I'm new to the hobby and I've been having some problems with my Blade CP. I've only had it for a week and its flown fine up until tonight. For no apparent reason it will now "jump" up and down while in a hover ranging from a few inches to over a foot. The effect seems to occur most prominently with a fresh battery and decreases during the flight until it goes away a few minutes in.

At first I thought it may be voltage issue and experimented with a 2 cel Li-poly from my blade CX -same effect, lots of jumping which would subside during the flight. I tore down and rebuilt the blade grip and spindle assembly but did not notice any obvious binding or parts in need of repair. Likewise with the ball links. I've read a few posts related to this jumping but have not come across a clear solution to the problem.

I thought that the solution may have something to do with rotor head speed or blade pitch. As the charge on both batteries I've tested decreases I obviously need to increase the throttle which in turn increases the pitch of the blades and decreases the head speed.

Anyone have a solution for me?

bdavison has not tried the E-Flite aluminum head because no one has. I believe he was talking about the difference between the E-Flite Bell/Hiller setup and the E-Sky one. Those pictures AJ posted were a little taste that Jason gave us a while back. Jason has not said any more about it.

E-Sky does not have an aluminum head for the cp2 either. The only one available now is the one heli-direct and heli-hobby sells.

My Blade CP has been doing the jumping in flight thing for quite some time now. I noticed that it got worse as my tail motor started to go out on me. I cannot say for sure but I think it might have something to do with an excess draw by the tail that could cause the issue. I replaced the tail motor and the problem went away as far as I could tell. Give it a shot. I know tons of people talk about hte same problem!!

Johns Sparks

Jumping in flight...

Three days ago I upgraded my heli. First was the Bell/Hiller linkages. It flew fine (great upgrade btw). Then I went from a 950mh to a 1300mh 3 cell LiPo. It is way too heavy for the blade. Anyway, on the third flight, the heli suddenly went out of control. It was only 4" off the gound so no damage was done. But when I re-initialized the thing, the 4-n-1 went crazy. After some diagnosis, I found that one of my servos went south and was pulling a large amount of current through the 4-n-1. This made the 4-n-1 loose communications and eventually caused the crash.

I bought a new servo and installed it yesterday. It's back in the air, but now it randomly falls about a foot. What gives? The head speed seems constant and I don't hear any changes in the motor. There doesn't seem to be any servo chatter and mechanically, it seems great. no binding - nothing bent - Perfectly aligned.

Any ideas????

I don't want to buy a new 4-n-1 if I don't have too. Is there a way to diagnose this problem without just replacing parts?

-Pilot

How far off the ground are you when the heli drops? I notice when I fly mine in the garage as I get near a wall or the ground the prop wash really affects the handling, and the heli will "pogo" a bit and get pushed around.

I thought that was the bell/hiller, sorry. But the CP2 bell/hiller is what bdavison said was very good (and yes it is plastic). Which one is the one selling for $110? It is aluminum and has been out for a while now. And Esky does have a CNC aluminum head.

Thanks for responding...

It doesn't seems to matter. I flew it outside and it did it at three feet and about 25 feet. Also, it didn't do it before the servo malfunction.

-Pilot

Where does e-sky have an aluminum head. I would love to see it. The only one out right now that I know of is the cnc head that heli-direct has (not made by esky) for 110 and the one that heli-hobby has (exact same as heli-direct) for $50 more.

I know e-sky is working on an aluminum head for the King but I've never seen anything from them about a new aluminum head for the cp2

I have the same falling problem. I usually fly in my shop at work, but I flew at home a couple times last weekend and it did not have the problem. I am wondering if there is some kind of RF interference at work. I think that what's happening is, the pitch changes on the blades to negative but only for a fraction of a second and then comes back. I can see the blades flash differently when it happens. I cannot see the servo arms when it happens because the heli drops so suddenly it makes it hard to see. I have tried to reproduce the problem while holding the heli in my hand, and spinning up the blades for a while so I can see what's going on, but it will not fail while I am holding it for some reason. Maybe it is vibration causing the glitch, and holding it reduces the vibration. I don't know...

