Blade 400 - It flies! Well...

[int2str]

... it hovers :D

I just finished re-building my Blade 400 after my nasty 10 seconds out of the box crash. The rebuild involved $100+ in E-Flite parts alone. Then I also switched to JR285MG servos for the swash and a JR 3400G for the tail, hooked up to a GY401 gyro.

This time I made absolutely sure the remote was programmed correctly and the pitch was setup correctly.

I took it outside for a hover test and voila - it flies! The tail holds a hover steady as a rock! Mind you, I didn't really fly it yet, but I hovered a full battery's worth and it feels completely solid - very nice!

The headspeed seems incredibly high, but I don't have anything to compare to.

Can't wait to take it out for a "real" spin now. :)

[trickybit]

oh, yeah you're the guy with the first reports, and the programming tragedy.
glad to hear you're back in the air, and not completely broke.

[int2str]

Who says I'm not broke?! :D hehe
Feels good to be up and running though.

I like this new Blade!

[dieselracer]

The head speed is 2800 RPM. I have tached two of them. The blade makes a weird sound that make it sound like more then it really is. What part of SD are you from?

[ifheli]

Nice to hear you are back in the air.
I think you will like that setup. I have about 20 hard flights on my Blade 400. I have a 401 w/ 9257 servo and it is working great. I`m using stock servos for ccpm, Radix blades, gorilla paddles, and align tail blades. I have also added shim washers to stiffen up head. I only changed out tail blades because mine were getting ugly looking w/ grass stains.
I have been reading all the post and have kept quiet. I like the little bird and yes, mine had a few over looked things wrong with it out of the box. All the balls on inner ring of swash were loose, the ball links are alittle to loose,and one very tight ball link on the tail servo.
If E-flight sales just the chassis I will buy a second one and do the grip flip and try a few mods and things I have in mind. Even if they don`t, I may build one from parts for a 2nd ship.

Keith

[SeanOC]

Congrats Brotha!

Link me to the details of your crash... I have a blade 400 on order and I would like to avoid a major crash on the first flight. Why did you feel it necessary to replace the gyro and tail servo right away?
I know the 401 and futaba are better equipment but Ive read a lot of reports of people having success with the stock setup.

Sean

[Wolfpackin]

The head speed is 2800 RPM. I have tached two of them.


Is that at 100% throttle?

Can you guys tell me what you are using for pitch and throttle curves in normal mode?

And at what stick position do you get lift?

I'm using the Finless curves exactly, and don't get lift until about 3/4 stick (90% throttle and +5/6 pitch).
I do live and fly at 8,000FASL and wonder if that is making a big difference.

Thanks.

[int2str]

Congrats Brotha!
Link me to the details of your crash...

Here ya go:
http://helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=54121

I have a blade 400 on order and I would like to avoid a major crash on the first flight.

I basically fumbled the TX setup. You'll be fine if you don't decide to play with the settings right away - or at least take the time to do it right.

Why did you feel it necessary to replace the gyro and tail servo right away?
I know the 401 and futaba are better equipment but Ive read a lot of reports of people having success with the stock setup.

Well, I'm a beginner and need all the help I can get :).
Plus I was not comfortable with there being no indication about HH mode on the gyro and it seemingly giving me no feedback on the bench. Compared to the GY401 it doesn't seem to move at all on the bench. I'm glad I made the switch.

The servo I could have skipped, but I broke on of my DS75 in the crash and they're not shipping yet. I figured I'd break more down the road anyways and followed a link somebody provided to a "flight pack" containing 3 JR 285 servos and the 3400 tail servo thrown in.

This is my last planned upgrade. I do believe that the Blade 400 is a nice bird for the money and can be flown right out of the box without much problems.

Enjoy your Blade!

[int2str]

The head speed is 2800 RPM. I have tached two of them. The blade makes a weird sound that make it sound like more then it really is. What part of SD are you from?

Cool. I will probably buy a tach and check mine. It's very daunting to hear it spool up right now :D.

I'm in Scripps Ranch.

[dieselracer]

Is that at 100% throttle?

Can you guys tell me what you are using for pitch and throttle curves in normal mode?

And at what stick position do you get lift?

I'm using the Finless curves exactly, and don't get lift until about 3/4 stick (90% throttle and +5/6 pitch).
I do live and fly at 8,000FASL and wonder if that is making a big difference.

