David867

Nice drobin, that's a great idea, ya, I can imagine the hex screws making the task of taking apart the frame MUCH easier. With phillips, you've gotta push into the screw to get it out, that's what phillips were designed to do, slip when a certain torque is reached, to keep you from overtorquing, problem for us is that we strip the heads every time this happens, so not the greatest to repeatedly remove/install. Hex are good though, they're made for repeated removal/installation. Hex are the way to go!


Hey Jim, trouble with the CopterX. The main blade grips seem to be loose at the point of the thrust bearing or the bearing closest to it, the main blade grip has a little play, seems to pivot at the bearing closest to the main hub, I heard someone on the CopterX forum complain about that a while back also. Does yours have any play in it? I don't think that's normal. Also, the new swashplate I put in there is starting to wear out the plastic(teflon?) ball joint again. I've only had about 6 flights on that swash plate, I'm using very little throw right now, it doesn't even make it further than the flat spot on the metal ball. I must be doing something wrong, or my parts are inferior. Your CopterX doesn't have any of these problems? It's probably the bad crashes I've had with it. But that wouldn't explain the new swashplate wearing out so quick. I haven't put any oil/grease on it. Maybe I should put some grease on it?

dooleyje

I always replace the screws with socket heads when I can. SOOO much easier to work with.

David, I checked mine and they are snug with no play. Pull the head down and make sure the bolts have not cone loose. I found one of mine loose during the assembly. While I had it down I greased my 4 dampers and it makes them last longer. A lot of folks are installing the Youngblood dampers. Look at you head and see if the damper seal/ spacer is letting the damper ooz out. The big end goes toward the center block to secure the dampers in. My swash is fine so far. I only have about 100 flights so far. It sounds like your swash is binding in extrem manuvers in the corners causing the teflon to dent. Get on of the transmitter donut to put on you transmitter's right stick and it will keep you out of the corners. Also make sure that the swash is not binding on the shaft retainer ring when you go to full neg pitch.

Did you use the stock swash when you replaced it or did you use an Align part?

Jim

flyachopper1

The Iriish have risen from the smoke,
I am finally back as a signed and sealed member. It wasn't that I wasn't allowed back officially, just that there are some quirks in their system that makes rejoining kinda goofy. I'm having the same problem Donica did when she signed back up. I can't access my profile or account pages yet. They got hers working and I'm sure they will sort mine out shortly.

It was suggested in a PM by one of the members that I take counsel with Donica. Good idea as she is my balancing influence. I have promised her to be more tolerant and diplomatic. I am looking forward to spending time on this new thread and will likely be here more than anywhere else. JD, thanks for taking the initiative.

It brings a tear of pride to me eye to see all the support for us that arose. Me thanks all ye faithful friends and cohorts. May the road rise ta meet ye and the sun be always at yer back. May love dominate yer lives and there always be some coin in yer pouch. May God smile on ye and all yer kin.

It's sounds like Donica found her twin in St. Louie. I met Mickie and if you saw them together you'd belive it. Same face, hair, way of walking, etc. Mickies voice is a little squeakier (meant in a good way, it's quite cute). Donica has a soft vioce. I told Mickie I have a twin brother that lives in Nashville who is single and I would be glad to introduce them. Alas, she is engaged. I guess my twin missed out.

Time to do a little catching up now.

Man, there is a pile of goodies sitting on the bench. Pieces parts of all kinds. Some new canopes, some new fin stabilizers, new tail booms, new carbon fiber tail rotor control rods & guides, three new 430L motors & esc's, one new 430X motor & esc, one new 430XL motor & esc, tail boom supports, tail servo mounts and another aluminum case. The place looks like someone plans to build some helis in there. I guess when Donica gets here she'll need to get busy.

I'm excited about the variety of motors. It's going to be fun experimenting to see which one performs best for what. I'm thinking of ordering some spare motor mounts so I can pre mount all the motors and can just pop them in and out when I want. I don't know about you all, but I find it easier to remove the mount and motor as a unit, change the mount to a new motor and then reinstall to the heli as a unit. I first install each motor in the heli, get it set for the gap between the pinion and the maingear and then mark the screw positions on the mount with a scribe. I scribe the tooth number of each pinion at the corresponding mark on the mount. Then the motors, pinions and mounts can be assembled on the bench and popped right in the heli. Seems to have worked so far. If you have any suggestions on this I'll gobble them up.

