Crash Damaged Blade 400 - My First Heli Project

[Twmaster]

Are we speaking from experience? :YeaBaby:

Um, maybe....

:o

[Twmaster]

I'm a tool junkie so when I placed my last order with HD I just -had- to have that leveler tool. It's verrah nize.

:D

It's about to thunderstorm here so the rest of the afternoon is going to be heli hacking time. I have just picked up a few parts to get the other project (Honey Bee King II) moving.

[ted_wears_a_hat]

^ I love a good thunderstorm. The Mrs get's frisky! haha

No idea why but not going to complain.

Good luck with the HBKII, sounds like you'll be servicing a fleet before long!

I managed to gt the head on at last, I need to check the washout arms and the travel of the swash in terms of ultimate limits before getting into making sure everything is spot on but it feels good to have it looking like a heli again at last.

Thought I reward myself with some Clearview time. Managed some steady tail in hovering, some steady tail left hovering and some not so steady tail right hovering. i'm not sure why I can sort of manage to do side in one side but not the other but I'm sure it will come. I tried a little forward and backwards flight as well but mostly to test my skills of getting it back and under control when it gets a distance out. Finally I tried a couple of autos and finally seem to be getting somewhere. I can get it down from 10 or so foot and even managed a higher (30 odd foot) one where the bird came down with no real damage (looked a little rough mind!). I found that you don't need to drop the pitch much below mid stick (with a linear pitch curve) in order to keep head speed up and reapplying full positive pitch slows her down sweetly.

If you have Clearview attached is a zip file with a text file that can be dumped into the Clearview directory (C:\Program Files\SVKSystems\ClearView\records on a typical setup) and viewed in the flight recorder.

Have a good Saturday evening all.
:cheers

[ted_wears_a_hat]

IT LIVES!

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=620&pictureid=5805

[Jaysanity]

Bout time Ted:thumbup:

[ted_wears_a_hat]

:YeaBaby: jeje! I know, I know, I'm dragging now.... but hey, slow and steady and all that!

Seriously though, I have found the building to be time consuming simply because I don't very often have a good few hours to work on the heli so little bits get done here. Like most jobs if you can get through it in a few longer sessions there is generally some time gains made through the synergy of various tasks but when you have to do a little bit here and there this synergy and indeed often the general impetus of the task is lost. My job is fairly demanding on my time and my home life can be very busy at times as my partner suffers from multiple sclerosis which can be very unpredictable.

I did pass a major milestone today though in firing Vera up in anger for the very first and you know what....

...she ran sweet as chocolate. Even the blades seem to track nice. I still have some final checks to do before I can sign off CCPM as finished but for now initial tests seem to indicate I am on the right track at least! Pitch needs adjusting and there are some minor CCPM interactions that may need ironing out but the sound of her running at full chat on idle up was very gratifying!!

Beyond that I still need to install the SportBEC, re-affix the ESC to the airframe and tidy up the wiring.

My face though when I spun her up at work this lunch was just priceless. Kinda....

:shock: :P :YeaBaby: :happyd

Take care all. :thumbup:

[notreallyme]

yeah the first time is great(scary) just to hear and see the power it has. just got to love it.

[Jaysanity]

You lost me, my head popped somewhere around " time gains made through the synergy of various tasks.......... ":thinkingLOL I build sh#t for a living so you have to use simple phrases for me to understand. Seriously though, just glad to see that bad boy in flyin order finally:YeaBaby:

[Twmaster]

Ted all I can say is: Schweeet!

:D

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Hi jaysanity, i chuckled when I read that, i'm trying to build sh*t but man this building sh*t is way more complex than any database, server, MIS or network!

