jnail

Ok, problem solved , I found it : [link]http://www.heliguy.com/i/Lama%20v4.pdf[/link]

aparently it's in the manual! on page 8. again, DUH!

I ended up getting the xtreme motors, Boomtown has them on sale, and they got them to me super fast! So when they are done breaking in, I am ready to fly again.

I am still looking for my next victim....ah..I mean Heli! I think its going to be an FP, but haven't decide what yet. seems some prefer the eflite blade sr120, and some prefer the honey bee FP, which seems to be unavailable. I went and looked at the Blade sr120, and I wasn't really impressed with the way the sevos looked with all the exposed little gears and everything, and some random, really thin looking wires running all over. Any input on this?

pgroom, I noticed in another thread that you also recommended a walkera. How has that one been treating you?

I also looked at the blade SR, that is one mean looking machine, and I want one!, but I am going to wait, because I am NOT ready for a CP yet!

erdnuckel2

Honestly, I still dont get that ... sorry ... Jeff, it is really completely irrelevant, which motor sits in front and which in the back as long as the wires are long enough!

The ONLY IMPORTANT thing is, that the motor that drives the lower rotor is in the lower spot and the motor that drives the upper rotor is in the upper slot .... otherwise the placement of the motor does NOT matter ...

E2

pgroom_68

Hey again Jeff,

The [link=http://www.besthobbysite.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=150_152&products_id=12592]Walkera CB180D[/link] (the pod & boom) is the "pick of the pack" - also out of stock ATM! I bought two in the end (& an aluminium case). These helis work wonderfully well! The major downfall was the Tx that came with them - the "Walkera WK-2402", as I (and others) were plagued by drop-out at approx 15 metres LOS[:@] The Walkera "company" separately released a good [link=http://www.besthobbysite.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=12558]2.4G Tx[/link] to fix this - but you have to pay more $[X(][&:] This FP was great fun up to that point, and I was learning some really good orientation, so I have decided to progress to a larger (but cheaper) Trex clone and the rest (as they say) is history.....

Peter[sm=shades_smile.gif]
P.S. I know it is not easy to wait[&o] but may I suggest waiting a while longer to see what 2011 offers??!?
P.P.S. I also know fliers that have quickly resold their Blade SRs due to insatisfaction with the number of spare parts available (& their $)

stalyoni

get the sr120

end of story

matt_mahoney

My Feedback: (1)

Hey everyone,
so i'm going to upgrade my lama stock to the xtreme lama to fly outdoors and speed the bird up!  here's my shopping list so far, and i want to see if you guys think i need anything else or dont need certain parts.  everything is stock on my lama as of now.

1. Pro 180 Motors (with heatsinks)
2. over-current protectors
3. landing skids (full set)
4. extended inner shaft shaft (12mm)
5. xtreme blades (upper and lower)

what are your opinions on the inner shaft?  i was also thinking of going for the turboshaft from www.helipal.com
 
questions:
1. do you think the blade grips are worth the buy or are stock ones ok?
2. can the landind skid set fit onto stock frame

Thanks for your help guys!

pgroom_68

Hey Matt,

In truth I haven't flown my L4 in about 6 months - I have progressed onto larger CCPM birds - but IMHO the Turbo shaft is the better way to go because it already includes a cnc head. Also DON'T use the cnc blade grips as the small square has a pin that holds them together that can come apart at high head rpms - ask me how I know (ouch - and the dog will not come within 10 feet of the bird now) You need to include a shortened (or adjustable) flybar also to allow you to tilt the bird into the air at a greater angle. The alternative is to buy adjustable weights only and cut off the black plastic covered "hooks" from a standard flybar. The rest of the list is possible IMHO.

Peter[sm=shades_smile.gif]

CFDfireman

Peter, It's been a while...ha, ha...you beat me to it..Hope you and yours are well. Great advise as usual. I still fly my V4 although she is down right now for an annual

Matt welcome aboard. Just to throw my two pennies worth in...take it slow with the upgrades. Know your heli well, that way if something is amiss you'll know what to look for. Here are a couple things I think is a must. I've been flying this swash since 2008: http://www.boomtownhobbies.com/Xtrem...4_p/esl034.htm

And you will need some longer servo arms for sure (from my secrete chest : http://helidirect.com/advanced_searc...SA100&x=20&y=9

I know they are sold out....bummer. Just wanted you to take a peek and get the part #.

