I'm installing the Bell-Hiller upgrade for my Axe and I'm having a problem leveling the fly bar relative to the swatch plate. When all the links are attached the angle between the two is quite large; when one is level, the other is out by a large degree. To correct this I'd have to adjust the linkage lengths to their extreme limits. Is this normal and expected? From the instructions, it doesn't indicate that's the case. Anyone have this issue with their installation? Maybe Jason could offer some advice. What ever help will be apperciated.

Thanks,

N7115T

I have done the Bell-Hiller mod about a week ago and had no troubles installing it. Are you sure that when you started, all four replacement links are the same length? I am a newbie to the Axe, so I'm not a whole lot of help, but can say that the Bell-Hiller mod is worth every penny! As per the installation instructions for this mod, MAKE SURE YOU LOCKTITE ALL SCREWS! I had my blades come off the other night while hovering at about eye level and missed out on a trip to the hospital by about half an inch! with the new aluminum grips, the additional vibration caused my feathering shaft screws to come loose and the entire Bell-Hiller setup was scattered in about a 50 foot circle around me. Now it's time to wait for new links to come in before fly time again. Good luck and happy flying,
Bill

Could you please post a picture of how your installing the kit? Sound like you might be trying to hook up the mixing arm 180 degrees off. The links should all be the same length and get you very close to center. Please verify that you have the link closest to the blade going up to the seesaw. The link farthest from the blade goes down to the swashplate.
Hope this helps.
Jason

Thanks for the input. I didn't level the swatch plate plane with the blade plane prior to tightening the grips down. Once I did that, all worked just fine. I haven't needed to adjust the length of any connecting links. I leveled the swatch plate and blade planes relative to each other using a combination of small squares and straight edges. It worked very well and as stated, no need for link adjustment.

What nice fine control this upgrade offers. Good work to the folks at Heli-Max. I'm looking forward to installing the other CNC parts sitting in wait on my bench.

Thanks again.

N7115T

Can the upgrade be used with the rest of the CNC parts, I realize the only thing I would be changing would be the grips and adding the links. I have the CNC parts from heli-max. Am I ready for the Bell Hiller? I have the heli-max CNC grips but I don't use them yet for the obvious reasons. If it really aids in control, I am interested, Thanks

I've found that my controler inputs are are less than those that were required with out the upgrade. This translates into finer control over my flight movements. Combining this with the other CNC upgrades and almost all random motions due to excessive tolerance clearances are eliminated. I found that the lag between controller input and aircraft excution is tremendously reduced, not completely eliminated but very close to real time action. Of course it will take some time to become comfortable with this and I've been flying conservatively but I'd recommend installing the upgrade, I believe you'll enjoy the flying.

Cheers,

N7115T