rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Look what I dug up....some real RC heli history!

Thanks to this guy and his dad, we all have better helis today than we would have without them...


Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX1gT...1&feature=fvwp

Glenn

JPEE

Glenn,
I can see how THAT heli brings back memories to you................cool. Did you notice his mustash and hair and clothes, vintage!

JPEE

rotarydoc

JPEE,

LOL, yeah...and that green Camaro sitting there...not sure if that thing is parked on the side of the road, or exactly what is going on there...

That guy flying is Robert Gorham, he's the son of the owner of Gorham Model Products, or GMP as it was known then, they made the Cobra, Competitor, and other helis, even a flybarless one, (not sure how that worked back then!). He was probably one of the top pilots of that era. I think Curtis Youngblood was the guy to beat back then...

Pretty cool old stuff, surprised they still had video of it...that company is in Calabassas, isn't that kinda near L.A.?

Glenn

JPEE

Glenn, YEP , that is where Eric my flying buddy lives that I brought into the hobby. From my house it is 15 miles.
I sent you a Skype with a map.
JPEE

evdreamer

Glenn,

Was that before gyros? I think it would be hard to flip the heli over without a gyro and keep the tail from moving.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

I think there were gyros then...single rate mechnical ones, like I had on my Cobra. I had mine in 1989, about 7 years after that video...

One of the comments mentions a single rate type gyro, so I think they did have very crude ones in 1982.

I still remember my Futaba (can't remember the model #) gyro...you could hear the motor spooling up inside of it...truely a mechanical device...

Back in those days, it was a BIG DEAL to hover inverted like he's doing in the video...you were at the top level if you could do that!

I am still amazed I even manged to get mine off the ground and hover it around....with so little info, no club, no forums, no RC heli mag...lol...alot of it was trial and error..[X(]

Glenn

evdreamer

Guys,

I am trying to get ready for the demo tomorrow and I am charging my 600 pack. One cell got up to 5V, so I hope I didn't ruin that cell. I will try to bring it back to normal. I probably should have balanced charged it more.

rotarydoc

Nick,

Hope you can get that cell repaired or replaced in time for your demo...

I guess balancing does help even on A123's.

Good luck...and have fun at the demo...

Can you fly the Velocity at the demo instead of the 600 if you have to?

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

It looks like that cell recovered. The battery is now full and all the cells are balanced. I will see how it does in flight.

I am going to fly my Velocity and 600 at the demo. No airplane guys could show up, so I am on my own. I am not surprised, since the demo is during working hours.

Nick

JPEE

Hi Nick, I hope your show comes off well for you. Sorry to hear about the battery but hopefully it will come back. I had a guy here last week who hovered down to 3 and 2.5 on a cell and I let is stand for 30 min and as always the charge came back up just a bit. Then I popped it on the charger and she came back, wheeeew. I am sure you know the old trick of "tricking a lipo" buy putting on NiCad and throwing a surface charge on it just eeeeeenought so the Lipo side will see it when you switch over. I have done that more times and I remember.

Glenn,
GYRO, isn' that a sandwich? LMAO.............

evdreamer

JPEE,

This was with my A123's. It seemed to work pretty good during the flight. The kids seemed to enjoy my helicopter demo.

Guys,

I finally crashed my Velocity. Being the smart person that I am I decided to flip the heli inverted while in normal mode. This was at my flying field that was pretty muddy and wet. I got a couple of flights in before that. On my second flight I had a little bit of fuel left, so I thought I would mess around for awhile, but I forgot I flipped the heli back into normal mode. Luckily I flipped it right side up and it looks like I only broke the landing gear. I did a quick check and it looks like all the gears are fine and the servos are fine. Luckily I have some landing gear and I just need to clean all the mud off.

Nick

JPEE

Oh Nick, I am so sorry to hear the Velocity came down. However the good part as you note, it appears there is no real or substantial damage! I am still very sorry for you.

JPEE

evdreamer

JPEE,

I took most of the Velocity apart and put it back together again. The only thing I could find was the bottom plate was bent and the landing gear. All the shafts look straight, the blades are fine, and the bearings aren't notchy. I got lucky on this one. My engine wasn't running right today, so I should have just packed it up for the day.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

JPEE,

I think I have seen GYROS on the menu at some Greek restaurants, yeah...lol...not quite the same thing...

Nick,

Sorry for your crash...glad you had time to flip it back in time to prevent it from being worse than it was. I saw Justin's buddy do that exact same thing a few weeks back, but he had alot of altitude, so it was no big deal.

Glad it is OK for the most part, just skids and some cleanup...

Is your bottom plate metal? Just wondering, you said it was bent...

I finally figured out why the SDX seems to be running on the warm side....for the past few weeks, I've noticed that it is running on the rich side, yet still runs in the lower 200's on the temp gun readings, if not a bit higher.

I have always thought the cooling system looks inadequate, and did a search for SDX cooling fan shroud...and came up with some articles. Apparently it is an optional part from Hirobo.

