RE: axe cp thread
 

I have yet to see a stock AXE fly inverted at my altitude (5800 ft.) without major upgrades. But the Blade CP Pro will do this. Go figure. By the time you get lipos and a charger you have spent more for the Axe than the Blade. IMHO.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Alien- Thanks for the advice, and the Spektrum DX6 I am planning on getting will work with my Axe, but the Futaba Gy401 will not. So, I am just going to continue to fly using the stock electronics until I am ready to move on to a bigger heli.

So, I am going to wait on any TRex for a while and continue to fly the Axe for now. I still need to perfect my figure 8's and get my circles down a little better before moving up.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

[/quote]


Oh I guess because the Gy401 expects only to talk to a digital servo? I got the Gy240 to work fine with the stock electronics, no separate tail ESC needed.

Yep, having too much fun with the Axe to go for TREX yet - and so far, knock on wood, its been cheaper than my TREX estimates.


Success!

I got to the clubhouse tonight, and dang! Forgot my training gear. Oh well, I'll just get light on the skids and slide as I debug my new DX7 program.

After about a quarter pack, with some radio tweaks she is sliding controllably. Looks real smooth and just 'wanting' to hover.

Ok, give more throttle and -

Whoa!! Never seen such a smooth liftoff! I got into a nice, stable hover, just INCHES off the floor!! Killer!!

The stick response is soooo smooth! Before, the transition from light-on-skids to liftoff was the very slightest - now its almost a quarter inch of stick travel!

I gave more throttle and with super smooth control, got into a glass-smooth hover about eye level - tracking is within a half-blade thickness - good 'nuff.

I was thinking I could reduce headspeed a bit, so I landed and tweaked the Normal Throttle Curve - down 5% at position 1 and 2 - the critical ones for the hover.

I took off more boldly this time - even smoother! And, the headspeed was reduced to a 'comfortable hum'. I could see the rotor disk reflecting the flourescent lighting, making a colored pattern that was changing with the headspeed. Very cool!

Then I was observing - the stick is too high up during hover. Time to increase the Normal Pitch Curve.

Just added 2% across the whole curve...

Awesome!! Its so close to being totally dialed, its beyond my skill to tell how to change it from here!

I'm still on the first pack!!

I ran out the second pack in nice hovers with only a few landings - all feather-light!

What I learned tonight was the RADIO has a lot to do with the initial difficulty many Axe pilots experience. I think any nOOB with a DX7 could get into a stable hover much faster and safer than with the stock radio. I know though - its a cost thing and the basic radio has to be a compromise between nOOb and expert pilot's requirements.

The deal is - it now takes me MORE stick movement to do anything (in particular, change the collective pitch and throttle) at the hover, thus its easier!! Useless for hotshot 3D pilots, but a godsend for a nOOOB like me!! :D

I flew out the 3rd pack in very relaxed hoverings around - actually just having FUN! She did creep up to 10 feet away from me in a few undesireable movements, at different times, but was easy to get back under the reigns. She was buffeted a bit too by some odd air currents in the room, but nothing ugly.

Now then, she is ready, once again and after all this time, for FF. All I need now is the normal miracle - time and dead calm wind. Ha!! See? Even TREX can't buy you that! :D

RE: axe cp thread
 

Well, The Axe is a relatively new heli. When the Blade first came out, it was $250 if you found a good deal. I think there a wash if you ask me (with lipo upgrade for Axe) which btw can be had pretty cheap if your using the stock motor. Even the 15c common sense lipos are pretty cheap.

RE: axe cp thread
 

I was a little hesitant at first, but I must say they work pretty good and they're tough. They're quieter than the wood blades. They also effectively prune the trees.:D

RE: axe cp thread
 

The Blade CP Pro was $234.99. The Axe was $189.99. Lipo was 42.99 and lipo charger was $24.99. Blade CP Pro = better deal in the end. Plus it is such a better flying heli.

RE: axe cp thread
 

I think your right about the tx problems for n00bs. I have 3 tx's now plus the original one that I had that went back to hobbico, Non of them feel the same as far as stick movement. The current stock tx that I have with my stock Axe is so smooth though that I hate to even swap it over to the 6EXHP even though I would have more control over what the heli does with it. It flys so silky smooth you don't even notice the stick movements hardly at all, It feels that precise. I guess Eventually it will be moved over with the rest of my helis but you know the old say " If it ain't broke don't fix it", lol.;)

RE: axe cp thread
 

I bought a 1000mah lipo and charger for $42.99 so it is effectively a wash. Also that price was the original price of the Blade Cp. Obviously they can afford to sell the BCP at a lower price because it is a tried and true heli. Given time the Axe can also have improvements and such.

RE: axe cp thread
 

I had not considered the difference between digital and analogue and you are correct.[:o] Thanks for helping me remember that.:D

Bill

RE: axe cp thread
 

Hey all, its been great reading these threads on the axe cp. I am a total newbie here reading up on all the different heli's to start with. I can find these axe cp's for less than $100 online and I was wondering if its worth going forth getting one of these over the other options. I would love a T-REX down the road, but I know thats overkill. I can see spending the initial now to assume I can get a grip on this and then once I master hovering/flying/etc move on to a better heli. What is your recommendations here to start out with? Is this a good one?

Thanks in advance and looking forward to becoming a regular here.

Mike

RE: axe cp thread
 

Hi Mike, Mine is more expensive than that, because I have already installed the DX6 and AR6000 2.4ghz. 10 memory Heli radio. Thunder Power 11.1v 1320 mah battery, this alone is a $250.00 upgrade minimum. I have also installed and tested the new spindle that Heli-max offered to Axe owners. Anyone on this forum with a Spektrum system DX 6, DX7 in the Axe and Lipo will tell you a much much better and easier heli to master. Plus you can use both the upgrades the radio and the lipo in the trex or any other 400 size heli. This will put you on the next step to the trex in the future.
Make me an offer.


