mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

No problem. I ordered 6 total. 3 for me and 3 for Beef. I'm like you, funds are kind of limited right now. I'll be getting more here in a few weeks. I really like digitals, but for some planes, I'll suffer. I checked at Tower, they are only 29.99 regular price which still isn't bad. I've always had good luck with Airtronics servo/radios.
By the way, SWB makes aluminum arms for Airtonics servos.

victorzamora

I don't know, I'm pricing out a 50cc plane and hopefully will have a HT/HS/MG Futaba (not sure which yet) on Ailerons and Rudder, and a standard on choke and throttle. I really love Futaba equipment and haven't heard a single complaint yet....and I'm all about reliability, so that's where I might be headed. What kind of torque do you need on the elevator of your typical 50cc 3d plane? I mean, would 115oz-in be plenty? It seems like it should be!

I know this isn't directly related to the topic, but what do y'all think about these: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXNRN6&P=0

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

Them are similar to the Hitec 5995. Take a look at the Tower 150. It's a Futaba servo, digital, HT and under $40!

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

Here's a link.

[link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXPHD4&P=ML]190oz Digital[/link]

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

depends on the plane...but most 50cc planes nowadays have oversized surfaces....

On ours we recommend AT least 200oz or more......

victorzamora

AT LEAST 200 oz-in on the elevator??

evan-RCU

100 per side.... I would think 75-100 is desired....

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Someone out doing 3d with a 50cc plane, doing it right in a high alpha condition using the deflected propeller blast off the flight surfaces instead of speed and lift, is moving the plane pretty much by the ability of a surface to hold a large portion of the planes weight. The engine is pushing the flight surface out of the way.

So a 16-18 pound plane is 448-504 ounces. Allowing for a safety fudge factor and deducting a little for engine thrust and a small amount of lift and I don't think a pair of 200 oz.in. servos on each elevator is out of line at all. If one chooses to use weaker servos they should bear in mind the potential for servo blow back or just outright failure is high.

flaminheli

That is alot of torque TOM. What do think should be on the rudder of a 50cc plane? This is going to be my first BIG plane so I really have no idea.

flatspinjim

My Feedback: (3)

The best you can afford. I try to buy servos with the idea I can put them in a bigger plane. In 6 months if something happens to your 50cc plane and you decide to go to a 100cc plane, you won't have to buy better servos. It's cheaper to buy once. Just my opinion

flaminheli

Good point.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

No plane is any better than the equipment used in it. You can have a $700.00 engine in a $900.00 plane so the thought of using $30.00 servos with the thought of saving money should seem ludricous to most people. If servos fail the rest of the plane is lost, and the value of the plane and equipment was equal to the cost of the part that failed. There IS no servo redundancy. It makes more sense to use an ultra cheap engine than it does to skimp on the servos. If you had to make a choice between a gazillion channel transmitter with 80 model memory and cheap servos or a basic transmitter and great servos you should take the great servos every time.

As for the rudder on a 50cc plane, that depends on how you plan on flying it. Flying hard I figure 1-1/2 to 2 times the required torque of an elevator servo. It's the largest single surface on many planes and when used correctly is used a lot and under high loads.

Flyfalcons

There's a reason $100 servos cost $100, and there's a reason $30 servos cost $30.

flaminheli

Can you give us that reason. Besides it being a name thing.

Mr. Mugen

Well for one you have digital and analog servo's. Not too many 30 dollar digitals out there that are worth putting in a plane that costs a few grand IMO. I like real time response personally so speed is always a factor I figure in when looking to set up a new plane as well as torque. I have bought up some of the cheaper servo's over the years and found that many of the "cheaper" servo's do not center as well usually. Just my opinion,

Kevin

Jake Ruddy

My Feedback: (40)

Overall quality
Ability to center
True torque
Speed
Quality control
Time that they will last.

In order to cut costs dramatically you need to cut costs somewhere, where do you think that is being done? If you really think there is over $70 mark up in a $100 servo I suggest you rethink that. Most businesses need to make 100% profit to succeed, there for that $30 is only costing $15 to make. So really you are saying there is $85 mark up in a $100 servo which is crazy.

There are many difference ways to cut corners in Electronics. Look at car audio, you can buy a $100 amp rated a 1000 watts, or you can buy a 100 watt amp for $500. Guess what? The $500 amp is way louder and the sound is crystal clear, while the $100 amp doesn't come close.

