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Blade 500X Blade 500X Helicopters Information and Help |
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03-15-2014, 06:47 PM | #1 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Dec 2011
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Heli suddenly wanting to roll right, HELP!
I picked on of these babies up at the LHS since they dropped the price to 499. I fly both helis and fixed wing but a buddy flies helis REALLY well so he came by a few weeks ago to set it up with me (didn't really need it, but hey it's an excuse to hang out). He hovered it quick in the driveway and everything looked good. Took it to the field today for the first time flying it myself. Charged up the battery, installed it on the bench, and powered everything up, first time the beastx didn't connect to the radio. Shut everything off, turned radio back on (DX9), plugged heli back in, initialized fine so I figured I was good. Brought it up to the runway, plopped it down, and throttled up. Wind was probably 15mph gusting to 20, so windy but still manageable. Anyway I kept it in normal mode and hovered for maybe 30 seconds to get a feel for it, then proceeded to yaw left and transition to forward flight, at the end of which yawed right and did a pass in FF, then yawed left at the end of that pass and did another right to left climbing out at the end. Then something went whacky, I noticed the heli suddenly wanted to roll right, first thinking maybe it was the wind but quickly realizing that the heli was definitely rolling right all by itself. Shouted out that I had a problem and then proceeded to try to find a point on the right stick where I could get it to settle into a hover, guessing it was 20-30 percent wanting to roll right, couldn't really look at the sticks as I had my hands full. Finally got control and was able to land it with no issues, once on the ground the swash was TILTED a good ways right, not even close to level! I pulled the battery and cycled power on the radio, then plugged the heli back in and it seemed to initialize just fine, I took it off and hovered it to discharge the battery a bit more and it behaved but now I don't trust it... Anyone else experience this and have any thoughts? Just a glitch or something more? Brand new heli...
Tom |
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03-15-2014, 06:48 PM | #2 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Jan 2013
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Vibrations. Probably from the tail. Called the "right roll of death" on the beastx.
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03-15-2014, 08:10 PM | #3 (permalink) | |
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Join Date: Oct 2013
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This video was posted in another thread....
Listen to the sound that starts at 48-49 seconds... if you hear that on your bird, you really need to fix that. Quote:
I'd suggest loosening all the tail case screws, 3 for the tail case and the 2 for the vertical stabilizer... then tighten the main three until they're nice and snug, but don't overtighten... then the two screws for the vertical stabilizer need to be adjusted... on mine, they like to be just a tad looser than the three primary... tighten until the stabilizer won't easily move... you might need to tighten them a little more. I hope someone can expand on ^^^ that a little... I haven't done much experimentation... a few of the others here have done a lot, and you should probably wait for their advice before proceeding.
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03-15-2014, 09:34 PM | #4 (permalink) |
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
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Ok I've done some looking and it sounds like given the reputation for the 500x to have tail vibes that's probably the case. I'll get back with my friend to pay special attention to the tail and see if we can't lick it. Luckily it didn't cost me a brand new heli, which would have really pissed me off!
Tom |
03-15-2014, 10:01 PM | #5 (permalink) | |
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Join Date: May 2010
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Quote:
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03-16-2014, 04:54 AM | #6 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Feb 2013
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There is some probability that your heli develops tail vibration during flight, but the reason for your right roll issue is most probably the BeastX seeing vibration (no matter from where). As it happened only in mid-flight, I would personally think it could be from tail vibes - those can occur all of a sudden.
As said before, check that your cabling is not too stiff (eg tied together with straps) too close to the BeastX, and also do check the BeastX doesn't touch anything on the frame. The only contact points with the heli should be via the sticky tape. You described you were in regular mode, not in idle up. If programmed as per the instruction book, you won't have that much headspeed in that mode. - You could try some more headspeed by increasing the throttle curve. Those tail vibes do have a certain resonance frequency and in most cases, it is on the lower headspeed side. Alas, all of this will not eliminate the root cause. If it is tail vibes (which you can hear once you know what to listen for), then an easy fix can be to play with the screw tightness on the big tail fin. It may sound stupid but in most cases, that does the job. Just take care that those vibes, if any, don't happen over an extended period of time as they will eat up your tail spindle bearings in minutes, and then you will have constant vibes on the tail that require repair work. So much for that... good luck and have fun with this bird, it's a really nice one after all. |
10-15-2014, 09:00 PM | #7 (permalink) |
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
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Working
Haven't had time to mess with this with a busy summer, but I went up to the Horizon Air Meet last month and took the bird with me, some very helpful pro heli guys took a look and found the head speed way too low and the pitch way too high. Once adjusted it seems to fly well. Haven't done much with it since, but hopeful that it will behave itself going forward...
