After 50+ flights - my thoughts and tips that worked

[Finless]

OK after 50 some odd flights and crashes all over the place, it was time to do some mods, repairs and maintenance. Here are my thoughts and tricks. Big thanks to some of you guys for coming up with most of these.

Now I am not saying you have to do these as I flew mine stock this entire time excpet for the hot glue mod to the fork arms..

Losing the head links. I posted this before but will do again as this has worked really great for me. I took my hot glue gun and put a tiny dab of hot glue across the fork arms. I mean tiny. Just enough to close off the fork. This keeps the links from going into never land in a crash. I have not lost one link since doing this mod.

Rubber canopy grommet mod to the front to swash balls. AWESOME find... Who came up with this? I can’t find the post now. But it works great. Big thanks to whomever thought this mod up! Without this the front elbow shaped swash rods waddle side to side causing slop. You can clearly watch it by grabbing the blades and twisting them back and forth. This greatly shows up in the swash by watching it move up and down. After the mod this slop is greatly reduced and thus so is the swash movement.

Tail boom;
My first problem after crashing a lot was a busted CF tail boom. To replace it you have to buy the $15 set with motor and all that. I have now gone to a solid rod boom and wrap the motor wires around the boom. This mod DOES NOT require you to solder the wires at the motor to do it. All I did was put an extra flat spot on the top of the CF boom at the tail case (the stock bottom of the boom flat spot is what aligns it in the tail case). This allowed the wires to stay in the tail case yet not get pinched by the new boom when inserting in the tail case. If you do this mod, make sure the top flat spot is longer on the boom than how far it inserts in the tail case. Also make sure it is deep enough so the wires still float. e.g. you can pull them in and out of the tail case. This ensures you have not pinched them and possibly short them out.

Servo maintenance. Big thanks to ChrisH for this find. This is the reason I decided to do a little maintenance. I was now getting wobbles and I knew this was probably the cause. Chris did a great write up of how to do it here:
https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=289666
When I took mine apart YUCK. The front servos were really dirty. The rear servo was no near as bad and I probably could have skipped cleaning it but I did anyway.
So here are some tips:
1) Have a tiny magnetic Philips screw driver! OMG the 4 screws that hold the servo to the circuit board are TINY and a royal pain. Take your time. They are easy to get out but going back in is an eye strain! I also used my large desk illuminated magnifying glass.
2) BE CAREFUL of the servo wiper arms (tiny little fingers). Just a SNAG by your Q-tip or knocking it on the edge of the board will bend the hell out of those. SO BE CAREFUL or you will be buying a new servo like me
3) Take the servo rods off the servo while doing this. Again they will swing all around and get in your way and could hit the wiper arms and bend them. Remember what hole the U bend of the rods were in on the servos.
4) I used rubbing alcohol on a tightly rolled up Q-tip

Watch for loose main board mounting screws. I was getting a wobble one day and sure as heck the 2 flimsy screws that secure the main board to the heli were loose allowing the board to rattle around.

Weirdness and rebinding mainia... Not sure about everyone but if I fly this thing a lot after about 10-20 flights the heli "may" start acting weird. Glitches, motor cut outs, tail not holding at all, tail drift, etc. The symptoms are not always consistant either. Every time this has shown up I found rebinding solved it all. Not sure why maybe because a lot of other Spektrum radios are on around me when I fly at the field and it gets confused or something. Either way this has been working for me when "weirdness" appears

Canopy pins. Would love to see Horizon change this design. Buying a frame for broken canopy pins is a pain. However I broke a front canopy pin. For now I just epoxied it back on using some micro balloons in the epoxy mix to strengthen the build up around the break. I know it's going to break off easy at some point but good enough till then.
However for the front canopy pins a buddy of mine had broke both off. He used a CF rod the same diameter as the canopy pins and ran it straight across the front of the heli and glued it on top of the 2 stand-offs the main board mounts to. Yes it moved the front ones a little more forward but it still worked.
As for the rear canopy pins you just have to glue them as best you can and pray
I think you could also use a CF rod for the rear and hot glue it behind the mast collar on top of the square area the elevator servo is mounted under. Might work.

New replacement head. I have got mine now but am not going to replace my original head. Sorry but I have had zero issues and it is just fine. When I break it, I will then use the new B grips.

Tail fin. Yes I am finless! I like it better without the fin. See I fly in the wind always. We always have wind here unless I want to fly at like 7:00 in the morning. Having the fin on in wind was causing me tail blow outs when flying backwards inverted too fast or doing any kind of flips, etc sideways to the wind. One day in a crash I broke the tail fin so it would no longer stay on. I said screw it and just flew without it. OMG so much better in the wind in my opinion. Since I do not fly with no wind or indoors I dunno if it fly’s better in those conditions with the fin but I am now permanently finless

Tail blades. I got a set of these tapered high aspect tail blades. These are the same design that small helis like the PicoZ uses but bigger. Slightly longer than the stock tail blades. Can't say where I got them. But I like the tail hold better with these. Don't think it is that dramatic a difference but feels better to me.



That’s all I have for now….

