jackmccomas

Stupid Build Question please. The Manual calls for the side force generators to be positioned in the holes closest to the trailing edge of the bottom wing but there is only three holes and one small one. In order to have it positioned correctly do you need to cut one slot for the hole closest to the trailing edge??

Spacey

Yikes this thread is long! The Tensor finally made it to my country and I had to try one out for kicks. I'm a shockflyer fanatic but this thing is too darn cute to not have one! Guys can anyone do a lazy bum a favour and if there is any just point out areas of concern regarding the construction? I tried scanning through the thread but on my slower than dial up connection it's a bit of a headache.

I found the bits about supporting the tail so I will look into that. I have some old shockflyer skeletons at home so I can snatch the carbon off of them to stiffen up the tail. Or I could do the mod the new shockflyers have with the triangle depron running between the horizontal and vertical fuselage pieces?

I am going to use my AXI 2208/34 with a 2S 910 Kokam. Also have some JR sub micro servos and a 610 rx. Pretty std stuff.

If I'm asking too much then so be it! But if someone is bored and wants to help me out...please?

tylerman

Spacey-
The build is very straight forward-The only thing that may get you is when you are trying to square the horizontal fuse. to the verticle fuse. We got ours straight as an arrow by using a table for a 90 degree angle and pushing the two pieces flat against it,
You will enjoy this plane very much.

Dang you are a long ways away!!!

tylerman

jackmccomas--You should not have to cut any holes.
Or at least we didnt have to..
Just examine the plane carefully and try to figure it out.

A couple of days ago my dad dropped an electric screwdriver on my plane- It put a fat gash down the side force generator, and ripped the aileron linkage out of the aileron.
Lucky for my dad I took my time and laid the peices that were ripped out back in the places they came from.
It acually doesnt look bad at all-and you cant even tell unless you are up close.
It did not change the way it flew in the least bit either--Depron is a great thing

harrymcwilliams

I just got back from SEFF and had a really good time! 25mph winds made it impossible to even get the Tensor out of the SUV!
I met a bunch of really fine folks there but I just got to tell you all about one of the nicest, most approachable, humble guys there, George Hicks. In my mind George is a giant in our hobby, yet to meet him is to meet what feels like an old friend, that's a very rare thing!

p.s.
Always wear a hat or sunblock when attending outdoor functions!!! (man it burns!)

tylerman

Thats pretty cool--It looks as if he signed your planes wing.
Too bad it was too windy to see him fly.

If you dont mind me asking-What is SEFF?

harrymcwilliams

Yeah, he signed it "Happy Hovering" and his signature.
A true good guy!

What is SEFF? You must be new to electric flight!!!
SEFF stands for Southeastern Electric Flight Festival
It one of the biggest Electric shows/funflys in the world!
Here's a link:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=361983

Spacey

Thanks buddy! I got it in the air on Saturday. The build was easy enough although I have to admit handling this one takes alot of care. Only negative thing about the Tensor is it's strength that is for sure, not so much when dorking it (I avoid that as far as possible) but just carrying it around was a mission..LOL Do not take it out of the car in gusty winds!!!

It flies magically! I am still moving my CG around as I think I'm too far to the back, when I do rolling harriers I have to fight the nose down and that messes with my brain too much. After I mixed out some of the coupling it sure is a breeze to handle. Very stable in all aspects. One problem I have though is a slight lack of power, but if I keep things controlled it is ok and managable. Tail authority rocks although I need to get my ailerons more efficient. I don't have enough rons to oppose the coupling sometimes but I'll figure it out. Two thumbs up from me! Very welcome change in from my shockflyers! I love it!

tylerman

Spacey--I am also flying a 2208/34 and my plane has power up the butt. I dont see why your plane would be slightly under powered.
Just one question-- If you are running a Jeti or a Castle creations Pheonix ESC both of them recommend you run AXI motors in something called "hard timing". If you have one of these ESC's you might still be in soft timing...Hard timing is kinda like advancing the timing in a car engine--When you get up to a certain rpm it starts to advance the timing of the electrical pulses--Wich in turn makes the rotor turn faster--Hard timing is only recommended for outrunner motors(external rotor).
I belive that there is almost a 20% increase in power when you change this.

I do agree that this plane is very fragile

Spacey

tylerman,

I am using a Modelmotors 8A ESC at the moment but it is part of my problem yes. I am also using the 'newer' Kokam 2S 910 cells which have a little higher discharge rate than the old ones but this whole combination causes my esc to cut if you bump the throttle to full. So I had to limit the top end EPA untill I can find a slightly bigger esc. I don't know if my Tensor is a little on the fat side, it is possible. The Modelmotors esc doesn't have the option to adjust timing like the TMM/CC and so on controllers. I should get a 12A TMM for the setup but the spare cash is a little limited right now. Also one has to bare in mind that I am very high above sea level. I think it was around 4800feet so that makes things worse. I would also like to try a CC controller but I haven't seen them around here for affordable prices, will have a look out though when I get the money together to maybe go for something like that and see if the hard timing helps at all.

