RE: axe cp thread
 

I have two other sets of blades that have been previously clipped, balanced and reused, and I put a pair of those on last night. The operation was a little better, but still a wobble. I broke down and disassembled the head again, checked the feather spindle.. /tiny/ little warp, but noticable. Replaced it. Put back on the clipped blades, and gave 'er a run....

Much less wobble, but the tail runaway was still there.

Went about triming out the Gyro pots (potentiometers) on the E-Board for about 30 minutes or so, getting gloser here and there, but generally little to no success. I get the bird stable enough to take off and hold the bird and tail still for about 5-10 seconds or so and as soon as it drifts left/right, once you compensate it takes off and is next to imposssible to stabilize.

For the sake of arguement, I had centered all the trims on my radio, and on the pots, and worked out from there. As I previously noted it seemed like the middle pot (Gain) took a hit from something, and last night I think I even saw a small crack on the side of that pot.

Still assuming that the GY401 is a smart buy, now just waiting for the bugger to get here. [:'(]

--------------
FYI .02$: If your wallets can afford it, buy at least one set/unit of every spare part needed to have on hand. So far I have used about 1/3 of the advance parts that I have bought, and replaced some stripped screws.. You may not use some of the bigger parts soon or ever, but having the little things around sure does make you feel better about those crashes.

RE: axe cp thread
 

HardWyrd,

Just wantd to give a shout-out to an Idahoan!! I used to live in Rigby from 1980 tp 1987. GO TROJANS!!!

My 2 cents on the helis, I play mechanic a lot longer than pilot. I can tell from reading all the posts on here that I am definitely not alone.

Keep the reports coming in guys, I am going flying, dead calm outside, cant pass it up!

Nick

RE: axe cp thread
 

?

RE: axe cp thread
 

Gave the axe a new paint job, what do ya think?

RE: axe cp thread
 

Nice, I think Heli-max should produce a clear canopy, to paint your own way.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Looks really good Aaron![sm=thumbs_up.gif] I like that graphic on the on the side.

After a while I got tired of the OE decals so I threw on some blue vinyl.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Haveing a little too much fun with the airbrush:D. looks pretty cool when its spinning;)

RE: axe cp thread
 

I here ya my last CRASH!!! It was the wind too. A gust came out of nowwhere and almost put the heli to the ground so I over correct and right to the ground she went.
NEEDS: tails boom and landing gear and tail motor mount.

RE: axe cp thread
 

My tail boom was a little bent. But I made it right again. Come on tower..... I would rather be flying. I belive hovering inside with no wind has made us have a false feel good about our flying ability. I am going back outside as soon as I can and take it slow from there. Start with the basics again.

Good luck my fellow flyers

P.S. Don't let that fancy tail hypnotise you...[sm=spinnyeyes.gif] ( you are getting sleepyyyyy)

RE: axe cp thread
 

I've been flying in a large building most of the winter. A few times the wind calmed down and I took her outside. Its much easier without walls to worry about. If the AXE starts doin' something strange, you can always give lots of collective to buy some time. On the otherhand, inside, you must give correct cyclic inputs, or face hitting a wall. The panic sets in cause there's less time to react when it starts heading out on its own.

There is no "emergency escape" manueuver flying inside.

If its going to "HIT", be sure and power down quick to prevent damage to the motor, gears, esc, 3-1.


(bent my tailboom too, but no other damage today. Just bend 'em back :-) )

RE: axe cp thread
 

Sorry I didnt see the post from you. I bet you miss the good old Idaho Potato's . I went to IFHS "Go TIGERS" but I had friends from Rigby... Nice to see another Idahoan. Flying

Have a good one. Fly high and safe..

RE: axe cp thread
 

Hey folks.. Thought someone might appreciate this:
If you want a pretty nice tote to carry the AXE CP around in, for the price I recommend this:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXMNZ2

I just got mine in the mail today, and after a little snipping of foam inside to lengthen the slots for the skids, and then notch out a divet for the tail stabilizer, it fit perfectly with the training gear removed. The foam also has cutouts that fit all my batteries, and the basic charger and my radio charger (I picked up 8 2600mAh NiMH Duracell AA's and a 500mAh 12v wallwart from Radiocrack). The training gear rests nicely in the bag with plenty of room for other things like spare rotor blades and other common parts. I know I'll be adding a few additional velcro straps to secure more stuff inside.

