Heli-Max Axe 400

[cw4rotorhead]

Any input about this heli? How to set up, suggestions, reccomendations, ect???

Thanks

[tooth]

I've not been happy with HeliMax products. If you do not already have the machine, I would not recommend it. My AXE 400 ARF never flew well--horrible shake I couldn't fix, tail rotor control problems, radio glitching, general lack of quality control. I finally sent it back to Tower Hobbies for a refund. I may have recieved a rare problem machine, I don't know. I bought a Blade 400 to replace, and have been happy with it. The only problem with the Blade, IMO, is crappy servos, which should be replaced--see the Blade 400 forum.
The TRex 450 is also a great little machine.
Either the Blade or TRex will be easier to fly and much less frustrating.
If you have the AXE, be prepared for some irritation if you have a machine like mine.

[redman axe400]

think u just got a bad one, or didnt even give it a chance,its based off of the t-rex xl, maybe if u knew what u were doing or how to set up,u cant expect evey one they send out flys like a ace. ot getting nasty but i love my axe 400, mine flew good out of box, but made few adjustments with help of some pros that know how to set up these birds,but this bird looks just like t-rex xl and lot of parts are interchanble

[tooth]

It could have been a bad one, like you say. I have built and set up many helis. I have had other annoying experiences with HeliMax (not just with their helis), I didn't have the desire or patience to deal with it.
I have 3 Blade 400s, my only RTF helis. They all flew great out of the box. That is the level of quality I expect. HeliMax did not deliver it.

[RCisGood]

I have the Axe 400 3D RTF.

I put wheel collars on the outboard ends of my flybar and hovered a pack. On dual rates with the flybar weights it's fairly stable but still plenty responsive. Everything was setup fine right out of the box and my one crash only cost about 35.00 in parts to repair which surprised me.

I wish the instruction manual that came with it went into far more detail but all in all I'm happy with it. Parts are readily available. It's size is a two edged sword. It;s small enough for me to hover around in my side yard a bit but like all small models it's harder to see and twitchier.

I'm learning to fly my Century Swift RTF and it is very easy to see and very stable. I fly it on dual rates and large Century training gear and haven't put a scratch on it in about a dozen flights.

[mediclavina]

There's no such thing as RTF cp helicopter. You will always have to finetune them or fix what the manufacturer QC missed to check.

[n8ksc]

I just purchased one of these from tower hobby. And yes you get what you pay for. I am having some trouble with the gyro in heading hold (drifts a little) but for the money it is OK. Mine also has a herendis shake a certain point when powering down (can't fogure that out yet) but it is a stable flyer for the money. Steve

[n8ksc]

Well I have had this heli for a couple of weeks now and I am still overall pleased with what you get for the money. I have been flying for 30 years and I have noticed that the (GYRO) which so many people are having trouble with is very poor quality. I had to replace one already and this what I found - The electrolytic capacitor inside the gyro is not soldered good at all and is not held in place with silicon adhesive. (it litteraly viberates loose) because it is not held in place. Also the servo for the gyro is a joke, You should use a standard digital servo. I noticed no drifting when I removed the futaba 3114 and switched to a futaba 9257 digi (there is no substitute LOL) Anyway you can use align or other generic parts so don't get bummed out. STeve

[olddogg60]

I have had great luck with my 400. I did replace the TR servo with a Hitec HS-65MG and the TR push rod with one from a Beam Heli. The only shake that I have seen was when I ran the battery too long and the head speed dropped. I'm a noob but I'm hovering, flyin out and back and up to 50+ feet high. This is all tail in of course. I can fly the 400 back to me (tail in) at a fair rate and the tail holds just fine.

Olddogg60

[primestick]

the axe 400 is a great heli, for $219 rxr you cant beat it, i replaced the gyro with a gy401 and it works great now. i think that the people talking trash just dont know how to set up a heli if you fallow finless bob's videos and take your time setting it up (not just ripping it out of the box setting tx to heli and go for it) But realy set it up like you should its a great little heli. for you people with the shaking helis GO BALANCE YOUR HEAD AND BLADES

[gheli]

Originally Posted by cw4rotorhead

Any input about this heli? How to set up, suggestions, reccomendations, ect???

