HDX 450 Build Videos will be here

[BarnOwl]

Jeroen/Barnowl,

I wanted to check with you and see what you have for rod lenghts from the servo arms to the swash plate? The video says 50mm but if I go center ball link (arm) to center ball link (swash) at 50 mm the rods I have are not long enough. If its end to end of ball link then they will make it.

Thanks for any info,
Steve

I had the proper rods included in the kit. Like Bob says: The total length with the ball links is about 50mm. (50.47 in my case). I use them with the Hitec HS 65MG servo's.

[whosncntrl]

Bob,
Thanks for the quick reply. I'm downloading the vid now!

[2Dog]

Thanks for the fast reply guys.

Should be up and running soon.

Steve

[2Dog]

THis may be a dumb question is the drive gear for the motor something that is separate from the kit? I don't see the motor drive gear in my kit :shock:
Thanks for any info,
2Dog

[dutch_anykey]

Hi,

I just received my HDX kit :D So i hope you don't mind that i join the club over here.
I'm always impatiently when it comes to waiting for an order to arrive. But i made it. During that time i put all the finless video's in a cue already haha (thanks Bob)
I started exploring the box with my brand new blue bling bling stuff in it lol

So i came to inspecting the tail unit. That's where i have a question. I was wondering if any of you had the same problem. I can't have the slider to travel the whole way because of a nut head being in the way. I don't know is it is supposed to be traveling till the end. See the pictures. Else i will have to find a flat headed Philips screw to fix this problem.

Best regards,
Maurice

[Finless]

Very different tail than mine! Must be a new design. What the the screw under the pitch lever (the one hitting the dcrew ont he tail case)? I dont get what that is holding?

Bob

[dutch_anykey]

Hi,

It's the little bracket holding the lever.
Sorry for the bad pictures.
And yes i noticed as well from your video's that this one is slightly different.

regards,

Maurice

edit >>>

I'm wondering if the shaft is longer then normal...if i look at the angles that the tailblade can make. It looks like the blades will pitch enough in both ways...
Anyway i mailed HD as well to be sure

[Finless]

Yes... they beefed up the slider control fork which is good! I bet if you fot a low provile screw in both those places the problem would be gone. Try using 2 of the Align button head screws as I am pretty sure it's the same threads.

Bob

[BarnOwl]

Maurice, This is the Sonix V2 tail. I have this one too and the space you are talking about is ok. This is the reason the tailshaft is longer on this model. You'll see that the pitch on the blades is more then sufficient if you set your tail up properly. You don't need the extra space because then the pitch on your blades will be far too big (At least in my case). Just set the thing up as in Bob's video and you'll be ok!

[Finless]

BarnOwl, so the shaft is even longer than my tail as in my video?

Bob

[BarnOwl]

Yeah.....makes it even more vulnerable......You can use the V1 shaft, I did also because I have a few in stock but you have to fix the tailbladeholder just on the edge (outside the grubscrewgroove). I have enough pitch to fly the heli.
It might be an idea though to change the screws like you said to create more travel. I might try that next time I have to change the shaft.

[dutch_anykey]

Hi, BOb, Jeroen,

Thanks for the help!
I agree with Jeroen...the long shaft will make it more vulnerable. I'm thinking about putting in the flat screws anyway, leave the shaft as long as it is, but slide the complete bladegripholder inwards over the shaft. So leave a few millimeters of shaft sticking out of the other end of the bladegripholder. Don't know if it is possible. I remember from my df36 that there is a thinner part in the shaft to lock the screw for fastening the tailblade grips.

Anyway, i'm still in the process of building my HDX. I must say i that the video's come in very handy!. I'm a bit stuck now with setting up the servo's i got 3 hitec 55. I mounted them in the outer holes of the servo arms (about 14 mm from center) and still i cant get enough pitch in both directions. I have been fumbling with the swashplate settings on my tx (hitec eclipse 7) I started out with +65 -65 +65. Then is turned it up to +80 -80 +80. This seems to work now. I got 11 degrees both ways now. But maybe someone can confirm me if these settings will affect some other things? Or is it o.k. to set it this way.
My Hitec eclipse manual doesnt explain to much to this subject.

