Another new heli mishap

[renefigueroa]

Folks I am new to the 450X, biggest thing so far and loving it. Yesterday morning I screwed up and didn't connect the battery firmly enough I am guessing, so at 1-2 feet it became a pitiful glider. it settled to the ground and scraped along the concrete. It did this on the mains and tail rotors before stopping. I have enclose some pics. The mains are perfect, no signs of any damage. If you run your fingers along the leading edges at the tips you can feel a little roughness but that's all. The tail rotors took the brunt looks like. Since then I spooled it up looking for anything obvious. There was no shaking and the servos all seem to work fine, however I surely need guidance as to how to proceed to check for stripped servos, main and tail gears, shafts and such. It would have felt a whole lot better if I could claim dumb thumbs, so very embarrassed to say the least.

[Lazybfarm]

Do Not try to fly the 450X with anything but perfect tail blades. Any bad vibes in the tail will result in some violent cyclic rolls from the beastX. Put on some new tail blades. Also, I would be very surprised if the tail servo gears are not stripped. New gears are really cheap, but they Will Strip if you touch terra firma. Either get some replacement gears and learn to change em, or get you some hitec-5065 for cyclic and 5084 for tail and Rock On

[renefigueroa]

Thank you , awaiting for them as we speak. How can I tell the tail gears or cyclics for that matter are stripped. I have sat on my desk this morning running them every which way and they all appear to be ok. Again I know little about the heli,but the swash moves straight up and down, the cyclics appear to go to their endpoints as well as the tail servo. Also ordered replacement spindle, main shaft, main gear, main tail drive gear as these seem to be the usual culprits in a crash per posts here by many. For now as I learn also ordered replacement servos. If any is stripped, I can at my leisure learn to replace gears later. And it sure looks like the Hitec servos along with Savox and MKS units are also very popular. Are the Hitecs pretty much drop in? Thank you for helping

[Lazybfarm]

Another thing to check is the belt. Just look through the opening in the back and spin all the way around and check for damage. remember that tail blades are spinning almost 5 times the rpm of the main blades so almost 15K rpm. When they touch something, something usually gives.
I think your main rotor blades look Ok.
Disconnect the tail pushrod from the tail servo and move the servo arm by hand through its range of motion, do you feel any rouhness at a certain spot? That is the broken teeth of one of the gears. Sometimes you cant feel the broken teeth, but about 2 or 3 flights later you will loose your tail servo and you will crash your heli.. So, I would just pull the servo and at least install new gears. Pretty good insurance imho. Better safe than sorry.

[Lazybfarm]

Yep, hitec are pretty much a drop in , but you will have to go through setup on the 7200BX. sooner or later you will have to learn how to do this . It is really pretty simple , once you have done it a few times and watched a couple dozen videos hahahaha. It seems complicated at first but it makes sense once you break each step down. Installing the hitecs was by far the biggest improvement to the 450X of any other mods. It really is a great Heli, minus the fragile stock servos. I definately fly the 450X more than any of my other helis, its just easy to pull out and fly 4 or 5 flights at the spur of the moment

[renefigueroa]

You can say that again, It has spoiled me in the liitle time I have spent with it. I will try to immerse myself on the setup videos posted here. Thanks

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=305195

[renefigueroa]

What would I look for as far as stripped main or tail gear? besides the obvious missing teeth and such. They appear ok ,but dealing with the 130X I have learned looks can be deceiving.

[Lazybfarm]

The gears in the stock servos are so tiny it is almost impossible to feel or see with the naked eye. You can have a tooth broken and still be attached to the gear ,and its so small you cant see it. I almost guarantee you that your tail servo gears are stripped, but you have to take the servo apart to check, so might as well install new gears, I think @ $3. You also need to put a little servo grease on the gears.
All this talk about the 450X and just went out and flew a couple of flights, its @ 39degrees here but warm enough to fly I just installed a CC ice light 50 because everyone says you cant run a scorpion 2221-8 with the stock esc. So after @100 flights with the stock esc/2221-8 , I thought I would go ahead and install the CC esc that Ive had for it for 3 months. First 2 flights were just now. Seems to hold the headspeed very well with the gov set @ 3000,3100,3200. More battery left at the end of the flights so I guess the CC esc is more efficient than the stock esc. Im gonna up the headspeeds another 100.

[renefigueroa]

Test pilot I see. Maybe I should plan on replacing all three servos and be done with it

[FailureToFly]

MKS servos were the best reliability mod I did to my 450X...but the best was going 6S

Good servos that don't strip make the heli so much more enjoyable IMHO...plus they fly better as well.

