CuriousOne
10-10-2006, 07:07 PM
I am drooling over the new Aurora (big surprise there). Unfortunately, between work and family, I have precious little time to fly. Compounding matters, I live and work in the city (Chicago). As a result, I have very little time to get to any of the designated flying fields in the surrounding suburbs (I am not aware of good fields in and/or close to the city, especially for large gas helis).
Upshot -- I am worried that I would not use the Aurora nearly as much as a heli this awesome should be used. I am therefore actively considering buying the heli and trying to do my own electric "conversion." While I have a reasonably good understanding of electric helis, I have not done a gas to heli conversion previously and so I will not pretend I really know how to go about such a conversion. I would therefore like to ask for your thoughts, insights, etc.
By way of background, my initial research so far leads me to believe that I MIGHT be able to power this beast with a Plettenberg HP370/40/A2 heli motor (although Neu, Hacker or others may make viable alternatives), a Schulze Future 40.160H ESC (no one said this was going to be cheap), and a Thunderpower 10s2p pack. I am not sure which BEC would be able to handle the demands such a setup would impose, but have heard Duralite is coming out with a new "high capacity" model. Not that this part is perhaps so important (vis-a-vis the electric conversion idea), but I was planning on the GY611/9256 for the tail and 9351s or 9451s for cyclics (torque versus speed tradeoff, I am leaning towards 9451s for speed). While I haven't yet made any specific decisions on blades or paddles, I suspect I will end up with some offering by VBlade.
With all the preceding said, the obvious big question, probably even trickier than the power questions, is what type of gearing (main gear, pinion, etc.) would such a setup require. Once determined, where could I get such parts designed and then CNC machined. Even then, I am still left with the question of how/whether I would be able to mount the motor such that alignment, CG, vibration, etc. issues don't turn this bird into a turkey. Even if all those issues are solved, I am sure there are a number of other items I have not thought about.
Again, I would really appreciate any thoughts you have on this project. BTW, Feel free to tell me you think I am nuts to try such a "conversion" at this juncture. More than anyone, I don't want to see such a fantastic machine spending its life as a really neat paperweight (and be out the better part of $5K in the process).
Upshot -- I am worried that I would not use the Aurora nearly as much as a heli this awesome should be used. I am therefore actively considering buying the heli and trying to do my own electric "conversion." While I have a reasonably good understanding of electric helis, I have not done a gas to heli conversion previously and so I will not pretend I really know how to go about such a conversion. I would therefore like to ask for your thoughts, insights, etc.
By way of background, my initial research so far leads me to believe that I MIGHT be able to power this beast with a Plettenberg HP370/40/A2 heli motor (although Neu, Hacker or others may make viable alternatives), a Schulze Future 40.160H ESC (no one said this was going to be cheap), and a Thunderpower 10s2p pack. I am not sure which BEC would be able to handle the demands such a setup would impose, but have heard Duralite is coming out with a new "high capacity" model. Not that this part is perhaps so important (vis-a-vis the electric conversion idea), but I was planning on the GY611/9256 for the tail and 9351s or 9451s for cyclics (torque versus speed tradeoff, I am leaning towards 9451s for speed). While I haven't yet made any specific decisions on blades or paddles, I suspect I will end up with some offering by VBlade.
With all the preceding said, the obvious big question, probably even trickier than the power questions, is what type of gearing (main gear, pinion, etc.) would such a setup require. Once determined, where could I get such parts designed and then CNC machined. Even then, I am still left with the question of how/whether I would be able to mount the motor such that alignment, CG, vibration, etc. issues don't turn this bird into a turkey. Even if all those issues are solved, I am sure there are a number of other items I have not thought about.
Again, I would really appreciate any thoughts you have on this project. BTW, Feel free to tell me you think I am nuts to try such a "conversion" at this juncture. More than anyone, I don't want to see such a fantastic machine spending its life as a really neat paperweight (and be out the better part of $5K in the process).