Blade 400 Newbie

[gstoneberg]

I normally fly a 450x, but came across a blade 400 that I couldn't pass up. I'd like to fly it as-is at least a while since I've never flown a fly-bar heli. I don't have stock servos, but put a set of ds410s in it I had lying around. The tail servo is a ds76t. I have struggled to find stock settings for the dx6i, but finally pulled values off a video. However, I'm at a loss to get the collective direction correct at the same time as the cyclic roll direction. I can get the roll direction correct with the collective backwards or I can get the collective direction correct with the roll direction backwards. It just occurred to me that perhaps I should swap the aileron servos into the receiver? That's one thing I haven't tried. I confess I'm a little spoiled with the beastx on the 450x. It sure makes setup easy.

Thanks,

[Pilotrob]

Hey, I got one of these from a guy off of craigslist a couple of weeks ago and found some settings in the sticky`s under the 400 bible, hope this helps.
http://www.slyster.com/heli/b400bible.html#general

[wulfrun]

Go into the swashplate menu and reverse the signs on the pitch travel. If you have (say) +80/-80 at the moment, change them to -80/+80 to reverse only the collective. If your cyclic is totally correct, it's no good swapping the aileron servos at the receiver.

[gstoneberg]

I finally found swash settings that worked. Now I can get back to leveling the flybar cage. Thanks for the help.

[gstoneberg]

Good news, after leveling everything up and getting the pitch set up the b400 made it's first successful flight today.



It needs some tuning,

1. the tracking is off enough to clearly see
2. it wants to tip left on take-off and then drifts right in flight
3. there doesn't seem to be any difference between 72 and 90 on throttle between normal and stunt.

However the tail held great and there were no surprises in the one lipo I flew. I think tonight I'll switch back to the Taranis radio and do a test hover at home.

Life is good.

[gstoneberg]

My excitement was short lived. Today at the club I quickly fixed the tracking problem. Went to switch out the wood blades for some fiberglass, but needed washers like the 450x. I didn't have another set so I put the wood blade back on. Thought I'd do just a few gentle flips and rolls. It flew great, right up to the point I did a gently half piro and one blade parted company with the heli. In an instant the poor thing destructed itself.



Very sad, it was flying great and now I'll be completely redoing the head again. Looks like it needs FS, main shaft and gear, boom, landing gear, tail braces. Haven't checked all the electronics yet.

Worst of all, for some reason I didn't hit record on the mobius hat-cam before I took off so I missed getting the crash on video.

[Pilotrob]

Hate to hear about your crash. I have been working on blade tracking my self. Did you notice how hot the ESC gets? Seems to me it shouldn't be that hot. It could be under sized. Hope you get it back together soon

[gstoneberg]

Well, I got the b400 back in the air and it flew nicely, right up until I tried a piro flip with it and evidently forgot to add some pitch at the end to keep it out of the ground. Doh

b400 crash (1 min 29 sec)

I have it repaired and flying again, but now the cyclic seems very slow. I'll have to work on that a bit before I try anything more than just fff. I had to put CF blades on it as that's all I have left.

[gstoneberg]

I flew the 400 a few times and really didn't enjoy it much. So, now it sports a 450x head, mainshaft and Robird g31 FBL system. I maidened it a couple hours ago. It lifted off fine and felt much better and then I noticed something drop from the heli. Fortunately, I was still over the mat. I landed and discovered it was the capacitor off the ESC. Now I need to decide whether I'm going to try and repair it or order a HK replacement. It looks like it will fly well though.

George - Taranis, 450x, 130x, mcpx-bl

[907Heli]

I smoked the eflite esc, went with a turnigy and it's been fantastic. My motor went at the same time, with with a turnigy heli drive and it's waaaaaaay more powerful.

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

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

[gstoneberg]

I actually tried repairing the stock ESC by replacing the cap. Everything seemed to work, but a minute into the first flight the ESC failed. Fortunately I was only about 4' up and hovering so I got out of it with no additional damage.

Great minds work alike, I ordered a similar ESC from hobbyking and I have a new motor for it ready to go. Thanks for the help.

George - Taranis, 450x, 130x, mcpx-bl

[gstoneberg]

I got in 2 shakedown flights today with the Robird G31 on the B400. The new ESC seems to be working pretty well. I need to change a setting so the jump into IU1 isn't so harsh. I didn't do very much on this flight, but I did get a couple sloppy piro flips in which was encouraging. Hope to get in a couple more flights tomorrow.

b400withg31-12_9_14 (3 min 24 sec)

George

[gstoneberg]

One last video. Now that the Robird is fully set up the old b400 is just about my favorite helicopter because of the nice blade noise. Not sure why, but since going FBL and swapping motors it is obvious when I'm putting pitch in it by the blade noise. I've tried 2 different sets/types of main blades and they both do it about equally. If you listen you can hear what I mean.

b400 valentines flight (3 min 8 sec)