Wick246,

Glad you took my advise into consideration..Slowing down and getting one heli properly set up.

Inspect all your air frames and choose which one is in the best condition, check the tail boom closely, it can have a fracture that is hardly noticably.. Just hold the heli and the tail motor assembly, and twist the tail gentley and look for cracks in the tail boom.

FOCUS on one heli, and get it right. You'll be much better off in the long run, rather than jumping from one heli to the other and HOPE it works.

Take the time to adjust the swashplate for level, balance the blades, make sure the pitch of the blades is good, adjust tracking of the blades. Those are the basics, also, I may suggust that you adjust the proportional trim and the gyro trim... All the adjustments are in your manual, just follow them step by step and you'll be good to go... It may take several hours to go through it all, a couple evenings at most. However, it'll be the best thing you can do to get it right.

You have to be patient in this hobby, or it can drive ya nuts and be costly too, $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Feel free to PM me on any help needed,

Dave / Choppersrule

Rick and Lookyj,


Rick:

Hopefully, I'm the first, to say that you have done an EXCELLENT job with the CX2. It's an 8 minute video, watched it all. Great, job, you even have the nose-in, down pretty darn good. Congradulations on your accomplishment with the CX2.

Lookyj,

You did a tremendous job, getting Rick's flight on the web. Kudos, to you. This is what the forum is all about, helping each other when we can. I know you spent several hours doing this and I know, I appreciate it and I'm absolutely sure that Rick does too and tickled to death to see it on the web

I like this thread, because of guys like you and the others too. All helping each other out and giving us an update on there troubles and accomplishments.

Patience: I have the patience of a Saint,,, When I was in the Service, I spent two whole days waiting for a flight to go to Thailand, nothing to do but wait. We all somehow make it through all that confronts us.

Dave / Choppersrule

Hey Lookyj,

Where's the CP Video, I'm waiting, doo-deee-doo. [sm=punching.gif]

Always a smart guy in the crowd,

Dave / Choppersrule

choppers,

this thread and the people that post here is a big part of what makes this hobby so much fun!!!


8 more minutes of Ricks CP flight coming soon! (well maybe not too soon, like an hour or so!)

Lookyj,

An hour, GRRRRR. Guess I'll have to have a BEER.

Thanks soo much for helping Rick out,

Dave / Choppersrule

and here's the next vid...

http://www.rcuvideos.com/view_video....7a55c392b5f40a

Barrick / Rick / Oldguy ,

I watched the video of the CP flying , you got it going, good job. I see that you don't seem to ever panic. That's a good thing.
Oh, I see you shop at Krogers, saw the bag in the background.(Yuk-Yuk)

Lookyj,

In a word, AWESOME.

Dave / Choppersrule

Chop.. THIS IS SO TRUE....From the moment I found this THREAD y'all have made me feel at home among friends. Cannot say enough for all the HINTS, SUGGESTIONS, LEADS and actions that have benefitted me in this new HELI craziness.
THEN there is LOOKYJ .... what can I say about THAT ? No simple THANKS would be enough for the great work he did for me. I look forward to the CP PRO flight because besides being only the 2nd. flight ever, it looks so much better. Maybe the HELI itself is so much better. All three, that you saw, were straight out of the box, no mods, no add-ons and they are still doing good.
Here is a PIC that I meant to SUMMARIZE how serious I take y'alls ADVISE and GUIDANCE.
I am re-doing the PRO now, like I just did the CP, with SuperSkids and fins, etc. On the table you can see : the 6100 RX for the DX-7 that I picked up today at the LHS. Then there is the SOLDERING PENCIL (thanks Dave ! ) also you can see the MAGNIFYING LAMP, thanks Arrow I just got that today as well...In front: the F/G black blades going on the PRO, right now with the new SuperSkids.......
I feel you are all my BAND OF BROTHERS, and you make a difference for this OldOne who has nobody but a Cocker Sp. and a Cat.
THANKS GUYS.
RICK

choppers,

that's funny, I noticed the krogers as well!

I got one more vid of rick flying the cp pro, but won't get that up til tomorrow.

I was impressed with the cx vid, his first take off was head in and he didn't even flinch... must be all those years with the planks.

rick,

let me know when you get the AR6100 and DX7 set up. I can't seem to get mine set up right.

still looking for info on the best settings.

Barrick / Rick / Old Guy,

Chopper Here:

I'm sure I speak for everyone, we Love ya to death, I know I do.. You've found a great new hobby and got yourself totally involved in it, like myself... Let's say addicted, most of us are. I just ordered a ton of stuff last night and today. Like a kid in a candy shop.. Can't wait till Thursday when it all comes in...