The T Rex is done except for some minor final tweaking to level the swashplate and get all the settings in the new Futaba Faast done. The Raptor kinda backed up a little as I decided to try the 430X motor in it and go back to a metal rotor head and tail assys. I know the ones available for it aren't much improvement over the plastic, but I'm hooked on the look of the blue and I do think the metal tail assy is much better. Also, I'm going to play with the placement of the electronics some and try to get the center of gravity more perfect because of the bigger battery. I just can't leave that little bird alone. I guess it's the kind of heli you love to hate.

I too took a look at the cellpro charger. Gotta have one and will be ordering it after the holiday. I'm even thinking of getting two so Donica has her own. My collection of LiPos has grown to nine now and with two of us flying we'll need to assembly line the charging. Oh yes, I promise to get one of those fireproof bags too.

Where do you all get the socket head screws for the frame? I have access to all those screws in Ames' shop, but they are mostly philips head. I'd like to change all the helis to the socket heads.

Speaking of Ames. He is on vacation right now for two weeks and has taken his wife out to Oregon to visit her family and do some off shore fishing with her dad (lucky guy). He'll be back soon.

I checked the blade holders on Donicas Copt. X too and they seem to be good for now. I'll keep an eye on them and the swash plate too.

Gotta go for now. I need to get out and visit the black beauty so she doesn't think I've abandoned her. Need to clean out the cabin and get her fueled up. Flying the power lines got put off until this tuesday as we had two days of rowdy storms here. Today it has cleared off and is real nice.

Nice to be back and I'll be 'seein' y'all' (Donicaese).

David867

Welcome back Jay! Good to have you back here. This is the place to be!!

You don't need conselling, it's the people who are looking for trouble who need it. But they'll never learn, so you've just got to let life take it's course for them, they'll grow out of it. Until then, you've just got to ignore them completely. It's the easiest thing to do, all you gotta do is:



So it's sunny out!! I'm just getting my camcorder ready for a long day of flying. Me and flyerbug are gonna hit the big fields and see what my new EVO25's can do. Short flights to break it in with, then it'll be time to push them harder and harder!!!!

Have a great day flyin' all!!

drobin

Jay,

Welcome back.
I got the screws at RTL Fasteners.I just got the 2.5x20mm ones yesterday and they are great for replacing the stripped ones.I have a bad habit of over torquing things.They were shipped the day I ordered them and I had them in 2 days.I got 50 of each.This way I won't run out.

Dave

dooleyje

Jay welcome back home. I just get the Trex screw pack and use them. It also comes with a lot of the blue go fasters that go aroung the screws. When it comes to C&C metal parts they are not always an inprovement but they sure do look good and as they say If it looks good it's good enough for me. LOL

The Heli Bros site has several CX Glass canopies that are only $13 and they look great.

David go fly dude!! I just got back from a show at a senior center. We rocked the house down. They are so cool. They want rock&roll. The folks are so kind and loving. They evem try to help me load and unload my equipment. I challange everyone to hug a senior today (starting with me and JAYhahaha).

Later!!

Jim

flyerbug686

Jay...your back. Good. Where is Ames. Donica Hi, Jim hi. drobin hi...this is gonna take too long. Had a good day of flying with David today. Whoohoo. That Click wasnt just a moment of clarity. It was pretty windy today, but that did not stop us. Hhaha! Feels good.

So we figure that clicking that haunts my trex is the teeth in the gears meshing a locking into each other. My beltwas missing some teeth after last weeks tail fin strike, so I switched it at the field. David looked it over, and everything was as it should be. Maybe I just have to let the belt wear in. Its wierd. It spins fairly smoothly before a flight and then clicks after I land. When its cool, the clicking is less. Im gonna try different belts, and if that dosent work, Im gonna dull down the metal teeth a bit. Anyhow, i was a kick "#$#" flying day.

Hope you had a good flying day too.

More later heliheads.

Mark

dooleyje

Mark that clicking is weird. Do you have the V2 belt or the XL belt. Also folks are removing the roller in the back and running with out it. It seems that sometimes if the belt is floppy/tight it hits itself. Mine are removed. They also report they remove it to diminish glitching, not that I know for sure. If it doen't slip then don't worry with it.

Great looking dat today with calm winds (so far). I am going to get some flying in and hope everyone has fun today.

Jim

David867

There's a V2 belt? I always thought the belts were the same.
I tried it without the pulley, it still sounded pretty bad. And when we span it by hand, it actually did get caught on itself, stopped the head completely, I thought that was really weird.
Maybe we should try another boom, a bent boom would do it.

Hope you have some great flights Jim!

dooleyje

I swear its sounds like that belt is twisted an extra loop.