Thanks,
Maurice

[Finless]

Nope and high swash numbers are good as you get more resolution!

Bob

[ronald graham]

i need some help with my blade cp. i am new to the hobby . i currently bought the Jr 6102 radio and a r610ul receiver but i am having trouble with the setup. if anyone can help me i would appreciate it.

[dutch_anykey]

Hi guys,

Got my HDX flying last saturday :D It flies great compared to my df36. Have to play with the gy401 and tailservo-arm distance though, it gets a bit tail happy on higher rpm's
still some minor things to do to fine tune it.
But also a question.... I'm having some trouble with the frame in combination with the 3 hitec hs55's. When i'm in lowest stick position (pitch) and i move the cyclic i'm hitting the servo mount with the servo arm. I Have to find the dimensions of the hs56 servo's that Bob is using in the video. Maybe the shaft is situated a bit higher on this servo, or maybe the servo output shaft + arm is sticking out a bit further. i put a washer in the servo-arm mount to let it stick out a bit further, but it doesnt give me enough clearance. Or try to mount them up side down, but i have to check the push rods if i can shorten them to the desired length. Anyone else got this problem?
Also the boom blocks are a bit different. They used be in 4 parts (Bob's vid), but i got mine in 2 parts. The left and right part are connected on the underside....i mean out of one peace (sorry for my english i hope you know what i mean lol) I don't know if it makes a difference considering dimensions, but i found that my tail belt is touching the upper edge of the tail tube. I already put the taildrive pully in lowest position, but after 2 testflights i could see some "wear off" rubber sticking to the boom. How close is at your heli? Is the belt in dead center?

thanks,
:noteworthy
Maurice

[broke-again]

:D Replacement tail unit arrived today :D - Im back in business..YEEHA, now i can go fly.....Thanks Helidirect for the great service.

dutch_anykey, Does reducing the swash travel % in your RX not help? Unless your doing some serious 3d i wouldnt see this as a real problem as you wouldnt normally have to touch cyclic at low stick in normal flight mode.

Just my 2 cents worth. :wink:

Anyway, im off to try my heli out at last....fingers crossed

[2Dog]

Hi Guys,
My question is about the swash AFR. I'm running a Futaba 9C radio and I'm getting boat loads of pitch. I started running the 65% that Finless has in the videos but my travel for pitch is way past + & - 11 degrees. At that setting I got about +13and -15 on pitch. I have the 14mm set on the servo arms and 50mm for the rods off the servos with 48mm and 28mm for the next 2 rods going up the head. I have my pitch AFR backed downed to 45% for pitch to get the +- 11 deg I'm looking for. I have the AIL,ELE, both set to 65% in AFR and just the PIT set to 45%. Will this be OK or do I need to work at changing the servo arms to get the 45% up to what the other 2 channels are at?? All the arms and the swash are level at zero deg of pitch and center stick.
THX,
Steve

[Finless]

You probably should drop our ail/elev mix down as well to 45 to start with.

Bob

[AdrianM]

Bob,

First of all thanks for the videos. They are infinitely valuable to us noobs in getting setups right.

MY question has to do with partial stick CCPM interactions on the Trex 450 SE vs. the HDX 450 SE.

On the Trex CCPM Setup 2 vid you showed how with the CCPM interactions dialed out at neutral and full +/- stick you still had interactions in between neutral and full throw.

The HeliDirect HDX450 frame is a copy of the HeliUp Carbon frame kit for the Trex 450. HeliUp makes a big deal about how good their control horn geometry is. On the HDX450 all the servos are angled so the pivot balls and horns travel radially in line with main shaft. On the Trex the pitch servo horn is lined up with the shaft but the other horns are in line with the frame.