Like your pictures, you purchased some great things there, especially the SOLDERING PENCIL, I've been after you for that for a month(yuk-yuk). Finally you got the picture....(SOLDERING PENCIL).

HEY, in picture # 2 in the upper left quadrant, I think I see an IRONING BOARD, with Flowers on it, What's with the Flowers?( Jes-kidding)

Rick, have a ball and we will always be here for ya, (I think you know that),

Dave / Choppersrule

Hi Lookyj,

I have a DX6 with the same esc, motor, and gyro that you do and I am still using the 3 in 1 instead of a new esc for the tail. I am sure that we can get you going if we go step by step. Please forgive the basics that I know you are already familiar with; I just want to make sure we are not missing something that is right in front of us.

1. The Gyro cable plugs into the RUD on the receiver. The single orange wire coming from the gyro plugs into the GER channel on the signal pin.
2. The Rudder wire coming out of the 3 in 1 plugs into the Gyro. The Orange wire aligns with the signal wire of the cable coming out of the gyro. (The potential and Gyro pots on the 3 in 1 are both turned fully counterclockwise. The 3 in 1 is now just a glorified ESC for the tail)
3. The servo wire coming from the ESC plugs into the THR channel on the receiver. (This should be just the signal wire and ground wire, because the receiver will get power from the rudder channel)
4. The throttle cable that comes out of the 3 in 1 needs to connect to the THR on the receiver also. The ESC is already plugged in to THR so you will either have to splice the oranges together or use a y harness. [link=http://home.comcast.net/~j.r-mitchell/PICT0060.JPG]BIG Picture of ESC splice. [/link] This picture does not show it, but I ended up pulling the red power wire going into the THR channel out of the connector at the receiver. It also looks like I spliced all three wires together under the unshrunk heatshrink, but it was just the signal wire. I left the others long in case I ever needed to convert it back to stock configuration.
5. The Throttle travel adjustment on the DX7 should be -10% on the low side and +100% on the high side. (100% will probably change later, but for now it's ok)
6. The throttle curve adjustment should start at 0% for the normal flight mode.

This should get the 3 in 1 and Gyro armed.

Sunday March 18th
END OF THE DAY
Today was IMPORTANT in the sense that I have "opened" these helis, albeit superficially, removed some items, replace some others, and got going in the MAINTENANCE the thought of which was scaring me to death. With new glasses AND Arrow's table lamp I think I can make it OK. CLosing up now, here are my two CP's in their new set-up....Notice the new "plastic" and F"FiberGlass" blades...
CrashCrash thanks for the heads up on the "pendulum" YES I fight that constantly, eventually you will teach me how to overcome. Watch the CP PRO flight there is hardly ANY of the "pendulum effect" on that flight.
GoodNight all, and THANKS

p.s. i weighed the F/G blades and one is 2 one hundredths of a gram heavier. I don't think I need to worry about that difference, HUH ??????
RICK

Ricks CP...did you all notice how much he's fighting pendelum? That's way too much. I asked him to increase his head speed a little, that might dampen the pendelum abit. My CP did that too and Dave turned me on obout headspeed. No one should be fighting the heli that much. My Pro (knock on wood) has been running excellent. I only got to hover it 3-4 times today but it was very docile. Cant wait to get it outside to do some short runs with it. Tired of hovering in the basement. I've got a 5 acer flat field that is nothing but grass about 60yds behind me begging to see something besides deer and rabbits. Used to fly my .40 back there and a couple gliders...pretty nice.

outtamyway,

Thanks so much for the info! Going to look over my setup tomorrow and see what I'm missing. I'll let you know what I find after taking a look.

thanks again!

J

Great vids Rick - and the cp's look good in the picture. I didn't like the look so much of the super skids a couple of weeks ago but they are really starting to grow on me.

I started over with airframe #1 pretty much from the beginning. Replaced the motor (to trouble shoot my vertical hopping issue), checked the swashplate, balanced the blades, set the zero angle per bladecp.com, and set the blade tracking. I did some test hovering in the living room and it does run a little better. Still getting some vertical hopping. I guess I need to replace servo's individually until it goes away. That or the 4 in 1, not sure which would be most likely yet.

A couple of questions...

After the initial flat setting of the swashplate do you go back later and adjust the servo arms for things like left drift?

What is a good glue for the tail motor housing? I've tried some kind of loc-tite for plastic, it was too soft like rtv and bumping the tail stand make it fail. Tonight I tried a hot glue gun and got the same results. Of course I could epoxy or super glue it but I'm trying to keep these removable so I don't have to buy a whole frame assembly every time there is a boom problem. As I type this I realize that what I really want is a carbon fiber fin - that would take all of the twisting loads off of the rotor housing and I would just have to worry about the boom to frame joint.

