my 3dx500

[Rudy C]

Please be careful with the tail section on the HDX500! I just got one and the tail blade holders were assembled backwards. It is wrong in the picture on Helidirect's site. This can drive u crazy................Rudy , :arggg:

[John Heli]

@petmen: One question to the preassemled kit of the 3dx500. Did you reassemble the head? I think mine is very thight out of the box. Maybe I have to apply some modifications?

[Rudy C]

JH I took off all links and resized them with a link reamer(JR type). I had to take apart the head and tail and reassemble them in the right orientation. There were no instructions with the kit. After the reaasembly, the HDX500 is a joy to fly! Very stable with good pitch+10-10. Good kit for the money. I may follow Bobs(finless) advise and put a Hacker or Hyperion motor in it very soon. Be advised, some parts on the 3dx are NOT interchangable with the HDX or the Lipton. Be sure to check before u buy. I can tell u that the Heads are different. HDX uses the Trex type flybar cotrol system, while the 3dx is more like the Lipton. :mrgreen:

[digger60]

Please be careful with the tail section on the HDX500! I just got one and the tail blade holders were assembled backwards. It is wrong in the picture on Helidirect's site. This can drive u crazy................Rudy , :arggg:

Wrong how, please explain. I am helping a friend build one now.

Thanks

Tom

[John Heli]

Thanks, Rudy, for sharing your experiences. I will have a look on my tail, too. How can I see if its assembled the wrong way? The links of my head fitted quite well.

I saw the HDX has a different head, but the Lepton looks almost the same. The HDX is called Cherokee in Germany and is the only version sold here. So I either have to buy parts from other countries or use Lepton parts. Can I use Lepton-Parts on the head of my 3dx500? Someone used the main shaft, I have seen.

[Rudy C]

Tom, the head should look the same as the Trex head. the blade grips were on backwards and the flybar and mixing levers were reversed.

[Rudy C]

Tom&JH check out XM sender.com or CNC Helicopters.com for parts. Also helidirect is adding parts to their website everday. Guys, look at the first picture under the heli kit HDX500 the one framed in red and says TREX type head. This is the way it's supposed to be! The flybar seesaw holder and control links on mine were installed backwards. The only way I can recommend a quick fix to the head and tail section, is to look at a Trex or Hdx450 and copy it to a T. Your next step will be to get the pitch (linkages) at "0" at middle stick(collective). This can only be done by trial and error. It's a shame they released this great little toy without directions. My initial setup and tests cost me a main gear! One other point, didn't like the Hacker30-10XL on this heli. Got way too hot! Stick with the original motor until u get all the bugs out and flying well. sorry for the delay as I was out of town...Good luck and let me know how u all make out. please share any good info for this heli........thanks

[digger60]

WOW this one was reversed also.. Thanks, you saved me a TON of time. Took a while to reverse it. Had to flip the Seesaw holder over to make the control links right, then everything fell in place. BTW what sort of pitch range did you get ? Best I can get is +10/-10. Were you able to get more than that ?

Tom

[Rudy C]

Hey Tom, I,m getting 10+10- I am sure u will find that that's more than enough for any 3d u want to do. My drawback is I cant get the headspeed above 2600 with the stock set up meaning 24tooth, stock motor, and 4s maxamps battery. Still, it flys well! Alittle on the heavy side, and I would like a higher head speed. I did have to use the 68mm carbon tail fins on it! She holds the tail much better now. Also made the rear fin longer by fabricating some G10 material on my scroll saw. BTW, u can easily get G10 for the fins from model rocket suppliers on the net. We went and flew the HDX500 all day today and everyone went crazy for this little wonder. I was shocked! since there were Big Trex's big Raptors and Logos all around......Have fun.......bye for now

[digger60]

Hello, I have been working two days on this heli head and I think Iam losing ground fast. I did manage to get the blade grips and the other things on the head that were reversed when we got the head. But I am still having some problems.

I did manage to get a pitch range of +9/-9 with a cyclic of 6 degrees. I would think I could get more range than that with this Trex head on it.

Below are some pics of the head setup. Problem I am having now is the flybar link rod is hitting the bottom of the grip. Any help getting me pointed in the right direction would be wonderful !!

