Jason 3-Danhakl

My Feedback: (10)

Just an FYI, The canopy has a protective film you can peel off. The picture shows your new birds still have the plastic film. That canopy is glossy under there!

RCForever

My Feedback: (8)

Thanks Jason! I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed!

RCForever

My Feedback: (8)

The canopies look GREAT without the protective covering. I also set my dual rates on and hovering was much easier. I am very happy with these helis and the Futaba 2.4 6EX radio that came with the RTF. I ordered another RX and a 401 gyro to replace the ones on my Century Swift RTF. I can hover the Swift OK but the stock radio does not have dual rates so that should help me there.

altavillan

My Feedback: (1)

Is the flybar rod really aluminum like the parts breakdown at Tower says? The replacment rod being aluminum doesn't seem to be a very strong piece since it's only 2.12 cm dia. I would think it would break soon or bend easily.

AJ

RCForever

My Feedback: (8)

In the manual exploded diagram the flybar rod is item #39 part number HMXE8515. On both my helis the flybars are steel.

SAL98

My Feedback: (6)

I swapped my flybar for the trex bar wich is 220mm. Gives you a more responsive heli thats a little more stable. Same diameter as the AXE which i woul have had to order.

HAMMER JR.

well i got the balls to ditch the training gear on my cpv3 and been doing well and got the balls to fly my axe 400, i was flying in high rate and it feels slopy to me and im new to all this, i have the RTF with the fut. 2.4 and looking at the settings in high rate is at 100%and expo is at -50 and in low rate at 70% and expo at -35 so do i need to set the expo at like -70 to get it more sensitive and also put CF paddles on it dont know if that could slowed movement, but it seems slow and sloppy alot of stick movement, my cpv3 is alot more sensitive, guess im going to have to learn this,im new to setting up but any help would be good thanks

osterizer

Hammer- generally, bigger == slower but more precise. However, your setup is slowed down considerably. Slowly, only in increments of (at most) 10, increase the expo values toward zero (the larger the negative value, the less sensitive around center). Each time you change it, take it out and fly it and see what you think. It's a little slow that way, but if you move it too much at once you can get in trouble.

The percentage rates are in relation to total travel. If you get to zero expo and you want more travel on low rate, you can increase it up to 100%, but if it's set up right, then 100% will be mechanically as far as you want it to move, so unless you can verify there is more mechanical travel beyond that, I wouldn't touch them at first.

HAMMER JR.

thanks osterizer, yeah i just talked to my brother he said same so guess ill leave it in high rate and change expo starting -40 and said not to get to o,so ill try that and go lower if needed, this is realy a nice heli, it does have gyro problems but cant expect much out of a gyro that cost 50.00, ive got a lot of my brothers parts off his t-rex 450 xl and they look intrechangeable.

osterizer

Sounds good, Hammer. I flew some of my helis on a 6EX for about six months through the summer of '07 so I hope I got it right . Have fun tuning it up; happiness is a new heli to tinker with!

HAMMER JR.

yes feels much better,in high rate at 100% expo -35 and set swsh ch P which is pitch at 40% was set at 35% and before the expo was -50 so i changed slow like you said, and feels much better but going to have to fig. out this gyro, im realy thinking of getting another,any ideas on a gyro that i can use with this servo,or would it be best to replace the gyro and servo together, i got a good deal on this bird from tower last month after sale and disc. paid 369.99 for the rtf,and bought couple of batteries, i think this bird is a great deal as it looks like a t-rex 450 xl clone, i have a lot of parts from an old t-rex450xl and can use alot of the parts bout every thing looks the same excp. the frame very little differance.

Jason 3-Danhakl

My Feedback: (10)

http://manuals.hobbico.com/hmx/hmxm1012-manual.pdf

Set up manual for the HM4000
FYI there is a hidden trim pot under the label right next to the gain pot. Also when you change gain there is going to be a slight trim drift. So find the gain setting you like and leave it in HH mode all the time. 45% on a Futaba seems to work really well on the AXE 400.
Jason

SAL98

My Feedback: (6)

Jason 3, How did you find out about the hidden trim pot? I havent tried it yet, but maybe this is the reason why I had to set the subtrim in my radio at 70 on channel 4 to get the gyro to center when switching from Rate mode to HH mode. Will look into it and let you know.

SAL98

My Feedback: (6)

Wow, I just took apart the old HM 4000 gyro that came with the heli to look for this second trim pot and thats just what I found. Since I had the case open I cut out the covering from the inside out and put everything back together. Then I memorized the position of were the pot originaly sat, hooked everything up and tried it out. WALA, subtrim is know at 0 and the arm holds when switching between HH and Rate.

Then I turned my attentions to the AXE, I cut out the hole position to match the old gyro and turnded everythingon. Then I set my radio back to 0 subtrim and used the newly found trim pot on the radio to set the HH to match the Rate position. It only took about 1/16th of a turn to get it just right. Know I actually get the same amount of left throw as Right because subtrim isnt being used in the radio.

