Vibes...Uneven Belt Tension...Bent Tail?

[bredler]

Swapped main gear, main shaft, front pulley, spindle, remounted fbl on futaba pad. Can still feel the vibes. The bailout worked well for three tests and is now kind of screwy again. Goes off in one direction but not as badly.

I have the fbl mounted in the frame because it's a cleaner look and I had some time to rewire...but it seems that's a fairly high vibe area. I'll try it back on top and see if that helps.

[Inverted Hokie]

My 360 has a roughly 1/4 turn where it's not as smooth...feels somewhat hindered. Can't figure it out, but doesn't seem to affect anything that I can tell. I'm still tweaking the damn thing though (swash, CG, belt tension, gain).

One thought...have you tried double sided 3M 411 tape for your receiver? I use this on my 270 after a substantial rebuild. Not sure if it helps or not, but got the idea from this forum regarding vibe probs affecting the rx.

[crsorrell0653]

Has any one tried weighing and balancing the tail rotors. Mine came with a dud set from new, and basically got rid of the tail vibe with a new set. I have bought some scales of late, which are just the thing for balancing my main blades for the Trio. I'll have a go at the tail rotors soon.

Sloppy head dampers don't help either and could be the cause of the bailout issue. But I would have thought that if it goes off in one direction with bale out that the rx is mis-aligned or it was initialized on a non level surface, or moved during initialization. Bailout remembers the initialized settings each time.

[bredler]

Originally Posted by crsorrell0653

Has any one tried weighing and balancing the tail rotors. Mine came with a dud set from new, and basically got rid of the tail vibe with a new set. I have bought some scales of late, which are just the thing for balancing my main blades for the Trio. I'll have a go at the tail rotors soon.

Sloppy head dampers don't help either and could be the cause of the bailout issue. But I would have thought that if it goes off in one direction with bale out that the rx is mis-aligned or it was initialized on a non level surface, or moved during initialization. Bailout remembers the initialized settings each time.

Tail appears smooth and vibe free after I fixed the slop in the grips on the hub.

If it's not spooled up, the bailout goes straight up. When I then spool it up, it will go up when it is still getting up to speed. When it is up to speed, it goes up and forward. The degree of forward swash tilt increases with head speed. It will also do this with just the motor spooled up and no other drive train components on the helicopter.

If the FBL was misaligned (which it would have to be by at least 90 degrees in order to make this happen), I wouldn't be able to fly it.

This is with a Brain 1 with latest firmware. There is no setting for level anymore in this version, it learns what level is. Also, the degree of how off of level the bailout goes would indicate that I couldn't set anything on my table (where it was initialized) without it falling off.

It's motor vibes.

Just feeling with my hand in the frame where the FBL is now and on the platform on top of the tail boom clamp, the upper location has much less vibration. I'll move it there when I have some time. I wouldn't mind putting a new motor in there, but this one works...just has vibrations. There's a couple mm play in the can, so no surprise.

[bredler]

Originally Posted by Inverted Hokie

My 360 has a roughly 1/4 turn where it's not as smooth...feels somewhat hindered. Can't figure it out, but doesn't seem to affect anything that I can tell. I'm still tweaking the damn thing though (swash, CG, belt tension, gain).

One thought...have you tried double sided 3M 411 tape for your receiver? I use this on my 270 after a substantial rebuild. Not sure if it helps or not, but got the idea from this forum regarding vibe probs affecting the rx.

Yeah, it's the OWB. I can test it off of the heli just fine and it's smooth. If I put some pressure on one part of the assembly then test it, sometimes there's that same stickiness that you're talking about. When I put it on the heli, sometimes it's good and sometimes it's bad. The gears aren't eccentric enough to cause the issue. Like you said though, doesn't seem to cause any real issues.

I changed to the futaba tape which is quite similar to the 3M tape you're talking about but it's a little thicker. It did help, but did not eliminate the issue. I think moving the FBL up to the top AND using the futaba pad will solve it.

[learnedthehardway]

Some helis are just vibey and the cfx helis are definitely in that category which sucks if you want to use self level/bailout since those features tend to be sensitive to vibrations.

Don't think it was corywrx's fault or even the owner before him, most likely came from the factory that way.

Hopefully the 3M tape cures it. If not 1-3 layers of gel fbl mounting tape (depending on thickness) like Omnicron should work. Just be careful with the gel as it's easy to peel the adhesive off when you peel the protective film off plus they tend to be a lot less sticky than double sided tape in the first place.

I use a couple tiny specks of CA on each section for insurance. Stuff works great at suppressing vibrations even with a little stiff CA between layers....lol

Just for the record, don't be afraid to buy used from the classifieds. Buy from someone with good feedback and you won't be disappointed. I have given and received some fantastic deals on fantastic helis. Most of them come with premium electronics, upgrades and $100+ in spares for a fraction of the cost of new.

Just don't buy a "once hovered" 450 from someone who's only been here a month, has no feedback and only a couple micros in their signature

You can bet those are crashed and they probably didn't know how to troubleshoot/repair them properly.

Yes a couple things may need to be replaced which prices usually account for anyway. To be expected since people sell the heli they haven't flown for a year not their baby except for the "need money now" emergency steal deal you run into sometimes.

Anyways, sorry to babble OT. Didn't want someone to glance at this thread and avoid the gold mine sitting in the HF classifieds because of a misunderstanding that was resolved and another guy's bad purchase.

Buy the right heli from the right guy and you may never buy new again, I won't...lol

Added bonus was learning some little tricks from seeing how guys that have been around 5+ years build/wire stuff

[bredler]

Originally Posted by learnedthehardway

Don't think it was corywrx's fault or even the owner before him, most likely came from the factory that way.

...

Buy the right heli from the right guy and you may never buy new again, I won't...lol

Bent main, noticed a nicked blade, bent spindle...seems like it took a dive from someone. The guy before him, the guy who returned it in the box to the hobby shop, whoever.

There are a few guys I would buy a heli from locally who I know personally. Otherwise I'll stick to buying parts online instead of whole helis. I've got a FBL, motor, and ESC used for my X7 but bought new servos and kit. It all seems good to go and I know that the mechanical parts of the heli aren't messed up yet.

Truthfully, I don't see myself buying a new heli after what I've got. I'll fly the 360 and 180 into the ground. Keep my 550 as a relaxing trainer..none of those have much resale value...and fly my X7 until I feel like getting rid of it.

[bredler]

Moved the fbl up top and used two layers of futaba tape. Everything works now.

[crsorrell0653]

I would prefer to buy second hand, there is only a few seconds between a new one and a bent one, so if you buy a cheap bent one, you are way better off rebuilding that. There is a chap on ebay (William Corgey) who breaks down 360's for sale, which are great for spares and work out half price - they are usually new.

I just bought a HK 600 in a brand new Hughes 500E body for $650 (included rx, sat and DX6i). Spent $250 on parts for a rebuild, but the thing would cost thousands new in NZ. Had to replace the esc for a Talon 90 for a softer start, new tail servo (old one is sticky), and a new Align swashplate. It was a project someone else got sick of.