betapilot

Hey guys, thought I would start a thread dedicated to upgrades and set-ups for our King v2's. I hope we can get a bunch of good technical information in here and help each other on modifying and upgrading our birds. Lots of pics please, I know I like pics and I really like seeing what other ideas people have. Post all the good links you can and lets have fun. I am doing the sonix 300 cnc tail upgrade right now and plan to post pics and reviews as fast as I am done. I have a question for somebody with an engineering degree. I replaced my boom, but at a 90 from my lateral axis. I know the King has a slight offset and I am curious about the easiest way to duplicate that slight bend (and if it is nec.). My replacement works fine but under correction it is almost too responsive. I can run a template, but it is tough to get the exact bend.

Rusty

gregkabob

OK, I'll start this off. I just got these mini antena's in and will be putting one on the HBK II tonight. The pic is on a ESky Lama just to check it out and it works great. Bought them from Hobby-Lobby for $6.90. Sorry for the lousy pics, it's my camera phone. If anyone wants clearer one's let me know and I'll repost using my Canon Digital.

gregkabob

Second Mod. Rusty (aka betapilot) hooked me up with the ESky 3900 motor and Align pinion. The Align pinion is long and at the end with the set screw it tapers out. With this combo you have to shim the motor up so the pinion meshes with the gear in the right spot. One solution is to add washers between the motor and frame. What I did was make a large spacer out of aluminum instead of the two washers. Again, sorry for the cra....py pics. I'll be sure to use the good camera from now on.

FMB42

I would like to give Betapilot, and the rest of you guys a big THANK YOU for all of the help you have given us! I have been in this hobby for 20 years (cars, buggies, boats, fixed wing) and have learned many things the hard (and expensive) way. My first real mod was the fabrication of an alloy suspension support for my son's buggy back in 1988. There were no web RC threads such as we have today and I doubt that I would have been able or willing to continue with this helicopter hobby if it wasn't for RCU. Besides, I'm going to order a HB King 2 this fall and will need all the help I can get (my first mod or up grade will be a BL motor and ESC ). I also want to improve, if needed, the tail rotor pitch servo mounting as well and will need help with the setup (pitch, etc) on this heli.

betapilot

this is where I came when I was green, the forums. I learned unfortunately the hard lessons too, but that is what we are here to prevent. I finised my cnc tail upgrade made by Sonix, (good stuff), and it looks very cool, I will post some pics shortly. It was a bugger to get set right and I am till a little wigged about the reverse tail, but I am still checking things out and will post detailed install and set-up info.

Nice pics Greg, did you modify your frame when you put that b/l on it?

gregkabob

No need to mod the frame. The 3900 drops right in.

betapilot

Pics of the tail upgrade - careful when you do this, you must reverse gyro and rudder switch on tx. took me a minute to figure that one out, but man is the tail awesome now. pitch adjustment is made by moving the servo forward or backward, super easy. Well worth the money, feather shaft is super strong, no bends here. Also, check the canopy, fit perfect with no mods and almost no change to the cg. crappy pictures, I need a new camera.

Rusty

betapilot

tail pics

crashcrash

OK...where'd you get the canopy...looks like a T-Rex LOL! Tail looks pretty good but you know what...the stock tail seems fairly good in it's own right. If there's anything I learned with 1 blade CP and 2 CP-Pro's under my belt, don't bling unless it's really needed. I smoked that stock motor and since I thought it was the broke in motor, I've been working on installing the 3100kv brushless and ESC, I'll fit the 11T when it gets here. I also had NO IDEA that the brushless motors, the body turns...what a suprise that was (LOL). I did what you said and went with the JST on the battery...keeps things compatable with common stuff (most 10C 3 cell Li-Po's, etc).
I read the programming guide for the ESC...Yeah, I got it...not really that complicated. I'll read it 3 more times before I actually try to program it. I know I got to program out the brake and a couple other areas that need attention. I did run the motor up a little with out a load...man it's quiet.

Before the motor took a dump tonight, I had some nice flight time with the 290mm blades. They're nice and increase stability a great deal. I was able to execute perfect pirouettes smoothly...normally, I'm jerky doing them. Since it's late, I decided not to program tonight. Some of the settings are self explanitory, others will be a guess on what's right but I'll get 'er done. I'll opt for a more constant headspeed hold in the programming so my hover altitude will be more consistant. Brushed motors flux in speed too much but I don't think I'll see that in brushless.

betapilot

Ok, since you insist on bustin me, its actually a shogun zoom canopy, much sterdier, (did I speel that rite), and comes in many attractive colors. My buddy bought a heli max and I have carried much guilt over not being able to talk him out of it, but the one thing it has is a cool canopy. It just looks like it is better quality, and the kings looks like a recycled version of the cp2. I like the king canopy, just wanted something different.

On the tail, I have had several tail in landings and have bent my feathering shaft every time, it is very tender and if it is slightly bent it will skip and it throws the direction of the belt off, you notice the boom getting very hot in center where there should be no friction. the new tail upgrade has a billet gear with deeper teeth and a viagra strong shaft, plus the roller guide at the top side of the belt. I foresee the belt becoming an issue if it gets out of line and as any points of resistance. The big lie is that I am very concerned about belt preservation and don't care at all how it looks!