For twenty or thirty seconds of hover tonight I actually felt in control. Then some vertical twitching, some yawing and drifting that don't seem to stop despite what I do. I just have a hard time deciding what problems are noob induced (me) and which are mechanical / radio problems.

Yes...go back and raise the left servo link 1 turn and lower the right 1 turn...that should take care of left drift. As far as glue for the tail motor housing...Keep in mind you might have to replace the tail boom so the loctite CA for plastic is fine. Mine comes loose once in a while so I just put a drop on it and let it set for a couple minutes and ready to go. If I need to change the tail boom...it comes right off. Veritical hopping...look for glitching of the pitch servo (right rear). Two things cause hopping...pitch servo or the main motor is failing. Servo is #1 suspect, main motor is #2. My rule is that the 4-1 or 3-1 seldom go bad unless they've been in a pretty wicked crash (power surge). Now...git-er-done.

Ugh.............. Went and got some new jst connectors, a new set of motor wires and shrink tubing. Also got a dard 3rd hand like choppers has. Was 19 bucks, but worth it. Was thinking I was gonna solder the battery leads to the JST connectors (11.1 1250 mah lipos) then shrink tube over the whole thing. But I don't think getting those wires up to 700F on a lipo is such a good idea. The reason I was gonna go that way is that the leads off the battery are 10 guage wire, and the JST leads are like 24 guage. There is no butt connecter in the world I know of that will work. So let me put it to you guys. How should I connect those JST's to that 10 guage wire without blowing up the batterys and burning down the house?

BTW Dave, love the 3rd arm! and Barrrick.........sweet vids, lookyj is a good man and looks like your new production editor! Glad you found a magnifying lamp that works for you too!


__________________________________________________ _________________________________


Of all the things I ever lost.......................................... I miss my mind the most!

Arrow...I'll be able to answer your battery question in a day or so when mine get here and I look it over and decide how I'm going to do it. You may want to try CRIMP connectors!

Thanks, I'll swap out the right rear servo when I get home. That particular servo does seem to twitch more than the other two when the battery is low, plus the arm is never 90 deg to vertical when centered. I can remove the arm and place it above the horizon or below it but never level.

I just about bid on a dx6 receiver (only) on ebay a few minutes ago but was able to show a little self control and hold off. Was at $43 last I looked. I also held off on an HDX 300 frame last night for about $40 after reading a little more about them. I can feel the wallet tugging on my pocket as I type.

Is the weight of the super skids a significant factor? That set up has everything I'm looking for - cf fins, tail support bead and looks like a little higher stance to get the tail rotor out of the carpet.

Wick246,

The weight isn't a significant factor, unless your doing some heavy aerobatics or 3D. Hovering and light aerobatics is fine, actually the added weight helps, to some degree, with stablility.

There are two versions out there, V2 and V3, only Gary at 'super-skids.com' has V3. Helidirect carries V2. The V3 is $30, shipping included. V2 is less expensive. There's always a however, the V3 has a biggier opening for larger batteries that, the V2 can't handle, also, the V3 sits the heli about a 1/4 or so higher than the V2.

See Picture: V2 on left, V3 on right.

Just more decisions to make,

Dave / Choppersrule

Wick246,

Easy way to check 'er out. Get it set up to hover. Throttle trim at mid-point, right stick, both trim levers at mid-point.
Throttle up slowly, get the heli about 3 feet off the ground in a hover. Let go of the right stick, just for a second or two (BE READY TO MAKE CORRECTIONS). Notice what direction the heli wants to go,, land, make appropriate right stick adjustments. Repeat, until it can hover well and you feel you have more control. If any of the right stick trim levers are max'd out. Then it's time to make mechanical adjustments with the servo links to the swashplate. Take your time and be patient..

Dave / Choppersrule

Arrow,

Glad the 3rd arm worked good for ya, use mine all the time.

Crashcrash, had a good idea about crimp connectors, here's some at Radio Shack: http://www.radioshack.com/sm-crimp-c...8.2032231.html

All your Auto Parts stores carry them too, NAPA, Auto Zone, etc. Also, if you look around at the auto store, you'll find lots of stuff you can use for the heli, heat shrink tubing, fuses(for 7.5 or 3 amp modifications), tiny little tools.

Dave / Choppersrule

Dave, he's got two different wire sizes going but I think they make crimps with multi talented ends (takes two different size wires on each end..reducers if you will). If he's worried about heat...crimp is the best alternitave method. I ordered an 11.1 800mha from them too. Guess I'll deal with it when it gets here. I've got a burned up battery I'm just going to rob the connector off of and make it fly.