Thanks

Like a few others have mentioned, there is no such thing as an RTR heli. At least one with collective pitch. I bought the RxR version. With Tower Hobbies discounts you can get it under $200. I installed a Futaba 7 ch 2.4GHz Rx, paired with a 10C Tx. The instructions use 5 point curves for throttle and pitch, and the 10C has 7. What I did was plot the curve values from the instructions, set the middle point to the listed value, and adjust the other points to get the desired curve. This works better than interpolating, because the default 10C stick positions are non-linear. Also, I am running 40% pitch rate in "Swash AFR" instead of the 35% per instructions, because that did not get me to +/-10 degrees of pitch.
I also had an issue with the gyro out of the box. Not only was the trim adjustment off, but it was reversed. The trim adjust is under the label, which needs to be removed to access it. I could not get my gyro to hold steady after initialization, it would always drift after a short time. This means you play with the rudder trim as you fly. Not good for beginners.
The most important and tedious adjustments I made were to the head linkages. They were all close to the spec lengths, but the blades were not at 0 degrees at 50% throttle. I learned a LOT from the Finless videos on this site. If you want the cliff notes version- watch at least the CCPM parts 1 and 2, and blade tracking. You may only need to make small adjustments, and it takes time, but it is worth it. My heli now hovers very smoothly, except for the gyro drift. HeliMax is sending another unit out for replacement.

Sorry for the long post. I probably could have said "watch the Finless videos", but I wanted to give details of my experience. You can look at it two ways: "Why did I have to do so much tweaking on an RTR heli?" or "I learned a lot about CCPM linkage adjustment with this model". I'm going for the latter...

Happy flying,
Greg

[jcwing123]

Concerning the drift on the MX 4000 gyro, there's a guy that has a video on You Tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgJ-bAgf6i8 that explains how to fix this issue, if you have a radio that has sub trim.

I'm getting ready to buy an Axe 400 and a Futaba 7C radio... I'll let you all know how it goes...

[KrazyKoots]

I just bought a RxR Axe 400 from the hobby shop for 200 bucks. I spent 2-3 hours setting up the gyro and it would always change every time I flew it. I ended up just putting a used gy240 on it and it flew great 1st time out with a tad bit of gain adjustments. I fly it on an Airtronics RDS 8000 trans with an rx600 rx. So the set up there was .........different. but I got it flying very well now. I noticed the "shake" that people talk about but only when going from Idle up to normal mode. I have found the problem to be that when you reduce the headspeed so drasticlly it kicks the main blades so they are sot straight out from the grips anymore and there is not enough inertia to swing them out any more. But i get no shake on spool up, or during flight, just in landing in normal mode. I use all stock servos, and I fly 2200mah 20c turnigy packs for 7 min of spirited sport flying in idle up. This heli is great IMHO its brought me to a whole new level of flying. I can loop flip, stall turn inverted foreward flight, and innelman truns, and it breezez right through them.

[TheHuff]

I've flown the heck out of my Axe 400. It's is the RXR
and the only thing I have done is add carbon blades,
an after market fiberglass canopy, and a Futaba GY401
gyro (trashed the stock gyro right outta the box).
As others have stated, no CP bird comes out of the
box absolutely perfect. Check that all the screws are
tight, tail rotor drive belt is tensioned properly, and linkages
are properly adjusted for correct blade tracking.
I fly a bit more agressively with this bird than I do my
T-Rex 450 just for the $$$$ reason. If I auger the AXE
it's a great deal easier on the wallet.
For the money .... two thumbs up here ....

[Phreak Out]

. . . my Axe 400 is on the way . . . I'll post a new thread when it arrives and I do a few test flights . . .

[Blade Buyer]

How tight should the belt tension be? I put a new tail belt on and when the heli spools up the tail sometimes does not move. Need to tighten, how much? Also no right rudder.

[Desert Fox]

Blade Buyer
Belt Tension - visualize a straight line through the center of the tail drive gear. You should be able to apply light tension to the belt until it reaches a point 3/4 of the way to the oppsite edge of the tail drive gear or 1/4 of the way past center of the tail drive gear.

Need more information on the no right rudder?

[Blade Buyer]

Desert Fox,
I have another Axe 400 to refer to for belt tension and the other one (belt) is pretty tight.
Is the best way to adjust by pulling on the boom at the frame or per-set that end and pull tension at the tail with the prop housing?

Hopefully with full tension on the belt the rudder issue will go away. I'll let you know,Thanks.

[Desert Fox]

Blade Buyer
loosen the four screws at frame boom mount. push in or out to get the tension as stated above tighten the four screws. If tension is set to high it will cut down on run time and wear your belt out prematurely.
Another way to check is to turn the tail blade in normal rotation and you should be able to drive the main blades with out any slippage at tail rotor shaft.

DF

[Blade Buyer]

Desert Fox
I'll take your advice tomorrow and report sir. Thanks.