Blade Fusion 180 BNF - BLH5850 (belt-driven tail, MG servos, 4s)

[Chris1683]

Took my Fusion 180 out today for some more fun. My first flight ended in a pretty nice crash (bottom video). I ended up having to replace the main blades and feathering spindle and she was back in the air within 5 minutes as good as new.

Both videos were filmed in 4K @ 60fps

Blade Fusion 180 - Low Head Speed 3D (4 min 10 sec)

Here was the flight that ended with the crash:

Blade Fusion 180 - Low Head Speed 3D w/CRASH (2 min 47 sec)

[navigator2011]

Nice skills! You've come a long way since that inverted hovering video you did with the Nano.

Great to see that the Fusion 180 is easily fixable!

Thanks for sharing!!!

[zadaw]

I would be wary about flying immediately after replacing the feathering spindle as the loctite has yet to set. I have had several instances where the head exploded in mid-air.

Nice garden and nice flying though.

[xoexoe]

Great videos! It's given me some ideas of things to work on.

[Chris1683]

Originally Posted by zadaw

I would be wary about flying immediately after replacing the feathering spindle as the loctite has yet to set. I have had several instances where the head exploded in mid-air.

Nice garden and nice flying though.

Thanks! I’ve never had such an issue (and hopefully never will). Was your issue with the micros or larger sized helis? I can see the forces being much greater on the bigger bladed models but it has never really concerned me all that much on the micros.

[xoexoe]

A couple of us have had the Nano S2 feathering shaft fly apart in flight, or almost come apart.

Mine did because I didn’t put sufficient thread locker on, but I’d imagine it’d be similar if you do out enough on but don’t let it cure.

[FR4-Pilot]

Originally Posted by Chris1683

Took my Fusion 180 out today for some more fun. My first flight ended in a pretty nice crash (bottom video). I ended up having to replace the main blades and feathering spindle and she was back in the air within 5 minutes as good as new.

Both videos were filmed in 4K @ 60fps

https://youtu.be/2lLDnu5QQ7E


Here was the flight that ended with the crash:

https://youtu.be/wbs_dUTH7sY

Nice flying, and in tight quarters too

I see your swing jumped out into your heli's path - my swimming pool ladder did the same thing

[Chris1683]

Originally Posted by FR4-Pilot

Nice flying, and in tight quarters too

I see your swing jumped out into your heli's path - my swimming pool ladder did the same thing

Better the ladder than the side of the pool! I had one more crash later that day...right into one of the patio chairs. It sounded awful but surprisingly it only damaged the main blades. So far this 180 Fusion has held up GREAT in crashes.


I really like how it flies with the lower head speed - around 70% flat throttle curve. I increased the pitch travel to 110 to make up for the slower speed and it seems to really make for a nice tame flight. When this thing is at 75% throttle it really cranks! I'll save that for the open fields.

[zadaw]

Originally Posted by Chris1683

Thanks! I’ve never had such an issue (and hopefully never will). Was your issue with the micros or larger sized helis? I can see the forces being much greater on the bigger bladed models but it has never really concerned me all that much on the micros.

My issue was mainly with micros even when I was sure I had applied loctite correctly. Once, the head of a 450 exploded on the ground. I wasn't sure what happened until I saw a few drops of blood on the ground. One of the blades had hit my middle finger. That time, I had not applied loctite correctly.

I flew another 3 flights today and was able to eliminate the cyclic shake and tail wag. The elevator servo died after the last flight. So, it is two servos dead within a few flights. Also, the motor kept on being cut because of a defective satellite receiver cable. As a result, I damaged a canopy post and 2 landing gear mounts. I am using a pair of Lynx Skids and Lynx Posts. I also replaced the stock tail push rod assembly entirely with a self made carbon fiber pushrod. (See picture below). I did this because I feel that the stock setup is very liable to binding and thus a potential cause of the tail wag. I am also using a Lynx bell crank and tail pitch slider.

[navigator2011]

When I was first starting out with helis, I encountered videos of feathering shafts unscrewing in flight, bolts snapping, blades flying off, and rotor heads exploding in the air. Scared the crap out of me!

For this reason, I always use red thread lock on feathering shaft screws and let it cure for not less than 24 hours. I'd rather toss an entire rotor head than have the blades shoot off and hit me, others, or damage property.

[rlh1975]

Originally Posted by zadaw

My issue was mainly with micros even when I was sure I had applied loctite correctly. Once, the head of a 450 exploded on the ground. I wasn't sure what happened until I saw a few drops of blood on the ground. One of the blades had hit my middle finger. That time, I had not applied loctite correctly.

