Current 550 discussions moved from my video topic

[Finless]

Thats becasue there are a set up "jack up" spacers on the rear landing skids. THis is to keep the tail rotor out of the grass (or ground).
No worries....

Bob

[neilnpw]

Bob,

I was thinking more along the lines of checking for CCPM interactions as per you video, If you are not aware of this alignment it could affect the trim?

Neil

[Finless]

Yes... while you can still check it is better to have the heli as level as possible as it makes it easier to get the bubbles aligned.

bob

[Piranha]

Hi uncle Bob, How's it going? ;)
What would be the next? and when?
Also I can't wait your flight report:) :noteworthy

[Finless]

I will be posting:

Tail Assembly and Dissassembly
Motor install
Paddles

All tonight in about an hour.

BTW YES I did find a problem with the balls on the tail pitch control arm ANMD the pitch slider... The screws are TOO SHORT.

Bob

[AdrianM]

I hope the Align 500 is like this heli. Flying on 2 Trex 450 packs to get a 6s 2100 pack is a good thing for those of use with a lot of 450 packs.

[Finless]

OK 3 new vids up tonight!

Installing the paddles,
Installing the motor and setting the pinion,
Tail disassembly and re-assembly - some IMPORTANT STUFF on this video!

Bob

[X30PILOT]

Tom Viper

Let us know if there is a difference in the way your Hurricane flies now that you have modified the head on your heli. While I have enjoyed the all theory, I am curious to see if it really makes a noticeable difference.

Bob,

I sent an Email to Soaring Arrow Electronics inquiring if they had done any software changes to the new speed controller that they had sent me. They responded that they had not. With this in mind it will be interesting to read about your experiences with the Gaui controller.

X30

[Finless]

OK... I MUST test this ESC myself and let my sponsor Broke-Again here on HF know if it sucks or not.... Thanks for the info X30 and I will be ready for a cut out!

Bob

[Tom Viper]

Hehe, haven't flown it yet. But its ready to go.
What I did as well last night, was to check the servo setup and changed the rear contoll arm to the new straight one. Now I am running normal Futaba servo arms, with stock holes. No interaction anywhere and also smooth operation. I have´n messured the pitch range yet, but will do this tonight.

After I have flown it, I will tell you if I noticed any diffrence. But, as mine have flown great all the time, I don´t expect it to be any diffrent.

[Finless]

ANother thing I am noticing whicvh would be WORSE if the arms were left unlevel is I am set up for 12/12 pitch and at 3/4 pitch (probably about 9 dregrees) and full aileron or elevator the arms on the blade grips hit the head.
If Gaui does metal grips I hope he spaces out the arms a little farther from the head so us guys that like to max out everything have room :)

Bob

[Tom Viper]

Bob, I still haven´t flown mine yet with the new setup, but let me tell you, it feels better! I checked my pitch range, and +/- 11 degree at first try. I am not going to need more (running 535mm blades), since it will probably be both enough and a little harder on the packs that I want to.

[Finless]

Well I got delayed mysefl yesterday and didnt get the build finished so the vids will continue Monday night. FOR SURE it will eb flying this coming weekend!

I have some needs tricks for the electronics to share too ;)

Bob

[backman8571]

Bob

GAUI has a full range of head CNC part's so you can make the head a true CNC.

PB

[Finless]

Yep... I will be getting a set up upgrades soon so we will see how these go :)

Bob

[Piranha]

Hi guys! I've crashed today :(
http://b0.imgsrc.ru/p/piranha/2627195Ssd.jpg
Be careful with lower battery mounting!!! I had Aling velcro strap (white, small one from trex450 and rubber band to fix the battery) Today the bird flew like a dream, I made five straight(like on the rails)loops, but suddenly, when i flew straight forward on high speed in about 3meters over the ground, the bird jumped down and crashed :(
I don't understand what exactly happens but i found one (lower) battery 10 meters before the place of crash
the first version: After a few loops battery unmounted and felt down but can it cause such a fast "jump" down???
The second version: when I picked up bird from the ground I found that one blade grip was broken but there was NO screw and the part of the grip where mixer arm must be screved in!!! So I can suppose that screw can be lost during the fly and one blade became uncontrolled!
(sorry for my poor English)

[HueyDuck]

Piranha, sorry to hear about your crash. Were you using one single velcro strap on each pack? I found the align straps to be a little short but the perfect size otherwise so I connected 2 align straps together, to make a strap about 1.5 inches longer. I use 2 dual straps on each pack. I fasten my data logger to the side of the upper pack using another velcro strap.
On the blade grip did the plastic break near the grip or back by the screw? Was the mixing arm still attached just without the screw? What kind of head speed were you running?