Jim

flyerbug686

I had no idea there was a V2 belt either. The crazy thing is it has happened with about 5 belts. I could see putting one in with a double twist, but 4 out of 5? Thats just not like me. My boom has taken a few hits, but it looks darn straight. I guess Ill switch booms to see if that helps.

Ill keep you posted, gotta get ready for a session. The weather is better than yesterday. Way less wind. Sweet.

Hey Jim, Ill try to remove that belt tracking tension bearing in the tail....is there really an SE V2 belt, I havent seen any yet.

K boys and girls, fly, fly, fly.

Gone Flying

Mark

dooleyje

The older trex had a different tooth count and there is also a stretch belt. Flew a little today. I did not get to fly as much because I was helping some folks.

Jim.

flyerbug686

Good to know jim. I bought my belts at two local hobby shops. Im gonna look into it and see what they have to say.

Flew out a few packs solo today. It was aproblem free afternoon. Hope you all got out this weekend.

Good night.

Bug

flyachopper1

Hello there all,
Hoo haw, Donica is home. She rolled in here at about ten PM tonight. She travelled a long way and through more rowdy weather. I sure am glad she's here and not out there in that stuff anymore. She's sleeping right now and said to tell you all howdy do. Of course, before going to bed she had to look at, touch and coo over all the parts on the bench. After grilling steaks out at my sisters place tomorrow we'll get busy with some building.

Flyerbug, Ames is on vacation for two weeks in Oregon at his wifes parents. They live near the coast and are going to do some offshore fishing.

Yah, forgot about those old style belts JD. It could be Flyerbug got some of those. Possibly been on the shelf for a long time. It makes sense that they would cause something like that clicking if the tooth count doesn't match the belts. Each time around they would be trying to mesh two teeth on the belt with one on the gear and skipping past. That's a good thing to know and I'll be making sure I get the right tooth count in the future. Donica said to tell you she fullfilled your request to hug a senior today and I thank you for the suggestion. I'm still tingling.

Just popped in to say hey. I better get some sleep my self.

See you later.

dooleyje

Tingle on!!!

Jim

cajungirl

Hey hi y'all,
I'm rested now and ready to put some time in on my heli. We're out at Jays sisters right now gettin' ready to grill some steaks before it rains. There's some real neat lookin' parts on the bench to be put into Jessica. I'll be doin' some of that later today.

You guys[sm=teeth_smile.gif], y'all make me feel all warm and fuzzy the way you welcomed Jay back. You're a real good bunch ya know.

I posted on the raptor thread too so I'll try to not be repetitive here.

Jay showed me what y'all meant by the hex screws today and the tool used to turn them. I think that will be easier for me too. I have trouble keeping the little bitty philips drivers from slipping and messin' up the slots in the screws. Jay cringes every time I slip with one of his 'spensive tools too. He's nice about it though. He always just asks if I hurt my finger and offers to do mouth to mouth recreation.

I learned something new from you guys readin' here today. I'm still real new to some of this and y'all can chuckle if ya want. I'll chuckle with ya. The belt has teeth? I hadn't gotten that far yet and didn't know that. I do now and I have looked over one of Jays spare tail rotor assys and belt. Well looky there, teeth on the belt and they gotta match the little pulleys at the front and back of the tail boom. Cool, I added something new to my brain today. You guys are good with the details and that really helps me catch on here.

Flyerbug,
Don't feel bad if you get an extra twist in your belt. I have an uncle that does that all the time to his suspenders. Never can get them right and they're always twisted up in the back. He kinda clicks when he walks too. I always thought that was his wooden leg but now I know better. Oh yeah, Jay asked me to ask if you're sure the clicking is coming from the belt drive. Have you tried taking it loose to see if the clicking is there without the belt moving? He thought maybe something in your pinion, maingear or one way bearing might be clicking. Have ya looked real close? Maybe your heli has a wooden skid.

Jd,
You say there's a stretch belt? My mom has threatened to get one of those for my dad. He's gathered a few pounds since he retired. There's some with different tooth counts? Sounds like some of my Louisiana cousins.

Steaks are comin' off the grill so I best go get in some "family time" here too and do some good eatin'. Jay's twin brother came in from Nashville and I'm happy to finally get to know him. It's amazin' how different they are. They are identicals but have grown into different people. Kinda wierd too. Two people that look exactly the same and act different. Good thing though, I might get mixed up and get myself into trouble.

I'll be back for sure buggin' (no offense flyerbug) y'all.

Have a good Memorial Day and take a minute to remember all those that sacrificed so we have a country where we can be free and fly our helis. God bless America and all of you.