Tom |
10-24-2014, 04:52 PM | #8 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Jan 2011
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Well, I just got the "Right Roll of Death"... I was practicing pyro flips and the "nose in" orientation while doing it got me.... The only thing that needed replaced was the feather shaft, main gear, and main shaft... Blades are fine and tail is fine.... Reset up BeastX and I can't feel any vibes, but when I punch the collective in IU, she rolls right... I can catch it fine, but am stumped..... Changing out the mounting tape as it feels a little loose with this stuff------->
What else should I check for?
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10-24-2014, 07:31 PM | #9 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Aug 2014
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Take your main blades off.
Spool up slowly with a linear throttle curve and listen (and look) for fuzz and buzz (and growl), caused by any imbalance in the tail. When I first got my 500X, it was out of balance, and it rolled to the right. Crashed. I'm fairly certain now that it was due to a imbalanced tail, causing the BeastX to counter in the direction it thought was correct. Search for the thread post that Uriah has posted on dynamically balancing the tail. It is very important and will stop any tail vibrations you have. Just uses some scotch tape to balance out the tail.. I used to have a buzz in mine until balancing it.. Now it even sounds more like a RL Heli because the natural sounds from the blades hitting the air aren't masked by out of balance sounds..
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10-25-2014, 07:09 AM | #10 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Jan 2011
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UPDATE: It WAS the mounting tape.... I changed it out to the 3M gray stuff sold at Lowe's.... ROCK SOLID!!!! I can't believe it!!! I know people have been saying forever to change out the mounting tape but I wasn't sure it was going to make that much of a difference.... I'm now changing out all my mounts to the better tape.... I'm floored!!!!! WOW!!!
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11-05-2014, 05:25 PM | #11 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Feb 2013
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Hi!
Haven't been around for a long while... May I just add that I had several right roll issues with three different helis over the last months. In every case, I could cure it by just replacing the sticky tape under the BeastX. That stuff seems to age over time. At least the thicker, white foam stickers. The thin grey ones that come as a replacement with the Beastx seem to be more stable over time. Meanwhile, another issue seems to develop on my older BeastX receivers - they sometimes keep one servo (left forward one) almost stuck when applying pitch. Roll command movement is fine, though. Guess I'll just replace those Beasts. The servos & mechanics are fine otherwise. |
11-23-2014, 09:27 AM | #12 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Apr 2014
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500X roll right
Have a similar problem with my 500X. It was flying OK when I notice the tail rotor belt seemed loose. I tightened it up a bit and when I spooled it up for the first time after that at about mid stick it wanted to roll right. I tried shutting down and restarting but same result. Read about the BeastX mounting issue so I remounted with the Scotch brand mounting tape then pulled main blades and spooled up to see if swashed tilted right but it seemed OK. I may not have gotten to the same position with the throttle though. Tail didn't seem to have much vibration so I put the blades back on and tried again. Same thing happened at about mid stick just before take off it wanted to roll right. Any other ideas on what might be the issue? Thanks
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11-23-2014, 11:57 AM | #13 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Grande Prairie, Alberta Canada
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You can use any mount tape in the book, but if that horrible 500x tail is buzzing and vibrating you'll have issues, be it RROD or the tail prematurely wearing out components or heaven forbid tail blowing apart. The tail is probably the only issue with this machine, nice heli otherwise.
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11-23-2014, 07:55 PM | #14 (permalink) | ||
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Join Date: Feb 2013
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I agree on the tail being the weak part in engineering this otherwise nice machine.
Twoply, try it out once more with the main blades off. Watch the pushrod that goes underneath the tail boom while applying approx. 1/2 throttle. The rear half of the pushrod will shake wildly (... my thinking...); and if so, you have a tail vibe issue. You can see it here, this was my 3rd 500x and all of them had the same problem:
Method 2: You can also hold the heli by the tail boom (main blades removed) and feel for vibration; for safety reasons maybe someone else should operate the TX. Stay positively clear of those tail blades - if vibes occur, they are usually violent. If you are one of the unlucky ones and your heli has this kind of problem, chances are you will have to replace both tail shaft bearings, then do the tail fin screw trick to prevent it from happening again. But those bearings will require replacement, they wear out in minutes (resulting in lots of play for the tail rotor shaft) from tail vibration. |
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11-28-2014, 01:25 PM | #15 (permalink) |
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Join Date: Apr 2014
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Not sure if it was loosening the tail rotor belt a little (since when I tightened it that's when it seemed to have started) or the one piece of scotch tape I put on one tail blade but almost no vibes now. Just a little before mid stick. It stopped the roll right problem and I was able to hover it inside. I think I'll mess with the tail balancing again and see what happens. Thanks again for the help.
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