Are Beltish CP's upgradable to FBL?

[sutty]

Originally Posted by copterboy

Had to wait for the 2nd to cook last night, so not had time to comment until now. Whats your overall impression Sutty, as your the one behind the sticks?

I have to say, that is probably the closest I have seen a belt-cp flying in a similar way to the original marketing ad Job well done

Thanks Denis. Well it flew surprisingly well actually. Not had too much chance to really try it out properly, but there was no doubt it could do 3D of a fashion, even after only a couple of packs. Second pack with the corrected collective range was miles better. Tail is loose, but that was just a low gain thing. Started low so as not to risk shaking it to pieces. Worst thing about it, but only to be expected, is that it was woefully underpowered. Everything I did had to be very controlled on the collective, or I could hear it bogging.

Also, I think I could tighten it up a bit more by glueing the servos in place by running round them with a fillet of hot glue. Even on the deck I could see them flexing the frame as I moved them quickly. So under the aerodynamic load they would have been worse. I'd forgotten quite how flexible that frame is. Still even with this as a possible issue the MB did pretty well in keeping it tight.

Not bad at least, and it passed a couple of days. Next job, FPV quad.

Cheers

Sutty

[copterboy]

Well Sutty, I don't wish to detract from what a good job you did but I think it confirms what we all suspected.

It is capable of 3D flight and also FBL conversion, but because of the power issue, weak frame and lack of spares, it will only take you so far. Would you agree that is a fair assumption?

[sutty]

Yes Denis, spot on. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I just did it because I had all the bits, and for something to do.

Cheers

Sutty

[Tomstoy2]

Just loved seeing you put the ol' gal thru the paces!

[Heli Yea!]

hmmm. I dunno where my other post went? Anyhow nice work on the FBL conversion!!! You really bitched her round the sky!!! was what it said in a nutshell.

My Belt is almost flight worthy again. She just needs some tailblades.

[Heli Yea!]

Yeah I couldn't help myself. I just have to prove that The Belt CAN go FBL without DST. Yeah laugh it up. I'm a Belt Purist that means NO DTS. I said above "I'll bet it can be done" Now it'll happen!!!

I just ordered

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...e_Support.html

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...450_HK450.html

2x 1 for the Belt and 1 for the HDX 500 SAH

http://www.ehirobo.com/transmitters-...-receiver.html

For the 500

http://www.ehirobo.com/clearance-sal...s-cs-0264.html

Also for the 500

http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...ock_Gyro_.html

[CyprusDave]

The old 401 gyro and it's clones have been around now for what, about 8 years? There are much better designs now using MEMS technology (as in the Spartan Quark). The GA-250 from Hobbyking is a much better gyro than the 401B - holds better, less affected by vibration, and more setup options. I have it on a 250, 450 and 600 and they're great.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...MEMS_Gyro.html

If Hobbyking have not yet sent your order to the warehouse for packing, you should still have the option to change it, if you want. It does require a digital tail servo, not analog. Maybe you were put off by their desription "best MEMS 250 class gyro..." Don't know why they put that, as it's certainly not just for 250s. Look in the manual at the list of servos it supports, some are full-size servos as used on 600 and 700 helis.

[CyprusDave]

And just to prove it, here's a gratuitous picture of my 600 in the air, using a GA-250

[Heli Yea!]

@Dave I suffer from C.R.S my XM hobby 401b worked/s great. That is on the 500 now. I plan on putting on the HK 401b since its newer and then the XM on the Belt. Just going w/what I remember from the old school. I'll probly just buy one of those as well for 12ish bucks, why not.

The RXs and 435mm blades will be here tomorrow. I got the Belt RX ready and the 500 almost RX ready. I just have to put on the CF paddles. The FBL head/controller for the Belt should be here tomorrow or Tues. The CF Belt frames are on the way! and the purple frame rods to replace the blue ones shown above. Gave the Belt a paint job. I kept it purple will post pics later. I now remember why I quit VIBES!!!! on both But from what I can tell they are all gone by spinning the rotors by hand. I guess this will also be a maiden of the 500 w/the HC500 head I had just spent $150 on the head/$110 on a piece by piece tail minus grips, and after the install VIBES!!!: arggg: man I was pissed. I used some old School HDX CNC tail grips that I had instead. I found those damn grips were causing the vibes. I now have the original plastic tail grips on a $110 tail unit. Runs smooth as silk now from what I can feel. The Belt's vibes also came after a complete rebuild. so I quit. From what I can feel the vibes are gone in the Belt as well. The cause of these VIBES!!! The damn tail shaft was bent. I had a spare even. 2 NIP. I quit for that. Now my fingers are super itchy.

Back to the FBL talk. So I plan on running the Belt w/FB and getting her in the air first. Then I plan on installing the FBL head/control to the CF frame NO DTS. I'll trade a little linkage play for a frame w/o flex. Yes the OG Belt CP carbon frame! Now depending on how I like the FBL control I will also put one in the 500.

[TheKingPhisher]

Very cool project guys.

BTW what is a DTS mod? I'm assuming it means direct to servo?

