Crash Damaged Blade 400 - My First Heli Project

[longwave2000]

Hi:

I feel your joy. Looks like you did a great job on the repair. I have repaired my heli several times and each time I do so with more confidence and speed. For the money you just cannot have more fun than a blade 400.

Regards,
longwave2000 aka Greg.

[xpower180]

Ted,

What are the items circled in your picture below?

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Ola Greg, yes it has been a steep learning curve but I think I'm happy... for now! :YeaBaby:

I have now flown 7 packs and knicked a couple of sets of blades but everything else remains sound. Even the feathering shaft remains unbent! I have put cable ties round each of the mounting tabs for the landing gear and everything seems to be standing up nicely.

I have ditched the training gear as I reckon it causes as much trouble as it saves and the 500 landing gear has a large footprint with the rear legs mounted backwards. You have to mount the battery a little close to the motor (closer than I like) to get CofG right so think I may move the tail servo to the boom and see if that adjusts it enough.

The ESC is staying nice and cool with the Sport BEC installed but the motor and battery seem to retain a reasonable amount of heat. Neither are hot to the touch but definitely more than warm. I added some holes to the canopy in the vake vent area and also down the screen so a draft is caught from the rotor wash as I am only hovering so there will be no ram effect from around the heli. I may eventually add an air ram on the screen, probably using the top collar of a broken canopy for the scoop but the holes made a noticeably effect on their own.

Cyclic control is nice, very quick and I have dialled in 5% expo and may consider upping that a little more. I don't want it to get too mushy. I have mostly been hovering trying to stay within a ten foot circle but have also tried following a line up and managed it sort of! Mostly I am taking it slow but I did bring it up to 10 or so foot for 30 secs or so just to see what it felt like...........SCARY! :wow2:

To set the tail up I first got it so the tail head true in a brief hover. This was really nerve racking for me as a totally new rc heli pilot so I warmed up on the sim and waited it out for a TOTALLY calm day. You have to be quick on the rudder before you get it dialled in if you don't want to get quickly out of orientation. Take it slow and put it down if you feel it is getting out of control. Adjusting the linkage so it was right took some time and I had to keep stopping and making sure which was the rudder input would push the heli but again, take it slow and you can get it so there is very little perceptible drift in a steady[ish] hover.

Once I did this I switched to HH mode and bizarrely found there was a little drift, I then powered down and powered up again in HH and there was again a little CCW drift. I then moved the pot on the actual gyro to both max and min positions and found [bizarrely] that it seemed to work better at 0% (full CCW)! I still need to click in a couple of click of right trim which I know will probably ultimately lower the lifespan of the servo but for now it will seem to do the job OK. Does anyone have any further tricks?

I flew in the wind for my third pack of the day and with the gusts it was pretty difficult but got through and landed safely. It's really kicked up though and and it looks like tomorrow will be the same! This hobby is turning me into more of a weather watcher than the garden ever has!

xpower, those are self adhesive cable clips available from most electronics stores. I have just had a search around the heli stores and Fast Lad has them is the misc item section.

http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/micro_cable_clips_self_adhesive-p-1602.html

Take care all. :thumbup:

[xpower180]

Thanks Ted.

[mongo56]

Good posts Ted! I feel we're both in the same boat here. I'm sucking in as much knowledge as I can and loving every minute of it (I'm completely new to RC stuff in general).
Hovered through four batteries today and got her up to 4-5m (~15 feet) for a couple of seconds. Loved it!
I also decided to bump my throttle curve on the second battery to 0-40-65-80-90 (was 0-35-50-75-90) and boy what a difference. It feels so much smoother now (especially the collective). What's yours?

[ted_wears_a_hat]

No problem xpower.

Hi mongo, thanks for stopping by; it certainly sounds like we're in the same boat (heli!). :) I have a second pack on order now so I can fly two in a row to try and get as much stock time as possible. I'm only flying 4.30 minutes on a pack at the moment to make sure I leave plenty of power back so as not to damage the battery but I still have to wait 45 odd minutes for the pack to recharge so it's not a good time:stick time ratio. What do you have your timer set to?

