Current 550 discussions moved from my video topic

[Skaross]

X30Pilot

Do you use pitch/throttles curves or governor mode coupled with the high timing setting? Also, which response speed do you use?

Thanks for the info.
Kev

[X30PILOT]

Skaross

I am using throttle curves with no governor. My curve is set at 100, 85, 100 in stunt and 0, 70, 100 in normal.
I have the Align ESC set to 1-1 (no brake) 2-3 (High timing) 3-2 (Mid battery protection) 4-2 (Heli without governor) and 5-3 (Quick throttle response.)

I hope this helps.

X30

[spudandretti]

Spudandretti

The 9254 servo is only rated at 5V, but the Align BEC puts out 5.8V. The little drop down reg reduces this to 5V for the 9254 only.

The majority of other servos work fine at 5.8V (in fact work quicker and at a higher torque) but you should check these. The reg. is mainly for servos designated specifically for heli tails.

Kev

OK, thanks. Now the question is, where do I get such a thing? Does it just go inline with the servo? Alright I searched and found, Thanks.

[Jermo]

With dual 2200 mAh packs what kind of flight times are you guys seeing?

[X30PILOT]

Jermo

I set a timer to go off at 5 minutes, so I land anywhere from 5:15 to 5:45. Doing mild to medium 3D I only put 1.5 to 1.65 MAH back in my packs. With just some hovering and forward flight with a few hard climb outs I have flown my Hurricane for 71/2 minutes.

Has anyone tried a set of Rotortech 515mm carbon blades?

X30

[Jermo]

wow..so it's basically like my T-Rex :) very nice..

temptation.....I just don't have the cash right now.. hehe.. good thing too. Hopefully the T500 will release soon. I gotta ebay more ham radio stuff asap.. I have about $300 saved so far (had more but my T450 neede repairs :D ) ..

[Skaross]

Not tried 515's, but I'm flying slightly smaller blades X30 - Evolution 480's... very very punchy when I had the CC80 in and considerably extended the flight time.

As for flight times, my timer is set for 7 mins, but I'm flying lots of fast forward to unload the head... I'm not up to tic tocs yet, but big 540 stall turns, flips and loops.

Kev

[X30PILOT]

Bob,

Tom Viper was right! I switched my rudder ATV to 140% each side on my DX7 and it make a huge difference. Now the Hurricane pirouettes like a spinning top! It appears that the Futaba 401 will not recognize full deflection of the rudder stick unless you do this.

X30

[X30PILOT]

Here is some good data on the Hurricane.

With a stock machine running the Gaui motor, Align 75A ESC, Mikado 500 mm blades and Max Amps 2100 HVs

In normal hover (0, 70, 100) I am turning 1860 rpm and pulling 14 amps.
In idle up hover (100, 85, 100) the head speed is just over 2000 rpm pulling 17 amps.
After flying moderate 3D for 31/2 minutes my head speed was down to 1950 in idle up hover.
Max amps was 33.5 Average was 19.8
Total flight time was 5:23 and I put 1.67 amps back into the packs.
I put 5 flights on this thing today and I am having a blast!

X30

[Skaross]

X30... every radio manufacturer has its own idea of what 100% ATV is in terms of servo movement, and JR/Spektrum is one of the lowest!

On a Multiplex Evo 9, it allows 110% as the max ATV, on a JR set 150%. At these max ATV's on each set, a servo will move exactly the same. Futaba allow a different max, (125% anyone?) and again at this max, the servo is always the same.

I fly 3D fixed wing as well, and on my Spektrum set, I use 130% ATV's on all moving surfaces... on my Evo9 I use the default 100%. This gets the most resolution out of your servos, while allowing a little bit of scope for trims/sub-trim. If you read a 3D setup guide for fixed wing by someone like Sebastiano Silvestri, he tells you to do this.

Bumping the end points to 130-140% for the rudder, ups the max allowed rate of change of heading input to the 401... I use this setting on my 450SE as well.

Hope this is a bit of interesting background to all reading.
Kev

[BlenderPilot]

Bob, help me on this one please.

I only have a 1,5 hrs on it and I have wear on the plastic gear driven by the motor gear (14T), plus one screw that holds the gear on the shaft got unwind and landed on the main shaft gear. All other gears are OK, no wear, belt is like new. I use soft start on constant RPM (0-100% RPM in 6 seconds), HS set on ESC 1750RPM.

Lucky for me i checked the heli before flying tomorrow, that screw might do some damage.

Anyone else experieced this?


Here are the pics: (Wear marked with red, arrows pointing on the screw and hole)


http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/BlenderPilot/Show%20and%20tell/Modeli/Hurricane%20550%20Build/DSC01569.jpg


http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l236/BlenderPilot/Show%20and%20tell/Modeli/Hurricane%20550%20Build/DSC01570.jpg

[Skaross]

I experienced this problem with my first main gear because I meshed the motor pinion too tightly. The gear lasted 1 flight before that amount of wear appeared, and only 4-5 more before most of the teeth stripped.

The Hurricane is really difficult to adjust gear mesh on... follow Bob's video for motor installation and it works a lot better. My new main follows Bob's video exactly and the heli is so much quieter. Much less wear :)

Thanks Bob

Kev

[simonandsonia]

Hi

Just building my Hurricane using Bobs great vids. Its not my 1st heli - I have a Trex450, an Ark, a Concept EP & just sold my Nexus, so not a complete beginner, but please can someone explain how to size the ball links on the head. I have never had to do it on any of my other helis before so I'm not sure. Do I file out the link or make the ball smaller?

I've done all the other bits on Bobs vids (Thanks Bob) - I just need to sort out the tight links to get my head sweet.