Donica

David867

I took a look at flyerbug's belt.... you've made that sound really wrong.... haha. But ya, we took the tail assembly right off, and spun the belt using a screw driver instead of the heli's pinion, and the clicking was definitely coming from the tail assembly side, it's a new gear and shaft, so we can eliminate the twist or the bent tail boom as the cause of the clicking noise.

I held onto the tail assembly as he spun the belt using the round screw driver on the other end. (Donica, I'm not sure how, but you could make that sound really wrong...) I heard the noise being produced at various belt tensions, it could be a bearing clicking under pressure, maybe we should have flipped the belt around so the smooth side is against the pinion, and spin it like that. But I did flick the tail fins and it span freely and without noise when the belt was not touching the pinion.

I think this leaves 2 possibilities - Noise being made from the belt teeth/pinion teeth mismatch
- Noise coming from a bad bearing, when spun with pressure applied (quiet if freespun without load).

Steaks are grillin, and you were typing up quite the storm, you must type really fast! Or your steaks are now well done...
Have a great day building! And any derivatives of it.

HeliSmith

Cool a free to say what you want thread! That's great for people like me.. Also I knew Jay wouldn't leave for long but agree how that went down was rude and mean spirited.

Belt clicking is usually a belt too loose although I run mine pretty darn loose.

Today is my daughters B-day part so just dropping a quick not.

flyachopper1

Hey Mike,
Good to hear from you. You'll like it here and your heli expertise will be well accepted. Your sponsor will probably be happy about this thread too. I look forward to hearing from you more. Please settle in and hang out.

Guys: Mike is the one that got me the great deal on the Futaba Faast system for Donica.

Sounds like you guys are zeroing in on the clicking thing. Got it narrowed down to something in the tail assy. I'm watching this with a lot of interest. It may happen to mine someday and you'll have it all figured out. I don't think though that it's a wooden skid.

David,
She does type fast. Comes from doing a lot of it for her work. I'm jealous. You can see that she hasn't lost any of that sense of humor and her kinda sorta sideways style of seeing stuff.

My other new aluminum case from Nitro Hobbies in New York should be delivered tomorrow. That makes three. Now my helis and Jessica will travel in style. I never have gotten the other one from Electron Hobby in Utah that they shorted on my order from them. Everything else came real fast but they didn't tell me that they only had one case when I ordered from them. They keep telling me they're waiting to get more, but it's been long enough. With the one coming tomorrow I won't need it, so I'm going to call and get a refund. It's not that I won't do business with them again, just that it's been long enough on the case.

Just heard an "uh oh" come from the build room. Better go peek in and see what's up. She's working on getting the motor and pinion in.

Later my friends.

David867

Hi Mike, welcome to the thread!!!
Ya I think it's a great idea too!!!
I didn't read any of what happened, but sounds like the admins cleaned it all up like it says right above the message box.

We definitely need a place where we can socialize while helping other's with heli problems, it's just like at the flying field, you chit chat while fixing and tuning, I think it's what this hobby is all about.
The forum's a great place for that, we've met some great friends here that we fly with, or those who we haven't had a chance to fly with.

We set his belt VERY loose, but it still clicks, at any tension it clicks. But strange thing is, it didn't click after I put it together, then when he flew it and landed, it was clicking again, really strange!

Hope your daughter's B-day goes well!


Haha, Jay, what was that UHOH about?

dooleyje

The V2 belt part number is AGH1003 if I remember correctly. I did not go flying today but we went sailing. The wind was about 10-15. That old race boat is really fast and will lay way over on its side and the wind make the rigging moan and groan. I am a little sunburned now.

Donica hurry and get that Thang built!!!

Jim

David867

Hey Jim, sounds like lots of fun sailing, tipping over!
The Trex450SE V2 manual(off their web page) says HT1003, someone said their package said HT1003T on it. There was a thread complaining about bad belts, being rubber belts instead of more shiny and plastic looking out of the package. It was also said that you could rub it with your finger and the rubber were start to break apart in your hand. That looked like what happened to Flyerbug's belt. He was using the same tension that I've used on my Trex 450X or CopterX, but his belt deteriorated after about 5-10 flights. It's probably a combination of poor belt quality and the aggresive metal pinions. Maybe another cause is the rudder speed? Maybe when he comes out of a spin, it puts so much torque on the belt that it rips the teeth apart. Since they've reduced the gear ratio, the belt probably has to apply more torque to make up for the speed loss. He has his piro rate really high up there, and stops the tail on a dime coming out of piros. Then again, you do that with your heli too right Jim? And you've got ur belt really loose, so it's more prone to slipping. Just trying to brain storm a bunch of explanations up, in hoping to find the right one.