My throttle curve up to now has been linear, 0>25>50>75>100 but I think I will try 0>40>60>80>100 along the lines of yours. The higher headspeeds have got to help tail authority.

Pitch curve is currently 25.5>35>50>75>100. What's your pitch set at?

How is your tail holding?

On a tail related note I have noticed that the screws around the tail like to slip a little leading to the tail boom moving slightly and I have added a check/tightening of these screws to my pre-flight checklist:

- Check all connections into receiver
- Check servo extension lead connection
- Check motor connections
- Check feathering shaft is tight
- Add blades and check tension of blade grips
- Check all links and screws look tight
- Double check tail holding screws and landing gear mount nut and bolts
- Controller on
- Controller model correct
- Throttle hold off
- Idle up off
- Pitch and throttle at low
- Attach battery
- Plug in battery
- Wait for gyro beep
- Throttle hold on
- Check that swash is moving freely and correctly
- Pitch and throttle at low
- Throttle hold off
- Power up to 50 check rudder inputs and trim if necessary
- Fly :thumbup:

Take care folks. :hug:

[mongo56]

It's almost like I wrote that preflight list :P
I also check the belt tension (usually just by holding the tail and trying to rotate the head a bit).
My pitch curve: 40-45-50-75-100 (-2/+10)
My tail is holding quite well. It wiggles a little on quick collective but nothing drastic – gain between 62-72%. It's much better with the upped throttle curve.
Before the first flight and after I change to a different battery pack I adjust the subtrim for the rudder so the gyro (stock) doesn't drift ; +-(4-8) gets the job done.
Sometimes I also have to adjust the rudder trim a click or two.
I time the stock battery to 4:30 too. I check it with a voltmeter when I get home and it has never gone below 11V.
I run the TP EvoLite 2500mAh for 6-8 minutes and it's always over 11V.
I'm charging both batteries with Ultramat 8 (a cheap charger but I figure it's a lot better than the stock one).

p.s.: I know my English isn't the best so please forgive me on that part ;)

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Zdravo mongo. :) Your English is a million times better than by Slovene and probably better than my English too. :YeaBaby::thumbup:

Sometimes it feels like forever getting through the list it but it serves it's purpose as a check of the heli and time to mentally run through your own "gimbal finger" checklist!

It's been raining heavily with very gusty wind here today so no chance to get out and test the new throttle curve but it looks to be brightening so I may have to engineer an excuse to go for a drive.

I think when it comes to charging I'm going to have to ultimately invest in a charger capable of charger more than a single pack at a time. I have a second E-Flite pack on the way but they aren't cheap compared to other brands so I am looking round for compatible packs. I'm not very confident with my soldering ability so would rather get packs with the EC3 connectors pre-installed. Did you change to Deans (or solder on an EC3) or does the flightpower pack come with EC3 already installed?

It's good to know you are getting good results running for 4.30 I'll keep it set at that. It's also good to have another person at a similar stage to bounce ideas around with. Thanks again for posting. :thumbup:

[mongo56]

What a pleasant surprise! Zdravo!
Never thought that I would see a Slovene word here ^_^
My charger can only charge one battery at a time but that doesn't bother me that much.
Two or four batteries a day is more than enough flying time for me (at least for now).
The stock one charges ~40min and the 2500mAh ~60-70min.
I have three settings on the charger; 0.5, 1.5 and 3A but I don't think it matters because the charger starts with low amps and raises it when charging.
I hope the weather improves and you can try it out I have a feeling you'll like it.
Best regards (in lepe pozdrave iz Slovenije) :cheers

[ted_wears_a_hat]

:thumbup: It is an international hobby after all. Zdrava, ola, hola, sawaat dii, yo! :thumbup:

The weather did improve the wind didn't die down but the rain stopped so I went out for a couple of packs. First pack was tricky and I put her down for 30 secs to reset as the wind was really gusting. The second pack was a lot better, in fact this 9th pack (ever!) was a bit of a tail in eureka moment.

