Blade 450 X Setup for Success

[BigEast]

Hey everybody!!

If any of you have done unique things or performed settings/upgrades on your Blade 450 X, feel free to share here!
This is the thread to post on if you have done something out of the ordinary with your 450X and would like to share it with others.

I am very excited to see what all of you have done to your 450X that improves it's flying capability and/or style!
(i.e. Transmitter settings, parameter settings, upgrades, etc.)

Shortly, I will begin to post my own upgrades as well as setups that have been fairing well while using the Dx7s and Dx8. I'll include parameter settings, mechanical settings, (Upgrades) and little tips and tricks to get the most out of your heli.

Stay Classy San Diego!

[ShaneJourdan]

Hi,

Mechanics are ether right or wrong on a flybarless heli so no magic there.

The cool thing about the BeastX unit installed is the different flight modes if your not comfortable making them from the TX. So realy you need to just see what works well for you.

Myself I keep the Beastx in TX mode and use my Tx to adjust flight controls.

I use 100% travel, 100% throttle curve, 100% DR and 15 expo. So basically as fast and responsive as it can. There are additional setting within the Beast but I have not found a need to make any changes yet.

[ShaneJourdan]

If your just learning the beast has a trainer flight mode, cant remember what they call it but it makes it very docile

[tommeke]

Originally Posted by DoctorJ

If your just learning the beast has a trainer flight mode, cant remember what they call it but it makes it very docile

sport

[BigEast]

Thanks for commenting guys

I am already very familiar with BeastX as I have had a plethora of units in helis far before the AR7200BX was released. I had also converted my Blade 450 3D to FBL sometime in September 2011 with MB.

Sorry if my post implied that I was in need of support, I was simply interested to see if any of you had performed anything unique to the heli (i.e. parameter settings or physical upgrades)

IMO, this is the ideal thread to post what everybody's done to enhance the Blade 450X's flying ability!

Thanks!!!

[GeneralAntilles]

Mine came out of fhe box with waaay too much negative pitch (same with my mCP X). Adjusted the grip links down by about 4 turns each. Might want to check swash level and pitch.

[ShaneJourdan]

Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles

Mine came out of fhe box with waaay too much negative pitch (same with my mCP X). Adjusted the grip links down by about 4 turns each. Might want to check swash level and pitch.

Holy smokes.... Don't do that zero pitch is all screwed up now. You need to put them back and go back through mechanical setup.

If you have too much pitch in any direction for your comfort level do this with your radio via pitch curve and or travel limits.

[ShaneJourdan]

You cannot apply MCPX setup technics to a 450X beastx

[ShaneJourdan]

Originally Posted by BigEast

Hi guys,

I am already very familiar with BeastX as I have had a plethora of units in helis far before the AR7200BX was released.

Sorry if my post implied that I was in need of support, I was simply interested to see if any of you had performed anything unique to the heli (i.e. parameter settings or physical upgrades)

IMO, this is the ideal thread to post what everybody's done to enhance the Blade 450X's flying ability!

This is an amazing little Heli, it comes setup very well. Any changes would not IMO make it fly any better. Blade has tested and tuned this Heli extremely well.

I think any setting changes would really be a personal thing and would not apply to everyone.

I'm not saying it can't be improved but you would have to be a pro level pilot to appreciate it.

I think the bigger question is what can we do as pilots to enhance our ability to be as good as this Heli is out of the box.

That's amazing job on blades part.

Just my thoughts.




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[BigEast]

Yeah, I agree! But if anybody's done any upgrades or changes to personal preference (Not mechanically of course, just pitch curves, throttle curves, dual rates, expo, ATV, etc) I'm all ears!

Thanks!

[BigEast]

If anyone has for any reason wiped out, messed up, changed their settings or is encountering issues with the B450X, here is a BeastX Tuning Guide created by Nwmtech:

Tail Setup/Tuning:

1. Dial 3 in middle position and parameter menu item [D] (Heading Lock) to purple
2. I personally start with rudder ATV's at about 105
3. Control behavior to Transmitter mode
4. Rudder expo to 15% (personal choice)
5. Fly and immediately check piro rate and adjust via ATV's if needed. Don't worry about your expo yet. Fly and find maximum tail gyro gain (adjusted in TX) do fast forward and backwards flight if possible. Sliding the tail through a hard bank turn will help if you can't do backwards flight. Adjust right to the point of slight oscillation then back off 3% in the transmitter.
6. With that gyro gain do fast forward flight and piro slowly. Piros should be smooth with no sling-shotting or whipping. If they're not consistent increase parameter [D] and try again.
7. Recheck tail gyro gain then set your expo per personal preference.
8. Finally, adjust the tail stop gain by using Dial 3. Perform fast piros while hovering and quickly release rudder. Observe how the tail stops. If it continues to slide to a stop after you let go then increase Dial 3. If it bounces back then decrease Dial 3. When it gets close listen to the tail blades when you stop. If you can hear them "bark" when the tail stops your just a tad too high on the stop gain.