I flew another 3 flights today and was able to eliminate the cyclic shake and tail wag. The elevator servo died after the last flight. So, it is two servos dead within a few flights. Also, the motor kept on being cut because of a defective satellite receiver cable. As a result, I damaged a canopy post and 2 landing gear mounts. I am using a pair of Lynx Skids and Lynx Posts. I also replaced the stock tail push rod assembly entirely with a self made carbon fiber pushrod. (See picture below). I did this because I feel that the stock setup is very liable to binding and thus a potential cause of the tail wag. I am also using a Lynx bell crank and tail pitch slider.

I just did the carbon fiber push rod as well. I've done this too on other helis, so thankfully I had some extra around. Good to hear it may have helped cyclic shake. I've been hitting that too and been trying to find a solution. Hopefully my next flight will be nice and smooth.

[zadaw]

I cannot believe it, a second cyclic servo failed after 8 flights today. This makes 3 servos in 3 days.

Day 1 - Tail Servo DOA
Day 2 - Elevator Cyclic Servo
Day 3 - R Cyclic Servo

I have never had this problem before with the old H2060 180CFX servos. Either I am very unlucky or I am dealing with a bad batch. The heli had hardly been crashed. I can't think of anything unless the BEC voltage is too high.

I found another issue today. The blades did not track well once the throttle goes above 80%. Since the pitch links are fixed, there is nothing I can do about it. The feathering shaft was no bent. I swapped in a 180CFX head but the same problem occurred. I wonder if the problem resides with the blade themselves?

[rcflyair]

Yes, I would try some stiffer blades and see if that helps...

[zadaw]

I managed to fly 21 flights today and the good news is that no servos were lost. However, because I have used a rather heavy tail servo, the heli is quite tail heavy. This has probably affected its flight performance quite a lot. Right now, my Oxy2 outclasses it completely. I am going to stop flying it until I put in a much lighter tail servo and then compare again.

[FR4-Pilot]

Originally Posted by Chris1683

Took my Fusion 180 out today for some more fun. My first flight ended in a pretty nice crash (bottom video). I ended up having to replace the main blades and feathering spindle and she was back in the air within 5 minutes as good as new.

Both videos were filmed in 4K @ 60fps

https://youtu.be/2lLDnu5QQ7E


Here was the flight that ended with the crash:

https://youtu.be/wbs_dUTH7sY

Thanks Chris for taking the time to properly review this heli. Your beautiful videos of your unmodified heli show us what you’re basing your comments and opinions on.

I am interested in how your heli continues to perform after your documented crashes and repairs.

Thumbs up!

However, I noticed it's not an Oxy2 - Can you please explain ?

[zadaw]

Blade Fusion 180 - 3S Setup (2 min 36 sec)

Here is a video of me flying my 3S Fusion 180 on 80% throttle. A micro Brain controller was used with a rather heavy GDW 295MG tail servo. Unfortunately, that made the heli quite tail heavy and difficult to fly. It was quite unpredictable and difficult to fly with much precision. Still, it is great for free style rough and tumble 3D.

I have ordered a Blue Arrow H0988UHS tail servo that is 10g lighter. Hopefully that will make a big difference to how it flies. However, it seems that my battery packs may be on the light side as well. I wonder if somebody can tell what is the weight of the standard 4S battery pack? Also, is the CG correct when you put that pack on your heli?

After 48 flights, the durability has been outstanding. I have only damaged a canopy post and 2 landing gear mounts so far. If I could get it to fly better, I may buy another one. It seems the running cost could be substantially lower than the 180CFX.

[Chris1683]

Took the Fusion 180 out for some Father's Day fun today! It flew great except for a little tail wagging during tail-down funnels. I may have to lower the gains a bit or switch back to the original servo horn hole on the tail servo. Either way, it was a blast to fly!

Flying the Blade Fusion 180 Helicopter (4 min 3 sec)

[Ramtech73]

Originally Posted by Chris1683

Took the Fusion 180 out for some Father's Day fun today! It flew great except for a little tail wagging during tail-down funnels. I may have to lower the gains a bit or switch back to the original servo horn hole on the tail servo. Either way, it was a blast to fly!

https://youtu.be/-Dui16PiHaM

Let me know , Im been chasing that wag for some time, Im running higher 85% throttle though. about to go order ikon 2, been playing with lowering i gain and also raising d, went back two 3rd hole servo arm and 75% gain. may try the carbon rod for the tail shaft. Also I still get that random headshake. Maybe ill try lower headspeed and increasing the pitch

[Chris1683]

I tuned it out this morning in the Gyro Menu. 52.5% was the sweet spot for 70% flat throttle curve (again this is using the 3rd hole in a full-length tail servo horn). It flew perfect and after doing a lot of funnels I saw zero wag. In my video above I had the gyro gain at 75%.

[mikedoo3]

Looking at this heli. I have a dx6i gen 1 kinda worried if I have to adjust the pid gains.