HT1003 has 397T * 2.6mm
What's the other belt? There's a stretch kit belt and a V2 belt? So 3 different belts?

Another topic of discussion, what blade length? and what's the difference?
315's or 325's? Do the 315's become more agile but have less climbout rates than the 325's?
Flyerbug and I traded blades, and he uses 325s and I use 315s.

Did I also say that I'm VERY happy with the truebloodengineering.com V2 dampers? They're way better than the o-rings, I'm very pleased with them! Makes the feathering shaft nice and firm. But my main blade grips are loose, so are flyerbug's but not as bad as mine. Jim, are your main blade grips loose on the feathering shaft? Maybe I need bigger washers on the ends.

Donica/Jay how's it going?

Happy flyin all.

dooleyje

My control are not that sensitive. My helis will piro fast but too fast just makes it a blur. My swash mix is 70,-70,70 and my tail is 100% AFR. I do use a lot of expo in the three controls, about 25%.
There is the XL belt, the V2 belt and a stretch belt to extend your boom such as in scale aircraft. The Piro put a great amount of pressure on the tail and not just the belt. You will also notice your motor bogging when you bang the tail. My grips are not loose and Jay said his are not loose. You are going to have some play if you crash because the bearing races have wallowed out in the seat. That is the reason I like the plastic parts a lot of the time. A crash will usually break the plastic parts and not hide a problem as the metal parts will do. Did you pull the head down like I suggested a while back?. Does the blade still track? If so don't worry about it. If you can pull on the grip and the grip moves a little in and out you may need to tighten up the grips. Remember that I changes my spindle to Trex and my main shaft is Trex when I knocked my heli off the table. Take a few minutes and pull the grips and see whats going on.

I use only 325mm blades. 315's are too small. They were designed for the old version Trex XL with the 420 motor. I think you are just spinning your tires whith the small blades and cheating your self in cyclic power.

Jim

David867

Hey Jim,

Cool, that's good to know, I'll have to go with 325's. My CF's are 325, but I've got some 315 pros to use up.

What did you suggest last time? That was when I wasn't using washers right? I put in some washers, but I'm not sure if they're the right size, I'm pretty sure there were no washers when I took it apart for the first time, but maybe I let them drop and lost them. The tracking is doing well, and it flies pretty nicely, but I don't feel at all right, flying a heli wtih loose blade grips, so I'll take it apart and fix it. I tested for in and out play, there's non, just up and down. After the first crash, I replaced with the Align feathering shaft and main shaft, their quality is top notch compared to the CopterX stuff, especially the featherhing shaft.

When you say the bearing races have wallowed out in the seat, do you mean that the blade grip itself has worn out inside, so the bearing sits loose? If I don't see any wearing of the anoded blue, that means it didn't wear, but could bent/deformed the opening bigger? I'll take a look and figure out what's loose, there are only 2 bearings, if the bearings are tight against the blade grips, and tight against the feathering shaft, and tight within itself, there won't be any play. I think I can let some CA wick in there to snug things up. What do you think of leaving oil on the surfaces so that the bearings won't get glued super tight in there? That way I can take them out if need be.

Before I replaced the main shaft bearings, I used CA to stop the play between the shaft and the bearings, it worked very well, and when I pulled the shaft, it came loose with a moderate smack. Flakes of CA that were between the shaft and bearing came loose, it did it's job of keeping the shaft from spinning or having play with the bearing, but still could be removed. That's hopefully what I can do about the play in the blade grips, now that I think of it, it's probably between the bearings and the shaft, rather than the bearings and the blade grips(The bearings are pretty tight fitting in the grips).

I ordered some new Bondhus(I heard they were good, we'll see when I get them) metric hex tools, their screw drivers(ball ends), and L-shaped keys, both ball ended and not. So hopefully they've arrived and I can use those to work on the feathing shaft, it requires a really good set of tools to work with. I've used cheap L-keys in the past and it's a mess, the keys would strip, and I'd have to grind down the ends to get a fresh key, they're cheap keys from Canadian Tire, STAY AWAY from cheap tools, the money you save is proportional to the headaches created.

I'll inspect tonight and see what I can discover.

Have a great day everyone!

dooleyje

David: You should have metal coller, 2 bearings, one in the back and one in the front and a thrust bearing set and a washer and socket head in the grip. You may need a washer between the thrust race and the front bearing. No I would not use CA in there.

Jim