So, that is next on my list of things to do.

No surprise, it's pretty expensive for just a metal plate with some screws...[X(]

http://modelrectifier.com/search/pro...w.asp?ID=11296

Some guys make their own, but this one looks like it fits nice, and the frame is made to accept it. It also stiffens the front section of the frame at the same time.

The 450 Pro is coming along nicely.

Align is a bit TOO consistent...this kit is missing the EXACT same washers for the servos that my last one was, a year ago. They shorted me 2 mounting washers on both kits....lucklily, I had some in my Trex 500 RC Screwz kit...

Glenn

JPEE

WOW what GREAT news Nick! You do live on the Lucky side of the street their mister.

Glenn, glad you found the remedy for the over heating or running hot situation. Did you want tomatoes or sauce on your GYRO?

JPEE

evdreamer

Glenn,

The bottom plate is CF.

Yeah, it would be a good thing to have a fan shroud.

Good to hear about the 450.

I found a bent pushrod for the blade grips and everyone is out of stock. I will probably steal one off the 600 for a fun fly coming up soon.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Hope you can make the pushrod from the 600 work for you.

Sorry about the bent bottom plate...

I was reading about the airflow issues on the SDX, and the best results are from using that plate, and a few other pieces of thin lexan or plastic to seal the rest of the shroud.

They were saying it can make up to a 40 degree difference....I'll be real happy with 20 degrees right now!

I won't be able to get it for this weekend, and it's supposed to be HOT again, mid 90's...so I'll just keep it on the rich side, it runs OK, just doesn't make alot of power, and smokes a bit...and not to mention the poor "fuel milage" ...lol..

Back to work with Finless and the 450 Pro...

Glenn

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Got something I want your opinion on....

This new 450M motor looks awesome...powerful magnets, outrunner design...but what I don't like is that the motor shaft has no flat on it for the pinion set screw...

I saw in RC Heli magazine where they suggest just grinding a flat on one area for the pinion screw to grab...anyone ever actually done this?

I am pretty sure our bench grinder at work will be fine...it's just kinda scary to take a brand new motor to the grinder...lol...[X(]

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

I ordered a bottom plate and I chose to overnight it. I didn't want to spend a lot on shipping, but it was the only way I could get some testing in before the fun fly.

When I was taking things apart I noticed the starter shaft had some end play in the pinion/clutch housing. I don't know if I didn't push hard enough on the starter shaft when I was tightening the set screw or if it slid up in flight. I know I put a lot of loc tite on that set screw though.

I grinded a flat spot on my 600 motor. I knew the set screw wouldn't hold on a round shaft. I just used a dremel and it has worked really good so far.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

OUCH on the overnight shipping!!! I know how much that can cost...when I got my Quark, I just HAD to have it for the weekend....and overnighted it, but only from NJ...it was still very expensive!

Good you found the starter shaft end play, and corrected it.

I may use a dremel as well....good idea. I just am nervous about messing up...I guess if I gently clamped it in a vise with rubber inserts to hold it still, I'll be fine.

I just do not like the idea of a round shaft, with no flat for the set screw to grab.

I still can't get over the Trex 250, where the pinion is green loctited on....makes no sense to me....

Glenn

JPEE

Gbenn, me too on the Dremel. You won't have to make much of a flat spot, just a small area for the screw to grab. I would not! try to make a big flat spot like on 400 main shafts or even other motor staft. Once that screw patrudes thats all you need. A 64 - 32 is all you need.

JPEE good luck

rotarydoc

Hey guys,


Thanks for the tips on the motor shaft, I think I'll try the dremel as well....seems like it should work fine.

Made some more progress on the 450 Pro, got the tailboom, TT, rotor head in and set up.

Maybe a maiden this weekend....

I didn't fly today. It was incredibly hot, nearly 100, set some records.

Not much else new here...

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

That is cool you might be able to maiden the 450 this weekend.

I am still waiting for my part to show up.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

I brought the motor to work, and took it to the bench grinder.

It turned out pretty good, it's hard to make it look like a factory job, but it will do the trick, the shaft now has a nice flat on it for the pinion to grip.

I'll see how far I get tonight with it....

Hope you get your parts soon...at least USPS still delivers (if yours are coming USPS, that is) on Saturdays...they are talking about stopping Saturday deliveries soon to save money.

I was amazed when my DX6i showed up on a Saturday from Fed Ex...I think that was some sort of special deal...I don't think Fed Ex normally delivers on Saturday.

Weather here isn't too bad today, but hot all weekend again, we may cool down middle of next week to something a little more like normal for June, in the 80's.

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

Well I got my part from UPS and my helicopter is down for parts again. It was flying good for awhile and the tail just let go. I am thinking one of the gear teeth let go. This is going to be expensive. The blades, pushrods, landing gear, boom, probably torque tube, tail shaft and probably more are shot. It looks like I am not going to the fun fly this weekend.

Nick