rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Your story sounds very familiar!! I did the exact same, the CX, then the CP Pro, with the gyro, DX6i, extra batts, etc... now the Blade 400 which I love to death despite the early servo issues...

My money is also disappearing, but I'm having a great time with this, and you guys are a great bunch of people to have met and know...can't thank you all enough for the support and info!

Thanks to all of you!

Glenn

evdreamer

I use the JR DS285's on my Belt CP and love them. They are the nylon version. They are digital compared to the analog HS65MG. Hitec will becoming out with a digital version of the HS65MG in a couple of months. I prefer digital over analog. They center well when setting them up to 90 degrees. I have had no problems in flight with them. Just to give your more options, like there isn't enough already in this hobby.

Nick

rotarydoc

Thanks Nick,

Just got back from the LHS with a new Eflite servo for now...getting ready to install it. That is comforting to know that you are having good luck with the JR servos...makes me feel alot better about ordering them. I think I am going to order them this afternoon from a place called Hobbyshop World.com...at least they offer free shipping on orders over $100, and they are located in Florida, closer than most of the places which are located in California. I still have a bit of doubt about Heli Hobby, I'm going to give this place a try...hopefully, with them being closer, I will get the servos sometime later this week, if they are not on backorder or something!

These seem like the way to go, I don't like the idea of chopping up the frame to get larger servos to fit in there...plus I like the fact that these servos say right on them "Made in Japan"...that means a LOT to me !! (my mindset is Made in Japan=quality!!)

Hopefully, this new servo will cure the strange issue I am currently having, at least for the time being...

I just realized I have ZERO sim time in this weekend! Gotta get on that later today!

I'm a bit concerned that the boss at work might say something about flying the B400 in the shop...it's quite a bit louder, and a whole lot more intimidating than the CPP! I think as long as I am very careful, and just do little stuff, hovering, etc, I shouold be OK. The weather should be more cooperative to fly outside more often soon, I hope.

Take care,

Glenn

evdreamer

I hope you have better luck with the new servo and hobbyshopworld. I haven't had any sim time for a few weeks now. I got a good 30-45min today on it. It is cool that you have a place to fly inside with. I am limited to outdoor flying and it is supposed to rain the rest of the week. Even though the DS285's are slower than the HS65MG I found by switching the servo horns you can choose between a slow or fast cyclic response. Mine came with two types of servo horns: a short one that slowed the cyclic and a longer one that made it quick enough for me.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Thanks for the servo info, I'm gonna go ahead and order them in a bit, I do believe. I'm not too concerned right now with servo speed, but maybe some day when I get to your level, I will...it's good to know. Yea, I am very fortunate to have a place to fly indoors, and I don't want to lose that privilege, so I have to be careful and respectful...I imagine if I hit a car, or worse, a person, that would be the end of that...needless to say, I am VERY careful, and always shut it down when people come nearby...

Got the new servo in the B400, everything seems good, but it's going to take some time to know for sure, it's so intermittent...got the CPP back in order, pretty much, except for a wallowed out main shaft (see my other post), I think it will be OK, it's not too bad, just a little slop...

I was going to go out and test fly both birds, but we are having some rainy, stormy weather here too, and I don't have access to the shop on Sundays...

I suppose I could/should check the blade balance on the B400, pretty much caught up on the other heli maintenance...

It's all good, I need the sim practice anyways...what I really need to do more of is what I was practicing last week, and what might have saved yesterday's CCP crash I have been purposely making the heli in the sim WAY out of whack, and trying to learn how to save/recover from a bad situation...obviously, I need more practice...yesterday, I just went into panic mode when it was flying backwards at an angle...the rest is history...can't afford THAT on the B400 any time soon!! But, I was being pretty bold with the CPP, I'm much more cautious with the 400...

Hope the weather improves for you soon!

Glenn

vince.b

My Feedback: (1)

I bought one also and love it for what it is.
I was just reading some of the posts here about servo speed, MG or Nylon.
Mg servos are not where you want to go on a heli with ccpm. there is to much lash in gear train. they are good in the way that they do not strip in a light crash, but other thing will break. and you will be adding weight.
I have flown 90 nitro for a number of years.
The tail on the Blade wags a little but it also holds fine.
some might think its a servo problem, but to get the tail perfect u will be chasing your tail unless you swap out the servo gyro combo.
for something that costs alot more and more then likey the wag more then likey will be less but still there, and more then likely will add weight.
some say you need faster cylic servos for 3D. I have not looked at the specs of the stock servos but the blade will do the snake and tictocs. Carbon Blades will make the Blade perform much better but in a crash there will be way more damage to the machine.
If you find the disk slow to respond move the flybar wieghts in.
If the head is still to mushy feeling, buy the carbon blades.
Dont get sucked into the upgrade game.
You dont wanna be known as the guy that has a 1000 dollar blade.
If your think your skill is passing what you think the blade cant do, find a Heli pro and whatch him fly it.
and you find yourself thinking about upgrading either sell it and use that cash to buy 1 servo for your new machine if yoiu are lcuky
The Blade 3D is an awesome price to performance ratio. There is nothing on the market right now that can touch it.

Just my 2 cents

SeaComms

If you are happy to do the quick mods to the frame (takes bout 10 minutes with a sharp knife or 2 minutes with a dremel) then you can get the HS-65's for only $19 each from http://www.centralhobbies.com/radios...c/hitec65.html.

