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What Comes With The Kit?
Upon opening the box of the Voyager
E, I saw three small boxes neatly packed inside. One box contained the canopy,
another box contained main frames, rotor head, and electronics, and a long box
that includes main blades and tail boom. The kit includes many
factory-built assemblies including the
chassis, the main rotor head, and the
swashplate and washout unit. The main
frame is constructed of a rugged
fiber-filled nylon in a "open frame" style
layout. The servo openings are
designed to allow the installation of
standard or mini servos. The kit also
includes NHM-540ST motor and JR NEA-300H FET
high frequency electronic speed controller
(ESC) with a battery eliminating circuit (BEC).
The BEC eliminates the need for an on-board
receiver battery. The main blades are
finished and balanced. The included
canopy is made of tough, flexible
blow-molded polypropylene and an attractive
set of decals are also included. The tail
rotor is driven by a simple, lightweight
fine-toothed drive belt. The Voyager E's manual is clearly written with a
lot of pictures and diagrams. Probably
one of the best parts of the kit is the 120
degree cyclic/collective pitch mixing system
(CCPM) that controls the swashplate.
Why is
CCPM so great?
CCPM is an advanced control system where the
servos are mounted on the side frame and a direct linkage is provided from the
servo arm directly to the swashplate. With CCPM the three servos
(aileron, elevator, and collective) move in unison to provide control to the
swash plate. When the pilot moves the throttle stick to increase or
decrease collective, all three servos moved up and down to change the main
rotor's blade angle. When left, right, fore, or aft cyclic inputs are
given all three servos work together tilting the swashplate left or right
causing the heli to bank and fore or aft causing the heli to move forward or
backwards. With a CCPM system more power is actually applied to the
swashplate as all three servos are working together. The end result is a
crisp, accurate, responsive control system.
In order to utilize CCPM, your radio will need
to have this electronic mixing capability built in. Most of today's 6+
channel computer radios will have a program setting for 120 degree CCPM.
I used a JR 8103 8 channel radio that not only has CCPM, but hundreds of other
features as well. When it comes to model helicopters, you should not
skimp on a radio, it is always recommended to buy the best you can with
anticipation of the future.
The Assembly Process
The first part of the assembly dealt
with main frame. The main frame is constructed of very durable molded
plastic and comes pre-assembled with plastic cross members and self-tapping screws. One interesting thing to
point out, though, is that the main frame design of the Voyager E is more of an
"open frame" which exposes most of the mechanics of the
drive train which really eases maintenance.
The 4 body mounts are attached to the frame
first. They are simply threaded over the setscrews that are
installed in the frame.
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Front
Servo |
Left Servo
(Note JR Heavy Duty Control Arms) |
Rudder
Servo |
Servo installation comes next. With the Voyager E
you can choose to install either standard size servos or mini
servos. The openings in the frame come ready for standard servos, and the
kit includes reduction brackets for the use of mini servos. I chose to use
JR NES-321 mini servos in my heli. The servos are first mounted onto the
brackets then to the main frames. Be sure to note the position of
the mounting plates as you install them. There is a 4mm hole on one end to
use as a guide.
Next, the landing gear struts are fastened to the
main frame with self-tapping screws. The bottom of the landing gear
incorporates holding brackets for the Ni-Cd/NIMH battery pack. The gyro
plate is also installed at the same time as the landing gear.
The main shaft and main drive gear are installed
next. The main shaft is 8mm thick and constructed of aluminum.
The shaft is inserted in the bearing blocks and the main gear is held in place
with a 15mm bolt.
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Landing
gear with molded battery clips |
Main gear
and reduction gear installed |
Right
Servo |
The next step was to install the swashplate,
washout unit, and anti-rotation bracket. The CCPM design of the heli incorporates a 3
point, 120 degrees swashplate which is simply slid onto the main shaft.
The washout unit is inserted next and the arms are connected to two balls on the
swashplate. The anti-rotation bracket is installed behind the main
shaft and the pin on the back of the swashplate is inserted in the slot on the
bracket.
The rotor head comes fully assembled and is
inserted on the main shaft along with the flybar and flybar control arm.
The rotor head is secured to the main shaft with a 3mm bolt. The flybar
paddles are installed next. It is important to be sure that the paddles
are properly aligned with the flybar control arm.
Next, it is time to assemble the pushrods.
The rods are 2.3mm thick with plastic ball links on either end. It
is important to note that the ball links must be installed with the molded name
facing out. I noticed on my kit that some of the links are a little
tight. I used a JR Ball Link Sizing tool to ream each one out.
The result was a much smoother control system. I like the use of
dual ball links of each control rod. Other, larger glow-powered helis that
I have owned use a ball link on one end and a Z bend on the other.
This is a very nice, slop-free design.
The linkages to the swashplate connect directly
to the servo arm. Incidentally, you need to use JR's heavy duty servo arms
because of the required ball position. The standard JR servo arms are no
long enough.
After all the servos and pushrods were mounted, I set up
the radio for the correct movements and ATVs according to figures provided in
the manual. When using the settings described in the manual I quickly
realized that I had over 20 degrees of pitch travel, enough for just about any
maneuver.
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Completed
rotor head |
Swashplate
and anti-rotation bracket |
Top of rotor
head - Kit includes a head button. |
The included motor,
NHM540ST, is designed specifically for the JR Voyager E to provide excellent
power and long run times. The motor is
mounted upside down in the front portion of the main frame. The kit comes
standard with a 15 tooth motor pinion. There are four other pinions
(12, 13, 14 and 16 tooth) available to suit different needs. Be careful to
provide the correct gear mesh between the pinion and reduction gear.
This is easily accomplished by using a piece of paper and running it through the
gears.
