My new Ion-X2 :D

[bob00]

Hey Will:
Having a great time with it. One of the guys in our crew flew mine with the Evo25 3700's and then the Evo25 4900's at a funfly last weekend. He's sold and will be getting one as soon as possible. That's at least 2 teambob00 X2's at IRCHA this year... so far.

MrMel:
About 5 min with the 3700 Evo25's - usually start in NORM mode (1600rpm) with some stationary piro's for a few seconds, flip to IDLE up (1980rpm) and get busy. My timer is set to 4:30 - when it goes off it's back to NORM for some piro'ing circles etc for about 30s. Batteries end up well within 80%. If flown HARD the entire time then 4:30 max.

We've flown past the 6 min mark with the 4900 Evo25's - never tried to see how far they'd go - again highly dependent on flying style.

PDC:
The power with the 4900 Evo25's has to be seen to believed. They fit under the canopy ok - the thinner, longer 5000's would probably fit better, but would push the CG further forward. We run the 4900's in our trex600's so it's nice to be able to use the same packs in both helis. It is nose heavy with the 49's but not nearly as noticeable as I'd expected in the air - you can park it in fast piro flips with no noticeable compensation. Fly it before trying to fix the CG for the heavy packs - you may be surprised.

Mine has the 6mm shaft 32-3, it shares pulleys with the Razor (10mm belt) so the stuff is readily available. Some of the guys here have run the KO's for a long time with great success. This is only my second heli with these Airtronics 94758's - they're crazy fast and have a real nice feel to them. Will they last a whole season? Time will tell...

Precautions with 710's? None. The Ion will take 710's with 105's np - currently going back and forth btwn 690 and 710 V's - I prefer the cyclic response of the smaller disk, but the wicked collective power of the 710's is addictive. Back in 2004 my first Ion went the whole season with NHP 710 / 105's - no problem.

Here are some more pics which may help your build.
The Ion-X2 from every angle (about 70 pics):
http://www.teambob00.com/album/v/x2more
Enjoy.

http://www.teambob00.com/album/d/7118-2/tbp6260030.jpg

- Rob
Team FlightPower
TeamBob00[/img]

[PDC]

Once again thanks a million for all the pictures...might be useful soon :D Will too post some pictures of mine too....later.

[PDC]

Just got my converted Ion-X2 in the air tonight :fly Thanks to Tim for sending me some kit´s when I had to get them before the manual was ready, and thanks a lot to Rob for all the helpful pictures.....I didn't have too many parts left from the conversion kit, and the heli flies quite ok ;-).

Rob, hope it is ok that I continue in your thread with my converted Ion-X, as I used your thread to build mine converted Ion-X2 :-).

Specs.

- Ready to fly weight with 12S3700ma Flightpower batteries 5KG.
- Actro 32-3 MAX motor
- Kontronic PowerJAzz esc.
- Futaba 9252 servo´s
- Flightpower 2500ma RX battery.
- Duralite 6V regulator and step down for the tail servo.
- Futaba 611 Gyro.
- V-blades

The Upper gearing is fixed at a ratio of 7.75:1, so it is with the pulleys the gearing can be changed. As the PowerJaxx esc. has no problems with part-load, I choosed a low gear ratio of 8,67 as a beginning (possible with the PowerJazz esc.) where the 34T pulley on the motor in combination with a 38T pulley gives the secondary belt drive a gear ratio of .894:1......In the future when I get the thick white upper gear, I will try with a higher gear ratio, as I already have good experience with on my Joker 2.

To get the two pulleys aligned I had to get the motor pulley as low as possible, so I removed a little material from this pulley.

The RX voltage regulator and the powerJazz is mounted aft on the frame to move the CG back and allow max cooling for those. As the PowerJAzz esc. will have a really big fan
just above it, I don't think the tiny little fan mounted on it is needed, so I removed it :-). Also I find this mounting position the optimum to avoid radio noise in the
the front mounted receiver...ok ok ok, but I still use the old fashion 35Mhz radio´s ;-)

First flight was successful, noticed that the forward pulley was warm, but guess it must be like that....just hope for some good weather tomorrow so that I can make some more flights and collect some more data....and if the weather will not be good I will start building the full Ion-X2 kit I also received :D Thanks again to Tim....and this second Ion-X2 will be even hotter, more about that later :twisted:

Attached are some pictures.