[CyprusDave]

Originally Posted by TheKingPhisher

BTW what is a DTS mod? I'm assuming it means direct to servo?

Yes

[sutty]

I think it got called that from the fact that it was Direct To Swash. Either way, it means that the servos connect directly to the swash as opposed to via all those strange cranks that the Belt-CP used to have. I think later frame designs actually came modified like this but at the time we were modifying them ourselves.

Cheers

Sutty

[Heli Yea!]

Damn it the RXs have been held up AGAIN??? I got the CF frames today and the other pEsky parts for the CF build. RXs will be here tomorrow though. The Belt IS FBL and waiting for rx. I got bored so I did up the plastic frame FBL and all the strange bellcranks. NO DTS AND NO SLOP!!! I DID SAY NO DTS AND NO SLOP!!! ........ ... Yeah take a moment......

IVE decided to double the upper CF weak frames and I'll CA those together. The 500 has the new gyro installed and wating for a RX as well. I cant wait. My camera is charging now. I'll post some picts tonight.

[Heli Yea!]

The Belt CP with FBL conversionn new paint job on canopy vert/horiz fins, all those crazy CNC upgrade bellcranks, cyclic servos MG-90's, Tail Futaba S3114, Align 30A esc, HDX450 3500kv motor with 13t pinion, turnigy 3D-H V2 FBL system, 315mm fiberglass blades, original Purple Esky CNC swash, Copter X (the original bad ass belt upgrade) main head, HK grips and swash folower, blade 400 tail unit, horizontal fin custom by me, vert fin origanal pEsky custom cut by me both to reduce ass lead the Belt has.

The HDX SAH/C has HS82-MG's, HK 401b with BMS-631MG for the tail, HC500 head/tail unit, 430mm FG blades, Align T500 carbon white paddles, Gaui 550 850kv motor 20T on 6s, Align 60a ESC.

[sutty]

Looking good Chad. Just one observation that worries me slightyl though. If I can see correctly from the shots, the washout arms that I think you have modified to operate purely as swash followers, you seem to have chosen the short end of the arm. This will possibly lead to a severe loss of travel, when combining high levels of cyclic and collective, due to binding. The way this is normally done is to take the long end, through and past the point of rotation to the other side of the swash, and fix it there. This allows for a lot more travel. Not for certain this will be a problem, as that method works well on my 600, but on the 450 size of the Belt, I had to go for the long end of the lever. See below. You have to look closely to see that it is fixed on the long end, as it goes back and across the main shaft.



Anyway, might not be an issue, but just watch out for it.

As for the controller, I can't remember what sort you said you were getting, but judging by the circles of lights, and the three pots, it is a MicroBeast clone. If it is, and you have any difficulties or questions, just give me a shout, because I'm very familiar with the MB.

Good luck with it. Looking forward to further updates.

Cheers

Sutty

[Heli Yea!]

THE swash follower was part of the kit and only has short arms. Idid notice some binding so I will do some tinkering. STILL NO RXS Im pissed. its snowing today anyhow. I was going to maiden the Belt plastc style.... but no rx has lead me to bordem so I rebuilt the belt again. The carbon/CNC FBL Belt is ready! I upgraded the tail drive pulley to a CNC 11T and put the stock motor w/stock 10T bck in. It is one purple Belt. Ill take some pics and post em later.

[copterboy]

As a FBL virgin, I do not feel I have the right to make, or attempt, any kind of wise comment.

All I can say is - can't wait to see how it flys, and how far you dare to push it!!

[Heli Yea!]

I won't be pushing too hard cause my TX devo 7e is only short range and was designed for INDOOR so the range is 200 feet max. I will be sure to range test when I get the RXs.

[Heli Yea!]

Thanks Andrew, I had the swash follower arms on reversed and backwards. That was the way the Hobby king manual had it pictured.... go figure.... The short arms it came with are one sided but do seem to give plenty of travel now. I also moved the ball on the blade grips out to the furthest hole and added the longest balls the swash could take for the swash to grip linkage. This provided extra clearance from the swash follower. (pics below) All reasonable binding seems gone now. I wont be throwing the swash parallel to the main shaft.

Dennis I had no skid blocks for the build, no plastic upgrade set to be found, my dad still has not put a finger towards making the CNC blocks I had promised you a set of all those years back .... So I made my own out of wood and then painted em' purple to match the canopy. pics also below.

As you can see there is NO plastic NO DTS in the frame it is all aluminium and CF stiff. A purist Belt CPer's dream. It has the microheli autorotation gear and upgrade 11T CNC front tail drive pulley for improved tail authority. I have the stock 3800kv motor w/stock 10T pinion. I'll maiden it this way and likely swap back to the HDX 3550 w/13T. Now a rx would be nice fingers crossed for tomorrow. I do have work tomorrow so I'm not sure if I'll have time for a maiden flight. We'll see. So here are the pics.

[Heli Yea!]

See look here is the picture. http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store...450_HK450.html

My arms have the button on the inside and fliped around so they are even with the center block. No wonder I had it wrong the first time.