Thanks

Tom

[Rudy C]

Hey Tom, every thing looks right from what I can see in the pics. I have to get mine and compare. In the meantime what numbers are u using on your radio for swashplate.? This will give u more or less pitch. On my JR9303 I'm at 70elev 70 ali and 65PITCH......

[digger60]

using a spectrum DX7 with an AR7000 receiver and futaba S3150 Digital servos. I have the swash % at 55 now. Since we have different radios, the percentage would be different ?

Tom

[digger60]

One thing that comes to mind, did you use the 30 mm or 40 mm link rod on your elevator servo, the crappy manual said to use the 30 mm (but the manual was for the 3dx) on the elevator and 40 on the pitch and aleron, but the 30 seemed too short. But then again, since I my swash stays level with all servos at 90, I must be using the right linkage :-)

Did you happen to write down the lengths on your linkage you could send me ?

[Rudy C]

Tom I got to go to the van and get the Heli. Giuve me some time to go measure and Ill get back to u Rud :smokin:

[Rudy C]

Tom I got to go to the van and get the Heli. Giuve me some time to go measure and Ill get back to u Rud :smokin:

[digger60]

Great...thanks Rudy.

[Rudy C]

Tom, servo linkage (from servo to swash) length is 56mm on all three. this measurement is from outside of ball link to outside.

[digger60]

Hello Rudy, I measured all my linkages and they are almost identical to yours. So Iam still at a loss as to why the flybar links hit the bottom of the blade grips when full pitch and full elevator is used.

Tom

[Wirestealth]

Hi ! my motor is getting hot and some times dont start what is the timming for the Motor that come with the Kit ? I have High Timing

Thanks

Nuno

[Wirestealth]

UGL-BM890 brushless motor IS THE MOTOR in the kit

Thanks

Nuno

[Heli Joe]

Hi Nuno !!

I have the same problem. Which motoer pinion to you fly ?? and which lipo ??? 3-4-5 S ??
I have the timing on medium and it is also gooing hot in a very short time.

Greetings from Austria

Heli Joe

[Heli Joe]

Hi Rudy Hi Digger !!

I use also the same Linkage lenght as Rudy told. I have no problems and it is working very well.
I have the HDX now since a few weeks and in my box the head was right installed. like you can see in the pix from Digger. You can see some pix in my personal Photoalbum.

Greetings from Austria

Heli Joe

[kgfly]

One thing to note, if you are consistantly running below ~85% throttle the motor will get hotter than it will at higher settings. This item from CasteCreations FAQ explains it quite well: 2. Can I control how much current passes through my speed controller by limiting full throttle travel on my transmitter with endpoint adjustments/trim? In other words can I use a 25 amp speed controller with a motor that will pull 45 amps but lower my top throttle endpoint on my transmitter so my watt meter only shows 25 amps at full throttle? Will this be OK?
NO!!! A speed controller controls power to the motor by turning full throttle current on and off really fast, 11 to 13 thousand times per second (Pulse Width Modulation or PWM). The percentage of each on/off pulse that is off compared to the part that is on determines how much power the motor sees. I.E. With a pulse that is 50% off and 50% on the motor will see 50% power*. Because each on pulse is 100% of full throttle current, a system set to pull 20 amps at full throttle through a Phoenix 10 will not last if you are throttled back to the point where you only see 10 amps on a wattmeter. The ESC in this case is still switching 20 amps, which it can’t do for long. Actually it is worse than the simple example above. Because an electric motor will always to try to pull as much power as is available to get to its rpm (volts times Kv), when you are running the motor below its Kv speed by switching power on an off, each on pulse will actually be way over the full throttle amp draw. That is why ESCs work harder at partial throttle than full throttle and why we underrate our ESCs. We underrate not so they can handle more current than their rating at full throttle, but so they can handle extended partial throttle operation with no problems.

[Heli Joe]

Hi Kenneth !!

That means, if i understand it right i should fly with a higher throttle position than the 85 %. ???

Is that right. ???

Then the motor should not get so warm...

Thanks Joe

[gorn]

Thats correct.
I run all my electrics on between 95% and 100%
If the headspeed is too high or low, then you need to change your motor pinion gear, not your esc setting.