[OICU812]

Have you guys tried the 4350mah 6S1P Evo packs yet? If so how did they perform and how was the CG on the Ion X2 with them? THX :smokin:

[PDC]

Have you guys tried the 4350mah 6S1P Evo packs yet? If so how did they perform and how was the CG on the Ion X2 with them? THX :smokin:

I will try the FlightPower 4500ma EVO30 cells in a 12S configuration as soon as I get them and have my next "Extreme" Ion-X2 ready ;-).

And for the warm pulley, Rob said that it is the pinion that gets warm because of the missing oil in a "non greaser" transferring the heat to the pulley aswell. So at little special oil on the white gear should help a lot.

Also Tim told me to use some oil...I just have to get that molycote or cratz oil or what ever the name is asap :-)

Had another flight today, and the always cool Actro motor now got a little warmer (85C inside on the windings ) as well as the flight time got a little shorter now when I can release some more of the potential of this 12S powertrain.
Think I will try something around a 10:1 gearing next, have good experience from the Joker 2 with higher gear ratio´s to wind up the motor and thereby also the cooling, even that my present gear ratio also works very well....will be fun to compare.

And by the way, this heli simply just rocks :-)

[PDC]

The weather was good today, for building Ion-X2 :-) So I have only one plastic bag left now, plus some minor things I have to order from Tim.

So maybe with some luck it will be airborne within 1-2 weeks....time will as always show.

Got half the Ion-X2 manual, plus downloaded the Razor manual for the rotorhead and tail section which showed to be useful, plus had a second look at Rob´s brilliant pictures.

I can see improvements over the Ion-X(1) at several places, so it is almost a complete new heli, and for sure this kit is a very very sexy one, a pleasure to build it........Looks like minair did it again :-).

Attached are some more pictures.

[Clintstone]

Thanks for the report Bob.

[bob00]

102 flights as of last Tue. - out of town (out of the country actually) for a funeral - no helis :(.

The airframe has held up VERY well so far. My first main gear was badly worn after about 30 flights - it had been run dry. I lube'd the second one with synthetic oil (same stuff used in some high nitro fuels) from the start and it's been fine. I'll go into the reasons and thinking behind doing this when I get back home, but bottom line is the pinion gets real hot when run dry and melts material off the teeth - pinion stays cool when gear is very LIGHTLY lube'd - no melting, gear lasts.

We'll be getting Kevin's going this week then there'll be two :)
- Rob

[Clintstone]

the next time you have the pinion out clean it with a dremel brush. It may be a little rough......are you running double main or single?

[bob00]

still the single gear. I'd polished the pinion a while back - I think this helped too.

- Rob
Team FlightPower
TeamBob00

[cgbole]

i think i need to do the same, after a 6min mild flight the pinion on mine was apx. 120 F and the main gear was 112 F.
chuck

[Clintstone]

Witht the double gear we saw the temps go away. Tim should have some insight on that.

[cgbole]

yes he said they were close on getting them, also my elev. servo arm is rubbing on the canopy. i'm using 8311's with the JR HD arms, i think 20mm out on the ball. do i need to shorten them? or work on the lower mounting hole on the canopy?
thanks for the pointers Clint
chuck

[bob00]

yes he said they were close on getting them, also my elev. servo arm is rubbing on the canopy. i'm using 8311's with the JR HD arms, i think 20mm out on the ball. do i need to shorten them

Hadn't noticed this. I *think* the Airtronics HD arms shown in the pics have the same hole spacing as the big Futaba wheel - 19mm I think (can't confirm, away from home for the next couple days).

The X2 has 2 canopy mounting positions, I'm currently using the forward position without any clearance issues (at least none I know off).

- Rob
Team FlightPower
TeamBob00

[Clintstone]

I would look at possibly spacingout the canopy stand off to clear. MA has some carbon washers that make up the space nicely. Good luck on your build.

[cgbole]

i have the stand offs in the forward position, but when moving through the air it looks like the nose of the canopy is drooping. like the holes are too low in front or the rear ones are too high. i'm going to order a new canopy from rick's , the one i have now is kinda ratty looking. so i'll try to "finesse" the mountoing holes. it is rubing the top of the canopy only, and only at full positive collective.
thanks guys.
chuck

[Clintstone]

If I am not mistaken the forward position is to allow for 140` CCPM. I ran both of mine in the back holes. I also ran long post in front and back and I ran a double ball on the back post and secured it with a short piece of fuel tubing.