworked the front end to have an angled battery plate like the V3 frame (I have the older frame). Now it looks more agressive, like it wants to just jump off the table.

-R
09-03-2008 07:05 PM
 
 
gmcullan
Veteran
Location: Southbridge, MA

nexgen, if you check my gallery you'll see that I added 10 mm spacers between the skids and the frame. I also made a lexan front angled battery shelf to extend the battery forward for G/C control versus adding unneccessary weight.

Gerry Cullan,
HB CP2, T-Rex 450 SE & SA, HDX300, MicroHeli Monster, Mini-Titan, Blade 400
09-06-2008 03:35 AM
 
 
nexgen
Heliman
Location: Brainerd, MN - USA

so get this. I replaced my main shaft a few days ago. see earlier posts. Well, I was flying yesterday, and the heli started acting erratic, and fell out of the sky from about 30 feet up. I went over to check the damage ,and the main shaft was SHEARED OFF right at where the top shaft ring is (to hold the shaft in place.)!!! there was no damage to the frame or skids, and there were stripped gears on one of the servos, and the anti rotation bracked broke off. I took the shaft out and examined it to find that there was no bending, only sheared in half!!! the break was clean, right above the flat spot where the shaft ring goes. This is a v3 shaft, and I have heard that if a shaft is very strong, then you are more likely to break it than bend it. Does this sound right? could these shafts be hardened enough to produce this? or could it have been a defective shaft?

The crash was very mild, and I feel like the problem occurred while the heli was in the air, and that is what caused the crash?

Any advice?



By the time you read this, you've already read it!!
09-07-2008 06:48 PM
 
 
19 pages [ <<    <     15      16     ( 17 )     18      19     NEXT    >> ]18127 viewsPOST REPLY
Esprit Model . Thunder Power RC . Mikado Modellhubschrauber

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e-HeliDirect HDX 300-600 > HDX300, continuing saga
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