KCinNC

so Zimatosa , are you the only one who has purchased one so far ??.....i want to see a pic of one mounted on someone's King

Zimatosa

Here is the video slide show i made of the head. It shows the head mounted on my King toward the end(not a long video)...

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuzBDPMvsUg]CNC Head on King2[/link]

I know a few other have purchased the head but are waiting to hone their skills before mounting it....

Peace,

Z

funflier

Well a more stable machine is a lot easier and more fun to fly. Start with something thats stable and easy to fly then move on to the things that demand a higher level of expertise to fly (read control).

KCinNC

might be the way to go...along with a CF Frame....i like the look of that !!! i was thinking it was going to stick WAAY up high over the canopy..

Zimatosa

This CNC head is an almost exact replica of the plastic head just done in Aluminum. It was not intended to be anything but for the King 2, thats why I am stoked to have it. The only other choice for me would have been the HDX 450B head, but then the fly-bar would have been under the main blades not over. Can't stand that purple stuff. I don't want the soccer moms at the park to think that I am supporting Barney the Dinosaur..[X(]

I am running a Pigeon 450 canopy that i bought for $9.99. That might also explain why it looks more proportional. The King 2 canopies are way to skinny/small especially if you are moving the battery forward for CG. had to get away from that anorexic look....

This hobby really is much more enjoyable if you put the time in to learn as much as you can mechanically. The better the set-up, the better and easier these "things" are to fly. I was amazed at the flying curve i gave myself after the heli was set-up to as close to perfect as I could get it. I envy those master Mechanics in the Tuner thread. They have the joy of a perfect set-up to rip on!! Hehe

Peace!

Z

P.S. Flier....That plane of yours sounds like one of my old cars i used to own. Everything shot and in need of fixing or replacement. Isn't it a tad scary when these circumstances are related to a plane? You can't just pull over when things go wrong or things are falling off..hehe

funflier

Well least I wasn't stuck there with something that makes the plane unflyable. Never been stuck anywhere with this plane. Unlike a Piper Colt I had the misfortune of being the 10th owner of...
Actually that Bendix spring is the only thing that has failed in about 10 years, bendix springs for that starter are not hard to find however most are stock from the late 40s, we didn't make very good steel back then. Working on adapting an auto starter (FAA illegal of course) to it. about 13 years ago I did a total rebuild/recover of the airframe and wings, new spruce spars, big expense for wood and lots of late nite labor to replace/rebuild wings (new tanks hoses upgraded to running lights and full electrical, total new harness) cut out and welded back many tubes (rust), sand blasted and powder coated the entire frame and engine mount, brackets etc new seals etc, rebult the struts/ added disc brakes etc and my 90 hp Contenental was totally rebuilt and upgraded heads and cyl at the time. Took me nearly 3 years in my basement and I did all the work myself (had it inspected and signed off by a mech) but now it flys better then any other I have ever flown. Takes me to west coast flyins and is dependable. Engine starts on the 2nd pull. I can throttle back lean it out a little and burn just over 4 gal an hour on auto gas, (have a autogas STC), my butt goes to sleep before I ever need to refuel.
My youngest daughter wants me to put this plane in my will for her![X(]

Zimatosa

I watched some guy build a plane in his garage when I lived in Vacaville(my girlfriend got a plush job at Genentech. Didn't care for the area myself). It was not experimental but it was a kit that I can't remember for the life of me what it was called. Anyway, his wife worked at Genentech with my girl and I had heard through the grapevine that his little plane did not fly very well...He and John Denver must be trading flight plans?

I worked in sales at a logistics firm in Fairfield. Got to visit Travis and Mathews on many occasions and see some cool machines. One of my favorites was the Russian Andropov we used to ship parts for military radar ( Andropov was the largest cargo plane in the world at the time). I had to come up with a crazy packaging arrangement for the parts that consisted of: A form-fitted foam shell, Tyvek bag layer, custom size box, then all that went into a military spec crate custom built to fit the custom box. The electronics company that made the parts lost a whole shipment of these $85,000-per parts from Mathews when the plane(not the Andropov) crashed on take-off. I thought it was kinda funny they wanted such overkill to ship these things. They figured they would be safe if a crash happened to occur another time..I figured that now they were just losing $85,220-per if they have a crash!!! I sold them a contract to buy 10,000 of these custom crates...My boss loved me like a son after that one....