I was sat in a strategy meeting when I was posting (yes, us men can multi task with the best of them!) so my head was full of spiel! My apologies :) As someone that build stuff though you'll know what I'm talking about. It's like when I was replacing the head parts and the cyclic servo's it would have been quicker to do it all in one session as I could adjust everything on the fly. As it was I have to build some of it in a session, then some more in another, then some more in another. As these are all done in isolation from each other when it all has to be put together at the end everything may not go together quite right as a certain part needed doing in a certain way to fit another part that was done in a seperate session. I'm crap at writing but I hope you know what I'm saying!

Ola Twm, schweet indeed, I'm a happy bunny; now if this freaking wind would just drop a little I might actually get to crash *ahem* fly it. :YeaBaby:

Thanks for all the positive vibes and help throughout the build so far.

I took the ESC and BEC to work today to try and get some work done on that but can't for the life of me work out how to get the EC3 connector off without breaking anything.

Anyone have any tips?

Take care helifolks. :hug:

[ted_wears_a_hat]

I got the BEC soldered to the ESC this evening, for now I have trimmed out a section of the cable just before the EC3 and soldered to that before giving it a good covering of electrical tape. I made sure to tin both parts first and it went together more easily than I thought. I don't think I'll ever be let loose on a circuit board mind you!

I installed it below the battery in the recess using a couple of strategically placed cable ties, it's not neat but it works for now. I'm going to trim out some ventilation in the canopy; some along the side and some in the canopy "glass". Hopefully with some careful positioning this should create some nice air flow from the rotor blades.

I like this SportBEC, a neat little device, and very well made. It even has a funky blue led indicating it is working. I'm a sucker for little touches like that!

Go go gadget SportBEC:
http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=5827

The head is now fairly well set up I think, I need to play with pitch a little but I have 0 pitch at mid stick and +5 to -5 maximum to minimum in a linear curved 0-100 idle up. I'm not entirely sure what a good beginner set up would be so I will read around a little and see what people are using. Unless anyone has any suggestions they want to post here. :thumbup:

I wonder a little if there is a bit too much flex up and down if to move the tips so I might shim it a little more. Oh dear, means getting that stoopid flybar out again. Boo.

I started it up to test the SportBEC and found that unweighted there is some rock back and forth when the rotors are spinning at the lowest speed. The rocking completely disappears with a little rotor speed so it could be a result of this flex. I'll have a play and see where it gets us!

Head setup:
http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=5825

:hug:

[LockMD]

yup and as long as your servos can handle it you can flip the switch for 6V too then you get a red light, mixed in with blue (I think) or it might just be red ?????

[Jaysanity]

That's awesome Ted, I hope you didn't think I was being an ass, it just confused the hell outta me and was extremely funny cause my vision blurred and there was a high pitched ringing noise( I wasn't alive in the 60's but I imagine it was similar to an acid trip )...anyway
it still has me LMAO:rollingand will for along time to come. I'm rootin for ya to get that thing in the air man and I think a vid of the maiden flight will compliment all the testimonial that you've shared with us quite nicely.

P.S. When I get smarter and figure out how to upload video onto this site I'll show you what the synergy of a B400 impacting the side of my full size Bronco looks like:Bang

[ted_wears_a_hat]

I'll have to try that if I upgrade the tail lock!, though cool blue is a good enough reason to run at 5!

Hey Jay! :thumbup: No way man, thought it was funny! Almost spat out my beer at "synergy of a B400 impacting the side of my full size Bronco looks like"! :YeaBaby: I would like to see the vid and hope both B400 and Bronco have recovered!

Well Jay i hope you're still rooting for lil' Vera because she got her maiden voyage today. She then got her second voyage and first hard landing! :oops: First flight went good,got a couple of stable hovers going but had to fly the tail constantly and I think the swash may be off by a tiny (less than a mm) bit front to back as she has a tendency to head forwards despite cg being pretty bang on. The tail obviously needs dialling in though. Second flight I should never have even done as the wind had kicked up and it was pretty gusty but buoyed with confidence I thought bah give it a go. A minute or so into a reasonable hover Vera was hit by gust that spun her round towards me and dipped the nose towards the ground and left a little, somehow I managed to recover enough so that she hit the ground skids first butt the front left corner of the skid took the majority of the imact and bent a little low allowing the blades to not hit but scrape the ground.