Thats my tip

evdreamer

I don't know if your wallowed shaft is a bad thing or not. I never really experienced it. I can't remember if you said this, but have you got the blade balancer to work out for you? Crashes are going to happen when you get into new situations and don't know how the out come will be. I think the reason I haven't crashed my Belt CP a lot is that I learned from all of my crashes on the CP Pro. Hope your weather gets better.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey Nick,

Well, let me bring you up to date on everything, alot has happened lately in my heli world! Let's see, oh yea, the wallowed shaft...well, it's not that bad, basically, if I hold the main gear stationary, the rotor head has a bit of slop, due to the retaining pin not being a tight fit in the main shaft, creating a bit of backlash in the rotor head/main shaft. I don't think it's huring anything, but I'm sure it's just going to get worse with time. I flew the CPP today, 4 battery packs, and it/and or me have never flown better, even after it's crash! I'm even starting to get a bit better at nose in hovering, had a few 20-30 second events...they werent' rock steady, but getting better.

Yes, I did get the K&S blade balancer working well, it just wasn't designed with blades with that small a mounting hole in mind...I ended up taking some wooden dowel rod, sanding it down some, to fit in the blade swingarm, and then drilling a small hole for the stock CPP blade mounting screw to go through...I really need a longer screw, but it's hard to find a 2MM screw much longer than the stock CPP blade screw, I've looked at both of my LHS, no luck. But, it works like it is, no prob....
I love it, I balanced the new blades for the CPP yesterday, both dynamically and static balance, the whole thing took me maybe 15-20 minutes, the K&S is the way to go if you are thinking about getting one, nicely made, ball bearings in the frame for the see-saw... very nicely made. I don't yet know if the pins that they provide will fit the B400's blades, I never did get around to balancing them yesterday...

The new Eflite servo seems to have done the trick on the very strange issue with the loss of servo centering...I flew 3 packs through the B400 earlier, and it worked flawlessly, not even a hiccup the whole session. I think I can safely say that the issue was in fact the servo, and not something else like the TX/RX, thank goodness.

I tried a new setup on the B400, suggested by a guy on Heli Freak, changing the pitch curve from stock to a higher pitch curve, something like this L=0, 2=50%, 3=69%, 4=85%, H=100%...resulting in a lower head speed and (didn't we already have a long thread on this?) BETTER stability and hovering. And man, did he hit the nail on the head! The heli is now even more stable than it already was, which is to say great! It made it a little "mushy" on the cyclic, but I took out some of my expo that I had dialed in, I cut it back to +10% on elev and alieron from +25%....that combo really works well for me...once I got it out of the rotor wash, the heli will hover rock solid steady!! I was even bold enugh to try some nose in hovering on the B400, but I kept it to a minimum for now, still a little gun shy just yet...

Just checked the B400 packs after the flight session today, the 1800 mAh pack was at about 11.35v, the two 2100 mAh packs were 11.41, and 11.43v...I am timing the flights at 7.00 minutes, and am experiencing no power loss toward the end of the flight...I really don't want to hurt these batteries!!

I had a DUH moment today, I got to thinking, why the heck am I carrying two DX6i TX's around with me to go flying when I bring both helis? I should be able to put the B400 on the same radio as I have the CPP on, right? Just put the exact settings in, and then bind it to the B400?

Also, I have a minor issue with the DX6i that came with the B400, the aileron trim switch/button on the TX is not quite right, the little micro switch doesn't feel/work right when moved to the right...you have to put a LOT of pressure on it to get it to respond...I guess I should call Horizon, and get it taken care of now, while I can...maybe I can send them that bogus servo also, I don't know what I will do with a new Eflite servo, but I should anyways...at least I have a spare DX6i now!!

You know, I was having thoughts of getting rid of the CPP yesterday, but afte

rotarydoc

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the link to the great price on the HS-65's...I'm really sold on the JR DS285's so I went ahead and bit the bullet last night, and I now have 3 new JR servos on their way...

I just hope I can get them in without disturbing the excellent flight characteristics that I am having with the B400 so far...

I watched the first of the two "Finless Bob" videos on CCPM setup, and that has been VERY helpful in my understanding of servo setup, for sure!

I'll have to watch the second one later in the week, for sure before I try to setup the new servos...

Thanks again for the tip!

Glenn

evdreamer

It took me the better part of the day to watch through all of finless's videos of the T-Rex 450. I also have seen a few of the HDX450. It is good to here that you like the blade balancer. I do it the super cheap way with a pencil. Then with my Belt CP I don't need to do it with the Rotortech blades since they come prebalanced. They might be off since I never checked it, but they are a reputable company and I have had no problems with them. Thanks for posting your new setup that works. It probably will help some new pilots find a good starting place. I don't know if it is the same way on the B400, but on the Belt CP when I loose power it is way over discharged. I was around 10% left on my battery after that. Luckily my charger brought up my battery voltage and the battery works fine. Yes you could put the B400 settings on the other DX6i or the other way around. Just make a new helicopter model in the transmitter and copy the settings and bind it like you said. I have also thought of selling the CP Pro. But then I usually have a good flight the next day. Then a couple days later I am having problems again. Least the 400 sized helicopters are more dependable on how they fly.

Nick

SeaComms

I had the same issue with my second TX (the third one just arrived so havent looked at it yet...) If you look at the rectangular hole that the trim moves in, you can grab a sharp knife and trim a fraction off the end of the opening to give the tab a little more travel and the problem is solved. Pulled mine totally to bits to do the first one, then the second I did it from the outside and it worked just as well.

rotarydoc

Hey Dave,

Wow, great tip! I never even gave a thought to that for fixing the trim lever...I will look into that for sure...I really didn't want to send it back to Horizon just for that minor issue!

I will look into that tomorrow, when I have some time...

Thanks again!

Glenn