Truly thankful you posted your find Jason 3-Danhakl, I cant wait for the weather to get better to try it out.

electron

My Feedback: (1)

I guess I am going to have to find a local heli guy to help me out as I still can't get my AXE 400 dialed in correctly.. I have to set the rudder sub trim to R 38 just to get the gyro to somewhat hold and for the gyro sensitivity on the radio if I turn it above like 20% it won't hold at all seems like the higher the number the less gain it has. I just wonder if that new trim pot you all have found has anything to do with this. There is one weird thing is I can't get the servo arm to be at 90 degrees on the tail servo as the splines are just wrong if I take it off and move it over a notch either way it’s too much the other way. I did notice with the subtrim setting at R 38 it makes the tail servo at 90 degrees, but then the tail pitch isn't neutral, but it is centered on the shaft if that makes sense...

Electron

PilotLight

My Feedback: (1)

Jason, what does this hidden pot do? What is its label? Why is it hidden? Most gyros have a gain pot and a travel pot. Doesn't the travel pot adjust how far the gyro will drive the servo? Its basically an end point adjustment. It shouldn't change the centering point on the servo. Hmm, let us know...

Thanks.

SAL98

My Feedback: (6)

From what I can know tell, this pot adjust the drifting of the gyro at neutral stick position. When this pot is moved a little to the left or the right, The movement of the servo arm drifts to the left or right. This drifting is what was causing me problems and why I had to use subtrim in the radio to stop the drifting either way. But as we all know, using subtrim changes up your endpoints as you add in higher percentages. Know that I fine tuned the gyro with this pot, to elemenate drift from center, I can know set everything up correctly in rate mode, and then switch to HH and lock everything in.

First, what radio are you using and what menu in the radio do you have activated to adjust gain?

Second, You want to set up rate mode by setting the gain to 45% on either end if your using ATV's to adjust gain. If you using a gyro menu like on the DX7 then you want to use a number higher than 50 for HH mode and a number lower than 50 for Rate mode. I would suggest starting with 65 for one position and 25 for the other. Control should be on a switch like the gear switch so you can hit it to toggle from one mode to the other.

By doing this you might know be able to find a spline that puts the arm very close to 90 degrees. Know its time to make sure your in Rate mode and hover the heli and use mechanical devices to get the tail to hold straight without any drift. You will increase or decrease the length of the pushrod to do this, not the trim in the radio.
When you can hover in rate mode and the tail stays relatively still, you can go to HH mode by hitting the switch and she should continue to hold that same position.

electron

My Feedback: (1)

Sal98,
I am using a DX7 radio.. The problem is that if I set one at say 25 and the other at 75 the one at 25 will adjust the servo when the tail is moved but the one at 75 when I switch to it does nothing. The servo stays centered but if you move the tail around fast or slow it doesn't move the servo at all... I can set one at say 10 and the other at 20 and the only thing I notice then is that the one at 10 seems to be more sensitve than the one at 20.

Thanks Electron

SAL98

My Feedback: (6)

That does sound defective. When I called Helimax they sent me a new one in less than a week. Also when I told them about the trim problem with this one ( that was really just that secret pot being slightly off) they said they would send another one out as well. So I,m just trying to say if you think it's defective give them a call and let them send you a new one. I know it would be easier to buy the 401 but for the few minutes of your time that it would take to call, would be worth saving the 200 bucks for the 401 combination.

Jason 3-Danhakl

My Feedback: (10)

http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/I...Y&pageId=5.2.1

Nick Maxwell doing what the news crew thinks is cool. You can see a little of the potential of the AXE in the video even with the additional help!
They should have just let him wring on it.
Still mainstream video in a major market.
JD

Jason 3-Danhakl

My Feedback: (10)

The HM 4000 has a gain pot. The newer versions have a trim pot also that is under the label as Sal's picture shows. There is no limit pot. Limit is adjusted by the servo arm length. Piro rate is controlled by EPA or ATV whichever your radio has. If you center all your trims and center your servo with just the rudder channel that will make any gyro perform much better. Once you have the servo centered add the gyro back into the circuit. Then with the HM4000 adjust the trim pot till the servo is centered exactly where is was centered with just the radio. That will give you the best performance.

PilotLight

My Feedback: (1)

Thanks Jason. Glad you cleared that up.

Yeah, they should let him just do his thing. Can't believe she wanted it upsidedown above her head. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

dbishw92

My Feedback: (1)

just received my new helimax 400 rtf love it hovers great out of the box been watching sal98 vidoes thanks for the great work is alot better to see then read. landing skids seam really small. im just a begginer. sal98 has seam to replace his with something different is anybody using somethig dif [bigger]

HAMMER JR.

i think u can find some wider but not from helimax, look for parts for t-rex450xl, is one of the first t-rex and is a good setup, the axe 400 is almost a trex 450xl clone, i have found that a lot of the parts are interchangable, i have alot of old trex parts and they all look the same the frame has very little differance as they cant make the same have to make little diff. but most of the parts will work,and look into new gyro, im on my third hm4000 they last up to bout 10 flights and start acting up ive got a 401 on the way. but over all this is a good bird for the money, esp. with the futba 6ex

dbishw92

My Feedback: (1)

how will i know if i start having problems with my gyro will the tail just not hold?