WhtBronco

I think I will do the same. More than likely only doing an auto on the last landing of each flight. This time of year I land every 2-3 minutes to wipe the sweat from my face and I was doing an auto each time.

I guess after 23 years working R/C glow powered models that would certainly qualify as addicted, or maybe just nuts. I dunno which. My first glow engine was an Irvine .20 in a Kyosho Landjump Integra 4wd buggy. At 9 years old that engine came with a seriously steep learning curve, but talk about fun.

WhtBronco

Well all my parts finally arrived. I have a couple concerns though. I got new bearings for the seesaw hub and they are very loose. Too loose IMO. If I turn the hub on end they just fall right out. The other issue is the new flybar is bent, it has a really nice perfect curve in it from end to end. Everything came from Heliproz and was very well packed. Rather than ship it back I will probably just stop by the LHS and pick up another.

The Mavrikk 600mm carbon blades are a bit shorter than the TT carbon blades, I had heard the TT’s were actually 606mm. The new blades also have a narrower chord which I found interesting. I was intrigued to see a metal weight apparently glued into the bottom of 1 of the new main blades though, I don’t really care for that but I suppose it’ll be okay. Can I put a drop of thin CA on it to make me feel better about it not coming loose?

The Mavrikk 80mm carbon tail blades are look very nice though and are super rigid compared to the stock plastic blades.

Hopefully I will get it back together in time to fly the last weekend of August.

WhtBronco

Well I finally have my heli back together. Of course it's gonna rain all weekend and then that blasted hurricane is gonna bring rain through the week.

I wish everyone in Florida and the gulf coast the very best in dealing with this storm.

Hopefully next weekend we can all get back to flying. I'm just wondering how many problems I will encounter when I finally get my R50 back in the air following all the part replacements.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Yea I've been keeping close watch on Katrina but so far it looks good for us. Every mile it moves west before turning north is a good thing for me. I even got some flying in today.

Took the R50 apart this week to fix a minor crash and found that one of the blade grips was moving like a ratchet. Took it apart and found all manner of crud in the thrust bearings and the grip bearings were sad looking.

I ordered the parts but cleaned everything in triflo and greased up the thrust bearings and it seems ok. Flew it today no problems, the collective seemed alot smoother (no duh). There was about a 10 knot breeze right down the runway and my autos looked ALOT better. I've also started using less negative on the way down, makes for a smoother transition and the maveriks hold their speed really well.

Last week I had a clutch bell break into 2 pieces where it goes up into the pinnion gear. The motor was screaming the heli was descending. Last minute auto where I broke the double links and tail boom but no major damage.

Glad your back ok.

WhtBronco

I hope that storm will not have any serious impact on you Andy.

I also found a couple things that surprised me while repairing my R50. Such as the tail rotor linkage was not real easy to move. I cleaned and greased everything well and also loosened the screw that holds the bell crank on and it's now much better. This explains why the gyro was not holding as well for the last flight or 2 before the boom strike.

Maybe I am using too much negative on my auto decents. I'll have to try using a bit less. A little wind does seem to make it easier to be smooth during autos, but a lot makes them a real challenge for me. I am anxious to try the Mavrikk carbon blades, they sure look nice.

Dang the clutch bell broke, that bites. Any idea what caused the failure? I guess at least the damage isn't too bad. Thankfully my only in flight failure has been a glow plug.

After my being out of town for almost a week and not flying for a few weeks now, my kids are anxious to go flying as I am, and they really want to see the heli in the air again.

BTW, I put in about 90 hours in 5 days, from Friday - Wednesday, while I was in OH and IL preparing for our migration from NT to AD and converting the IL office from the crap DSL they had to a DIA T1. I was nearly dead on my feet to say the least. Of course I get back and have late evening maintenance windows to work on Thursday and Friday which my wife and kids were none to pleased about. I'm finding that's it good and bad to be a decent network admin. Sure wish I got paid hourly.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

If it stays on track we will be fine. Those poor people in Pensacola are probably a bit weary by now of watching weather radar.