Power was
delivered through the motor pinion to the first reduction gear that also powerd
the tail belt pulley. The reduction gear then drives the main gear. An auto-rotation clutch mechanism
is incorporated into the main gear, enabling auto-rotations. The tail
rotor, however, is not driven
during auto-rotations.
The tail gearbox is assembled and installed
next. Following the instructions, I inserted the drive belt into the
gear case and over the tail drive pulley. I installed the two
tail output bearings and the tail output shaft and pitch slider fit easily into
place. Pay attention to the flat spots in the tail output shaft to ensure
that it is installed properly. Also, be sure to use thread lock on all
metal to metal fasteners. The tail blade holders and tail
control lever are installed next, followed by the tail blades.
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Included ESC
complete with BEC and arming switch |
540ST
brushed motor - Included with the kit |
Bottom of
motor (notice noise suppression diodes.) |
The tail boom is a 22mm
diameter and constructed of aluminum and painted black. The tail boom can
now be inserted into the main frame. The Voyager does not incorporate any
tail boom supports, and I think with the size of the tail boom it is strong
enough not to need one. A fine pitch belt runs inside the boom and delivers
power from the first reduction gear to the tail gear. A T-shaped tail fin is
fastened onto the tail gearbox.
I setup the tail servo next, and found that the
tail pushrod was a straight line from the servo to the tail, and it was very
smooth. The tail pushrod was secured to the boom using the same guides from the
Ergo series. Finally I routed all the servo wires and mounted the
receiver and JR 410T Heading Lock Gyro.
Since this is an
electric heli no throttle servo is needed because throttle control is done
by way of an Electronic Speed Control. The ESC also has a BEC (battery
Eliminator Circuit) to do away with having a receiver battery. Basically
it pulls juice from the motor battery pack. My first impression of
the ESC left me concerned that it would be capable controlling this motor as it
has not visible heat sinks. I would later find out that the ESC
works perfectly and runs very cool. The ESC also has an "arming" power
switch. You push it once to power up the RX and servos. This allows
you to check the setup. Press it again and it arms the power output to the
motor. The ESC incorporates a safety feature that works as a soft start.
This prevents the motor from coming on if the throttle is accidentally moved to
the full position as the ESC is armed.
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Tail boom
mount |
Completed
tail drive unit |
Tail fins |
The last step in the assembly process was to
setup the control throws and pitch and throttle curves. The throttle curve
for the Voyager seems a bit odd you a gas/glow heli pilot. It's supposed
to be set at 0%, 40%, 80%, 90%, 100%. So when at mid stick and hovering,
the motor is at 80%. The idle up curve is set to 100% all the way across.
The pitch curves were setup according to the manual as a starting point.
Setting up the ESC was very straight forward. There is a toggle switch to turn on the ESC,
with an indication light on the switch that describes the operation mode the ESC
is in. With the first press of the button, it power the receiver but does not
give power to the motor, and the indication light will blink to tell users that
it is in setup mode. The second press of the button will give power to the
motor, and the indication light glows steady to tell users that its in ready
mode. The third press of the button turn power off to all systems. In addition,
when the ESC is at ready mode, I have to move the throttle trim to neutral
before I lift the throttle stick, or there will be no power to the motor. This
is on-off switch design gives multiple safe guard features and minimized users
from risk of hurting himself.
The Voyager E comes standard with a
pair of wood blades. These blades are semi-symmetrical and come wrapped in white
shrink material. I checked the balance of the blades and found that they
were right
on.
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JR PCM
receiver installed on tray at the front
of the frame. |
JR 410T gyro
installed |
Completed
canopy |
The single task that consumed most
of the time was cutting the canopy and applying decals. It took me about 3 hours
to assemble and setup the Voyager, but it took me more than one hour just to
trim the canopy and applying decals. The canopy is constructed of "plastic
bottle" material which is virtually indestructible. The job is made easier
by using a brand new blade in your hobby knife.
After everything was mounted, I
checked the CG of the helicopter, only to find that it was tail heavy. I
did not want to put additional weight in the canopy, so I moved the
battery pack forward towards the canopy, only to find that the canopy was on the way of
the battery pack. I then trimmed the canopy to let the battery pack move forward
about an inch thus solving the problem.
I was very happy so see how strong the
mechanics of this helicopter were designed and constructed. Normally
electric helis need to be lighter and this is usually accomplished by thinning
out the major components such as the frame. The assembly process was a
breeze made even easier by the quality of the manual.
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Thankfully there are many manufacturers who
realize that this is one electric heli that
is worth investing in some engineering for
upgrade components. There
are two main places that would benefit the
most from an upgrade on the Voyager.
setup.
Brushless motors have many advantages over a
brushed design. They are more
efficient, more powerful, and virtually
maintenance free. There are a
variety of motors available from many
manufacturers. I got a chance to
test a Voyager E with an Astro Flight
brushless motor and a 14 tooth pinion and it
offered a huge improvement over the stock
setup. I installed an Aveox
36/15/2 motor with a 22 tooth pinion in my
heli running on 7 cells and it was like I
was flying a whole new heli. The
Aveox system delivered a bunch of power and
gave the heli what it needed to perform
aerobatics. I am going to
experiment with different pinions to see if
I can tweak it even more. I am
finding the heli performs best with the head
speed up in the 1700-1800 RPM range.
anytime, anywhere without disturbing anyone!
Unlike many electric helis on the market
today, the Voyager E comes complete with a
120 degree CCPM control system with full
collective capability. In its
stock configuration, the Voyager is a very
graceful flyer, perfect for the beginner.
However, with a few hop-ups it can be setup
to perform with its larger glow-powered
counterparts. The
kit can be assembled in 3-4 hours and will
yield flight times of 5-9 minutes with a
3300 NIMH 7 cell battery.
