LMAO.............!

I was doing touch and goes in the grass. Typically that's not a good idea. Grass and helicopters don't share good karma. But the blades gave enough grunt to pop up out of the grass time after time. The little tree incident came from a sideways departure. I came up at full right aileron, spun the tail around and drove headlong into the tree. I was watching the heli - the tree was in my periphery - or it was until I ran into it. It sort of became the focal point at that juncture.

The next fight was from the patio at FF, but I was gaining distance faster than altitude and didn't quite clear the hedge. The heli fell out of the bush on its skids, so I spun it up with the elevator at full forward until it just tipped onto the front of the skids, then maxed the throttle. With the nose down about 30° it pulled hard across the back yard. To slow it, I throttled back and released the elevator, but it still rose about 20 feet. My choice was the shed roof or the tree. And I chose the tree over the shed. The blades folded again, the heli fell out, landed on the skids and away we went again at full throttle , 15 feet up, charging for the patio. When I released the elevator and pulled back to half throttle, the heli nose went skyward, forward motion stopped and it settled onto the patio. For this one flight I actually looked like a heli pilot. I can't do that stuff on demand, but every once in a while counts in my book. At least it counts when I have an audience.

My next step is to mod a set of good blades. I have a chunk out of a lower blade that is a 3/4" long x 3/6" deep- out of the leading edge. I'm sure the balance is 'just wonderful' right now. But it flies Great!

Finally I'm flying again - in the name of BIG SCIENCE.

Very cool to both you Gary and Solo. I might have to try this out yet. Sure would like to see some vid SOLO. It seems if I go heavy FF and then let off the Heli actually reverses itself until the flybar can catch up. I have been trying to learn how to counter this so I can come in at full force and then into a hover without much movement at all. Maybe it cant happen I dont know. Looks like I might just have to make a pair of upper mounts too. Let me know what you find for hardware. Keeping it lighter would be better. I do need to order the xtreme motors too. I want a better battery too but I cant decide on which one I want/need. I want more power but also longer run times for when I put a nicer scale body on it.

This is good info guys.

Because I oversized the mounting holes to make clearance for the blind nut, I can't use regular #2 hardware. I might be able to go to #3 or #4 plastic screws and thread the blade. That way I could pass the screw through the grip hole and thread into the tapped hole in the blade. Plastic screws threaded into plastic should stay with out a lock of any kind. That gets the mounting hardware down to just one plastic screw per grip. Nice weight loss.

still thinkin'

Soloboss

Your teasing me aren't you Gary!!! I just had another "experience" flew right into my hand broke a blade and my tail fin on my cf boom. Man that was a record 12 flights on a single set of blades! Thank the heli gods nothing else went to rotor heaven! I can hardly wait for my Xtreme grips to get here....should have paid the extra for quick shipping!

Sounds like Your blade buying days are over ! Stickin' it to the MAN !

I just love when You need a step washer, You gotta buy all the screws, etc. that goes with it. Actually, it's not that big a deal, but buying blades is, if You collect all I've broken, it would fill a small box.

Anyway, this adds to the theory that this heli COULD have been manufactured easily with folding blades, like My little Walkera 5 #5. Still on the first set of blades on that one.

I think You gave Your beautiful little heli a go around pretty thorough. I think the pitch adjustment is an interesting variable; as one of the reasons for getting the grips I did, was so I could buy the XTREME blades (which I'm sure You could fit onto Yours) as they are supposed to provide so much more lift. I concur with that, definately, and quieter.

I added 8.4 Grams onto my heli with the grips I purchased; that's pretty significant, but I'm running stock motors and even with stock battery, it does pretty good. With the more powerful ones, You don't know a difference in weight at all; it feels light as a feather and I have heeded Jeff's observation that for Outdoor flying, having a heli a little over stock weight isn't such a bad thing.

I absolutely love Your idea, but being a scale model builder in the past, I kinda need to see aluminum and realism, you know? It's pure Vanity, on My part. That, and I didn't think of making one ! I even thought the aluminum grips looked a bit shiny, so I dirtied it up with thinned flat black paint and let it run in crevices and such to give it a more realistic look.

With Your tried and true modification, it will benefit All and I think it would be nice addition in Your Famous adjustments and modification form, that is, with no doubt, the most sought after and printed form on the Web on a CX-2.

I'm having good luck (so far) with the MegaPower 850mah/15c AND the SMC 800maH/ 22c.

The first is very reasonable; about half of new, and the second one is a premium, about 29.00, but worth it; have 4 of each in rotation.

Hope this helps.

p.s. stay away from the DN'S for now until some more reviews come in. Myself and other have had premature puffing problems with these and I had to trash 3 of them.

Gary

Jeff,

I'm getting so Vain on my pretty little heli, I'm kinda ascared to take it outside ! !