The bag has solid wall inserts to protect the bird, and two decent sized pockets on either end. I fit my radio in one, and all my charging stuff in the other with room to spare. I'll post an image when I get a chance to snap one.

Come on Gyro! Tower says Monday-Tuesday at latest... gogogogogogogogogo!

RE: axe cp thread
 

Arg! Bummer!! I was making so much progress then suddenly I'm on my 3rd set of blades - BUT today I had my first timid venture back into forward flight and despite a very slight breeze, came home intact after 2 full packs!

I am still trying to get the tail dialed in, but at least its running smooth enough. Minor issue of "whirr whirrrr WHIRrrr whirrWhirrr-wh-whirrr-WHIRRRrrrr-whirrRRrrr". But its tame enough to almost ignore. Like my sound effects? :D

No more of that harsh Chittering, like that of Squirrels. Oi! Vay...

The issue still remains that the DX6 insists on nearly full Right Rudder Trim to keep a heading. So, I am always nudging the throttle stick to the right, which sometimes means I am changing Throttle which I don't like.

The slight breeze made everything a little shaky, but after some good hopping, did some low hovering, then some high hovering, then timidly went into some half-8's and did some half-coordinated turns. Finally, I was able to swing out, turn around, and have her fly by me, then flare into a hover, and do it all again a couple times.

Very cool! Just need some really calm weather though. That slight breeze had me execute a couple Crash Avoidance Maneuvers but nothing really panicky. I did SLAP down hard and flat on the skids once, but thanks to the training gear and the toughness of the Axe frame, I just resumed hovering on the bounce up! Whew!

I can't do much more until I get the radio and e-board dialed in, but for now, all the hardware is solid. I'm doing a thorough Post-Flight Check on everything tonight, so its ready for the weekend!

~m

RE: axe cp thread
 

That is too freaking COOL!!! I'm gonna do it somehow...

RE: axe cp thread
 

Heliko thats nice, Did you paint the tail boom to. Looks like you have a dent in the middle, might just be the picture or my eyes.

Aaron that tail blade doesn't only look cool but will help track where the tail is at.

I can't seem to fly inside, there is too much turbulance. I was flying in my back yard with any insidences, except the broken skid from coming down to hard on the river rocks. The second battery of every flight in the front yard I have a crash.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Believe it or not it's not paint. It's ink. I just used two sharpie markers. One red and one blue. I used them on the blades too. They work great and it makes touch-ups real easy.

And yes that is a dent. I had a minor blade strike during some outdoor flight pratice.

RE: axe cp thread
 

I have to agree It's" FREAKING RAD!!!" (not going to use" COOL "Im going 80"s style) It's Rad I do like. Im going to pull the old air brush and do it to mine too. [8D]
I think your starting a crazy trend[&:]

RE: axe cp thread
 

Man, you guys are add'n more work to the paint job I've been think'n about.
Still jones'n ta fly.
Still got the big old bandage on the finger.
By next week I'll be drive'n my new runner and it'll all be worth it though.
Just can't bring myself to fly with thumbs right now; I know it'll cost me money I don't have at the moment.

RE: axe cp thread
 

You guy's wanna see some awsome heli fly'n?
Check out this vid. It's on the phoenix sim, but I saw a demo very similar to this with a real rc chopper at the Heli show in San Carlos a couple years back.
The degee of control is nothing short of amazing!
Scroll to the heli vid at the bottom of the page.
[link=http://www.phoenix-sim.com/pages/downloads.htm]Some fine Fly'n[/link]

RE: axe cp thread
 

I FINALLY got my T-Rex 450 setup and flying, and it is AWESOME! In comparison to the Axe, correctional input needed during flight is sooo much slower and easier to read. The cyclic response is incredible also. My friend let me do a little bit of tinkering with his Axe CP and it made drastic improvements in flight.

I looked at the swashplate after giving it some full cyclic servo rotations and noticed that it wasn't level. Go figure.... how can you set the swashplate TRULY level when your cyclic linkages are so tight???

I used a little bit of plastic compatible oil on the ball links and worked it in to smoothen them out. I then re-checked for level swashplate and one of the servo linkage arms was off by 2 full turns.

Now for the dirt, and this is the only REALLY negative thing I have to say about the Axe CP other than the obvious stock battery is a joke.