I fly Aero-Nuts motors, Skytec, Phase II blades and skids and a Supershaft 2.0, Xtreme outer shaft/gear. STOCK blade grips with Phase II Blade stiffeners. I like the pod and boom style so, I have an Xtreme Model 4 boom. I like it because of the break-away it has built in, in case of a crash.

BTW, IMHO, you really don't need the heat sinks or the PTC fuses. I had a problem tracking down an a electrical problem that I thought was a bad motor. It turned out to be a bad PTC fuse...very bad connection[]

Mike.

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Hey Guys,
I just wanted to say hi to all of you. I kind of got out of helis a while back and got more into rc planes. Still happily flying.
I sold all but two of my helis. I still have my modded MCX and my Lama Hunter.
Take care and keep having fun.

matt_mahoney

My Feedback: (1)

I wasnt totally sure on the fuses or heatsink either CFDfireman.  i've flown my lama for a couple months now in a VERY big open indoor area and its time for a new challenge.  that edvice though is awsome from both of you.  i think i'll get the turbo shaft with the adjustable fly bar. it makes sense to get both.
do you think this set is the best deal? and the right flybar? http://www.helipal.com/lp-0009-ultim...ma-series.html.  i know its got the aluminum heads but oh well haha.  i've already got the aluminum swash plate and longer servo horns.

matt_mahoney

My Feedback: (1)

oops i meant blade grips. not heads.

pgroom_68

Hey again all,

It has been a while Mike. Nice to hear you're still flying - but coaxs??? Each to his own.

Wheelnut,

Likewise. But planes???

Great that you two guys are still into the hobby. Got bitten - eh?

Matt,

At some stage you will come to the realization that you are better off going to the source with some replacement/upgrade parts - and that means China/HongKong, and although it takes a little longer to get parts from there (two weeks usually) - there is more choice and offerings available from there. Beware sometimes - the shipping can be expensive - so do your homework and don't be afraid to back out of purchases if the shipping adds to much before you click the $ away!

You could get that discounted "Ultimate Performance" set up ...and don't forget you will need to find Esky 7g servo horns in stock somewhere........ You will only need to order one set as the two-armed one can be trimmed to go on the starboard side[sm=wink_smile.gif]
My opinion: [link=http://www.rchelicoptershop.com/catalog/lp0002-turbo-shaft-for-lama-dauphin-comanche-p-342.html?osCsid=06570c9r4dvnt3tt00c4js14f3]HERE[/link] is a link to another online hobby shop that actually make the Turbo shafts "out the back". Whichever road you decide to take - just remember that you will need full-length servo horns in order to create full deflection (and they will rub against the inside of the L4 fuselage) - so if you want to "throw that thing around" ultimately you are gonna have to upgrade to what is known as "pod & boom". IMHO the Xtreme offering is too heavy - [link=http://www.boomtownhobbies.com/BoomTownHobbies_Model_4_Boom_Kit_for_CX2_and_Lama_ p/bth010.htm]THIS[/link] is a better option (also available in [link=http://www.boomtownhobbies.com/BoomTownHobbies_Model_4_Boom_Kit_for_CX2_and_Lama_ p/bth010y.htm]yellow[/link]) - and while you are at this excellent US site add some Ultra-flex skids to your shopping cart as they are BRILLIANT!!

Peter[sm=shades_smile.gif]
P.S. I should have negotiated a kick-back deal with Jamie - I'd be a rich man by now[sm=49_49.gif]
P.P.S. The HongKong on-line store that I have bookmarked for [link=http://www.rc711.com/shop/esky-7g-servo-horns-and-screw-set-p-1903.html]Esky servo horns[/link] is also out-of-stock[:@]

erdnuckel2

Hi all!!

Nice to see this thread is not yet completely dead, even though the number of guys still flying their LamaV3's and V4's keeps on declining (sadly), probably even more so now that it looks more and more like Esky will soon be out of business (at least that is what I have heard and I couldn't find any indications yet that this rumor is indeed false)

Anyway,
nice to see you all stop by here every now and then (I admit, I am also not frequenting this place as much anymore as I did some time ago). This may be in a little part due to the fact that my focus kinda shifted quite a bit from Esky helis to Walkera helis (there mainly the L400 and for about a week now a Walkera 4#3B double brushless - which I got to an incredible price from eHirobo - but this one I can only hover tail IN ... however this will be my personal main challenge for the time to come ...)

