dpleasants

Hey guys,

I finally got a reply from Hobbico about the status of the MX450 XS. I found it very interesting and funny. Here it is:

Hello, Thanks for your email.

To be perfectly honest here in product support we don''t know what the deal is with this.

Thanks Again,

Rich A.
Product Support

dpleasants

Well, it has happened again. Tower has now discontinued the whole MX400-450 series. This is like a bad soap opera. lol

Ductapemaster

Well, my main gear replacement finally came into the LHS today...hopefully I will have my first flight before work tomorrow! Wish me luck...

Oh, and thats weird about Tower discontinuing the heli''s...excuse my ignorance, but why did they do this?

-Dan

hikai

My Feedback: (2)

Hi Osterizer, The tail boom servo mounts are great... the tail servo is now on the tail boom and the tail rotor position can be adjusted in less than a minute. I can hover for a few seconds to about 30 seconds. The tail must be constantly controlled. If the tail moves more than a few degrees right or left, the rotation continues and cannot be stopped. The Futaba GY401 gyro is setup with the DS Mode Switch in the off position. I changed the gyro gain incrementally from about 75 to 100%. At 75% gain, it will agressively rotate counter clockwise and it cannot be controlled. At about 90% gain, the tail can be controlled if you constantly control the rudder with the stick...however if the tail moves more than a few degrees either right or left is continues to rotate... cannot be stopped. The tail rotor slider is sticky as compared to my other heli. The tail rotor blades neutral position is about 5 degrees right stick. At full right rudder, the tail rotor blades are about 25 degrees and full left rudder about 15 degrees. I also checked the Futaba S3114 sevro under load. With about a 2lb force on the ball link (orginally attached to the tail rotor servo ball) the servo performs flawlessly. I removed the tail slider and sanded the tail slider rod with 600 grit sandpaper, applied 3 In One oil and it is still sticky, however, it did improve.
Any other recommendations would be appreciated.

hikai

My Feedback: (2)

Osterizer, The tail slider did improve, however, it is still sticky. The heli will hover at about 75% throttle stick position. The transmitter throttle setup is 0 45 70 85 85 to insure the rotor speed is not excessive.

dpleasants

Dan,

No one know why they did this. About a month ago they discontinued the 450. Then about 2 weeks later, it was back up for sale. Now the 400 and 450 are discontinued. I contacted Heli-Max about it and they told me they had no idea what was going on with it. Pretty bad when the wholesaler is lost. Ark, the Taiwanese manufacturer of the Heli-Max machines, has come out with a X-450 XL. It looks just like a T-Rex 450. Maybe it is going to take the place of the 450 XS. Guess we will just have to wait and see.

Ductapemaster

Interesting...is the new X-450 XL like the TREX in the respect it has a plastic head and tail?

Also, I flew my heli last night...my impatience got the best of me. It flew pretty well! I was nervous at first but I got over it as soon as it was in the air. However, I noticed that the tail has some serious vibration. It only happens when I get to about half stick (it hovers at just above that)...any ideas for a cause? I looked it over at I couldn't see anything that was noticeably wrong. I adjusted the tail as it was slightly off from level but it didn't help any.

Thanks!

-Dan

EDIT: Well, I fixed the problem...I took off the tail blade grips and tightened them down again. It appears that one was loose. The vibration is still there (a little bit), but it doesn't hum which is a big improvement.

HOWEVER, I crashed...I was flying on my driveway and I got distracted for a second and when I looked back the heli was flying right next to some roofing tiles. I quickly throttled down but the tiles were too close and the blades smacked the top tile. Wood everywhere on the ground and cursing in the air. Of course, that was right as my mom walked into the garage...she wasn't too pleased.

So, I took the blades off to inspect the damage and it appears that I bent the flybar shaft, chipped one of the flybars, bent the main shaft (I think), and stripped my brand new main gear. I just put the darn thing on yesterday! I might be able to salvage it though. It's not too bad and the teeth are still there. We'll see.

Now, off to the hobby shop to order more parts for the darn thing....grrrr

dpleasants

Dan,

The 450 XL is all metal. The head and tail are clones of the trex. Here is the link where you ca check it out: www.arktaiwan.com.tw Sorry about your crash. I cannot wait until I get to actually fly mine. lol Well good luck to you.

hikai

My Feedback: (2)

Hi osterizer,
Update: I centered the tail slider, increased the GY401 limit to about
120.. max movement before it hits the stops. The GY401 delay was to 0, as
the servo specs are fast, and adjusted the GY401 gain until there was some
tail control. However, there is limited control (tail drifts) with the gain
set at 63 and the tail wags with the gain set at 64. I changed the GY401
delay to about 20 and the results were similar: there is limited control
(tail drifts) with the gain set at 70 and the tail wags with the gain set at
71. It appears that the Futaba S3114 is not compatible with the GY401. The basic cause may be
the gyro/servo configuration. On my other heli, the tail servo is a Futaba
S9650. Are you aware that the above gyro/servo configuration may not be the
best. Do you have any recommendations
Thanks,
Russ

osterizer

I don't know for sure- I've never tried a 3114 on a tail with the 401 -but I have used the 3154, and though it wasn't as powerful as the current 9257, it was strong enough. What you're describing now does sound like a soft servo- I'd probably try the 9650 from the other heli on it to rule that out.

osterizer

Owwww, stinks. FWIW, a couple months ago I put a new canopy on my HBK2, and then proceeded to knock it off the bench... crash to the ground, broken canopy. Never even flown!