Now back to King talk....sorry.

Z

53 willys

o man I am bummed!!!!
I tried to install my new cnc head tonight,
got it all together except the flybar...
bad news is the set screw on the flybar
is STRIPED OUT!!!!:-(
I am sure nobody will Belive me but it's
true the dang thing was striped out before I ever had a chance to put a tool on it!
grr I ended up putting the esky plastic flybar stuff on with
the rest of the CNC head...
how could they have not known it was
striped before they sent it!!
I mean it was sooo bad the the set screw would just fall out if you turn the heli
upside down!
it is the correct set screw I checked it next to the other side.
I guess they or the machine messed it up???
the rest of the head seems real solid!!
sad part is I have tried to get a hold of cncheli before and he does not answer his phone!!
ever!!
and if you leave a message he won't call you back either :-(
if I broke it I would just man up and buy a new part myself
but I truly did not break it!
do you think I can get them to warranty it??

KCinNC

i just got a motor from them...the wiring was so stiff/brittle...it broke as i was trimming back the insulation to solder on a connector ???

funflier

Must have been an Ultralight of some kind as if not it would need to be registerd in the Experimental catagory being a kit. One of the early planes I built from a kit was considered an Ultralight (Team MiniMax), but that was with no brakes and a anemic Rotax 277 single cylinder engine in it (also couldnt do a correct weight and balance the with the 277 engine, too light). I opted to put in brakes and a 377 2 cyl engine which took it over the 254 lb limit set for Ultralights at that time, called it a "Fat" Ultralight . But it was fun to fly (totally illegal) and a easy transition from the Challanger kit plane I owned at the time. Actually flew very well, better then some production planes I have flown over the years. Still flying by its present owner in Fresno area from what I heard at a flyin some years back.

Zimatosa

I am quite sure that Jeff will make everything correct. You are talking about the grub screw in the fly-bar control arm right? Have you determined if it is the screw itself or if the inner threads in the control arm are stripped? Either way, I just emailed him in your behalf. He sent me an email today regarding a question I had about his batteries, so I know he is around....Hopefully, you will hear from him very soon...

If the problem is the screw, you could probably just buy one locally. If it is the arm, he would have to send you a new one....I am happy to say that I did not have any hang-ups like that when I installed mine. Unhappy to say, that you did. Keep us posted...

Peace,

Z

53 willys

Thanks Z....I ended up emailing Jeff right after I posted..emailing him is defiantly the way to get in touch with him...he responded within 1 hour![8D]

yes it is the flybar holder arm that is stripped...not the set screw either..its the aluminum threads that are messed. thanks for your help Z... you the man

I will be mailing the stripped part out today...then jeff will send the new one out to me.
for now the plastic flybar links and arms are working just great with the rest of the CNC head.

thanks to Z & Jeff for the help.[8D]

Zimatosa

Excellent!! had me worried for a minute.....I think with him being the only employee, if he has to leave to run an errand or go number 2 [&:], it could take a while...Hehehe

I was going to suggest the plastic arms but figured that you would already have it done! Nice Mark!

I am ordering some servos and bats from Jeff today...Can't wait to have more batteries to beat on!

Z

53 willys

OOOOO man I crashed this head SOOOOOO hard last night!!!!
I made a hardcore rookie mistake!!
I set my heli down and as I was turning to walk away my dog yelped and started to lick her foot like some thing was wrong....
as I leaned down to see what was up I some how managed to full throttle the stick!!!! AND shut the TX off at the same time!!!!
well the heli shot straight up!!! about 30-40 feet turned upside down and then proceeded to full throttle straight back into the ground!!![X(]

IT WAS SCARY AND UGLY!!!![X(]

the damage was less then I expected!
bent the main shaft
flybar=pretzel
and all the flybar plastic broke too..(except my modded bell links!![8D] witch REALLY surprised me!)
my xtrme blades did NOT even break!!! but they did bend sooo bad they are unusable...

the CNC head is BEEF!!!!!! it did not even bend or tweak the feathering shaft!!! I am amazed about that!!!![X(]


man I had it running/tuned sooooo smooth before this too[:@]


so yeah this CNC head is beefy and super strong!...even for rookie pilots like me

Zimatosa

LOL!! Kewl, thanks for the crash test, you go above and beyond the call of duty. Did you take the feathering shaft out and roll it on a flat surface for sh*ts 'n giggles or did you just eyeball it? Hard to tell sometimes when the shaft is still mounted.