The tail held better with the higher head speed so definitely thanks for that mongo but I haven't still got it totally locked in, or at least not in that wind.

I tried to catch both packs on web cam and typically the first not so good one recorded fine and the second, better flight didn't record.

Pack 8 - part 1 - look at the trees for wind speed
Ch-yU2oeqZU

Pack 8 - part 2 - look at the trees for wind speed
osDdLmD2yU4

I'm happy none the less. 9 flights in now and I'm enjoying every minute.

Time to cook dinner and relax!
:cheers

[xpower180]

Nice work Ted.

On the subject of wind and flying, I'm sure I heard somewhere recently that trees can cause lots of turbulence problems when there is any breeze around.
If this is right (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong), then you would probably be better of flying somewhere more open in those conditions.

I would imagine the wind speed/direction would be more readable in open space?

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Hey xpower. :thumbup:

I think you're definitely right about the wind being less predictable but the surrounding trees at least take some of the edge off it. Most of the open land around here is full of ramblers, dog walkers, crops or heavy machinery at this time of year. That which isn't is generally too windy to fly right now at all, lie of the land and all that. I need to scout a little further to find a spot but I'm wary of flying anywhere near dogs without leads until I am a little more skilled.

The rain has pretty much stopped here now and there is even a little sun. The wind is still intermittently blowy but I might head out a little later for a pack.

[Slyster]

Ted.. try these curves... I think they are awesome for very stable 'newbie' flying.

T 00 50 60 70 80
P 45 50 65 80 95
A/E excpo +15%

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Ola Slyster, I must admit I quite like a higher head speed, it seems to add some stability as well as some extra tail control. Thanks for the suggestion though.

I have been playing with the expo settings and have found that I like around 5%, 10% and more seems to add to much slush for my liking though perhaps I have just got used to the extra responsiveness.

Love the B400 scriptures by the way man. :thumbup:

Here's a couple of flights from yesterday:

Pack 10 - tried an auto from 3ft just to know I could get her down if I needed too. She came down pretty heavy but everything was fine:
5g2QPQM8Snc

Pack 11 - tried some movement as well as a little side in hovering, apologies for flying out of shot now and then:
J3Y9AT8hijw

I flew another couple today and got through the dreaded pack 13 with no incident, I even did my first full pirouette. :shock: :wow2::YeaBaby:

Got her down safe though.

[Swashmix]

Gotta set that camera closer and we need background sound!

[Jaysanity]

Nice to see that thing in the air finally:YeaBaby: Enjoy:thumbup:

[mongo56]

Nice going Ted!
I just hope I too can get some air time today (been busy lately).
Glad to see you like the higher head speed.
Could you mount the webcam on your hat? ^_~

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Doering, apologies for the crap camera and lack of editing......that's wasted flying time brah! :YeaBaby: :thumbup:.

Jay, I know, long time coming, cha well at least it's taught me a little patience. Now it is working I am definitely enjoying. Very Much. Challenging but great fun.

Mongo :lol: my mrs would tell you I am the most forgetful person in the world; I could easily see myself attaching the camera to the hat, forgetting about the USB cable and pulling the laptop straight off the boot of the car and onto the tarmac as I walk back to the heli after a flight! The problem is basically a crap web cam, I have a friend with a proper video camera so I will get him to come down one day and do some proper video.

Definitely liking the higher head speeds and if definitely improves tail hold. The tail is pretty much solid at 70% gain, I bumped it up to 72% and there is a little bit of wag in the last minute of a pack I will go down to 71% and try that.

All it's done all day today is feckin' rain so no flying, I need to befriend a farmer with a handily empty barn or find an empty-in-the-evening multi storey car park. The sim, whilst OK for practising doesn't have the same thrill as flying so it is a little harder to keep concentration levels up.

"Rain rain go away come again another day" as my ma used to say when we were kids.

Take care all.

[mongo56]

I too suffer from severe short term memory loss :smokin:
You don't mind me posting videos in your thread Ted, do you? ;)
My roommate did the best he could with my phone, and no, the bandages you can see in the video aren't my doing :P

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pULzdMoOAKE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pULzdMoOAKE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

I'm thinking about loosing the training gear. Collective control has been better for the last couple of flights.

