Aluminum swash plate for CX2 gave me trouble

[willyh]

Two weeks ago I broke one of the pins that hold the blades in the lower rotor head. While at my LHS I bought the aluminum replacement and decided on buying the aluminum swash plate and upper rotor head as well. I installed them (they look sharp) and got to flying with no problems.

A couple of days after installing the al. parts I crashed. It wasn't a big deal, just a minor tumble. However, after the wreck I couldn't lift off the ground. My CX2 would try to lift but it would just spin ccw on the ground. I took the whole thing apart and put it back several times in the hopes that maybe something moved or went out of whack, no dice. I also eyeballed to see if anything was bent but everything looked fine.

I happened to be recording my crash, much of the flight was off video, but I had good sound. When I replayed the video I heard a distinct difference in the sound before and after the wreck when I immediately tried to lift off again. Instead of the regular "swoosh" sound of the blades, I could also hear a metallic sound. Not anything clinking or grinding, the sound was similar to "swoosh" but more metallic.

I decided I would start replacing parts until I was flying again. First part I replaced happened to be the swash plate. I put back the factory plastic piece and immediately got in the air.

I don't know if I somehow damaged the al swash plate but I can't imagine I could break it or set it out of tolerance with a minor crash. Maybe later on I'll put the al part back and see what happens.

Any one had a similar experience? Any ideas as to what may have happened?

Thx
Willy

[pavemike]

Willy,

Check to see if your swashplate has seperated. The upper and lower portions of the "bling bling" swash sometimes seperate just a little after a hard hit. Simply squeeze the swash together (top and bottom) and listen to see if it makes a little snapping sound. Once it snaps back together it should be good to fly. Hope this helps.

[txflyer]

or since its a counter rotating heli that means one motor cancels the torque of the other motor out. if it wont lift off and is just spinning on the ground. im willing to bet that you have a motor that

a. isnt working
b. on its way out

i just went through this with my micro mosquito worked fine then i had a minor mishap due to the ac kicking on then it just spining on the ground.. after 3 days of pondering i took the main gears off and found that only one motor spun..

[Fan M]

Are you shure that the two plastic gearwheels aren't damaged? It happened to me that one of the weels broke after I had installed the aluminium parts.

Michael

Still on CX2

[willyh]

I think it may be one of my motors. After I got the thing up in the air it flew fine for about 6 minutes or so. I set it on the ground, tried lifting up, spinning started again. I let it sit for a while after which it lifted off with no problem. Then the cycle started again, this went on and off most of the day. It seems like when the motor overheats it starts spinning.

However, I'm now at a point where it wont lift off at all, it just spings no matter how long I let it cool. Both motors are spinning the gear wheels so I wonder if maybe it doesn't have enough juice to get it off the groun.

I love helis but man, what a PITA. I wonder if I'll have less trouble with a T-Rex. One things for sure though, I'm getting experience in working on this thing.

[rabidguineapig]

You won't have less trouble with a T-Rex, it will be at least 30x harder to setup, it'll be a lot harder to fly if you ahve no experience with tail rotor helis, especially bigger ones. Make sure you do a lot of research before you even consider buying a rex, trust me

[willyh]

I love my CX2, but I'm finding that the challenge of flying it is slowly wearing away.
What would a good entry level tail rotor heli be? The CP, CPP? Any others out there in the same price range that would be good for a tail rotor nube?

[rabidguineapig]

If you're up for a challenge go gor the CPP, or wait a couple weeks for the CP+ to come out and get that, it'll save you $40 over the pro and is almost as good (it's better than the CP tho)

[kgfly]

I love my CX2, but I'm finding that the challenge of flying it is slowly wearing away.
What would a good entry level tail rotor heli be? The CP, CPP? Any others out there in the same price range that would be good for a tail rotor nube?

You will get many opinions on this one :)

Remember, bigger = more stable, more wind tolerant, easier to see, easier to fly, easier to learn.

Personally I would skip the CPx and go for at least a 450-class (checkout the Dragonus II if you want something a bit different to the usual TRex - and a lot cheaper: http://www.hobby-lobby.com/dragonus.htm ).There are also quite a few other 450-class helis you could consider that are cheaper than a TRex. Whether the quality is there I cannot say:

ld advise going with a clone and watch the electronics budget.
http://www.cnchelicopter.com/servlet...m-frame/Detail
http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/index.ph...a510db99cc4286
http://www.rc-tek.com/us_store/ sjm400 diablo/skyshark
http://www.heliwarehouse.com/ Pheonix 450SE
http://www.bananahobby.com/1239.html GL450SE


Even better would be a 500-class. The new HDX500 is looking like a very attractive beginner's heli, particularly the soon-to-be-released SA version which at $199 is cheaper than a TRex450SA !

Bigger (and hence easier) yet is the Hurricane550 which is a 30-size heli that flies on relatively cheap batteries (2 x 3s 2100 but 2500 is probably more realistic) but with all the stability and visibility benefits of a 500mm main blade size. The kits costs less than a TRex450SE and the parts are as cheap or cheaper than the TRex450 so it is really remarkable value. http://www.readyheli.com/Electric_RC_Helicopter_Kits_s/123.htm

[willyh]

Holy crap...ask and ye shall receive :) Thanks for the info KGFly. I like the fact that the cost is still releatively low for these entry level 450's.