Test hover after installing hitec HS-55 servos was interesting. The heli was making unusual altitude changes. Radical changes. Tail rotor not acting normal also. Then heli just droped out of the air like a rock. No damage was done so I was lucky. After crash inspection report is as follows:

1)Battery had full charge so no problem here (Thunder Power 11.1v 1320mA)

2)Servos working correct, swashplate and push rods setup as per manual.

3)No binding in linkages

4)Blade tracking dead on (checked before crash)

5)Flybar paddles aligned correctly with swashplate and each other (checked before crash)

6)Rotor head balanced on high point balancer before test flight.

I took off rotor head and unpluged tail rotor and was runing up main motor/mainshaft and all was okay untill motor just went dead. So what do you do? Jiggle the motor wires! Motor came back on for a bit then quit. Found the problem!
Problem was with the negative motor connectors. I cut the shrink tube off the female connector and the connector just fell off the wire! Piss poor solder job here. I had to remove all shrink tubing to check other connectors and one looked questionable. I got some new connectors at LHS and removed original connectors and installed new ones. The new ones fit together more snugly and after I solderd them on I know they are on for good. Bench test without rotor head was done and motor worked fine. In fact motor appeared to work better. This could be my imagination but at very low throttle with the motor just running,motor seemed to have a more stable rpm. Will do a test flight as soon as I can. We have a major snow/ice storm right now and I have to wait untill that passes to do proper testing.

I had the exact same problem with my second Axe. Fortunately I was just about to make a flight and I was wiggling something and the negative motor lead dropped out of the connector. Looked at the solder job and it was pathetic. Of course, I also re-soldered the other lead just to be sure. Sure didn't want no stinking lead to come off during a flight.

Carl

I think we are getting the same storm across Virginia. Aargh!!! I'm going down to Florida for the weekend.

I am at work right now, but first thing when I get home is check my motor connections also. I have had the "Drop like a rock" syndrome also. I am going to try something with my blades to fix the elongated holes in them, I will let the forum know if it works.
Thanks for the heads up ELECTRICHEAD!!

ElectricHead , What servo horns are you using with the HS55 Servos. I have put the new horns in and they seemed a little weak, so i tried to get the old ( originals ) ones on but they did not fit well and where off, not 90 DEG on servo. THX

I used arms that came with Hitec servos. The arms were long double ended,not star arms. I rotated arms to fit at 90 degrees as per manual setup instructions that came with Axe. Then cut off end of arm that was not needed. On these Hitec arms the outter holes are the same distance out as the OEM arms but I did have to drill them out to fit stock pushrods. Hitec arms are also too thick so I sanded the thickness of Hitec arms to .045 thick. Only sanded the ends where the pushrod connects so these Hitec arm are stronger. I had one arm that would not line up at 90 degrees so it is "down" just a tad. You can put OEM arms on Hitec servos but you have to push them on with force but they will go with enough elbow grease. I used Hitec arms because I could rotate arms on the spline and get my 90 degree angle. With OEM arms you can not rotate them because they only have one end to use so you are stuck with however they happen to fit for you. My next mod may be to make new pushrods and use ball links on servo arms instead of "Z" bend for attachment. Balls on Axe are 3.8mm and you can get them from Helihobby. I will check into this and see if there is enough room for this mod. Should take a little more slop out of system. BTW I have seen a pic of blade holders and flybar stabalizer that has had plastic balls removed and parts drilled out and had these metal 3.8mm balls installed. This mod has been said to stop the balls from breaking off these parts. One mod I have in mind is to drill and tap flybar stabalizer for a #2-56 set screw to lock flybar in place. The last crash I had the balls on flybar stabalizer were fine but the plastic bosses that the metal collars fit over sheared and allowed flybar to rotate. I ordered parts from Tower and they were on back order and I still don't have them. Lucky LHS just happened to get some and I bought two.

Thanks for the heads up, I will redo them. Iam in the process of replaceing the head and main shaft and when i put it back together i will change the horns. Now for the GYRO, i will have mine in the morning and should be installing it by the weekend. cant wait to see what that thing does.
Again THX

Post how the gyro works for you as I am also interested in that mod.

I noticed you guys talking about servo horns and wanted to throw out another option. I bought Dubro horns the same time I got the HS-55's and they worked pretty good. They fit the HS-55's correctly (no excessive force required) and are about the same thickness as the OE servo horns so they don't have to be sanded. The hole will have to be drilled out to accomodate the linkage. This actually worked to my advantage because there was a little bit of slop between the hole in the OE horn and Z-bend that's gone now. The only thing is I couldn't get one of the horns exactly parallel in the neutral position so I used the linkage adjustment to compensate.

What is the order/ part number on them i want to get some.

Hey Gamemaker I got the servo horns from Tower Hobbies [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXLPF1]this link[/link] should take you right to it.