Naw, I will !

Stock motors and heatsink w/ paste. Sorry I missed Your post earlier.

Gary, Funny ya said that....Same here...You get them lookin' to nice and pretty and soon they end up on the mantle as a decoration more than a RC heli for flying..! I just pop on my beater canopies and fly away....! I don't have the heart yet to put that first crack in the Xtreme canopy yet...! But don't worry..I will....

Thanks. I have looked at both. I will probably get 1 of each to start with. I want a better charger and Im also trying to save for a trex600 this spring.

You said you were into scale building, and I think you said that you have a scale body for your CX. I cant wait for some feedback on that. I know everyone does the boom but Im going for the scale look as well. Probably a huey or maybe a comanche. I havent really decided. I do want a Manrow (sp) airwolf with retracts so I might just have to do that.

Thanks again.

Solo, I understand about the hole size. I do have a concern about threading the blades. With the plastic being very thing is there enough material to actaully make more then 1 revolution with the tap? I did it but then thought again and put a nut on it. Now I didnt think about going the plastic bolt and nut but still. I just drilled a smaller hole and screwed the bolt in. I really dont know how well it would hold. Besides, doing that, how do you keep it loose enough to rotate, unless you dont tighten, then I think your asking for more problems without the nut. It could be just me though. Growing up on a farm I tend to over build things.

he was just trimmin the tree guys!!

Lol..........Fall prunin'....Solo Style........

Pruning? So who has the information on the stainless steel blades?

LMAO!!! Solo you pull that one off I'm coming down to see that in person!

Doesn't Sheffield make blades for these? Perhaps our UK brothers could send a set.

Solo, I understand about the hole size. I do have a concern about threading the blades. With the plastic being very thing is there enough material to actaully make more then 1 revolution with the tap? I did it but then thought again and put a nut on it. Now I didnt think about going the plastic bolt and nut but still. I just drilled a smaller hole and screwed the bolt in. I really dont know how well it would hold. Besides, doing that, how do you keep it loose enough to rotate, unless you dont tighten, then I think your asking for more problems without the nut. It could be just me though. Growing up on a farm I tend to over build things.


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Right now I'm running on the edge of - actually in the middle of - bad engineering principles. I tighten the screw , then back off a quarter turn and flex the blade until it's loose. The blind nut won't spin because I left just a little of the barb on the underside when I cut 90% of the barb off. And the screw is in a bind because of the centrifugal pull from the blade - it binds the screw I guess. Anyhow, it doesn't fall apart in the air.
Threading the blade is iffy at best. A #4-40 screw has a thread pitch of .025 and the blade is .056 thick. That's a couple of threads. Full torque of the screw requires 3 threads or a thickness equal to the screw diameter. For a #4-40 that's about .112 thick. But this isn't about maximum torque. I only need enough torque to keep the screw in shear, but two threads in plastic is still iffy. If the screw was a large head, I'd go with it. Plastic #4-40 screws have the advantage of being easier to hang on to. So if I use #4-40, put an aluminum tubular sleeve over the screw that is a few thousandths longer than the combined thickness of the grip + blade, I can tighten a plastic nut onto the sleeve and be in pretty good shape. A little CA on the grip / screw / aluminum sleeve will reduce the number of loose parts, so a blade change requires only that I remove the nut and replace the blade. As long as the screw / sleeve is rigid, the blade will swing easily.

Just thinkin' out loud - one farm kid to another.

sorry, been out of town so I have to catch up.

The threading of the blade is my exact worry. But what you have come up with may just work. Test it out. Im going to the hobby store now to see what I can find for smaller and lighter bolts/nuts that are plastic.

What is the reason for drilling the hole off center. I tried my darndest to get the hole right in center where the rib is on the blade after I sanded the rib down. Not sure if the sanding is really needed though.

Flew outside with the new grips today and the blades relatively sloppy; enough that it has to re-align them every time I spool up.
No clacking with a 2-4 mph, breeze, and running full forward and gravity assisted, meaning coming down and full forward; It hauled butt! ! I never seen it go so fast. It was actually scary at first.

I have too many variables to know the cause; flybar mod with 6 weights total, more top heavy with aluminum, better blade action, 22c battery (which has saved my butt more than once).

I swear it was going close to 20mph when it caught a tailwind right towards the brick of our house; I revved it back and almost full power; no blade clack, no flybar clack (of course) but it caught me off guard and I over corrected on the steering; and it came down, due to the loads, and hit the bushes. A slightly bent inner shaft; that's it.

I cautiously gonna say it's fine for out of doors with floppy blades. I ran two battery packs Yesterday evening; had two wrecks due to lack of skill on the higher speeds. Had to slightly straighten the inner shaft both times; that's it !