Do you see less partial stick CCPM interaction on the HDX450 SE vs. the Trex 450 SE? I was wondering if the servo setup on the HDX was superior?

[Finless]

Interactions are mostly due to the fact that all servos do not move the same... Thus there really is no difference between the SE frame and the HDX frame other than YES there is an angle to the HDX links but in my opinion, not enough to worry about. What is important is that ALL the links are the same at whatever angle they are to an extent.

Bob

[broke-again]

Hi Guys, Just wanted to let you know that i finally got airborne, but it was short lived. I installed the new tail unit, checked everything over and off i went to get some much missed & needed airtime. The heli lifted off smooth as silk and sat at about 6' off the ground solid as can be :D

There i was feeling pretty good that i was finally going to get some flying in, then just as i added some cyclic for forward motion, the heli died right there! It came down gently as i still had servo control - just no motor power.

After it had landed i checked all connections etc and tried again, it would power up ok, but as soon as i reached half stick the power would die.

The Otter was very hot as was the motor and i assumed that the thermal cut off had cut in after only 30 seconds. I also decided to play safe and get another esc in case the esc was the cause.

Anyway i have installed the other esc and will take it out tomorrow to check it over. But i have a few Q's that i would like to ask.

(1). When the otter is plugged in, my tail servo (S9650) moves with every beep....is this normal?
(2). Should the tail servo be warm to the touch after use?
(3). Am i using the wrong battery, im using a 11.1v 2200Mha 15c disharge Dynam Lipo. Im using the stock HDX motor and Otter Esc.

And finally (4). Is there anything else that would cause sudden power loss apart from the esc?

Thanks in anticipation of response.

Bill

[Finless]

(1). When the otter is plugged in, my tail servo (S9650) moves with every beep....is this normal?


NO! this means you have gyro wires running past your motor or ESC... This is NOT a good thing! You will get tail glitches and crash.... Where have you located your electonics? REMEMBER, and I say this all the time. KEEP your radio stuff and wires as far from mtotor and ESC stuff as possible!

I have seen this BEEP and servo move before and it is a BAD thing!

Bob

[broke-again]

I had placed the Gy401 on top of the rear bottom tray and the esc at the front below the battery mount thinking that would be ok. Turns out it wasnt. I moved the GY under the tail mounting and sure enough, issue resolved. Flew the heli last night in some failry windy conditions and went like a charm. This is one quick machine and was very responsive as i found out. Now i know why its a good idea to have a spotter, i was so focused on the heli, i didnt realise i was heading for a tree behind me until i turned following the heli and with the speed i was doing with a good tail wind helping, it was almost too late. Thankfully i survived a very close call, another lesson learned....As a newbie, dont fly near trees, even if you think your far enough away from them, its amazing how fast they can suddenly loom up on you & when your concentrating so hard on the heli, you may even forget its there.

Anyway, thanks Finless, at this rate, given all the help you have given - i may even put you in my will....you dont mind if i leave you all my debt do you? :lol:

[Finless]

Anyway, thanks Finless, at this rate, given all the help you have given - i may even put you in my will....you dont mind if i leave you all my debt do you?


Now thats a first for that kind of offer ;)

Bob

[broke-again]

Hey your welcome Bob, it was a toss up between my wife or my debt-believe me you'd prefer the debt..lol

Now I would like to draw attention to a small detail about the HDX stock motor supplied with the kit just in case anyone else misses what i did. I recently noticed that the gear appeared to be slipping, so took it off and filed a flat on the shaft and reassembled. But the problem was still there. Totally baffled i removed the motor again and noticed what the problem was. At the very bottom of the motor there is a small black grub screw which secures the shaft to the motor. It had worked loose. I had never noticed it during the many hours spent on the heli. :oops:

So if anyone else out there missed this screw during set up - make sure it is tight during your pre-flight inspections.

Im really enjoying this heli...i am so hooked!