All the best to all of you, HAPPYFLYING (as Lee would say) and also Happy Easter to anybody who celebrates it!!

E2

pgroom_68

Hey again Sven,

Great to hear from you - how you been mate?[sm=thumbs_up.gif]

I thought I'd repost some basic adjustment info for y'all.

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7311577/anchors_7350619/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#7350619]4in1 PROPortional & gain[/link]

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7311577/anchors_8876563/mpage_77/key_/anchor/tm.htm#8876563]Adjusting OUT unwanted tilt of the swashplate[/link]

[link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_7311577/anchors_9372997/mpage_115/key_/anchor/tm.htm#9372997]Coax blade balancing & top link adjustment[/link]

...I hope that saves you a lot of time searching this thread for info

Peter[sm=shades_smile.gif]

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Hey Pgroom, I knew you would show up. Thanks for the links, I could use them as well.
Good day Mate

jnail

Hi guys, I have been experimenting and searching the web, translating from Norweigian (long story, but it didn't work), and I have gotten my lamav4 to get along with my spektrum dx7 transmitter, by using a spektrum RX. It IS possible, but there is some cheating involved. I used [link=http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=81467]this post on another forum[/link], and it got me close, but not dead on. I will explain in the second part when I tell you how I programmed my TX.

What you will need: I used a DX7, but I think this will work with a dx6i, but don't blame me if it doesn't, because I had no way to try it

a spektrum 6ch receiver. I tried both the end pin and side pin one, I think the side pin one is actually easier to fit in the canopy than the end pin, because you can lay it on its side next to the other board.

You will need 2 servo extensions, or fabricate 2 with servo plugs, and some sort of male connections that you can plug into the circuit board.

That is it as far as parts.

first thing you will need to do is open up the thin plastic case of the 4-in-1 unit. you will see that there are 2 circuit boards seperated by a piece of foam. Go ahead and pull the 2 boards apart. you will put aside the on that the servos are plugged into. This is your RX half. you won't be needing this again unless you want to undo the mod.

take a look at the other board, this is where your battery and motors plug into. these will remain the same. This is your gyro/speed control/ motor mixing board. There is a black "box" on the side opposite the gain and prop pots, where the other half of the 4 in 1 used to plug into. this is where you will be connecting it to your RX via the servo extensions.

You will need to "prepare" the servo extensions so that they can plug into this board. And by prepare, I mean butcher! The female end of the servo extension will be left alone, this will plug into the RX. The other end has male plugs, but they are hidden by the plastic cover where you would plug the servo in. Cut/break/destroy this plastic cover to expose the metal pins. I used an exacto knife, and worked it under the cover and cut it free.[img][/img]

jnail

Ok, part 2 of the lama/ spektrum mod....

Now that we have the 4 in 1 seperated, and the servo extensions butchered, we can start hooking things up.

Your battery and motors plug in as usual

your right servo will plug into the aileron channel on the spektrum RX

your left servo will plug into the elevator channel

take one servo extensions, and plug one end into the throttle channel on your RX. the other end of this will plug into the top plug on the mixing board, or the remaining half of the 4 in 1. as far as orientation, when I refer to top and bottom, I am refering to how the 4 in 1 board sits in the heli before you dissasembled it.
the black(or brown) ground wire of these plugs should be on the side closest to the edge of the board, or towards the back of the heli if the board were installed in it.

This is where it gets sketchy
the other one will plug into the gear channel, and the other end plugs into the bottom of the mixing board. The reason for this is that we actually need this to talk to the rudder channel, but for some reason, having to do with timing of the radio, which I don't really understand, we can't do this, so we need to mix it with the gear channel. I will explain that later.

Now the RX will have power from the mixer, so we can go ahead and bind the RX to the TX like you normally would for any model.[img][/img]

You can now go ahead and creatively mount the mixing board, and the RX in the heli. You can see by the picture how I did mine, but be creative, and if you come up with a better way, let me know.

jnail

Now we move on to programming.....

I kind of got ahead of myself when I said to the RX, because we haven't created a model memory for it yet. So go ahead and do that, but, when you make a new model, you need to create it as acro, and not heli! because we will NOT be using any ccpm mixing, this is done in the mixing board.

