Need some advice on Ion

[gordohigh]

Guys, I maidened my IonX this past weekend, and had a problem with the tail moving around quite a bit. I brought it into a hover and wanted to see how stable it was, and it seemed to (nose drift to right), and sort of jerk/twitch, back and forth (tail only) as it was drifting to the right.

It was not *hunting*, or *wagging*, as best as I can tell, however, this is my first heli with tail gear drive.

My spec's are.....Ion X with NEU 1521/1.5 and Hacker 77 0 Heli controller. Also has three Futaba 9252s, a Futaba 401 gyro with 9254 on tail, a hitech fusion (IPD) receiver with no crystal (synt), duralite 6v sys with step down for 9254 servo, SAB carbon Fiber paddles, Stratus flybar assembly, 710 vblades and stock rear blades. Got 2x5s4p (old style) thunderpower batt's, and using a royal evo 9 tx.

I am baffled by the jerky/twitchy motion of the tail, and am sure its not a glitching problem. I am tempted to take the tail apart to make sure there is no teeth missing from there,(no other teeth missing from the parts you can see) but the member I bought from is honorable/trustworthy, and I'm sure he would have told me if there was any kind of problem.

I guess what I'm asking is....What are the main things I should inspect. Also, my gain in my tx is set at -50, and moving it both ways a little seemed to have no effect whatsoever.

Anyway, it is a big beautiful bird, but will stay close to the ground until I get this figured out. Please help If you can give some suggestions.... :?

[MAIONX]

make sure your Gear meshing throughout the tail is not too tight, it can also cause twitching etc.

maybe try also to reduce your gain by about 10% every time and see if it helps.

Cheers,
matt

[TomC]

Gordo,

My Fut 401/9254 hold my Ion's tail rock solid. I use a 15mm servo arm and 60% gain. If like you say, the guy you bought it from did not have any problems, it's a mystery as to why it should be doing this to you.

Did you buy it with the gyro/servo already installed? If so it's even harder to figure out what should have changed. Does your 9254 servo feel notchy when you manually move it back and forth? If so it might be a servo gear problem. I guess I would also check that the pushrod is moving square and all linkages are smooth as silk.

I assume you know how to properly setup a 401/9254 already so I will not get into this (delay = 0, digital servo on etc). Does this same drifting/twitching also happen in non-heading hold? It's pretty important to get a good mechanical setup in non-heading hold first with this gyro/servo setup.

Sounds like you have the old/original closed tail gearbox. If so, maybe you need to inspect and relube it, and like Matt says, checkout gear freeplay (maybe also bearings and gears).

Other obvious thing which you probably have done already is to turn off any revo-mix on your Tx. If all else fails, maybe try another Rx and see it the same things happen.

Good luck sorting out your problem. You sure cannot enjoy your new toy without a solid tail!

Cheers,

Tom C

[WillJames]

Any chance the Hacker ESC is in GOV mode?

Is the motor surging? Like up nad down up and down, this will make the tail swing around a good bit.

[gordohigh]

No, not surging at all. I did buy it with all the electronics installed. The only thing I changed was the batt pack to a duralite 6v setup, with the tail volt reg to 4.8v( I think, or 5.0)

I have 6 other heli's, (3 logo's and a trex600 and 2 trex 450's), besides the ma Ion, and all the mechanics are good on them.

One thing I noticed about this heli, the tail servo and linkages thru to the blades is the best I've ever seen. It as smoothe and slick like I have never seen before. Hats of to MA for a nice tail setup... :noteworthy ..

I guess I need to start from pointe zero, and work my way up.

O' and yes, original tail setup without the open tail BTW, it the tail easy to open up?, no surprises I need to be aware of. (I guess opening up a few hydralic control boxes has me spooked...haha! Thanks fo the help everyone, I will let you all know when I find the problem, and any other Ideas please post :)

[TomC]

Gordo,

Maybe try a Rx battery again. Some fast tail servos do not like step down regulators, they can cause a little rf noise. Just my guess!

Cheers and good luck mate,

Tom C

[gordohigh]

Good Idea. I will try the original rx pack that came with the heli and see if there is any difference. Thanks all for the suggestions and advice.. :)

[bob00]

Make *SURE* that your auto hub isn't slipping. My tail would kick when mine did. Odd thing is that I had this happen to both my Ion's but never on any of my 3 Fury's. Maybe the the increased torque I guess.

