RE: PiccoZ Micro R/C heli
i got my bearings today and installed them. it was much less painless than i was expecting, all really took was two needle nose pliers, a 7/64th (2.75mm) inch drill bit, and a peice of 1mm CF rod. it was a tight fit for the bearings, so they should hold themselves in place, which is good cause it looked near impossible to apply any amount of glue without it getting into the races of the bearings themselves.
i had already trimmed the leading edge of the main rotor blades, so i dont know what it was like before that with bearings, but with the bearings installed now, its 100% better. i dont have a body on it right now, and just glued on a scrap peice of CF to hold the battery in place for a test flight. with such little weight and much less on the rotor shaft, even the lowest throttle position made it climb almost too much - i actually had to cut the throttle all the way off to avoid smashing the ceiling. there's also NO vibration at any throttle position, its as smooth as glass. its a worthwhile modification to do, as flight times should be much better, and overall controll is now far superior. after i build a proper frame for the lipo and new body i'll check the flight times.
i also did a neat little mod a fellow picco flyer did, which is basically to flip the heli upside down. it requires removing the main rotor and spur gear off the metal shaft, very gentle twisting with the needle nose got both off without any damage. you also have to flip the tail motor 180 degrees so its pointing the other way. it looks more like a normal RC heli now, with the gear at the bottom. i dont have a pic yet, but i attatched a picture of the mod.
nick