No wobbling or blade folding, that I could see, at all.

Gary

Great to hear Gary. I will get the grips if solo doesnt come up with a stock solution that he likes. I like what I have but it does vibrate quit a bit at throttle up. So I know I need something that is more balanced. Now I still havent tried the LOOSE method so maybe it would balance out better. Ill try it this weekend if the weather is nice.

I always thought the grips was a 'give and take,' You know, have to straighten them out each time and align them,until I realized that You do not have to have them tight. It aligns itself, when you rev up.

I would still balance the blades, in which you install them on the grip, put the balls on a couple of soup cans and see which side teeters downward; add tape to the other blade.

Gary

I agree. The thing that has kept me from getting them is the balance issue. Taking the grips off all the time seem to be a PITA. Maybe not though. Its still worth it. I couldnt find anything at the one hobby store but they are moving everything to their other store as they are closing it because their lease ran out. Will be a while until they find another place to open back up. Anyway. Ill go over there tomorrow and see what I can find for hardware. I want to get the xtreme blades and grips soon along with a scale fuse.

Well, I had a detailed wrap up report and poked a wrong key and blew it away. I'll try to recall what I said;

The final results of the home-made grips is a mixed bag. They are light-weight. They also have all of the variables that hand cut / drilled / sanded parts have so my repeatability is terrible. The junk blades that I used in my first experiment flew far better than my new blades. I did some sanding and the blind nuts shaft does fully penetrate the blades and grips so I can tighten the screws fully and still swing the blades.

At this point my tracking is off and I can get that fixed. Oddly, the tracking is spot on under acceleration but it flutters on deceleration. The blades do fold easily on impact but I am impacting things that I should miss because my handling is off.

Bottom line, if a guy has time and no money these grips can be made to work. I don't know that they can be made to work as well as CNC. However is someone wants to create a set of dies to control the cut and drill operations, the parts can be made far more consistently. That may be all that's required. There are also kits that allow us to refill our own computer printer ink tanks. Some do that and others have no luck with them. It depends on where the owner is headed with his project.

So I'll get this tuned in and it will fly well when I get it finished. Would I make a set for someone else? Not likely, but I'd supply instructions for a DIY experimenter. I do appreciate the fact that I have grips mounted and the heli is still at less than stock weight.

I guess at this point we know what works for inside and also outside, so we should publish one concise list of what works. Grips - blades - motors - lube (or not) - batteries. One list that we know works well. Anyone can deviate any way they please, but we need a baseline.
And through this a few guys who were using tight blade grips have gone to loose grips with a lot of success, so it's not a total loss of time and effort.

So I'll wrap this up with a little story. And don't laugh.

My heli sits with the battery in it part of the time. I shouldn't do that, but I do. Anyhow, the boomtown skids have sort of sagged. They are splayed at the rear and the heli sits low and it just looks bad. So I figured that I would make a little stand with a couple of grooves for the skids so they don't spread. In the mean time, I used a very light weight Velcro wrap around the skids. It has the grippy side on one side and the fuzzy side on the other. It just wraps around the skids and hooks to itself. I guess I put the grippy side out for no particular reason.
Anyhow, I thought I would make my first trial flight with the new blades in the kitchen. And the kitchen has a large industrial carpet in the center. It's resistant to everything. Anyhow, I set the heli down and spun up the rotors to alignment speed. Then I pushed for lift-off speed. It got light but wouldn't lift. More throttle, and it seems to be trying, but still nothing. It was pumping a lot of air and I could hear it strain. What the . . .??? Full throttle. Maybe the battery is down from my messing around - and then it happens!! My VELCRO BAND had hooked to the nap of the carpet. I Velcroed the heli to the carpet, and when it tore loose, man did it hit the ceiling!! Now THAT's lift power!

Off to supper.
See ya,
Soloboss

Solo,

I would definately try Your mod again, but with the XTREME blades. I'm really starting to think the blades have something to do with the VERY good lift and stability, and 'self alignment' I'm experiencing.

Sinist. .

You never had to take the blades off, and they only need balanced 1 time; using tape on the underside of the lighter one. It was the alignment issue from the blades folding upon a crash when I had them tight all the time, because You had to realign them perfect, re-tighten, and Hope you got it right the first time.

Now I know You can keep them loose, they are 'self aligning.' That was very enlightening and exciting knowing One doesn't have to adjust the alignment all the time.

Hope this helps Your decision.

Gary

WOW Solo that was a chuckle I needed on a Friday afternoon. Of all things I have read on this forum I would have never in a million years guessed I would read about someone with a CX2 velcroed to the kitchen floor! Great stuff!

Gary,

Quit posting about the Xtreme blades and grips....your making the wait for mine to show up unbearable!