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

I agree with you about the amplifiers. I bought a JBL in 1995 and even though it was 500 bucks and it's watts were lower than some other amps, it was louder, clearer, and overall better sounding.

Back to the servos, the servo in my post above, is a $39 dollar servo. It's digital, has 193oz of torque, and is made by Futaba. I only own a few standard Futabas but will be trying out this one next. Even though it's in the $30 range, I'm hoping since it's made by Futaba with Tower's name on it, it'll be good quality.

flaminheli

I also agree about the amp thing. Now that $39 dollar servo you mentioned can't be any good, it goes against everything that the two posts before you stated . There are alot of people in the world that actually believe that you have to pay top dollar to get quality. That is not always the case.

Flyfalcons

Come back when you fly competitive precision aerobatics and tell me the $30 servo performs the same as the high end servos.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

The business model behind manufacturing generally demands that the selling amount of a product is equal or greater to 5 times the cost of production. So there is considerable profit in parts manufacturing. I'm not going to be the one to deny profitability because that's what makes the world go 'round. If you can't make money at it you starve so why bother doing it at all.

There is currently a servo on the market that carries the title of digital, has a lot of torque, and comes in at a very low price. QA is questionable and long term precision has not been established. The product was dumped on the market with little pre-release flight testing. Some of the lower level servos in the product line have had serious issues. I have a couple of the high torque digitals here and will not use them due to issues noted by others that went before me in flight testing and my own observations in bench running.

"E Caveat Emptor" plays large. Let the buyer beware. Kind of like many of Wally World's products. You can get them damn cheap, but they don't last very long and need frequent replacement if you want to keep a particular item on hand. The difference is that your plane isn't going to crash if the Wally World item gives up. Buy what you want, and spend as little or as much as you think you can get away with. You're the one living with the results.

Jake Ruddy

My Feedback: (40)

flammi much like everything else it completely depends on the users skills and method of use. However I can guarantee if you knew what to look for when flying a plane you would see a difference.

People could relate to the amp thing so let me give you one that doesn't have as many varibles.

I used to be heavily into playing pool, when I first started hearing prices of cues guys were playing with I was surprised. Then I played with my first expensive cue, it was $595 (this was 15 years ago) and the next week I bought one. I also got to play with a 1000 cue and again there was a big difference. If you think about it, there is no electronics to cut corners on and very few parts involved, yet these pieces of wood vary in price dramactically. Now someone who played pool once a month might not have seen what I saw, but since I played 5 nights a week I immediately noticed a huge difference and it greatly improved my game.

Look at almost any hobby out there.. there is a basic set of golf clubs and there is expensive ones, fishing poles, etc etc. You get what you pay for applies to this hobby just like everything else in life.

You might not be able to see the difference in the servos (I bet centering is way off and you should be able to see anyhow) but I can tell you if you cut too many corners and you loose your plane you will think twice next time.

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

How much do you want to spend or how much do others think you should spend? I've been told that 8611a and 7995 servos are too much for 50cc planes. Waste of money, was the term used. I like them both and that's what I use in my big planes. For 39 bucks I'll try a few of the Futaba/Tower digitals my 50cc Pitts M12. Not on the rudder though. I might go with Airtronics' new one for that. If I'm not satisfied, they can go into my 10 pound planes.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

I just finished a cycle test on a "standard" high torque servo from a new manufacturer. The specs state it can be run from 4.8 to 7.2v, so I set the voltage at 6.5 to see what happened. It took about 3 minutes of cycling for the servo to become too hot to hold in my hand. That was a simple no load condition and I really don't want to see how quickly it heats up and fails under any kind of flight loading. Of course before starting the test I opened up the servo. Found two of the solder contacts bridged with some loose debris inside the case. Removed it before power up.

Good price though. Anyone should be able to get one for about $29.95. The torque specs are good but that's where everything ends.

Jake Ruddy

My Feedback: (40)

They are a waste as in don't require that much torque. However if you want the same performance for centering and smoothness you have to go to the 7985. So at that point you might as well spend $15 more and get twice the torque titanium gears and be able to use them in the future on larger planes.

Eagleburger

I like servos as much as motors and buy most new ones if just to try out. The Futaba 9156 are a awesome servo, heaps more power than Hitecs latest and greatest, especially around centre. I have a couple of the new 9157 that I will try out shortly. I am not bashing hitec,I have 11, 7955s, they are just not in the same class as futaba.