I posted my theory a while ago. I've been flying the heli all winter with NO glitches (knock-on-wood), then I decided one day to install the shim upgrade. Shortly after that, the heli would drop about 3 inches just for a split second. I believe that some sort of interference is causing this. In my cause it is being caused from the 2 shims on each side spinning and rubbing together causing a harmonic vibration, probably so faint that it's just enough to make this happen.

I will be removing the shims and going back to stock until my B&H arrives. If I don't notice anymore bobbing after I take the shims out, I'm confident I solved the problem.

James

very intresting...... I will do some experimenting with that. Thanks!

Hi


I know this my sound stupid but why is every one waiting for the bell-hiller upgrade kit to be in stock for $25 when all you have to do is get the component parts for only $15, and there always in stock. I don't see the point in waiting weeks or even months when I can get the parts and assemble it my self within just a couple of days.

I bought the kit because I needed a new spindle and I thought I had a few bad ball bearings in my old grips. My LHS had the kit in stock so it was more cost effective to buy the kit instead of 2 sets of bb and a new center hub for the spindle. and the rest of the parts needed for the upgrade. Would have end up costing me about $50 to do the upgrade and fix the parts that I thought were already bad in my heli

I have the same issue... but I am looking to buy the stuff for the E-Sky BH head. I just can't seem to find all of the parts in stock at the same place.

I just bought the E-Sky head for $47 shipped from rc-expert.... I had been waiting for Balsapr to get the link arms in stock for over a month because they are cheaper and in the USA(faster shipping). Tired of waiting, bit the bullet at rc-expert. I'm sure Balsapr will get the link arms in tomorrow. oh well.

I've been waiting and waiting on Balsa to get in the E-Sky 3-in-1. I think one of the speed controllers is bad in my 4-in-1 and I've already replaced the receiver of the 4-in-1 so don't want to spend the $70 on a new one I'm just gonna mod. I sure hope Balsa Products gets all their stock in soon.

I don't suppose you could list the parts needed? I'd like to go with the Esky BH head, too, but I'm not sure what parts to get.

I have been looking for so long that I have them memorized...

ek1-0228 center hub
ek1-0229 rotor head
ek1-0231 paddle frame
ek1-0213 bearing
ek1-0234 link arms

the only place I have found that has all the parts in stock is rc-expert

Hey thanks. Just one of each, even the bearing? My blade grips are the 2 bearing ones, I think. Would I have to replace those? I think they're the right shape.

I think the bearings are for the rotor head. There are 2 of them included in the ek1-0213. I think you would use the stock blade grip setup. I have not seen it yet, other than in pictures. I got the info from futura, and he uses it on his, so I trust that it is correct. And yes, one of each part number.

rcexpert has it for $110 also, in stock.
Has anyone reported if these are any good?

There are a few people that have tried them. I've heard good things about them but I've yet to see a flight video with it. They say it's not much heavier than the stock head. Without flight video in the hands of someone who can put the blade thru it's paces with both the stock head and the cnc head it's hard to say if it's better or not. I've heard that it wears just like the stock one which requires repair after some time. It also uses the stock CP2 control arms which are a known point of slop. So it's an unknown really. All the reports I've seen are people that have gone brushless and I have not read any reports from people with the brushed motor with the CNC head.

Hi

I should be getting a brand new Blade CP in the mail on Friday or Saturday, and it only cost me $189.00, and as soon as those plastic blades are in stock I am going to get a set of those.

I absolutely love it! I had just connected the neurons in my brain that allowed me to hover for as long as I cared to and do a little side in when I did the upgrade. It just made it much easier to control the heli's overall movement, more predictable. I can now land on my kichen island with ease. My latest feat was flying off my parents 2nd story deck and flying down and landing on the top of a very small gas grill...

One problem with the bell hiller. I had a blade swapping crash and it instantly broke the 2 grip ball joint arms clean off the grips. In the past this type of crash would simpy have over-rotated the blades requiring a pop back into position. I have since super glued them and re-broke them twice now. This is a pisser considering that my respiritory system is extremely sensitive to super glue...had to go to the emergency room once when I was building a 6ft balsa glider with super glue and could hardly breath.

I had read a while back that someone drilled a small hole through the ball and grip arm and glued in a small piece of cf rod in it. Haven't had to try it myself but it sounds logical. Probably could ca the ball back in place and then drill it. I have an extra grip missing the ball (arrived that way) I think I'll try it out to see if it works.