AirforceRcks

I'm thinking about getting this heli as a somewhat beginner. I have been flying planes for about a year and had a bladerunner heli but it was only 2 channel. I would get it from towerhobbies for 199.99 with extra blades and the 25 dollars off thing. so a pretty good deal. too bad there not in stock till mid january.

thanks

metabolicmaggot

Doesn't your lhs carry it? You'd better check if they carry parts, no one likes to be grounded to wait for parts.

AirforceRcks

not sure ive been there many times for parts for my planes but i didnt see that one.
maybe ill check next weekend.

PilotLight

My Feedback: (1)

Well, here's a vid of me flying the Axe. Never had a problem before with red eye, but now it's there. Must be nearly possesed with this thing.

http://media.putfile.com/HeliMax-Axe-CP-Hangar-Hover

Only flown about half a dozen times so far, so its not the most exciting to watch. But, its fun to practice.

Enjoy....

tgwolfwood1981

nice to see someone else putting a vid up. i like. keep em coming.

Heli Bat

Way Cool video - hovering is nice and stable almost looks slo mo

Heli Bat
I guess I need to make a video next.

skycarven

Very nice video and stills. Looks like you have a great indoor place to practice. Lots of room. That is always nice. I had a huge hanger to practice in, but since the weather has been crappy, I have been stuck trying to practice hovering in a 6 by 6 area. Happy Hovering!

Blusaber

Hi guys

Does anyone know if the HS-55 is a direct replacement for the stock servos IE do they turn in the proper direction? On a blade cp you have to rewire them to get them to work properly. I have one of the stock servos twitching and will get occasional rapid unexpected climbs or drops so I want to change them out and want to know if its going to be easy or am I going to have to jump thru hoops.

Thanks

Gary

tgwolfwood1981

yes the HS-55 fit directly in with out the need for any modification. as far as which direction the turn, it doesn't really matter. The transmitter that comes with the axe has servo reversing switctes on the lower right in the front. hope this helps.

Heli Bat

I had to replace a servo over the weekend. My LHS only had the HS-55. It was a direct physical replacement "except" for the control arm. THe final gear at the control arm is slightly larger only by a fraction. If I had to make a guess, we are talking about .020, but it is enough that you can not carry the original control arm with the newer HS-55 servo. The HS-55 servo came with a small assortment of control arms. One of the control arms was suffiecient to do. Again on the control arm was not the exact, but can't tell that much diff. I did lenghten the linkage about 3 turns on the ball-link to compensate. Why, becuase it seemed that the servo that I replaced was binding. I found the happy medium and that medium was adjustment of the ball-link three turns.
I need to call my LHS so that they will order the original servos.


Heli Bat

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

I was able to get the stock servo arms onto the HS-55's when I made the swap. It's a tight fit, and I almost thought better of it and used the hitec ones, but it's doable. If you have 2 or 3 HS-55's laying around, there's really no point in paying $20 for a servo from Heli-max that is, in all likelihood, of poorer quality than an HS-55 that you can pick up for just $13. My advice to anyone who hasn't had a servo problem yet, is to just swap them all out for HS-55's when you finally do have a problem.

PilotLight

My Feedback: (1)

How come people are having a problem with the servos? Why are they stripping a gear? My planes with Hitec receivers will cause the servos to "jump" when I first plug in the battery even with the Transmitter on. The Axe doesn't do this at all. It just powers up and the servos stay where they are.

Hope they don't quit in flight. Is it from Crashes????

Heli Bat

My AXE took a fairly hard hit in the bushes Sunday yesterday. This is my first servo to replace. The gear that broke was at the very top - it seems as if it was mounted upside down from the top of servo can. The Gear is about 1/8" in size and I after looking at the servos, to be honest, I have to wonder how in the world they can stand that much torture anyway. They are so tiny and fragile looking. If anybody gets a chance to change one out, take it apart. There are 4 tiny screws on bottom of can to take the servo apart. It is pretty amazing that these little guys are flying this thing.

Heli Bat

Blusaber

Thank you

Thanks guys for all that answered I will order 3 hs-55 and replace them all at the same time.

Gary

MachTwo

skycarven

Dean's are very common and much higher quality than "regular" connectors. I don't know why you would want to switch away from a Dean's plug. If anything, you should switch to a Dean's plug if you do not already have them installed. I have nothing but good things to say about their product.

DscottM83

So are these "hs-55" servos direct replacements and work with the stock radio? Where can they be purchased incase i loose a servo? Do you re-use the stock servo arm "dont know the technical term"? Are people getting replacements under warranty or just upgrading to these?

Also ive noticed when making corrections while the heli is in flight it will drop down in height, is this normal?

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

HS-55's are made by Hitec and are available from many online retailers and a majority of hobby shops I've been in sell them. The only complicated thing about changing the servo's out is keeping the wiring straight. You can re-use the stock servo arm (it's a very tight fit on the HS-55) or you can just use the ones that come with the servo. I haven't tried the servo arms that come with the Hitec servo's, so I don't know how tightly the control rods fit in the holes on the Hitec servo arms. If the holes in the Hitec servo arms allow the control rods to wiggle even the slightest, I wouldn't use them.

I think the heli dropping when cyclic changes are made is addressed by a few people in another thread about the Axe.

EDIT:
I did get the one that stripped replaced under warranty, but I still put the 3 HS-55's in... I think the servos that came with the helicopter will be fine in a parkflyer... they'll probably end up in the f-18 my son wants me to build before the blue angels come to town this summer.

DscottM83

How was it addressed? Normal?

DscottM83

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXTX42&P=ML
So i can just buy 3 of those and they will work with the stock reciever and eveything? How much stronger are they than stock?

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

i can't really remember, but here are some threads you might find something about it in:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_52...tm.htm#5212643

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_51...tm.htm#5170913

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

Those are the ones; I don't know exactly how much more or less torque they have, as helimax hasn't yet given any specs for their servos. But I doubt I'll strip an HS-55 as easily as one of the stock servos stripped. They fit perfectly and they will move in the correct directions with the stick inputs. Just read and follow page 11 of the manual about resetting the blade pitch (section called 'Servo Setup') after you've changed out the servos.

wildchild45177

My Feedback: (11)

I can't understand why everyone is having problems with the AXE. I have only had a broken blade and grip, which was my fault. (hit the table leg) This is a tough little heli, near as I can tell.

Bob

DscottM83

I havent had any problems yet.

Heli Bat

One has to define what a problem is. I guess I had "a problem" since my Gyros were not set up correctly from the factory. But, I somehow figured it out by setting all my adjustments to "center" position on the trimers. Then I worked from there readjusting with about 5 flights to get it right. I would say that I had a problem from the factory. THe rest "problems" are problems that I caused myself with trainging and learning.

I found it interesting that the main heli max website has a screen shot of the servo board and all those adjustments are "centered" as opposed to the screen shot of the Gyro board in the Operators Manual. My adjustments to the Gyro seem to reflect more of what I found on Heli Max web site.

Heli Bat

dfalcon

My Feedback: (76)

I've had a couple dumb thumbs problems already... the servo that stripped on me happened without the battery even plugged in though. And I'm not pleased with the stock battery at all. Other than that, it's been great.