550 Setup Problems

[jkhoo]

I have recently purchased the 550 and have completed build up with the help of Finless's videos. I have however noticed quite significant vibration when spooling up. I have already loosened the main rotor blades and now am suspecting the tail belt's tightness. Can anyone provide some rule of thumbs for the 550's belts tightness?
Also, is the what improvements would i get if i get the new motor mount? currently i think i have the 3rd generation GAUI with the OK gear however it does not come with the new motor mount, is this possible?

Thanks for your replies,
Joshua

[Raydee]

I would def get the new motor mount with the extra bearing support. I have a vibration on spool up too but once the head is at about 1500 rpm it smooths right out and goes away. You can check your main and tail blades on a balancer and make sure they are balanced. Does yours smooth out once the head is up to speed?

[Backfired]

I had the same vibration problem until I set the tracking on the blades. Now I only get the normal vibration on startup.

[bclong21]

My blades wer out of balance out of the box and I had one that wouldn't track because it was bowed. A little counter bow with a weight and it was a match to the other one. All my vibrations stopped after that. I also use silicone with teflon spray on belt and gears.Check the roller on the tail section. Mine was frozen up because the screw was too tight. I loosened it and it has been fine ever since.

[jkhoo]

I have just tried to balance the blades. Yeah it seems to be a wee bit better. The vibration problem that im still facing is a little hard to explain. It now seems that the tail vibrates at a certain frequency and the rotor head vibrates the top portion of the helicopter. Kind of like torsional twists on the top part of the frame. Hope this is not serious. I have ordered the new motor mount and one way bearing shaft.
For the sake of calculating the correct gear ratios, i am unsure whether i have a 980kV motor or a 850kV motor. My motor is chrome/silver on the sides however Bronze/Gold on the top and bottom. There are no markings on the motor and i got my kit from rc-expert if that helps.

The next part of this project will involve the CG which is way biased to the tail. I have 2200 18C (190g) batteries which i intent to change to 4250 EVOlites (303g) just for the weight. Would it yield longer flight times or would it be just 'dead' weight? (Motor requiring more current to carry the extra weight)


Thanks for all your replies..

[kg0ew]

I almost hesitate to ask this, as I think the answer is self-evident. But, I would really feel dumb if I didn't verify and made a dumb mistake! So... the total lenght of the servo linkages (adjustable rods with the ball links installed) isn't defined in the manual, or in Finless Bob's excellent videos. I first tried to make the total lengths 60mm and 42mm (per the manual). Didn't take me long to realize that wasn't going to work!

My assumtion is that the correct length is the length to get the correct fit from the servo arms to the balls. Is there a "correct" total length for these guys, other than mount the servos and adjust to fit?

Thanks for your patience with a very newbie question!