550 Maiden

[WhirlingBladesOfDeath]

It flies!

XES kit
RCP H/24/11H Motor
CC 80 ESC
(3) S9650 Cyclic servos, @ 6V
9556 tail server, @ 5V
Spartan DS760 Gyro
RCP 500mm CF blades
Medusa Potencia 3.5 Amp BEC
AR7000 receiver
FP 3700 Evo25 (but still waiting for charger :()

I couldn't wait any longer for the charger, so I just put 2 of my TP 2070 Extremes in series and powered her up. I'm happy to report overall it flew just fine! I flew it off our loading dock at work, so couldn't really do much more than hover around unfortunately.

The only thing that concerns me is I get a pretty violent shudder during spool up and spool down. Once the throttle gets up past maybe 1/4, it smooths out, but between 1/8 and 1/4 it wobbles a lot???

I hovered for maybe 5 minutes, and put about 1300 back into my packs.

I set the gyro up per Finless's video, and have the gain set to 74 on my DX7. I didn't have to fiddle with it at all and the tail held perfect. Again, I didn't have room to do too much, but no drift or wag while putzing around the loading dock.

Like many others, this is my first heli coming up from a 450. I flies MUCH bigger than the 450. My poor 450 looks like such a toy now. The size and sound is great.

That's all I have for now. My charger should be in on Thursday, and I'll be able to wring her out properly then.

Later,
Jason

[mjdee14]

Try tightening the main blade grips and/or loosening them. i had the same problem till I got it set just right.

Mine are set tighter than i thought it would be. the blades do not fall under their own weight.

Had the same problem with my ECO8 till an experieinced heli pilot had me tighten them up also.

He told me it was callled "The Chicken Dance"

[concept1]

several guys have battled with this shutter, I finally gave up, mine is not too bad now but I don't sit around 1/4 throttle, spool up quickly and all is fine, i have removed the whole head and ballanced everything, what I found did the most was play with the belt tension, either tighten or loosen helped to smooth it out. Again I haven't checked for some time but I believe loose is better.

[WhirlingBladesOfDeath]

I finally got my charger, and was able to take the 550 out for a "real" flight. WOW!!!!

So far I only have 4 flights on it, but I'm totally in love with this helicopter. It's better in every way from my Trex 450. Bigger, faster, more stable and more powerful. It just has so much more presence than the 450 if that makes any sense.

It's been in the low to mid 40's today, with gusts of wind to 10-15 mph. Pretty crappy, and I normally wouldn't fly but was desperate to fly the 550. Other than landing, I didn't even notice the wind. Within a few minutes, I was doing everything I could do with the 450 and loving it. :) Full pitch climb outs are mind blowing with this setup!

I was flying in idle 1, with a TC of 100 90 100, and a PC of -11 0 +11. Timer set to 3:30 (trying to be way conservative with my new batteries) and had to put back in about 2000 mah.

I just now checked my head speed, and had a real shocker! I set the pitch to about -2 straight across, and slowly ramped her up. At 50% throttle, I was at 2000 rpm! At 75% around 2450, and at 100% the tach was bouncing off of 3000rpm!!!! I'm flying the stock 15T pinion and figure I need about a 13T for a 2600 HS. I'll do some more reading, but if I get the Revco gears, would I still want the 13T pinion?

Anyways, I'm pretty stoked right now. The heli went together really without any problems, and flew great today with no adjustments.

Thanks,
Jason

[concept1]

I would highly recomend the revco gearing, I am running a 21t pinion which is about the same as a stock 13t.