Did you at least try and turn the Radio back on to save it or were you like a deer trapped in headlights?? Wish that was on video...What is that? A Buick?

Peace,

Z

53 willys

I forgot I also stripped the main gear!!

yeah I pulled the feathering shaft and rolled it on my table.....smooth as silk!!!
I knew I had to roll test it after that crash..my stock head bent a shaft every time I flew..(not quiet but it felt like that..lol)
I was truly amazed the shaft was not bent.


man it happened soooo fast I looked down saw the throttle in full 100% slammed it down to zero..but It did not responded...then it hit the ground!!! I could not tell the TX was off until I sat down and gather myself...and maybe changed my shorts too!!!


CRAZY SCARY

funflier

Be Forwarned if you have a Dx6i radio..
Under certain conditions your heli can go to full power when you least expect it, and NOTHING will stop it.
Like when you have the throttle closed and your 10 feet away (wish I had been further away) and you decide to do some radio adjustments with the rx connected to the battery.
With the tx turned on and you toggle it to the model and choose your model and then it starts to "Download" mine went to full power stright up least till it hit a hanging planter pot (25 lb pot won!)[] Heli came down in pieces all over, one blade sailed off down block and I guess ended out in someones yard. head was totaled so was upper frame and main shaft, main gear, motor wires battery all torn loose tail was in pieces where the blade "excuted" it. That was like the 3rd day I had my dx6i and the last day I pretty much had a Honeybee as everything had to be replaced or ?? That was my excuse to upgrade everything I could.

53 willys

lol..thanks for sharing!!! glad I'm not the only one to have some bad luck!.....sounds like I got lucky compared to your damage report.

cbrian4

The dicount code is no longer valid.

Zimatosa

I sent you a PM Cbrian....I will have to call him on Monday to see why he did that. He might be taking heat from his HDX people....

Peace,

Z

Zimatosa

Yo...

I have noticed a few things that need to be addressed on this new head. The one main problem? that I have noticed is that the washout pins(the metal long spikes that the washout travels up and down on) smack the swash before the pitch can reach it's furthest potential in travel. This would only boil down to not being able to get 11, maybe 12 degrees on the pitch. I am getting like 10 degrees at the moment...I am going to try and install the plastic piece that are attached to one side of the cyclic lever and then attached via a ball link to the swash, from a Trex or similar. If they are longer arms, this will give me the extra travel needed to bring the assembly up to almost touch the lower part of the head(if it ever touches, you need to lower the number on the swash mix until it does not hit). Most people will not need this fix, just down the road, you might want to use the info. Heck, when you see that the travel does not go up as high as the stock head, you won't have to trouble shoot the problem now, cause those pins are the problem.

Only other thing i wanted to point out other than how much I really love this head is a problem with the paddle control arm bearings. After a few super hard crashes (yep, I crashed hard yet again with no damage to the head) one of the arms have loosened themselves up from it's bearings and slides too far in or out. I am thinking that a washer on the inner and outer race will do the trick and the problem would be solved. Not expensive but it may take a little bit of fudging to find the perfect size washer to use. If you have the head and look at this "said" part, you will scratch your head and ask how the F**k it even stays put....I would have to answer that the bearings are pressed in and they just don't allow them to move...But one side does[]...No huge deal, but again, a friendly heads up...

Peace,

Z

cbrian4

Couldn't you just shave the pins down a bit so that the swash wouldn't hit it?

Zimatosa

You could....I was worried about doing that because if done wrong, the wash out could possibly slide off the bottom of the pins. I will have to do some math, then figure it out.

I am going to compare it with a few other heads like a Rex and whatnot to see what else could be feasible. It's not a must-do mod, but it would be nice to have the extra 1-2 degrees....Wish I had a bit more time with my heli, the kids being out of school and all, is taking up most of my time. I also seem to be modding and fixing and not ever really flying anymore[]

Peace,

Z

cbrian4

Down here in Arizona its been windy every day since the start of summer []

Zimatosa

LOL!! The wind is another story! Seems that what little time I have to fly, the high wind becomes a factor. I can fly in pretty high winds now though since i extended the boom and threw some 315mm blades on....

Z