Blade 400 Head slop?

[sgrim80]

Does anyone out there that owns a Blade 400 feel that the head is overly sloppy? If you grab a grip in each hand and move them in opposite directions horizontally and vertically do they wiggle a decent amount? The one I had my hands on felt a little "wiggly". I guess I am comparing it to my Trex 450 which is dead still when I try the same thing.

Does anyone else out there notice the play? What causes that? Manufacturing tolerances in plastic?

[sgrim80]

Noone owns a Blade 400 and can comment? I'm talking about bearing play or maybe play between the bearings and the grips? Anyone?

[int2str]

Sorry, no. No real wiggle here... Seems tight.

[JimLerch]

Does anyone out there that owns a Blade 400 feel that the head is overly sloppy? If you grab a grip in each hand and move them in opposite directions horizontally and vertically do they wiggle a decent amount? The one I had my hands on felt a little "wiggly". I guess I am comparing it to my Trex 450 which is dead still when I try the same thing.

Does anyone else out there notice the play? What causes that? Manufacturing tolerances in plastic?

The only play I have in mine is from the backlash in the servo gear train. Once I power the receiver up, the servos do a pretty good job of eliminating the backlash.

Only problem I have now is I finally nosed it in (while learning nose in hover) and the Bell Mixer arm attached to the blade grip was dispatched to an alternate universe. At this point in time, it looks like everyone in this universe has the parts listed as "backorder".. Joy....

[BKF]

Are you talking about the blades being kinda sloppy on the head? Sorta where they "hang" down instead of straight out because of slop?

Mine does this. Never noticed if it was normal, but I did notice (and wonder the same thing) a couple days ago.

Taking off the blade and trying to tighten the screw doesn't seem to do anything.


Does anyone out there that owns a Blade 400 feel that the head is overly sloppy? If you grab a grip in each hand and move them in opposite directions horizontally and vertically do they wiggle a decent amount? The one I had my hands on felt a little "wiggly". I guess I am comparing it to my Trex 450 which is dead still when I try the same thing.

Does anyone else out there notice the play? What causes that? Manufacturing tolerances in plastic?

[LockMD]

I read this more as "my rex is sooo much better, dont you all agree that your B400 is plastic crap!"

[sokal]

yes im sure your trex is the best thing since slice bread. thats great but, as for those that have the Blade 400 feel the same way about the B400. so it doesnt mater what brand heli u have. its the fact you have one and you enjoy the hobby. so please do better things the have a pissing contest and go fly.

we all know the Trex or any other brand didnt start off as gold it takes time to work out the flaws

so we value your opinion but positive attitude is best

[sgrim80]

Just wait a second there LockMD and sokal...thats NOT the way I mean't it. You are reading into it too much for starters, My rex was twice the cost of the B400. The B400 looks to be a nice heli and I really like it. I work at a LHS and someone returned a B400 and pointed this out to me. He actually cited it as the reason for the return. The 3 B400's I have laid my hands on (albeit not powered up) did exhibit exactly the same issue with varying degrees of "slop". I'm trying to figure out why and if there is a fix in the works. I never thought it could be slop in the servo gears. I'll check that next.

And for the two posts prior to this one...lighten up! Is this not a forum where we figure out problems? The only thing I personally have to compare the head to is my Trex. Geeze, mention Trex in a post and people are all over you.

And for the record...my rex has PLASTIC grips NOT metal.

[sokal]

sry yo just a lil tired of the hole my trex is better all i care about is that i fly
weather it be a trex b400 a folded paper with a paperclip
but yes i found i have that issue and it seems to me to be the servos
im replacing mine with the hs65mg herd they were the servos to buy
also herd the jr 285's were as well
hmmm when i power up the slop is a lil less
will do more search to find prob

[LockMD]

Just wait a second there LockMD and sokal...thats NOT the way I mean't it. You are reading into it too much


Sorry too.....just sounded like another B400 bash thread.

[BIRDBRAIN]

yes its very sloppy. my buddy has one and i wasnt that impressed. but i would venture to say that since it is e-flight there will be updated/hop-ups very soon. for the price its cool but very hard to fly (in comparison) the thing is so light the pitch becomes too aggressive.

[widower]

I've been successful hovering in a 8ft x 8ft cleared area in the basement. I figured the head slop is due to the rubber 'O' rings that hold the feathering shaft. The manual suggests you can add more shims to tighten it up, but personally, the greater the main blades feather, the more stable the b400.

I am anxious to be able to fly it outside for once. I get a lot of blade wash bouncing off a desk and bookcase in the basement, so the bird dives and slides when the wash hits it. If I increase altitude from 1.5ft to 6ft, it isn't effected by the wash but I'm nervous with an 8ft ceiling and the main rotors close to eye level.

[sgrim80]

yes its very sloppy. my buddy has one and i wasnt that impressed. but i would venture to say that since it is e-flight there will be updated/hop-ups very soon. for the price its cool but very hard to fly (in comparison) the thing is so light the pitch becomes too aggressive.

It is in the blade grips and feathering shaft...to clarify for the earlier posts...

[Leaf Blower]

Fortunately, my blade grips are "Tight" on my 400. However, there is some slop on the flybar (lateral slop to & fro the blades ) Not sure whether it has always been there or a recent development. However the T-Rex 450SEv2 has absolutely NO slop in it's metal head. Perhaps HH will come out with a metal head upgrade for the Blade.

[Kiolakin]

If you notice there is never a mention of exactly how many shims should be on the feathering shaft. I eliminated the "slop" on mine by adding more. I have seen the B400 come in the box with as many as 4 shims on spindle on each side of the head.

[mjws]

It isn't really slop, but the stock dampening unshimmed is VERY soft and you can certainly move the blades and grips around. If you go through the linkages and arms on the way down they really aren't bad at all for a cheap plastic heli.

I thought the head felt soft and loose when holding it as well, but was pleasantly suprised by how it felt in the air. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to flog one due to weather, but it strikes me as a hovering, gentle aerobatic set up. Shim it up (maybe glue it solid) put on some good carbons, and servos and I expect a different animal.

Mike

[Raven_darkcloud]

I replaced the spacers between the grips and head with thicker ones and all was good.