[renefigueroa]

Originally Posted by FailureToFly

MKS servos were the best reliability mod I did to my 450X...but the best was going 6S

Good servos that don't strip make the heli so much more enjoyable IMHO...plus they fly better as well.

You are all getting in my wallet deeply. My wife will tell you I need no help spending it. As I asked earlier in another post, are they pretty much drop in? I understand I would have to go through the setup

[renefigueroa]

Originally Posted by renefigueroa

Test pilot I see. Maybe I should plan on replacing all three servos and be done with it

And I meant all four servos

[FailureToFly]

Not sure about the Savox/Hitecs but the MKS all drop in apart from the ele servo which needs a tiny bit of frame filed/dremelled just so the arms and back of the servo fit. It's a 1 min job at most and you don't need to even reverse horns etc with the MKS.

They aren't cheap though they are the best units available in the 450 class. Need to switch the ESC to 6v though with any upgraded servos (30sec job).

The tail servo is particularly important as it will sort wag issues. Overall good servos will lock the heli in much better in high winds. My 450X regularly flys (nearly always TBBH) in winds of 20-40km/h (20-30mph).

Originally Posted by renefigueroa

You are all getting in my wallet deeply. My wife will tell you I need no help spending it. As I asked earlier in another post, are they pretty much drop in? I understand I would have to go through the setup

[renefigueroa]

cool, thanks

[Coco66]

rene, just don't overdo. If your crash was really "losing power at 3 feet and dropping"... about main and tail gears, if the don't look "eaten out" they are ok. And even more if the cyclic servos are not stripped - the two things normally go together.

Tail gear is pretty strong, same as belt... I've eaten out one only in some 15 crashes, the tail blades break very easily and not necessarily strip anything else.

Main blades: bend them up and down and try to twist them, you'll see if they split.

If this is your first bigger heli, you will probably crash very soon again - that's how it is, so... no need to make long term thinking in replacing servo which risks to fail later...

[comatosed]

Originally Posted by FailureToFly

Not sure about the Savox/Hitecs

Don't know about the hitecs, but the savox are a drop in fit.

[renefigueroa]

Originally Posted by Coco66

rene, just don't overdo. If your crash was really "losing power at 3 feet and dropping"... about main and tail gears, if the don't look "eaten out" they are ok. And even more if the cyclic servos are not stripped - the two things normally go together.

Tail gear is pretty strong, same as belt... I've eaten out one only in some 15 crashes, the tail blades break very easily and not necessarily strip anything else.

Main blades: bend them up and down and try to twist them, you'll see if they split.

If this is your first bigger heli, you will probably crash very soon again - that's how it is, so... no need to make long term thinking in replacing servo which risks to fail later...

Thanks, it really was a very mild crash and there was no reason for it to crash other than my mistake.. The mains look like new, only one tail rotor got chewed up and the other one just scuffed. I think I posted some pics here earlier. I did order some replacement stock servos as well as the usual items mentioned on this forum as the first culprits to go in a crash, but it truly dropped down from waist level and as a glider to boot!!. And you answered the question about the mainand tail gears, as I was not sure what "stripped" goes by in the 450 realm. The servos I have worked over and over at my desk, all seem to work fine, but someone else suggested undoing the arms and manually working it throughout its range and probably a very good idea. Thank You for helping

[Raysun]

Don't try to move the servo arms, that alone could strip the gears on these particular servos. My test for stripped gears is to cycle the servos through their full range with the radio, and listen for any clicking or other unusual sounds. If they sound smooth and move freely you are OK. Replace the tail blades for sure.

The heli is tougher than it looks. The only weak spots are stock servo gears in my experience. I also fly it with $5 HKing carbon/FGlass blades which are tough as nails BTW. I did a fairly fast pile into the ground after a fancy move too low. Broke canopy, frame and elevator servo, that was it. Blades were OK!

[renefigueroa]

All I have done so far is running them with the radio. Tried them again this morning.
They sure feel OK. Is it normal for the tail servo and blades to move much less with TH on?
Reason I ask is that the cyclic move normally with TH on. thanks

[Allen_H]

I think your servos are fine. Like said above if you move them to the max with the TX and you do not get clicking they are good. the tail wont move as fast as the others this is normal. The MKS is over kill for the 450x unless you have a 6s setup. Step 2 take the ting out side and brig it to a hover if all other parts are good.