schutter

Hello All,

Im now going to purchase a new Gyro and Tail servo, and for both im down to two options each, but ofcoarse open to suggestions.

For Gyro i was looking at The 401 or for $10 more i can get the GY520 is this worth it? or is it a headache to setup? or very much the same.

And for the tail servo the common seems to be futaba 9257 or the JR3500. Is there a better combo between the Gyro/tail or any of these mixed and match will work good together.


Thanks in advance for suggestions, any help or advice is always welcome.

rotarydoc

schutter,

I have used the GY 401 and the 9257 on my Blade 400, and I can tell you that it's an excellent combination, they work very well together, and the tail will be solid when you are done...

I don't have any experience with the GY520, so I won't comment there...but I have heard good things about it. The 401 is a very easy to set up gyro, and very reliable, and time tested...it's been a great performer for years now...hard to argue with it's track record.

I have 3 of them, and they all perform flawlessly.

Beware of a couple of things...the 9257 is a mini servo, not a micro, so it's larger, and is not a bolt on at all...in fact, it takes a bit of doing to get it on there and the rudder control rod set up correctly. See my pics there...but when it's all done, it's worth the effort!

Also, the 9257 will need a voltage regulator, a step down they are sometimes called...to reduce the voltage to the servo to about 4.8 volts. They are about $6 and easy to install inline to the servo wire.

I liked the 401/9257 combo so much, that I am now running it on one of my Align Trex 450 Pro's....and I like it as much, or better than the Align servo and the GP 780...

Hope this helps some. I'm sure the 520 is also an excellent gyro, I just don't like to comment on things I haven't tried myself....

Glenn

schutter

Glenn,

Thank's for info so when i order the 9257 do i need to order some kind of brace or mount for this or stock will do, and also im trying to find the voltage regulator ill have to call them about that, the only one i see is a 5.1V step down. and it looks like ill have to shorten the contol rod quite abit, or get a diffrent one?

Thanks again

Derek

rotarydoc

Hey Derek,

You are welcome. I used the stock mounting hardware, but in a different way than the stock servo used...you can kinda see in the pic how I did it. The biggest problem I had with the way I did it, (and it really didn't cause any problems, to be honest...) was that I did not have a straight shot on the tail control rod from the servo to the pitch control arm on the tailbox. You can see that in the second picture there....it never proved to be a big deal to me..but technically, it should be a perfectly straight shot from the servo arm to the tail control arm...

You may be able to find a better way. There are ways to mount the servo on the tailboom itself, and I think that would be the better approach. I was eventually going to try to do that...but never really got around to it, and....the tail worked pretty darn well like you see it there.

If you went this way, you'd have to find some boom mounts for the same size tailboom as the B400 uses...or close...probably wouldn't be too hard, and it also makes tail setup a LOT easier, because you can adjust the servo up and down the boom, it's no longer fixed in place on the frame...

So that is definitely an option worth looking into.

The stepdown to 5.1 volts will do fine, that is what I used. As long as the servo is not getting like full 6v you'll be OK.

If you do it like I did in the pics...yes, you will have to shorten the rod....and I had a heck of a time doing it...I ended up taking one of the plastic ends off, and cutting the rod, then putting the plastic piece back on...but something was a pain....and I can't remember exactly what..but I finally got it to work with a stock, shortened rod...it takes some effort!

Good luck with it, and keep us posted!

Glenn

schutter

I've just recieved my new GY401 and 9257 in mail today aswell as a Align 35G ESC, with this i ordered an extra boom mount so i could mount the 9257 on the tail, I didnt have much time to try install today but as Glenn mentioned eariler its hard to make a straight shot down the boom, now ive read somewhere (can't find now!!) that when boom mounting the servo can be placed on a angle? and did anyone try flip the mounts or just leave like stock. If anyone has pictures or link that would be great.

Also can i switch the 401 gyro to DS or digital for the futaba servo?i assume yes butprobably stupid question but just checking.

Thank you

Derek

rotarydoc

Derek,

You can mount the servo whichever way ends up giving you the best shot at at stright tail control rod to the pitch lever on the tailcase.

One thing to remember is to try to keep the servo as far forward on the boom as possible, since it is heavy, and you'll end up tail heavy if it's too far back..

Use the servo mounts whichever way makes it easiest to get a straight shot on the control rod, the servo itself can point whichever direction, it does not have to be level, or at a 90 degree angle to the boom...it will end up being tilted for sure, to give you the best possible geometry on the control rod.

Yeah, you'll need that switch to be in the digital postition...and don't forget the step down inline between the gyro and the servo....

Glenn

schutter

Well i have Recieved my new Futaba 401, 9257, and Align 35A ESC and have installed them, and am very impressed and also wondering why i havent done this sooner. I had a few minor issues:

9257- I have boom mounted this but the issue here was i had to cut the pushrod shorted and since i could not get the pushrod end off with boiling water so i ended up cutting around 2" off so i used a peice of fiberglass tubing and Glue to mend togeather again. Also i mounted the servo on a angle to get a straight shot down boom.

401- I've installed the gyro and tail servo with the help of Sokal's videos on youtube which believe me helped out lots, during this setup process i dicovered somthing very strange, My tail rotors were installed on backwards, which seems strange to me since ive never remove the rotors or shaft, im still wondering if i managed to do this somehow when i replaced my tail boom from a previous crash, anyway after adjusting the reverse settings on gyro everything works great. But i have only had one flight with new upgrades so time will tell how things go.

And finally the Align 35G ESC- was extremely easy to setup once again with the aid of a help video. (Finless help videos)

All of these installations for me would have been very difficult with out theassistance of help videos and the people on forums likeRotarydocalways willing to help out new people into this very addictive hobby.

Thanks Again

Derek

rotarydoc

Derek,

Wow, sounds like you got everything setup well...and there will always be little details here and there that can use improvment...but you can get to that later...

You may want to search a bit for a shorter tail control pushrod in the aftermarket, or maybe for the Trex 450...I think there are even adjustable ones out there...maybe do a google search, and measure your pushrod to get an approximate length to work with your setup...

It may well take some fine tuning to get the tail just like you like it...but sounds like you have a solid foundation to work with now...a huge improvement over the stock Eflite electronics!

You are welcome...I enjoy helping others get started...because I know how I felt when I started, and with the help of others on the forums, I got to where I am today...and I still often ask questions when I get stuck too!

Good luck with it, and keep us posted...

Glenn

schutter

Here are some pics of how i did it with stock boom mounts but i will be picking up better ones in future aswell as i will search for a shorter push rod.