"Factory setup and ready to fly"..... it amazes me that Heli-Max ships these out to people w/o advising people to sand down the flash-line on the balls and/or oiling them FIRST before even THINKING about flying it. Taking a stock Axe CP out of the box and attempting anything other than brief hovering.... I doubt even the most experienced RC heli pilot could keep from digging 1 into the dirt with a simple attempt at forward flight. In order to overcome the binding in the linkages and give smooth operation, i'd estimate the servos would have to have a 31oz/in. torque rating and these servos definately don't have that much Ooompf.

I've posted the forementioned before but its importance is HUGE!

This is just a "in case you didn't know":
Aileron correction is a constant variable in heli-flying. So don't put too much "aileron" trim in to try and make this disappear TOTALLY. I think that's why they say a SUPERBLY tuned heli can hover "hands off" for 2-4 seconds. So there's some numbers to shoot for... and with the Axe being small and regular gyro'd, i'd call it "perfectly tuned" if you can hover it "hands off" for 1.5-2 seconds.

RE: GY401 gyro. Supposed to be the king of HH gyros for small-med/lrg heli's. It's more stable to temperature fluctuations than other HH gyro's due to SMM technology. I'd probably go with a smaller sized gyro for the Axe. I got the Align HH gyro for my Trex 450 and it works great. After 1 adjustment to the remote gain in my radio the tail was "LOCKED" in HARD. Not a single twitch was noticed.

If I owned an Axe CP I wouldn't invest in ANY alloy upgrades, they're not going to make jack squat difference compared to using better servos and/or a HH gyro.

RE: axe cp thread
 

I totally agree with this, and most of the post, BUT my Axe was pretty smooth out of the box - I did nothing to it before getting into some pretty far out forward flight. Then again, manufacturing process always yeild variable results - there will always be 'stars' and 'lemons' despite decent QA. The Chinese manufactures have a long way to go on the science of QA. The Japanese are way ahead hear, but their costs are much higher too. Look for China to catch up in QA in the years to come.


I agree here - just fly the Axe stock. Its a fine trainer for CCPM, arguably the best. Saving my hop-up monies for a TREX. When I am done crashing the snot out of my Axe :D


I am toying with the idea of a HH Gyro for the Axe. When I am done with the Axe, I will move the Gyro over to the TREX, so its OK if its high-end.

BUT - please explain - I read the Gyro manual, and it only covers the Gyro driving a servo which drives a variable-pitch (belt-driven) tail. How do you make it work with the stock Axe? I don't see that it can work unless you 'go separates' - and there is no freaking way I'm doing that...

RE: axe cp thread
 

Markind,
What a gyro's general setup does is gives a signal (current) to a servo to adjust pitch of blades to correct yaw. The current draw rate on a servo can vary greatly, so when you purchase a HH gyro for the Axe CP, my "Guess" is that a gyro's current that operates a servo can operate the Axe's tail motor. The popular Futaba's tail servo (9650servo/GY401 gyro) for a T-Rex is Digital and takes quite a bit of juice to operate.

For those that are thinking about a T-Rex tail setup that doesnt cost $200 and yields rock solid performance(so far), I went with a HS-81MG. It cost me about $100 for both. For a good HH servo, you want FASSST and somewhat strong.

I think Heli-Max gives instructions on how to set it up somewhere, however i forget which HH gyro they recommend.

It took me 1 day and much frustration to figure out what was causing my HH gyro from working, I kept thinking it was my radio's settings. The culprit was sooo simple and i'm embarrassed to say... the gyro was reversed! 1 flip of the switch and it was like magic. The setup is actually very simple... and I came close to kicking my own ass several times. :)

RE: axe cp thread
 

Hey, that gives me something to do while my finger tip grows back.
What brand of oil do you use?
Would a teflon based mountain bike chainlube work?
How about a silicon based grease?
The teflon lube would'nt attract dirt like the silicone paste would though.
Eyeing the axe now[sm=71_71.gif]
It almost looks like my dog when I break out the claw clippers [sm=eek.gif]

RE: axe cp thread
 

will three in one oil work.

RE: axe cp thread
 

The "signal" (not current or amperage) is given to the ESC that is driving the tail. Whether you use the stock 3-1 and reduce the factory gain to zero, or purchase your own esc, makes no difference. The aftermarket gryo is still "telling" something what to do, and that item (servo, esc) has its own power source to make it happen.