I'm really impressed with heli for the money - £230 delivered to the UK from HK inc all electrics except Rx. Only 1 problem - the lack of threadlock, so I had to tear it down completely then rebuild. At least I know how to fix it now!

Thanks

[X30PILOT]

Simonandsonia

Bob has an excellent video on sizing ball links in his Trex 450 build files.

X30

[Finless]

Hi all... just got back from the Toledo RC show so I have been gone for 4 days... Trying to catch up on everything now... WOW a lot has gone on in this thread :)


X-30.... Yes i plan to play with the rudder end points but I want to get the head speed up first... Now that I am back time to start playing with motors and such :)

I just got all the CNC upgrades so I will be doing some vids on those too.

simonandsonia, see my Links 101 video for link adjustment:
http://video.helifreak.com/?subpath=finless/generic&filename=Ball_Links101.wmv

Bob

[VetteNoob]

Im new to helis and I just bought an EP550. Been setting it up per the the manual and the videos. I have a question about flybar movement....

How much movement in the flybar is acceptable when pitching up and down?

After setting everything up, the flybar has a noticible tilt on one side when I pitch up and down. I did notice that when I inserted the 2mm hex key into the head assem per the video, the flybar didnt look 100% level, but Im doing this with the gears on. It looked like it was ever so slightly tilted. Does this sound like I should go and resetup all the linkages again and do it without the gears on this time?

Any suggestions or help for a noob would be fantastic.

TIA.

Will

[garciaj01]

Got my bird yesterday and I am impressed.
Started doing all the fix's per Fin's videos
and all is going great.

I am going to place an order for the electronics
but I need some advice on the ECS and BEC.

1. Is the BEC necessary? ( I ask because Kontronik Jazz 80-6-18 ESC is supposed to handle 6S lipos)

2. If I do need a BEC what is the best one to use?

3.I been reading that alot of the 550 are using the Align ESC. Is this the best or just OK.

As far as servos go I'm going with the Hitec's not sure if I will go Analog or Digital. What works the best?
I am leaning toward Analog since the current draw is less = more flight time.

Rx will be a Berg 7 until Hitec has there new 2.4Ghz Rx/TX later this year.

Is this a decent setup or is there still room for improvement. I don't do 3D so a lot of the other fancy stuff I don't need.
I will upgrade to CNC but I will what until the Video's comes out to see what Fin's opinion will be.

[HueyDuck]

VetteNoob,
If your flybar is always falling to one side make sure the flybar itself is centered in the head assembly. It may be off balance to one side causing it to fall that way on any input. Ideal would be to measure from the end of the rod to where the flybar enters flybar arms (make sure both flybar arms are tight against the seesaw), but I have had success measuring from the machined lip on the flybar to the head if your paddles are already on. Also make sure your paddles are exactly the same distance from the flybar arms as well. Make sure your measurement is the same on both sides. Also make sure all your pushrod pairs are matched in length. If I misunderstood what your flybar is doing please elaborate further and I will try and assist. Hope this helps.

Garciaj01,
I have been using the Align like BEC with a secondary pack, others may have more input on your speed control. I also have been using the GAUI speed control but it came with my kit, if I were to buy a speed control separately I would look at the align or others. As far as servos, I have used both analog and digital servos with great success. Digital Servos offer more torque and often more speed, but analog servos still get the job done. If you wind up running a UBEC off your primary pack the additional load from the digital servos will likely not make much difference in your flight times. If your running a secondary pack with a BEC then just top off the pack while your charging your primary packs. I have used a Berg 7 on this machine with good success; just make sure you tape in that crystal if you haven't already.
Huey

[VetteNoob]

Thanks for the info on the flybar. I will check it when I get home tonight.

I used a digital caliper to measure the pushrods and each set are all within .05mm of each other. I measured inside the ball link hole and not the outside due to molding inconsistencies.

I have noticed that my 6EXH doesnt have subtrims so Im having a hard time adjusting the servo on ch6 since it is the pitch servo. Any suggestion on how I can correct this or should I redrill the servo disc until I get it right?

[HueyDuck]

VetteNoob,
I have never worked with the 6EXH. After a quick scan of the manual I did not see a subtrim setting, in which case you may have to redrill the servo horn. Before you do make sure the three servos are as close as possible to center. For example the elevator and aileron should be vertical and horizontal (see finless videos). If your able to get 2 of them right and the pitch is still out, see if you can rotate it one spline on the servo to get it right. If that still doesn't get it, then rotate the horn to undrilled locations and redrill as needed. Once the three servos are perfect, then double check all your rods visually to make sure the swash is still level etc.
Huey

[Finless]

Yep as HueyDuck says... best to redrill and get them perfect. It's a bummer that radio doesnt have subtrims....

Bob

[VetteNoob]

Thanks guys. I take it from your replies, flybar movement isnt a good thing :( What can ya do....

Good thing these stupid Futaba blank servo discs only come 1 per pack of accessories at $8/pack :arggg:

[Finless]

Flybar movement?

Bob

[HueyDuck]

Well the flybar can be moved so many degrees normally, during rotation the centrifugal force will find the center. I got the impression from your earlier post that it always falls to the same side which led me to believe it might be out of balance. When you are taking pitch readings make sure your flybar is parallel to the boom, since any angle in the flybar will result in a change in pitch. As you move the paddle up and down, you can see the blade pitch track with it. It could also be that one of your links is much tighter than the other and in turn pushing the flybar to a side when you apply pitch. Just a couple of things to check.
Huey

[VetteNoob]

Thanks again for the feedback and suggestion guys. Hopefully I wont have too many more of these types of moments.