At the moment there is enough power to pull out of a hover but it crawls vertical so it's a little frustrating. Doesn't get out nearly as fast as my shockflyer does but o well. The Tensor is a bit of a gas bag either way so I guess it all stays in relation in some way LOL

Shadrack

You may want to look at the eflite esc as they are very affordable and I run one on my tensor currently. Good to 20A and about 2/3 the price of the equivilant CC.

tylerman

Thats weird that it would cut you off like that because i am running a Jeti 8 amp. ESC and it never shuts off the throttle.
I am also running much bigger batteries with much higher discharge rates--such as a TP 3s 1320 mAH.

If you read through the manual you might find that you can switch to hard timing as well.

Spacey

Thanks tylerman I will check it out. We flew one of the tensors this weekend with a 3S 910 Kokam and it was much better. Actually easier to fly outdoors with this setup. I think it might be worth the extra weight to have the needed power as well. I will check into the Eflite speed controllers as I know the LHS has some of them for good prices. Might be worth it.

tylerman

I would highly recomend a Jeti or a pheonix speed controller.
I have not heard if the e-flight ESC are any good but these two controllers are a very good choice---Just my opinion

Spacey

Yea true..the Jeti and the Phoenix have proven themselves numerous times to be the best. I should get my list of programmable features the TMM controllers have. I am pretty impressed with them as well and their much cheaper than the two mentioned above. I am sure the TMM is a copy of one of those two as a matter a fact. Trouble like I said though is I can't get my hands on an affordable Jeti or Phoenix here. They are very scarce but I will make an effort as soon as I have the money together to look for them again. I have decided to strip my Tensor down and put the radio gear and power system in my Shockflyer Yak again. I am going to wait for the Eflite park 370 motors and put one of those with a 3S in the Tensor. I hate not being able to fly my Shockflyer as it really handles weather conditions much better. And well we have not had perfect wind conditions lately so it's a bit of a no brainer. I don't want to mess the tensor up unneccesarily so I'm going to spare it a little.

tylerman

.

tylerman

I already have a really heavy plane but we could not help but make it Heavier/Stronger
I was starting to get sick of the tail twisting around every time I flew into the wind. The twisting tail has lead me to belive that I am not getting the most out of it.-So my dad came up with a good idea to really beef up the rear section of the fuse. Our modifacation didn't even register on our scale(wich is accurate to .05 of an ounce)so I guess my plane really isnt that much heavier

Here is a pic.

TAILHOOK-RCU

My Feedback: (2)

I got the 730TP 3cell and now the all up weight is 9.05oz.Can't wait to try it out.The plane when first built was about 10.7oz.There is a lot of room to save weight when you really look hard.

tylerman

I finally got to fly yesterday- It has been windy for the last two weeks[:@]

The new tail brace works very well. I could acually notice a difference in how the plane performs.
Like I said before when I would roll I could see the tail twisting like it was a wet noodle or something.
With the CF bracing on the tail it is very much more rigid. The plane acually has a much faster roll rate--
And in some cases it is alot easier to recover from the occasional "oops"

This probably is not an issue for the guys that fly indoors, but if you have some spare CF you should try it

todhog

My Feedback: (9)

So how do I fix the crash damaged nose of this thing? Theres not much left to glue together.

Todd

revho

My Feedback: (3)

Hi - I have been a gas rc guy for a few years now and just decided to get into electrics. I purchased a tensor from chief and all the gadgetry to go with it but cannot seem to make the thing work. My knowledge of electric aircraft is that of a person in a semi-vegetative state so please try to dumb your answers down as much as possible.

I bought the e-flite 370 motor and phoenix 10sc and a 7.4 volt 2 cell 1020 mah batt. (kokam)
the problem is when I push to full throttle the motor cuts out, making torque rolls look alot more like a tail slide with a greg louganis kind of twist at the end. please help

You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose but you can't pick your friends nose.

tylerman

it sounds like your cutoff voltage is set too low.....you can program your ESC to a higher voltage....just look in the instructions.
you should also probably test and see if it works before you fly it.....these things dont fly too well with out a motor.

Shadrack

Which eflite 370 did you get, the 1080 or the 1360kv? Might be that your cutoff voltage is set too high, not too low, since your motor is at full throttle when it cuts out. You should be set for 6V with a 2S cell. I hope you got the 1360kv if you are flying it on 2S. I fly mine with a eflite 20 esc, and a 2S Thunder Power 1320 and it flies like a charm.

revho

My Feedback: (3)

I programed in the esc today and now it will go full throttle but it burns down in less than 1 min.
and it wont stay in the air . I do have the 1360 kv motor but esc is set for 3 volts (standard lypo setting ) I will try it at 6 volts thanks . any more test flights and this thing is going to be just a hovering ball of glue . p.s. plane lands better without the landing gear

Shadrack

for lipo, 3v for a 2S pack is way too low, you may have damaged your cells. They should cut off at 3V per cell, after that, damage can be caused to the cell. Do you have a wattmeter at all so you can test the amps being pulled out? What prop are you using? 10x4.7 should be the biggest in your config.