Thanks.
It was 2800 center stick in idle up. YOu shouldnt get lift untill 3/4 stick. you should be 0 pitch at center stick. IF you want quicker lift and faster lift. change your pitch curve to an s curve. For normal mode only change the 75 to 85. In idle up change the 25 to 15 ( for inverted) and the 75 to 85. Huge difference!


Hey int2str, if you come up to vista and fly with us some time. we will tach it for you. but it should be the same. UNless you made changes to it. We have a great field over here.

[littleman]

Can you guys tell me what you are using for pitch and throttle curves in normal mode?

And at what stick position do you get lift?


I use linear for both curves in normal and hover around 3/4 stick like in all my other machines. My idle up curve is stock, but i did make the pitch curve in hold linear.
A.J.

[sokal]

i use std throtle curve and for my pitch curve is set to 1:40 2:45 3:50 4:75 5:100.
helps with the negitive on low stick. mine hovers at about 3/4 stick approx 5 degrees pitch

i completly re did the head due to a swashplate leveling problem
i used the trex vids works very well.

as to what someone said to pos 3: is mi stick if u set pos 2: to 50 u will hover earlier but u will need to modify the thrtt curve to make the rpm to match

bu im 3mos in to hobby so its all learning

[Wolfpackin]

Thanks guys.

Mine won't hover at 3/4 stick unless my throttle curve is up to 90% at position 4.
Right now I'm running Throttle= 0-50-80-90-100 and Pitch= 40-45-50-75-100 in normal mode.
That's the only way I can hover at 3/4 stick without adjusting the pitch curve.

But again, I'm at high altitude.

[sokal]

may need to make sure blades are set to 0 pitch at center stick
and +10 on the high

to test i made my hold pitch the same as stunt that way i can see -10 0 +10 range
or just disco the motor
but mine does comes light just befor 3/4

as soon as the sun comes up ill make sure

mine came out of the box F'ed up so take a good look at the rotor sys

[Wolfpackin]

Thanks.
My physical pitch is good; at least as good as I can use the pitch gauge, and that's questionable.

So, you are saying that your heli lifts at 75% throttle and about +5 pitch?

[littleman]

yup

[sokal]

i will be checking today. its nice and sunny, so will look for when i do get lift off.

[int2str]

Just another update:

Another flight today, another success!

Today I did some forward flight (basic circuits) - even if it was a little choppy, a few simple piro's to check what kind of piro rate I have in my tail (answer: INSANE :) ) and even managed to do a flip in idle-up. I didn't puch the inverted part too long, but I think it's dialed in correctly (pitch+throttle curves) so I could probably venture going inverted for longer next time.

There is no appreciable difference between normal and idle-up when hovering, oddly enough. As in, when I make the transition, there is no noticeable RPM change. Even so my idle-up throttle curve is 100->92.5->85->92.5->100 and my normal mode curve above mid stick is 80->90->100. I guess the 5 percent throttle travel distance isn't enough for me to notice in resulting head speed.

To contribute to the question asked above, my Blade lifts off at about 60% throttle. Though as mentioned in the paragraph above, my throttle curve even in normal is pretty aggressive.

[littleman]

int2str,
if there is no noticable difference than you have to fix something, my headspeed goes WAY higher when i flip to idle up, it doesnt move but the head speed is much higher.
A.J.

[sokal]

yep it hovers about 1.5 tick marks above half stick
3 packs in today still need to work on tail though not holding
that great need to re-rigg i gusss
also is that servo setup u have (INT2STR) Better setup thinking of going with the same

[SeanOC]

I'm using the Finless curves exactly, and don't get lift until about 3/4 stick (90% throttle and +5/6 pitch).


Has Bob done a video for the blade 400 or the Eflite gyro, or are the curves standard on any gyro?

[sokal]

no unfortunately but it helped me understand the basic setup
his vids are for the trex

[dieselracer]

Hey guys what kind of pitch are you running at 3/4 stick?

[Wolfpackin]

I'm doing it Finless style.

Normal
Throttle= 0-50-80-90-100
Pitch= 40-45-50-75-100

Idle Up
Stock setup

Which equals +5 pitch in both modes at 3/4 stick.

[dieselracer]

Try a Pitch S-curve. It will wake it up. I gave my friend's 400 a very mild 0-20-50- 80-100 s-curve. ANd it woke his up. IM not sure what pitch it would be in a 0-15-50-85-100 pitch curve. I am running 8.5 degrees at 3/4 on my 450.