Chaseman81

RE: axe cp thread
 

chaseman, why the spektrum? why not the jr? I am going to get a new radio, til now I have just used whatever came in the box. I like alot of variety and currently fly four helis and I want to just use one radio. What all came with your spek? I have heard good and average reviews on both the futaba and spek, but every review I read about the jr stuff is good. Did you buy recievers for all your helis or do you just swap out from one to the other? I am considering buying a pkg radio with servos and reciever, but I wonder if piecing together my own. thanks, Rusty

RE: axe cp thread
 

2.4Ghz. is why I went with the spektrum Dx6, plus it was on sale for 199.00 it came with 3 servos and the AR6000 rec. lipo bat in the radio and the charging cord for both tx and rx bats. I only have the one heli, but all you need to do is buy another AR6000 rec. and set it to model two, boom thats it program and set-up. Also you can us it on planes too.

The radio has all the bells and whistles that make set-up and fly easier and trimming in the bird a breeze. The axe is just like any other rtf or rtr r/c the radios and the batteries are just there to make it work. ( not proform) if you want it to proform you have to upgrade. I did it with my RTR NTC3 Car and my RTR Savage truck. and my RTF Axe CP. In every one of them the better radio and stronger servos has made for easier and better handling.

ONE other thing I liked allot is the size of the receiver, very small and would fit nicely in the axe, without changing the center of gravity.

That's why I did it.

Chaseman81

RE: axe cp thread
 

thanks alot for the info,one question is how do you know which way to track your blade up or down if you dont have a pitch or anything except lookin at the blades spinning.thanks for any help.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Cjoker this should answer your questions. If you need to reset blade pitch this will help there too.


To reset the blade pitch:

Disconnect both motors,

Turn on the Tx with throttle trim centered and connect the pack,

Turn on Idle-Up switch,

Center throttle stick at 50% throttle,

Set both main blades to 0º pitch (Using this method I usually eyeball the pitch. You don't necessarily need a pitch guage),

OK your done!

------------------------------------------------

Turn off Idle-Up,

Turn off power,

Reconnect everything.

Before you even track the blades mark them. It doesn't matter which blade you adjust, whether it's the higher or lower blade makes no difference. Just be sure to always adjust the same blade. Consider the other blade non-adjustable. Use it as a reference point. In fact it may not be a bad idea to mark the pitch link itself. That way even if you replace grips you'll know which link to adjust.
Good Luck!

RE: axe cp thread
 

Damn good idea Heliko! That would do the trick. Hey Might not have to selling the AXE and Spektrum. Was able to order the gun's tonight from some other ebay sales Whoooooo! Yeah! didn't really want to sell it. Just thought I might have too:D

gonna go to ebay and cancel my listing. Then take her up for a flight!!!

Chaseman out

RE: axe cp thread
 

Glad to hear it. Afterall you can never have too many hobbies.[8D]

RE: axe cp thread
 

Damn Straight! Heliko

I love flight glad to be here with you guy's

It felt good too.... to fly it again. I had put it away, so not to have a mishap. but shes off ebay and all mine again.:D

RE: axe cp thread
 

Heli crack, Heli crack!!!! lol.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Well when I decided to give the plastic blades a try I decided to change my heli's theme from red to blue. What do you guys think? I thought it turned out OK.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Looks good. Kinda has that Blue Thunder look.[8D]

RE: axe cp thread
 

That's no accident my friend. ;)

RE: axe cp thread
 

Hey.. I haven't dropped a question in here in a while, but I've seens a few questions on sticky collective out there, and wanted to put this one out:

I've had my Axe CP for a quite a few months now, and have been through several repairs and rebuilds. This last time even though I managed to get the bird together right, I'm having a bit of an issue with 'Sticky Collective' as people have been referring to it. Defined: When attempting liftoff or decent, whether idleup or not, the bird leaps and dips quite uncontrollably, causing dangerous hopping and undue stress and sweating of the operator.

Previously I have gone through and used superfine sandpaper and gone over the balls of each linkage, and have sanded down the head-post shaft such a minute amout, and so and so on... used a fine amount of white lithium grease for the main shaft, feathering spindle, etc and so on.

Could people try and list a fairly complete set of TODO's and what to use for peaking and tweaking the bird while going through reassembly? I obviously started the list above, but it'd be nice to have more of a bulleted list to work from.

TIA!

RE: axe cp thread
 

Hey Stryker, aside from binding issues in the ball links there are other things that contribute to "sticky collective" as well. One thing is the washers that are used to hold the blade grips on. Their outside diameter is too big and contacts the outer race of the bearing. This gets worse with CF as the rotor spins up. I switched to [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXLBR3]smaller washers[/link] as well as [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXLBR0&P=0]screws[/link] and that seems to have helped.

I've also noticed that not all feathering spindles are not created equal. Some are a bit shorter than others. It's not by much, but it can affect performance. I recently ordered some GWS bearings in [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXHHG2]2mm[/link] and [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXHHG1]2.5mm[/link] widths to replace the bushings between the bearings in the grips to allow some adjustment for this.

RE: axe cp thread
 

Great job on the windshield.
I am new here, Hello to everyone.
It will take me a while to read through everbody's posts on this thread, But my question is... has anybody found a clear canopy for the axe yet? I would enjoy customizing one.

RE: axe cp thread
 

I have not seen one yet. the guy you quoted is the only one I have seen and that was awhile ago.