Rusty

gregkabob

Got the HBK set up with the BL and ESC and got at few batteries run through. The belt kept popping off. I read the posts on some of the fixes but here's what I did. This is a 0.18 mm shim. So far I have not had it come off. the frying was before the shim. I'll make a pretty one once I see that this works ok.

betapilot

just thought I would drop a line here. I have five arf's that I have not sold, so I am going to go ahead and equip them with brushless motors and esc's and sell them pre-modified. One I will use the 3100kv w/ esky esc and one with 3800kv w/ esky esc. I also am going take custom orders on the remaining 3 as far as motor/esc/pinion set-up, I can add servos of choice, cnc upgrades, and boom upgrades. On the customs, you are the limit, I can do pretty much anything you like to them. I also have 2 rtf's left and can upgrade them per requirements as well. I may be posting the 2 rtf's on ebay and will post the link if there are any requests to do so. I will have mostly yellow and maybe one or two white, but if you like I can do a custom canopy as well, (leave me alone crash, lol). Prices will vary depending on equipment but most of you know my interest is in keepin it cheap so they should be pretty good. If you have any interest, you can pm me, or email me at www.castlerockhobbies.com and I will get back with you pretty quick. Thanks guys, BTW-yes it is still under construction, I just can't get over it feeling cheap (website) and it bugs me so I am still working on it. Now I know why those guys want so much money to build a website, have mercy!

Rusty

gregkabob

Ran a full battery through the HBK II and the belt didn't come off. Looks like I need to make some shim washers. FYI, that shim is silver. Took a jewelry making class years ago and had it laying around.

The previous post with pics also shows the micro antenna installed. Now this is a great mod for less than 7 bucks.

betapilot

Hey Gregster - Did the motor hold up well? I just ordered a lot of killer new motors and esc's, supposed to be of the quality of the phoenix model esc's but a little easier on the price, I will keep you posted. As soon as you have a working template on those shims, I want to post the fix on my website. The Align belt guides should be in soon.

Rusty

gregkabob

Rusty, motor is working good so far. Tried calling you. I'm heading to my office to fly. Or should I say.....try

betapilot

Yea, I been catching up on the lawn and other honey doos. Whew, there is just too much drama and too many people throwing advice around in the other forum. I think I am starting to get confused, lol.

betapilot

DANGEROUS, THINKING CAN BE! check this out, you know I am going to have to try this out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...5290&rd=1&rd=1

It may not fit the king, but we will have to see what we can do. This will be a killer project.

betapilot

that may have to go on a belt cp, maybe a carbon edition would be cool. I bet it is super stable, it doesn't look any more difficult to set up than the two blade system.

sparx-

May not fit the king when you get it, but there are alot of tools out there that can make it fit Keep us posted. I would love to see vids and pics of the King with that on it.

SPaRX

betapilot

judging from the size of it and the wingspan it displays on a 450, I am thinking the king may not be the target, don't get me wrong, I can make anything fit, I am just not sure I would want to. Those look like they are at least 325mm blades and I have already been that route with the king. My boom did not fare well against the c/f's when they made contact.

gregkabob

Yesterday I came to my office to fly in the the lab. I was having problems getting the gyro to set and finally figured out (after reading a post) the the gyro may not set if the trim is not center which mine wasn't and I was going to move the servo to fix. After fiddling around for a while I got it to work. I put the bird on the floor, spooled it it and the ESC went up in smoke[sm=confused_smile.gif]. Shut it down and it was still crackling and smoking. Got to the plug on the battery and then grabbed the wire cutters to clip the zip ties to get it off the frame. The ESC was smoking hot and the thick yellow shrink wrap was sagging. I took th shrink wrap off and a bunch of the chips fell off as it was hot enough to melt the solder. Luckely I live in the same town as betapilot and he's hooking me up with another ESC so I can fly this thing. When it shorted it just kept on going till I pulled the battery.....

eatkins

Hi Helio Pilots,

Well after alot of trimming and ALOT of help from Rusty I flew three packs on the King and man what a bird!!!! Not that I know anything but let me tell all who has this bird and those who are going to get it......Go brushless and get a heading hold gyro...With the stock gyro I lost it and crashed....more my fault than the birds. Now with the HH gyro it handles super great Well for you pro pilots I know this might not help you, but for us new pilots I think it should. Also you guys that posted in the thread helped me as well so I thanks one and all!!!!

Eddie

betapilot

Glad to see ya in here Eater. REAL glad to hear that bird is up and running. I ordered a lot of the dynam servos so if you still need some I will send them to you as fast as I get them. Hitech makes some but just cause they are the most popular does not mean they are the best. I have had better luck with the dynam than I have the hitech and the dyams are cheaper. I will keep you posted.

Rusty

FMB42

Was a few minutes into my 7th battery pack and noticed that my K2 seemed to loose power. Found that the positive cable at the motor was loose and that there was some corrosion on the terminal. You'd swear they used acid core solder on the terminal! Better to go brushless rather then risk a crash with the stock brushed motor and ESC if you ask me. Must say that these K2s sure are smooth and stable for the money none the less.

betapilot

yea, they have had nothing but trouble with the stock motors. I have heard of them getting hot enough to melt the solder on the motor. It will definitely be in your best interest. If you want, I have got several good brushless combos that I could make you a good deal on, I also have some arf kits coming that usually run around 67-69 bucks delivered to your door. let me know if you are interested.

Rusty