BenMer

I've done quite abit of upgrading to my little bird and I was thinking about, possibly installing blade grips. Is there really any benefits to adding bladegrips? I have spent a considerable amount on CNC parts, carbon boom, etc., and was wondering about the blade grips. At $60.00 for lower and upper, I just wanted to know if there is any benefits...other than making it look better. THANKS!!!

TheBum

You can use better blades with blade grips, but the grips may add too much weight. Every bit of CNC you add will reduce net lift and flight time per charge.

BenMer

Thanks for the reply. I already have ALOT of CNC parts, swashplate, lower head, upper head, and upper bearing cup. You made a good point that, honestly, I didn't even consider, namely...weight!! As it is now, my bird flys quite well, and if using better blades is the only benefit, I think this would be a good time for me put a halt to the CNC parts!! Besides, I still have 8 packs of unopened stock blades (4 upper and 4 lower). Again, thanks for your reply, it was much appreicated!!

jmhh

Hi BenMar...they add weight...but the better baldes can give you more lift...
....and you can get more powerful bartteries..do they all balance out?...
hard to me to say as my CX2 came with the AL grips..that's all I know for
better (or worse)...I do know that because the blades can fold back, I hardly ever
chip or break a blade now...another view...decisions, decisions..cheers, John H.

BenMer

You know, half of me wants to install bladegrips and the other half keeps telling that I don't need them. (BTW, that 'other' half just happens to be my wife!!) I'll admit, she has been pretty tolerant thus far concerning my new found hobby and I'm not too sure just how far I can stretch that tolerance!! Oh, it's not the bladegrips that would 'push her over the edge,' but rather the fact that I already put down $100.00 on the new Blade 400 and she doesn't know about it.....yet!! No, I won't be deceive her because the day I pick it up and bring it home, I'll say; 'Look what followed me home Honey, can I keep it?' Okay, so I'll spend a month in the 'doghouse,' but I've been there before!!![] I think that for the time being, I shall remain 'bladegripless!!!!'

4 stroken ron

My Feedback: (29)

Pardon my ignorance here but, what are "bladegrips"?
Ron

Balance

Bladegrips are them dark brown and black screaming things that come after you at night......oh wait no..

Blade grips are an after market idea, they are just holders (grips) for the after market blades
you have to buy to put in the holders.
So instead of having just a blade, you have a grip (blade holder) and a blade.

BenMer

Okay Ron, let's use the CX-2 helio for example. The CX-2 uses a 'ridgid' way to attach the upper and lower blades to their respective heads and, usually, when you crash there is no give and therefore being that the blades are the weakest point, you'll undoubtly break a blade, or two. With bladegrips, the blades are attached by one screw and should 'fold' at the piviot point where the blade attaches, via bladegrips, to the head, meaning the chances of broken blades are diminished considerably during a crash. That, of course, depends on how badly you crash. Also, as was pointed out eariler, you can use better blades, which again will increase your chances of less broken blades. Since I have yet to use bladegrips on my bird, it would appear that the 'grips' help save rotor blades and they do make the bird look better. I hope helps!!

4 stroken ron

My Feedback: (29)

OK, thanks. That all sounds real good in concept. Can anyone post some pictures of the bladegrips installed and point me in the proper direction to get the grips and better blades?
Thanks
Ron

BryFlyGuy67

Your came STOCK with blade grips? Where did you order it?

jmhh

Hi BRG...not STOCK...came modified off eBay...John H.

rshermanking

Hi 4 stroken ron go to miracle-mart, they have the ali blade grips plus the extreme white blades to fit.

jmhh

Hi 4..if you get the blade grips, watch out for any "slop" between
the grip and blade..you want the grip snug, but so that the blade
can easily you end up with a little "slop" between the blade and grip which can
allow the blade to slightly rotate in flight and change pitch (according to the
guru at the LHS)...to solve this problem, a small washer can be used
...I tried that and using a very small washer, but I
couldn't get it to fit...so, I then tried a small bit of
some AL tape (no foam backing) on the end of the blades and problem solved
...the AL tape can also be used on the business ends of the blades to reduce or
eliminate blade and crash strike breakage problems...cheers, John H.