Varmintmaster

My Feedback: (5)

Well never even got to finish building my 450XS but divorces are necessary at times so check out my ad in the for sale forums, I believe it is a good price for everything, let me know what you guys think about it. Still have my little blade so not completely out of the heli world yet.....

AviationNut

Woah $400 now! Better off getting a Trex for that kind of scratch.

[link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXMAE5&P=EP]MX450[/link]

osterizer

Or selling mine for a discount- $300, maybe?

Methinks they have a catalog issue.

AviationNut

Hehe! Hey, I'll sell mine for only $299.50 Watching that "discontinued" heli keep coming back from the dead is pretty entertaining, but this takes the cake for sure.

BTW, does anyone know how to get the CC Phoenix 35 to work correctly with an Eclipse 7 in heli fixed throttle mode? I swapped in the 35 to my MX450 recently and I can get zero throttle to work at 125% on the low side, but even at 125% on the high side, the ESC won't recognize full throttle (trim is all the way up too). It's strange, because in airplane fixed mode, the endpoints are at 85% each, but then I don't have that nice soft start of the heli mode.

osterizer

I know little about the Eclipse radios, sorry. I use the Castle Link to set up their ESCs, though- much better than using the tx.

Ace9

Hello again 450 group: Could someone provide me a link to a good carbon fiber rod kit for my MX450XS. I already have the optional tailboom servo mount (HMXE9109). I just need to connect the servo arm ball to the tail pitch ball.

osterizer

Just look up the part for the TRex 450 on HeliDirect, either the Align or microHeli one.

Ace9

Thanks for the quick reply osterizer. I ordered an Align AGNH1136W set, so hopefully this will work!

osterizer

NP Ace. I don't know that part from personal experience, but it looks about right. You may have to play with the guides you want to use, but this particular piece, the TRex and MX are close enough as usually makes no difference at all.

There's a more active MX thread on RCG at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...71#post9907968, btw. We ramble around in discussion about the helis we're buliding this month, but all the regulars are MX alumni, and we fly them regularly. You might want to check in there.

cflytrap

Hi everyone,

I am new to this thread and a proud owner of a MX450. I got it used from a friend of mine. Did a small tile job for him in trade for a complete rig with radio etc. Like the indians say..."good trade".

Anyhow, I am going to try to explain the problem I am having, which may not be a problem at all but I need opinions. I'm not too hip on all of the terminology so I will do my best to explain it.

The heli flies fine. Blades are balanced perfectly, the tail holds great. overall it is a top notch performer. Today after my morning flight I noticed something while folding up my blades and putting it away. I hope someone understands what I am trying to say....If I take the "button" at the very top of my head, I can twist the head to the left and right and it seems that there is alot of play. The head is firmly attached to the mainshaft, along with the collar with grub screw that sits below the swash. The head itself is solid with very little slop in it. It is not the pushrods and linkage or a loose head. When I "twist" the head I can hold both the main gears and the head and shaft assembly. Or in other words the gears don't move until I twist the head enough for them to move, and the amount I can twist it left and right is hard to describe because it is less at the shaft and more at the blade tips (making sense?) If we reference from the blade tips, I would say the distance they move back and forth within this range of slop is about an inch. At the blade grips it is somewhere in the range of 2.5 to 3mm. I can twist the head left and right this much before the main gear catches and goes along with the movement.

I haven't taken this heli apart but the instruction manual gives a full exploded diagram of the mainshaft area. Now, what I think it is, is the hole at the bottom end of the shaft, or the bolt that goes thru the hole in the shaft, anti-rotation collar and gear. I kinda suspect that the hole at the bottom is kinda worn and opened up a bit or the bolt is worn and it is causing this slop.

So to summarize, is this amount of play normal for this model? I have nothing to reference to (like another model). I'll say again that the heli flies great so I don't think I am heading for a mechanical failure. What can I do to fix it? Am I worried about something that I shuldn't be worried about?

How much "twist" in the head is normal?

I subscribed to this thread to check for updates but you can PM me as well if you have any ideas.

Thanks ton guys and happy flying.

Chris

rollingball

Sounds like you are right on with the lower bolt for the tail drive. Think I had the same issue a long while ago.

There should be very little to none movement when holding the gears, I would also suspect the plastic gear is worn enough and also maybe the bolt going through is in the shape of a S now, because HM uses very soft grade metal for their hardware.

Best bet to to get a new lower gear and some better screws and nylon lock nuts for the head and lower gear. After installation everything should be snug.

cflytrap

Right on and thanks. Do you think I should ground the heli until I fix it? whats the worst that could happen?

rollingball

I guess there is some play, but check it out anyway, especially the screws for the S syndrome.

Really no need to ground the heli..

cflytrap

I am kinda thinking that if the screw is bent in an "S" or worn, I will replace it with a stronger and possibly wider screw which will take up some of the space and theoretically tighten stuff up a bit. I just think there is too much play in this area. I will tear into it tonight and see what I find.

Thanks again.