blvdbuzzard

I was working on getting a motor driven variable pitch tail setup on my AXE. Well it worked at only full power. I could not get the motor to arm if I had anything but full power going to channel 7. I spent a couple of hours messing with mixing and changing channels on the Rx. Well it would only spin at full power. Well the little ammo BL motor would not last long doing that so I Was setting there and looking at the parts I had on hand. Well couple hours later I had a belt driven tail on my AXE.

The had part was getting the aluminum piece fabricated just right. The one there is #5. It took a while but I hope it is worth the effort.

Dru.

BigTruckDriver

LOOKS GOOD I AM IN!

blvdbuzzard

Well the weather has finally calmed down so I could fly. It has been 3 weeks since I was up. I got a flight in on the HBK2 last night just before dark. Well I was able to 3 flights on the HBAXEK2 tonight.

It is one sweet machine now. I have the home made belt drive on it and the BH mod. It is the first time I was able to do a punch out with the AXE to see it climb without loosing the tail and doing a piro.


On the first flight I was just checking it out. Well I had it all screwed up. Tail servo was reversed as was the gyro. It did some good spins at first. I got that sorted out and then it had a lot of left in it. Adjusted the links and then I was adjusting the link to get it to stop the rear ward drift.

After it was all trimmed and doing well in rate rate. I flipped it into HH and WOW. IT was the first time the tail would stay where you put it. It just sits there now. It is VERY tame. Even with the BH mod and faster action, it is easier to fly. It does not drift so I am not behind it try to get it to go where I want.

I burned up the second pack hovering and getting the throttle curve set. I started with a curve of 2-10-15-30-60. I am hovering at 3/4 stick. It was to low but was off the ground. I am now at 2-20-45-75-100. I need to bring down center stick a bit. Almost wants to hover at mid stick.

I think I will be able to do forward flight with it now. I am thinking I may even get loops, rolls and do I dare, flips with the AXE. Need more stick time to see how it is going to act. I do know I need better servos. The HS-55 work, but there is some slop in them. Not sure what to use, HS-65 seem to big, HS-65 seem to tall from mounting point to servo arm. But for now, I will fly with the HS-55's


Dru.

jt41time

This is exactly what i want to do. I can build pretty much anything with the right tools. Please, help me. what parts fit what? stock tail boom? I had the idea to do it with a blade 400 boom and back end. but the idlers in the main area and the main pully was what stumped me. let me know. why spend more money on a blade 400 or a trex when i already have a pos and i can make it better.......

rcollector

I just finished converting my axe to a honey bee king 2 tail and a esky brushless motor. It was pretty easy . I saw this post and asked blvdbuzzard a few questions . He had a great Idea in doing this because I can't beleive how much better my axe flies. I can list all of the parts I bought if this would help. I bought the aluminum upgrade parts for the honeybee king to do mine with. I used a wallmart knitting needle for the boom. This tail mod using esky cnc parts and even including the brushless motor and esc costed me about $100 The only part that is a little tricky is making something to hold the stock esky idler pulleys.I built mine like the one in the belt drive kit from freestyle hobbies. I will post some pictures of my axe with this mod as soon as I can. I will try to get them on here tonight. There is also more info on this over at rcgroups.com page 463 of the official axe cp thread.

rcollector

Here are a few pictures of my axe cp. The cheap esky gyro I bought used for $6 seems to work much better than the gyro in the stock 3 in 1 but I still want to try a futaba gy240 as my next upgrade.

nscradar

Looks real good. Very similar to the way I did mine. I used an align 450 tail instead of the HBK2, but the end result is the same. A tame heli that I fly instead of chasing it all over.
Food for thought here. I would recommend that you replace the "Z" bends on your servo arms with ball links. That will reduce the slop in the head significantly and give more precise control.
All in all, nice looking and clean installation.

rcollector

At times the heli wil hop up and down quickly. I was thinking maybe it could be because of this slop in the head. It did it when it was stock but with the slightly higher head speed of the brushless motor it seems to be a little worse. Funny thing is , It seems to only do it for the first 30 seconds or so of flight when the battery is freshly charged.

rcollector

nscradar, ,Did you make the align boom fit in your frame or did you use a bushing to make the tail fit the axe boom? What belt and front pulley did you use? I have another stock axe,just looking for ideas to maybe upgrade it.

PilotLight

My Feedback: (1)

The Bell/Hiller mod will make this go away. Yes, it is from the slop in the head. Nice set up. Is there a connector between the skinnier Axe tail boom and a thicker boom? (Looks like a black piece)

Noticed by the brass rubbing off on the main gear you must have a lot of flights on this thing.

nscradar

I made a bushing to fit the boom. I like the inexpensive knitting needle replacement. Front pulley is HBK2 modded to fit the 6mm main shaft and the belt is from the align 450 tail. There was just enough length on the boom to get the belt tension just right. Because the belt drives direct off the main shaft instead of a driven idler, the length is about right. In order to use a 12mm boom, either the belt would have to be longer or the boom cut down and the frame has to be bored out to fit. Very doable. In fact FPainter3 @ RCgroups forum is doing that mod on his ACP. I just chose a different route.

rcollector

The boom is one piece. The hbk2 boom is the same diameter as the axe. The black I think you are referring to is just a couple of plastic clips that are supposed to help hold the tail pushrod from shaking or bending. I am not using them so they are pushed up near the servo. I will remove them next time the tail box is off.

rcollector

I did not know if the honey bee king pulley would work with the align belt. Good to know. maybe I will try an align tail and boom on my other axe in the future.

Does anyone know what front pulley the freestyle hobbies kit from australia is using? I know they use a trex belt.