BladeCX2Two

I've been running Blade Grips for maybe 3+ weeks now. WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!! Prior to the grips, I went thru at least a dozen of each upper & lower blades just from flying radical outdoors. The weathers been sucking lately with 5-15mph winds every day it seems. I went thru some setup issues at first and I almost dumped them and went back to stock. It wasn't until I did the washer trick. I too found there was too much slop. I used those little washers that are in computers underneath the motherboard. They are kind of a tough cardboard material. Worked perfect.... I bought my Blade Grips with the Microheli blades, which was a waste of money. Those are junk in my opinion. The lift was terrible. They flex upward way too much. I then got 4 sets of the Xtreme blades off ebay. Awesome blades. The lift is much like stock blades if not better. I've been using the same 1st set of Xtreme's for around 2 weeks now. It sounds stupid, but it seems like I can't get them to break. I've taken some nasty falls, crashes both indoors and outdoors. All you do is, straighen them out and fly again. It's great! About the same time I ordered those Xtreme's, I ordered 4 sets of those tough blades with the Chinese lettering on them and A & B letters. I ordered them from Hong Kong off ebay for a great price. I got them finally last week. I didn't want to use them until I went thru this current set of Xtreme's and that won't be until I break them and the way it's going it might be awhile because they're not breaking.

I also run a modified flybar, longer inner & outter shafts.... blade strikes are pretty much a thing of the past for me.

I love my CX2. I've recently got (2) of those Xtreme canopies from Boomtown. That's my project for the weekend, to paint them.

Attached is a pic of my CX2(cx canopy) with the blade grips and Xtreme blades.

4 stroken ron

My Feedback: (29)

What do you mean by "Blade Grips"? Is that an E flight part?
ROn

BenMer

Yeah Ron, E-Flite, I believe, do sell bladegrips, but there are other ones from different manufacturers that can be used. I don't have them....yet, but BladeCX-Two seems to swear by them, as does alot of other members here. As for what we 'mean' by bladegrips, if you read this entire thread, that should answer your question. There's even a picture of them installed on BladeCXTwo's bird.

BladeCX2Two

Here is a pic of the upper blade grip (follow the link). This also happens to be the vendor on ebay that I got mine from. They were much cheaper than directly thru Microheli.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MICROHELI-CX002B...QQcmdZViewItem

wxup

Aluminum blade grips look unnecessarily heavy to me. Has anyone tried the plastic grips? They look plenty rugged and a lot lighter.

GITRDUN

I just bought some of the microheli plastic blade grips. They work like a dream. They also sell the blades with the chinese lettering on them. I cant tell if their actually stiffer than the stock blades or not, but they seem to work good. Saved me from replaceing stock blades every 5 minutes of flight, best upgrade ive tried yet.

BladeCX2Two

I just had to respond again to this. I STILL have not busted my 1st set of Xtreme blades. I almost wish they would break so I can bolt on my Chinese ones These things are tough!!! Anyways, I can't really tell a difference in weight with the aluminum. My heli has plenty of lift and then some. One reason I don't like plastic stuff is because it's easier to pull a thread especially from taking stuff off alot and re-tightening. One of my battery tray screws has already pulled a thread. I had to put small amount of glue in there and build a thread. Blade grips WILL pay themselves off.

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

Do you have a direct link to the bladegrips?

BladeCX2Two

I'm not trying to endorse any vendor over another but this is where I got mine from:

Just goto this link. It's the lower blade grip assy. Then you can click on Visit sellers store and buy all the rest of the stuff. He's like $10 cheaper for each of the blade grips than if you get it from microheli. I got my stuff in 4 days. I don't recommend getting the actual microheli blades. They were crap in my opinion. Flexed terrible, crappy lift, etc.... Get either the Xtreme's or the Chinese ones. Can get all that on ebay.


http://cgi.ebay.com/MICROHELI-CX002B...QQcmdZViewItem

Here is a link for what the Xtreme blades look like. Looks like cheap old white plastic but they are not by far. There are other sources for getting the blades besides ebay. Search it out. I paid like $10 or $11 for each set (all 4 blades), I believe it was.

http://cgi.ebay.com/EK1-0312-EK1-031...QQcmdZViewItem

4 stroken ron

My Feedback: (29)

I still haven't found the plastic blade grips.
Ron

BladeCX2Two

http://cgi.ebay.com/Blade-CX-CX2-PRO...QQcmdZViewItem

There they are. This is one source of them. It's Canada. I never purchased from this ebayer. His feedback is good.

GITRDUN

Here is the plastic blade grips i bought. Thought i had bought them from micro heli for some reason, ive slept since then. http://www.helihobby.com/html/blade_cx2.html . They work great.