[maxman55]

Mongo I think you are very ready for leaving the training gear, go for it i did it 5 days ago and is so diferent .:clappp

[ted_wears_a_hat]

I definitely agree with Max, I kept mine on for a couple of flights and to be honest with the Trex500 skids it has a pretty stable skid set. That's really stable flying mongo, very nice. :noteworthy I was on the edge of my seat when it was edging closer to the dark corner under the tree branches. Everything looked really smooth to me and a lovely looking hovering practise location. And I am SO jealous of that weather! :YeaBaby:

No problem posting video, it's great to see other people fly, definitely the more the merrier (perhaps Jay will post the B400 vs Bronco video! :thumbup:).

Just finished putting the finishing touches on a pair of canopies for the blade. I think they look pretty cool.

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6542

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6543

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6544

http://www.helifreak.com/picture.php?albumid=827&pictureid=6545


On a different note, short term memory loss, who said that? :YeaBaby::lol::thumbup:

As ever, lepo je bilo govoriti z vami.

Take heli freaks.

:hug:

[mongo56]

Good looking canopies Ted! :thumbup:
I need to spice mine up a bit for easier orientation, the problem is that I just love to keep stuff as minimalistic as possible.
The blade canopy was a tight fit with the 2500mAh battery, trex's fits like a dream though.
It's 1am here so good night, or should I say good morning? ;)
Australia is probably GMT+7/9?

[LockMD]

I'm more interested in the booze :YeaBaby:

[ted_wears_a_hat]

Good looking canopies Ted! :thumbup:
I need to spice mine up a bit for easier orientation, the problem is that I just love to keep stuff as minimalistic as possible.
The blade canopy was a tight fit with the 2500mAh battery, trex's fits like a dream though.
It's 1am here so good night, or should I say good morning? ;)
Australia is probably GMT+7/9?

Australian, nah, the weather here is worse but the beer is better. :lol::YeaBaby: *joking*

Yookay representing!

The canopy helps with orientation a little, if you are seeing the top you are seeing one colour, the bottom no colour and sides a different colour.

I'm more interested in the booze :YeaBaby:

One was made in your state, a lovely Zinfandel (her indoors is partial to red wine) the other was a present. Not really my thing but it gets the job done, always goves me a headache in the morning.

Had a flight after work today and there was a pretty hefty tail based vibration and a slight sloppy noise, it didn't seem to be effected flight though so I hovered out the pack and then packed up and took her home.

When I got back I noticed the tail blades had a couple of nicks around the edge so I filed these down smooth again and adjusted (loosened) the tail belt a little hoping to get a chance to spin it up later and see whether that had solved it.

I didn't get a chance to go out for a while but after I had cooked I went out for an evening fly - under the lights in the work car park - and vibration was cured and she sounds a whole lot better again. I was trying a little forward and backwards flight along a straight line. The wind was kicking up and pushing her about a little and I almost lost her once when she got out of sight in the dark but managed to get her down safely. I couldn't see anything bar the gyro light and S-BEC light I have no idea how hard she landed. Powered her up and everything seems OK so I went a bit more conservative and just tail in hovered the rest of the pack.

Hope you're all flying high. :thumbup:

[ted_wears_a_hat]

1st Crash!! 22nd flight! Boom, blades, feathering shaft, main shaft, main gear. 1st time out in a LOT of space (12 acres) and was having a blast for the first pack. Had a little more fun with the second pack and then brought her in to land and picked a less than flat spot and tipped her, luckily got the T.Hold pretty quick so saved any major parts. Finished doing the feathering shaft, main shaft shouldn't take long and then the boom. Hoping to get pack 23 through today.


Quick video below of some hovering practise on pack 20, tried to keep it close to the crappy static cam but wander out of shot here and there. I have an imaginary 3d cube that I am trying to fly within and from corner to corner, end to end, etc.

heAsKUem7H8

Take care all. :cheers