I am just trying to better understand the crash. I received my Hurricane March 22 and so far have 5 flights on it. The first 3 flights I experienced the voltage cutoff in the stock speed control. Today I programmed the speed control for the nicad cutoff, and flew 2 more flights. However the first flight was with packs that were not full (pulled about 585 mAh out of them on flight 3). I pulled another 550 mAh today. The second flight was with full fresh packs and I flew for 6 minutes using 1600 mAh. My headspeed is about 1875 rpm on fresh packs in normal and idle up. It should also be noted that the flights consisted of mainly hovering with a few fast climbs. I will get some forward flight data once I fully understand the ins and outs of the stock GAUI 50A speed control. Also I have not tried the governor mode.

Finless keep up the good work on the videos. I am looking forward to your take on the speed control.
So far I very much like the machine, but as has been noted, I believe changing the ball links, tail ball screws, and upper grip links are a must.

Hurricane 550 Details:
Stock Motor
Stock 50A Speed Control
4 Futaba S3151
Futaba R146ip
Gy401
Xtreme Power 11.1V 2200mAh (18C) *2
DN Power 11.1V 2150mAh (20C) *2
Align Like BEC and 1000mAh Lipo
500mm Stock Wood Blades (1875 rpm head speed)

Huey

[broke-again]

Thats a real shame piranha. I dont think from what you say it was the battery, but its hard to determine the exact cause of most crashes. I would supect the ball link gave way. As Bob picked up on in the Vid's some of the screws holding the linkage balls are too short. I was going over one of the kits last night myself and although they seemed snug enough, I just dont think they have a deep enough thread to get a proper & safe grip in the plastic. I think i had 3-4 threads at most, not enough for the forces put on them & any weakness would show up eventually. Anyway, to err on the side of caution i swapped the screws out with some M2 countersunk bolts and they are much better. I luckily had some of the Gaui bolts in my stock & a few from my Align hardware bag and i for one will be putting the M2 bolts in my kits. (ordered them this morning) For all the time it takes, a few minutes - its nothing for piece of mind.

Hope you get back in the air soon!

[Piranha]

On the blade grip did the plastic break near the grip or back by the screw? Was the mixing arm still attached just without the screw? What kind of head speed were you running?


Here you can see what I was talking about
http://b0.imgsrc.ru/p/piranha/2632389Lhq.jpg
Now I'm flying AlignESC and head speed is about 1850

Here is my custom battery mount plates
http://b0.imgsrc.ru/p/piranha/2632405ksm.jpg

[Finless]

Bummer Piranha... Maybe when the pack came out it shut down and was also tail heavy?
The screw holding the mixer arm on is fine (good length) but probably could use some CA in the hole to make sure it doesnt back out.

Bob

[Piranha]

Bummer Piranha... Maybe when the pack came out it shut down and was also tail heavy?
The screw holding the mixer arm on is fine (good length) but probably could use some CA in the hole to make sure it doesnt back out.

Bob
Maybe:) but the metal head is on the way!!!

But anyway I would like to say that I Like the bird more and more!!!!

[Tom Viper]

Well, after flying all weekend, with the new link setups, I can say that there is really no diffrence then stock in flight performance. We had two identical helis, one with stock links, and mine with the new TT link mod. We where 3 people flying them, and none could feel any diffrence in response, pitch that could be explained by the links. With this said, I do like the TT link mod better, since the links feel more secured, and the TT links are better in quality.

[Piranha]

Tom, very nice photo!!!!! :D

[Tom Viper]

Thanks Piranha.

Well, I do like this heli more and more. Auto´s with it are absolutly a pure joy! It can auto forever and you can pick it down very slowly with the 535mm blades.

I still run my Z20-1470KV motor on 5S, but changed my pinion to the 16T for more HS. It pulls +/-11 degree pitch without ANY bogging. Mine now has over 130 flight on it. I can say that I have´nt been gentle to it, and it still keeps up fine.

[Finless]

Tom, what 5S packs you running and how did you mount them?
Also with the 16T pinion did you change the main gear or something?
I like the 5S idea :)

Re: the links, how much cyclic pitch you running? I have mine maxed out so if I am at full pitch (neg or pos) and give full cyclic the grip arms just hit the head and bind a little. Is your set up that high?

Anyway thanks for sharing the experience.

Bob