Enjoy,
Bob

[Helipsyko]

Great write up!
Have not heard about the hot glue mod, very smart.

Try the Hyperion 240 or 320 and you will be shocked.
i use the single cells you have to solder on connectors to, the 320 weighes the same as the stock pack. The 320 fits perfect between the old battery tray and the canopy.
I have 1" longer solid tailboom with thicker wire, 9t pinion and 320 packs, it has become a full 3D bird, even for me

[BaconRaygun]

Nice writeup Bob!

Hey finless.... I too am finless

The only advantages (from my experience) it ever gives is:
a: FFF in calm conditions, like in a gym. The tail tracks better.
b: It protects the tail rotor, good to have if you do a lot of nose-in spot landings...

It helps with orientation too I guess but now that I have been practicing slow piro hover in the sim and on my 450 for a few months I have found that the tail fin no longer does anything for me in the orientation department... So I guess a more accurate statement would be 'It helps with orientation when you are learning'.



Another note:

What about the swash hub? I developed up/down play (in relation to the bearing) there after only a few crashes which further amplified the effect that the grommets/o-rings reduce. Carefully cutting the lip off and gluing it down to the inner race of the swash bearing further reduced slop in the head.

[antmeeks]

Bob, thanks!

and Vico, do you have any pics of your swash mod? I like the idea and think I know what you're talking about, but can't quite visualize...

[AverageJoe]

I really enjoyed your videos for the mCPx.

mt&ttw

• I shaved the locking nubs off of the batteries. It reduces the effort to unplug. I tried it on one battery first to see how I liked it.
• I tied the battery wire to the front canopy post and stuffed Shoe Goo into the heatshrink on the battery connector for strain relief.
• I use a tube from a Bic pen to push the gear into place after indexing.

Moved the TH button to the right hand side on the DX4e - thank you Bob.

[heli pilot 1]

Thanks Bob! Huge help as always. And trust me, main blades are coming. As you know, it takes time, but I assure you we are working on them. Tail blade will follow!

[BaconRaygun]

Originally Posted by antmeeks

Bob, thanks!

and Vico, do you have any pics of your swash mod? I like the idea and think I know what you're talking about, but can't quite visualize...

Sure thing....

When you do glue it, insert the hub half way, apply a little CA with a pin directly to the inner race of the bearing and then seat the hub all the way in. Be EXTRA careful, you don't want to get glue into the bearing, it sux, trust me!

There was up/down play here, I guess the little lip that snaps the hub into the bearing wears after a few crashes... causing play.





Don't mind my odd looking bearing... its not stock.

I was planning on doing a proper write up when I get my back-ordered swash in the mail. Hope this helps in the meantime.

[Finless]

I have seen a couple guyys get that swash play but I have not. But thanks for the tip should I need it.

Bob

[heli pilot 1]

They are getting better...........

[tntburnett]

Nice write up. Guys lets keep the mods coming.

GisG
Isaac

[JBuck]

How do you do the canopy gromet to swash mod?

[Finless]

Take 2 of the extra canopy grommets from your spare parts back and pop them over the front 2 balls on the swash. Push them all the way on. Not put the links back on. The grommets keeps the links fro swiveling sideways on the balls.

Bob

[JBuck]

Great.

Thanks,

[antmeeks]

Originally Posted by Finless

Take 2 of the extra canopy grommets from your spare parts back and pop them over the front 2 balls on the swash. Push them all the way on. Not put the links back on. The grommets keeps the links fro swiveling sideways on the balls.

Bob

Bob, are you also using the mSR feathering spindle o-ring on the rear swash ball? I've read that it further improves stability...? Or is it unnecessary?

[Finless]

No I am not using that mod. Not sure it is needed as the remaining slop is now on the U bend where it goes into the servo arm.

Bob

[BaconRaygun]

It helps a little bit but not much... don't bother cuz its a pain to pop that thing on. The difference the front two make is much more defined.

[Jumna]

Thanks for the tips, Bob. I'll close off the fork arms - that would beat tying knots with dental floss... I already have replaced the front canopy mounts with cf epoxied on, and I've also had to replace the back mounts - I used fine piano wire, running it through a drilled 1/32" hole in the plastic just above the boom insert, and shaped it in a V shape with bends on both ends to hold the rear canopy holes in place. It is not quite as good as stock, but much better than no rear mounts at all for sure.

[littlehammer05]

Is it still a good idea to wrap the wires around the tail boom if the green and red coating has begun to chip and fall off, therefore exposing the copper wires? Me and my boyfriend love flying this heli! =)

[RedOctobyr]

I would say no, stop using those wires. Or insulate them with something (but just stuffing the same wires through a hollow tube for the boom is no better). If those short out, you risk frying the 3-in-1.

But you can replace the tail wires with the Radio Shack 3-pack of Magnet Wire for $7.50. You can keep to the stock wire size, or even go to thicker wire, for improved tail-holding performance.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2036277

[Jskrapper]

If it works for Bob, it must work for all. Good writeup.

I wish I knew who came up with the o-ring mod, I would buy him a :