She is mechanically unscathed though I will check over the feathering shaft etc. However annoyingly the Trex 500 skid tubes bent and when I tried to bend them back at the field they sheared.

The force of the imapct must have been pretty strong though as the tiny molding for the skid set on the corner that hit is half sheared from the airframe. GRRRR!

Will this require a new airframe or can this be botched?

I can see ways around it as the bottom of the airframe has some areas that could be drilled for a new mounting bracket but it is a FPITA.

Man the rush of getting her up and flying even if only for a couple of hovers was intense, completely comparable to the rush of topping out a nice climb or catching a sweet wave.

I can see this being frustrating and expensive but I AM HOOKED!

[Jaysanity]

Congrats on the maiden:clapppand gettin the first crash outta the way is a milestone as well:thumbup: now you can git er fixed and continue on:Bang

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Thanks Jay! :thumbup: The problem is going to be waiting for parts! There's nowhere round here that does rc heli parts so I have to wait for the postie to do his/her thang. Not to mention work to do theirs and pay me! :YeaBaby:

[Twmaster]

Ted...

Trixie (My rebuilt B400) has a broken tab too. I simply made a little angle brace out of brass and screwed it to the frame then the skid. Took all of 10 minutes to make and fit.

HTH

[weru]

Ted...

Trixie (My rebuilt B400) has a broken tab too. I simply made a little angle brace out of brass and screwed it to the frame then the skid. Took all of 10 minutes to make and fit.

HTH

That's a neat trick :noteworthy
Weru

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Yo Mike, a botch is definately in order for this, I think I'll go down your route and bolt on a new tab of sorts.

When I eventually rebuild fully I think a goo dplan would be to use the stock tabs to mount a thin strip of alu sheet across the bottom of bird that ends a little further out than the stock mounts. The trex500 skids can then be mounted using the original fitments and on a hard impact the new plate will [hopefully] bend rather than the plactic tabs.

The wind is blustery again today so it is probably a good thing I can't fly! :YeaBaby:

Take care all. :thumbup:

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Everything is fixed up now and I am receiving the last few bits I need from the original list tomorrow so I can finally play with the tail setup. Just gone for a DSP75 for the tail as it is programmable for end points which means hopefully I can set it up with no binding without having to resort to a gyro upgrade.

*excited*

Go Vera!

[ted_wears_a_hat]

All done and ready to go! Waiting for the batteries to charge so I can go play pilot!

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6236

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6237

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6238

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6239

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6240

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6241

Go Vera.

[LockMD]

may the winds be with you, good luck, and happy landings!

[ted_wears_a_hat]

I am going to need it Lockster! Thanks brah, very much obliged. :thumbup:

Go Steelers!

[EDIT - I have some red and green hi viz decals coming to complete the look]

[ted_wears_a_hat]

She came home in one piece, I only did one pack and had to play silly games with the wind.

Conclusions:

- The tail needs some further work in rate for perfect hold.
- I need the heli equivalent of a post coital smoke.

:YeaBaby:

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Tail is now set up and holds nicely in a gentle hover. And wow she really is nice and smooth now, for the first time today I felt in full control for a whole pack and only had to put her down once rather than small hops which seems to be the way for the first couple of flights. She now has three packs on her under my stewardship and I couldn't be happier! :YeaBaby:

That first real hover has me hooked now through and through. I'm really thankful for a budget heli like this, without it and it's pnp setup I doubt I would have got into this at all, so thanks to horizon and thanks to the person before me who gave up too quick! Equally thanks to everyone on this forum for helping and providing such a great resource.

:thumbup::YeaBaby::noteworthy

I'll detail the tail setup tomorrow!

Thanks all and take care. :thumbup: