Hello, new to this helicopter thing. I have a question I'm hoping someone can help wtih. Learing to fly has been fun, a bit frustrating but I'm getting there. I have had to replace 3 tail booms and countless blade grips and when I replaced my last boom with a carbon boom I dropped a piece of soilder across the capacitor on the tail motor. Needless to say I didn't catch it until after I tried flying and I smoked the 3 in 1 board. I went and got a new board and tail motor and replaced them both. Went through adjusting everything the best I can. I can't the tail motor to act normal no matter how I set it. It wants to come on hard and fast, surges cuts on and off and just doesn't act right at all. There is no happy medium. Could I have toasted the reciever as well ???? I asked the guy and the local hobby shop and he said it can't be the new 3 in 1. Any thoughts ? Thanks for the help.

Hey copey70,


OK,

Did you possibly reverse the polarity while replacing the tail motor?

Have you made adjustments to the new 3 n 1?

Could the new motor be damaged due to excessive soldering?

The original (old) tail motor should be fine. Shorting that cap with solder could damage the 3 n 1... but not the motor.
Have you tried it again?

The Rx can be tested by inserting a servo on the rudder channel (row of pins where the single orange wire plugs into the Rx).


Motors can be tested with batteries. ESC's can be tested with a DMM or O-scope.


You need to test some things so you can separate what works from what doesn't... "Divide and Conquer"

At this point it could be anything including the "new 3 in 1".


.

I double checked the + and - on the motor and that is correct. I don't think it got to hot when I put the new motor in, it only had heat long enough to melt the solder. I did test both the motors and they seem to be fine. I'm going to try more adjustments on the 3 in 1 board. It may just be that I haven't adjusted it enough to get the surging out of the tail motor. This is a lot more complicated than the old RC Cars I had in the past, but more fun to learn

Well sure!

If you have not tried adjusting the 3 in 1 pots to 50% each and working from there you can make no predictions on how it will perform.

Unfortunately I no longer have one in my Axe so I cannot help you on where mine are [were] set.

Good luck, you will learn from this. Your past RC experience will be a plus.

Edited for my poor spelling, no typing, o.k. spelling.

Do you still have the stock geared tail rotor setup, or have you upgraded to a belt conversion, or the direct drive upgrade? My tail rotor acted similar when it was new. The gear mesh is so tight on the stock setup, that the motor has to 'overcome' it. I got rid of the geared setup on my axe and went with the direct drive setup.

I still have the stock setup. I finally got it figured out. I just hadn't spent enough time adjusting things. After I spent more time tweaking it, it's better than it was out of the box. I'm burning through 3 or 4 batteries a night after work getting the hovering thing down. After I get better at hovering and start to walk around some I'll think an upgrade to the tail, for now, it's almost perfect, very little corrections are needed to keep it straight.

Awesome,

That was my experience too.

Tell me you didn't learn something.

At first I'd hover all the packs I had... as fast as I could charge them.

I also moved to "walking' it around and hoovering at higer altitudes.

Go for it.

For sure a learning curve on this thing. It's tons of fun when it's not chasing me back up the driveway ! I got it a bit daring and flipped that little throttle up swtich on it and lost it big time, broke the carbon tail boom I just put on it, broke a blade grip (again) and either the main shaft or feathering spindle is bent. No biggie, if your not fixing it, your not pushing yourself right !

I would not recommend "FLIPPING INTO: IDLE-UP" unless your comfortable in all aspects of flight in NORMAL MODE.
Things happen very quickly in IDLE-UP [X(], the collective can be difficult to control , nevermind the radical cyclic reactions!

Shadow

Hello again, got another question I'm hoping someone can help with. I have developed a new little proble with my AXE. First off, I have put the Gyro on it, that was a huge help, makes the tail much more solid. But this prblem I haven't had luck figuring out. When I'm in a hover the heli drops or shoots up, no real reason I can find. I have checked everything, replaced the feathering spindle, main hub, slider, paddles, blades, just about everything that controls pitch except the servos. Anyone else seeing this problem ?

If nothing is binding I would guess you have a cellphone - my axe would occasionally jump when I had my cellphone on.

I am flying it now with a spektrum radio and it doesn't do it.

copey70,

The AXE is my second heli. I have had it since Jan. '08.
(My first was a GMP Cricket some 30 yrs. ago but I was too young and inexperienced to have had any chance to fly it. I crashed it!)

From what I've read, my Axe experiences were (are) typical of someone learning to fly a CP heli. A few crashes here and there. Alot to learn about set-up, etc.

After a couple of months I was doing very well and almost able to hover (tail in) for a "full pack" (6-7 min.). Then one day while flying in the garage it suddenly shot or rose up. I paniced cause I thought it was going to hit the ceiling and cut power till it slammed the floor. Typical newb move. After that it happened I was weary, it continued happening frequently. It got so bad I could not enjoy learning anymore.

So, convinced I was going to learn to fly helis no matter what, I replaced the Tx, Rx, and Sxs. An investment I could use in the future. Since that time there has been no hopping. Later I went on to eliminate the Axe's 3 in 1 but I am still running the stock motors.

If your sure the slider and everything is moving freely and nothing is worn it sounds like control electronics issues. It could be stripped gear(s) on the servo(s), it could be interference (glitches - not good), it could be a poor electrical connection, or a "dirty" potentiometer in your Tx. You'll have to investigate.

If your budget allows and your in it for the "long haul", replace the radio gear ASAP. Go for a 2.4 GHz. If [when] you decide to move up you can use the radio gear so no money is wasted.

I'm glad I replaced mine. It's soooo much more enjoyable now... and, I refused to sell ANY of the stock stuff on eBay and pass it on to someone else. My 7 yr. old had lots of fun disassembling all of it!

MANY have had similar issues with this heli. Based on MY experiences... it is something with the [my] control electronics.

RWW

That's what I was thinking, it was electronics someplace. I am going to replaceing this one with a T-Rex in the near future, I just bought this one to see if I really wanted to fly on these or if it was just a thought I had. The only thingI'm trying to decide is which one want, the 450 or the 600, logic says go with the 450 as the next step up, and I have to decide on the radio I want, 6 channel, or 7, Futaba or not. I have already bought a 401 Gyro for the next one. I did consider a EXI 450 for a bit, but decided against it. A T-Rex isn't that much more. I'll start with a new radio and electronics until I'm a little more comfortable with this one and than move up to a more stable platform. My son wants this one after I'm done with it, he has started flying this one and likes it. For now I'll just use the up and downs and a reflex training :-)

I think you are moving in a good direction, it's similar to the route I am taking. By buying the radio now you can learn to program it with the Axe. Then when you install the radio into your Trex you'll have those "tools" (experience) in your "tool box" (brain). You might decide to buy another receiver so you can have both ready! Save you money for another month or so if that what it takes and go for a seven channel.

I would continue to learn and abuse the Axe if you can. The parts are abit more expensive than Trex parts but it is a simpler head and easy to set-up. I am near the end of building my first Trex (450 SCF) and I can't imagine not having the Axe build/fly/repair experiences to work from. (That and alot of reading around here and other sites.)

If you buy wisely you will be able to re-use alot of the electronics.

RWW

Well, I made a decision, I'm going to pick up a 6EX today and an ESC for this little toy. I was flying yesterday and our of no where it dropped like a stone and broke the landing gear, main blades and tail boon. It's time for an upgrade ! THis will be a new learning curve setting all the pitch points and things. Getting closer and closer to an 450 upgrade