Go into your setup menu, and go to mix 1 here, you will set the mix up as follows:

Rudd>gear on
Rate: +120%
+120%
sw: on
offset:0
(note: the other post said to set the rates both at 100%, on my heli, the tail was really slow, so I put them to 120% and it sped it up quite a bit. Apparently you can use these numbers to control piro rate)

Next go to the subtrim menu,and set rudd to 125 and set gear to +100

Now go to travel adjust and set the bottom number for gear to -81%

In sevo reversing, Ch3, the elev channel needs to be reversed


As far as programming, that is pretty much it. But, when flying, the Gear switch needs to be set to 1, or down(??), or the blades will not spin up at the same time.

some of these numbers are slighty different from other sites, and this is what I have found works for me. You may want to play around with it and see what works for you.

Your Gain and Prop adjustments will still work in the usual way, as well as the trims. (note: my throttle trim is set at center, not at the bottom like on the esky transmitter)The interesting thing, is that we now can have expo on the ailerons and elevators, and adjust the piro rate via the mix.

I hope this was clear enough for you, but if you have questions, PM me, and I will try to help out as much as possible.

Please let me know if this works as well with the dx6i.

note: the norweigian I was refering to at the beginning, was a website I found, and had google translate for me. It used different methods of mixing, and it DID NOT WORK! it caused the upper blades to spool up at warp speed as soon as power was applied, and tottally destroyed the gear. So if you find a site that is telling you to mix the rudder with something other than gear, be skeptical!

happy flying everyone!

Jeff

pgroom_68

Thanks for all your work Jeff. I will be following this method closely starting on the weekend with my DX6i, and will tell you what differences (if any)there are. I don't get any time until then, so if anyone else beats me to it - cool!

Peter[sm=shades_smile.gif]

Wheelnut

My Feedback: (81)

Jeff, wow! someone was on a mission. Congrats on the success. Nice job.

Good luck on your's Peter, can't wait to hear the results.

proffate61

I did this just now on a big outdoor lama using a HK 6100 clone receiver and dx6i and it seems to work. A few of the radio adjustments are not identical, but it's a different radio and I"m not 100% familiar with it yet.

On the big lama it's a tad easier as the receiver is completely separate unit.

Before reading this thread I gave it shot myself and managed to have the chassis sans blade spin wildly off my workbench bending the mainshaft a bit (i have an extended one and metal head I never got around to installing - now's a good time for that!) when the motors spun up full speed unexpectedly. So I'm not sure if the motors not spinning up the same is a shaft (mechanical) issue, a prop issue (i've always had the prop 90% one way on the 3 in 1) or an adjustment in the radio (trim or sub trim). Lots of ways to fix this now so once I get the shaft swapped out I'll play a bit and expect great things.

The clone reviever was like $5. I put my mCX and twin rotor mCX on the DX6i and it made them 100 times easier/ and smoother to fly so I'm expecting great things from this Lama now.

pgroom_68

Hey again everyone,

Here's a bargain for you!
[link=http://www.ehirobo.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=522&products_id=10600]Silver Esky Lama4 35MHz US$28 from HONGKONG[/link][sm=thumbs_up.gif]

Peter[sm=shades_smile.gif]

CFDfireman

Peter, You'll be happy to know that my Bud and I just maidened our 120SR's. Dang, this heli is fast, stable and very nimble. I can turn on a dime with nine cents change What a difference from my V4 coax.

Hope you all are doing well..

Mike.

bosstone75

NEWBEE WARNING!

Ok... wife got me a Lama 4 about a year ago.

I've been doing some short flights and getting in lots of crashes. It's gotten to a point now where my Lama needs a little configuring to fly normally.

It has a forward and right drift. It doesn't really seem to spin at all, but the forward drift is so bad that even though I've pulled the elevator trim all the way to the bottom, it still drifts forward pretty significantly.

Should Ijust go through the list of adjustment info in the exact order that Peter posted? It seems like the Proportional and Gail section is only really for helicopters that are spinning one way or the other, so it didn't seem like it would be useful to me. Seems like adjusting OUT unwanted tilt of the swashplate is where Ishould start, but Iwanted to make sure.

4in1 PROPortional & gain[/i]

Adjusting OUT unwanted tilt of the swashplate[/i]

Coax blade balancing & top link adjustment[/i]

Thanks for any help you can give!