Look for black goo (that's the scientific name) on the hub, make SURE that the setscrews are tight and engaging the flats.

You may not be able to get it to slip by hand so put a mark across the bottom of the hub, go fly and see what happens.

Also make sure that the secondary gear isn't slipping on it's shaft.

Never had any luck with the 77 ESC and this motor, but that could have been just mine.

I hope you find the problem soon - this bad boy is the king of large electric 3D helis - way ahead of it's time.

- Rob

[gordohigh]

I found my problem, and it was a GLITCH!

It didn't seem like it at first, and I didn't fly it for very long but after taking it up again I got a lockout, and was able to auto it down safely.

Anyway, after screwing with my wiring and antenna for about 6 hours, I finally flew it(with no glitches) and wow, so smoothe and nimble. I never would have believed how agile this size heli is. And, the pyro rate is awesome.

Now I have another problem, the other half say's I have to get rid of a couple heli's. I have,
2-trex 450 se's
2-logo 10 3d's (one carbon and one reg frame)
1-trex 600
1-logo 14,
1-Ionx

My dilemma is that I have a dining room table with all my stuff on it, and the pool table is full of heli's..lol
So, I guess I'm gonna sell the Ion, and One of my logo 10's because she is right, I don't get to fly them all, and I need more batteries. I am glad I was able to at least get to fly the Ion, and see what all the rage is about. Hopefully I will be able to replace it next summer after doing some serious reorganizing.. :mrgreen:

Thanks for all the help guy's. Glitches can be a *****!!! I think I will try to keep all the electronics so I'll have everything, (that doesn't take much room).. :mrgreen:

[MAIONX]

dont sell the bloody ion!!!!... sell 1 logo 10, the regular frame, u don't need two, the trex or the logo 14...

[WillJames]

I think it takes 10 T-REX 450's to = one Ion-X!!!

[Chachin]

Hey Gordo, sell all except the Ion :D!! LOL! Just kidding man, do whatever suits your needs best. Glad to hear you got the tail problem fixed. My Ion is flying real good too.

Chachin..

[OICU812]

Sell one of the L10s, selling the 14 would be crazy. Do what suits you best, you can always buy more later on down the road.

[gordohigh]

Ya, its a tough decision, but something has to go. As I said, I will probably keep the electronics so I can replace them next summer. The winter has so many windy days, and getting dark so early, its hard to find time to fly all my heli's.

OICU812, I am keeping the logo 14 for sure. That is my favorite heli. The Ion is sweet, but after flying at my small private field, it might be a little big for there. (tries to convince self). Anyway, I'm still procrastinating on what to do...

If I do sell the Ion, I'm sure It will make someone happy.. :?

[misskimo]

hey , well whats you price ?

Tony

[gordohigh]

misskimo, I have not set a firm price, but it will be more than fair.

I'm thinking $775 for heli with stock tail blades, and a 5v battery pack and switch and arizona heli canopy, and $1050 with neu, and hacker 77 heli esc. ( I have also a brand new set of 710 vblades and vblade tail blades that will be for sale)

I know this is going to hit me a bit, but I don't want to haggle over a couple of hundred.. and I will also include shipping to us with insurance and tracking number..

I will be posting pics and a price over the next couple of days. I also have a spotless arizon heli canopy(has the bronze with black outline windshield, and orange to lime yellow fade) that goes with it, and the heli is 100% nice!
I want to keep the electronics, because I want to build another Ionx next summer, but will work with someone if they really want me to leave them on it, (probably 20% off of best going rate). I really dont want to sell them though as I will have to buy them again for sure...

I have taken some pics just yesterday, and will post with my ad...(sorry, didn't mean for this to be an ad started here)

[gordohigh]

Here is a little preview, before I get it all together... :)

[Chachin]

Man, I really like that canopy! :D Good luck on the sale. I'd love to have a back-up Ion, but can't/shouldn't do it right now.

Chachin..

[gordohigh]

I hear that carlos, If only we had a money pit to dig from...haha

Ad is in heli for sale section under IonX for sale, thanks