Min-Ifo with brushless
11-30-2004, 02:40 AM
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RE: Min-Ifo with brushless
I don't know if this will work for a mini, but I just completed conversion of a T-IFO to brushless and it rips. Vertical acceleration, 20+ min. flight time, on Thunder Power 720's and a cd-rom brushless motor. What a huge difference. My old system was GWS A powered by surplus 820 cell phone li-ion batteries.
I used a $17.95 cd-rom motor from All e RC (http://www.allerc.com/index.php?cPath=7). I replaced the stock ring magnet with the NdFeB magnets included in their kit (a bit of a hassle, but probably worth it). One nice thing about their motor is that it has 3 holes and matching screws that I used for bolting it to a small piece of light ply. Then I mounted that to the larger half of the GWS motor mount (w/o gear drive), using the screws that mount the two halves together. I had to leave the can off the cd-rom motor until the base was mounted. This way it attaches just like before, with the rubber band shock absorbing mount. It probably weighs about the same as the GWS A setup. This motor doesn't have ball bearings, so I put a little bit of teflon grease in the bushing, and so far its good. It doesn't have much flight time yet, so the jury is still out on the longevity of the motor.
Then I used a Phoenix 10 brushless controler, and Thunder Power 720's. Prop is a GWS 8x4.3. I had to drill the prop slightly to get it to fit the included rubber band prop holder. WARNING: MAKE SURE THE PROP IS ON TIGHTLY WITH A GOOD RUBBER BAND OR O RING. I almost put out a friends eye when the prop flew off and missed his head by about a foot! I now use 2 O rings, and that seems to work. Motor stays cool with that prop. I tried a 10x4.7 prop (from the old setup), and it made the motor warm, so I went back to the 8x4.3.
The other change was to stabilize the rudder and convert it to elevon. I did my best to center the rudder before gluing, but its a hair off. This change made it worse flying with the old power system (it would get mushy in turns and not respond). Now with the bushless if a turn gets mushy, just give it a quick hit of throttle and carve away.
I'm thinking of adding a third servo so I can have rudder control. Vertical climbs are limited by the fact that it torques off vertical and I can't steer it.
All in all, well worth the effort.
Ken
I used a $17.95 cd-rom motor from All e RC (http://www.allerc.com/index.php?cPath=7). I replaced the stock ring magnet with the NdFeB magnets included in their kit (a bit of a hassle, but probably worth it). One nice thing about their motor is that it has 3 holes and matching screws that I used for bolting it to a small piece of light ply. Then I mounted that to the larger half of the GWS motor mount (w/o gear drive), using the screws that mount the two halves together. I had to leave the can off the cd-rom motor until the base was mounted. This way it attaches just like before, with the rubber band shock absorbing mount. It probably weighs about the same as the GWS A setup. This motor doesn't have ball bearings, so I put a little bit of teflon grease in the bushing, and so far its good. It doesn't have much flight time yet, so the jury is still out on the longevity of the motor.
Then I used a Phoenix 10 brushless controler, and Thunder Power 720's. Prop is a GWS 8x4.3. I had to drill the prop slightly to get it to fit the included rubber band prop holder. WARNING: MAKE SURE THE PROP IS ON TIGHTLY WITH A GOOD RUBBER BAND OR O RING. I almost put out a friends eye when the prop flew off and missed his head by about a foot! I now use 2 O rings, and that seems to work. Motor stays cool with that prop. I tried a 10x4.7 prop (from the old setup), and it made the motor warm, so I went back to the 8x4.3.
The other change was to stabilize the rudder and convert it to elevon. I did my best to center the rudder before gluing, but its a hair off. This change made it worse flying with the old power system (it would get mushy in turns and not respond). Now with the bushless if a turn gets mushy, just give it a quick hit of throttle and carve away.
I'm thinking of adding a third servo so I can have rudder control. Vertical climbs are limited by the fact that it torques off vertical and I can't steer it.
All in all, well worth the effort.
Ken