Head Tuning:

1. Control Behavior in Transmitter mode already
2. Start with ATV's at 100/100 for AIL/ELEV and I usually start about 20% expo. It's really a personal preference though.
3. Both Dial 1 and Dial 2 in middle position.
4. Parameter menu [E] (Stick response) on setting 2. Red flashing LED. Paramter menu [C] (Pitching up Behavior) to "Very Low". Purple LED.
5. Bring heli into a hover for about 5 seconds. Any oscillation in the head then lower Dial 1 in small increments until it's gone.
6. Fly heli and set your Flip/Roll rates via ATV's in the transmitter. Watch for any large bobbles or coasting when letting off the cyclic. If it bobbles reduce Dial 1. If it coasts increase Dial1.
7. Fly in fast forward flight and give moderate sized postive and negative pitch pumps with NO cyclic input. Watch the heli and look for a "dolphin" type movement. If it pitches up and down as you pump the collective increase paramter [C] (Pitching up comensation) one increment at a time until it goes away. You want the lowest setting possible with no negative tendencies.
8. Now comes the part that's a little more difficult to explain. The two main settings left are Dial 1 and Dial 2 and this is where there's really no right or wrong answer per say but a lot more depends on personal feel. Dial 2 (to me) is basically like stick response or that "paddle" feel that many talk about. If you get to the point where the heli just doesn't feel as responsive as you'd like around center stick but you can't reduce your expo any more (or... you've reduced your expo to the point where you're seeing your small corrections that you usually don't see) then increase Dial 2. If you feel like you need more expo but you're starting to surpass 30% then decrease Dial #2. Dial #2 will not affect your flip and roll rates and it is NOT the same thing as expo but to a lesser experienced pilot can feel somwhat similar so don't get them confused or you'll be chasing your tail. Myself, from general flying experience, I know that I'm about a 20%-25% cyclic expo guy. I like a pretty fast flip/roll rate but like to dull it down a tad around center for the precision. So I know that if I get down to around 15% and it still feels a little slow around center then I just go right back to 20% expo and increase Dial 2. Dial 1 is more how "tight" or locked in the cyclic feels. Some people prefer a much more rigid and locked in cyclic so running this gain as high as possible without negative tendencies (elevator bobbles during tic-tocs, etc.) is what you'll want to strive for. If you like a "looser" cyclic (more like a flybar heli) then try decreasing Dial 1. If you get to the point where the heli isn't tracking well and feels slightly unstable in FFF then you're too low.

Tail Precomp Tuning:

1. Activate Collective Precomp with default values and confirm correct Precomp direction (set collective at midstick, apply positive pitch and tail slider should move the same direction as if you gave it right rudder)
2. Set Rate mode gyro gain to the same as your current HH gain.
3. Adjust tail rod for steady tail in a Rate mode hover.
4. Reset tail servo endpoints in Parameter E if mechanical changes were made in step #3.
5. Adjust Collective Precomp value in software to where tail holds steady in a full pitch Rate mode climb-out.
6. Adjust cyclic Precomp to 1/2 the value of your collective Precomp.
7. Back into HH mode and enjoy!
-Nwmtech


I've personally found that most of this guide is transferable to your Blade 450 X and works great!
Have fun!!

[GeneralAntilles]

Originally Posted by DoctorJ

Holy smokes.... Don't do that zero pitch is all screwed up now. You need to put them back and go back through mechanical setup.

If you have too much pitch in any direction for your comfort level do this with your radio via pitch curve and or travel limits.

So, if I unplug the ESC, plug in the battery, set pitch on the transmitter to 50% (or 0% on a -100%–+100% scale) and unplug the battery and have several degrees of negative pitch I'm supposed to adjust this out with servo travel?

[BigEast]

GeneralAntilles, I think there was some misinterpretation between you and DoctorJ. I believe that DoctorJ thought that you had too much pitch in any one direction, not that you had negative pitch at half throttle while in throttle hold.

To acheive zero pitch at half collective, enter throttle hold with linear pitch curves, do what you had already done (Adjust pitch links accordingly), and go through the AR7200BX collective setup process. (Refer to the AR7200BX manual)

To adjust how much maximum/minimum pitch you have, perform the AR7200BX setup process. (Refer to the AR7200BX mnual) In one of the last steps, the user has the ability to adjust the maximum/minimum pitch. Then, change your pitch curves if needed to personal preference.

Hope this helps!!!

[ShaneJourdan]

Nice job Big East, yea I must have misunderstood you were trying to obtain zero pitch at mid stick.




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[BigEast]

Thanks, glad I could help!

[ShaneJourdan]

I would like to add you do not have to go through setup to reduce pitch range. This setup should be done when rebuilding or replacing head parts or servos. But afterwards if you are using the Beastx in TX control behavour you can use your TX travel adjust (end points) to reduce picth range.

[ShaneJourdan]

Here are a few pictures from setting up my zero pitch out of box. I found zero was off by 1.6 degree and full positive was 15.8 and full negative was 12.6.

Since I like about 12.5 full neg. was just fine. All I had to do is reduce end point for pitch to obtain 12.6

My grip to swash links were about 1+ turns off.

I am sold on the RC Logger because its not only accurate you can zero it on your heli and no need for a sighting rod.

[GeneralAntilles]

Originally Posted by BigEast

GeneralAntilles, I think there was some misinterpretation between you and DoctorJ. I believe that DoctorJ thought that you had too much pitch in any one direction, not that you had negative pitch at half throttle while in throttle hold.

Aaah, I see. Thank you, BigEast.

Hooray for the confusion of text-only communication?

[BigEast]

In mere curiosity, would it be better to adjust maximum/minimum pitch via travel endpoints, or via AR7200BX step K which allows the user to adjust the pitch in the same manner?

[BigEast]

Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles

Aaah, I see. Thank you, BigEast.

No problem, happy that I could be of assistance!