The clutch bell looks a fatigue fracture, right where it goes narrow and up. I've heard of them failing there before. It was no where near as bad as when it threw a tail blade. Gave me a chance to split the frames and clean and tighten everything. I locktited the pinnion bearing to the pinnion before I put it back together.

I'd be driving a Ferrari if I got paid by the hour but I'll settle for enough to pay the bills. God knows I don't work very hard and make pretty good money.

Hockey season is right around the corner so my life is fixing to get very busy.

WhtBronco

Yeah it looks like New Orleans is gonna get hit pretty hard. I cetainly hope everyone that can will evacuate the area.

Hmm I haven't heard of the clutch breaking like that before. I bet it was torn up after throwing a tail balde. Did the blade come apart or did the grip fail?

Yeah really, I'd more than double my income if I was paid hourly. Oh well I make enough for a decent living and a few toys. It could be a lot worse.

Do you have anytime to fly during hockey season? I know when I was playing Rugby I didn't have much time, and usually whenI could I'd get to the field about an hour before practice and fly there. Of all places on the CIA sports fields in McLean, VA. The fields are leased to the county, but are owned by CIA. Now days if you fly there the CIA will confiscate your aircraft and may lock you up for it.

WhtBronco

Well I got my R50 back into the air yesterday for 3 flights. The new Mavrikk blades are nice. They certainly did increase the cyclic and pitch response. I will have to adjust my pitch curve with the new blades though as I was hovering at just below half stick in idle up 1. I guess the pitch issue is a result of the combination of new parts, but it still needs to be adressed. Flips are much easier with the new blades, but the heli is a bit more pitchy in FFF. They auto very nicely as well. I only did 1 auto since the winds and thermals were so strange yesterday. The thermals were so strong and small that I think even the heli could have soared, LOL. I was watching my Ultimate bipe rise by 10-15' in the same spot at the end of the runway each pass, and my daughter worked the thermal and climbed from 50' to about 350' in about a minute with her Aerobird Challenger. These blades held speed very nicely and seemed more consistant as I increased pitch for touch down compared to the TT carbon blades.

The Mavrikk 80mm tail blades are awesome. They provide a much faster piro rate. In fact so fast that I was over shooting 540 stall turns by 90 degrees at first.

FWIW, my delay pot on the 401 gyro was already set to zero and the gyro sensativity I set back from 90 to 60 and found the tail drifting in hover so I moved it up slowly and found that at 80 the tail holds well in hover and in FBF. I thought it was strange that I needed the gyro sens so high compared to others since I am running a 9254 servo with it, but it works.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I chopped another tail boom off Saturday :-(

Found my blade bolt was very loose. Oh well, live and learn.

Hockey season makes life interesting but most of the games are at night. The biggest issue is time away from the family. Its going to be

Work full time,
School 2 nights a week.
2 to 3 hockey games a week

when the season starts.

WhtBronco

You chopped a second boom this past week?

Ugh, that's gonna be a tough schedule to keep for ya. Add a family on top of that and you are gonna be 1 busy guy.

I have been thinking about going back to school for a couple years now, but my work schedule never allows it. I spent Friday, night, most of Saturday and Sunday working on a circuit outage again. Truth is the real time consuming part is taking the XO Communications techs to school on how to restore a circuit. They just won't listen until they are out of ideas.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Yep.

Saturday, perfect weather. Rappy flying awesome. Doing some auto's on 4th flight of the morning and the skid dug in and the I heard the TINK. Walked over to it and the tail case was hanging by the belt and tail rod. No supports busted this time, just boom and spindle, and a set of Mav Pro's. The blades were dirty anyway and needed replacing

Went out Sunday and got 2 flights on the VR but I had forgotten to charge the battery. Did some trainer work and went home. Monday the weather went to crap and it looks like a tropical storm this coming weekend.

If I had done what I was going to do last time and ordered 2 spindles and 2 booms I would have been back out by Saturday afternoon cuz I have spare blades, the white maverikks.

WhtBronco

That's just plain bad luck with the Rappy lately. Dirty blades, very funny, hehehe.

I've got some work to do on mine, but atleast I have it flying again. I was having a hard time seeing it sit there in pieces.

Yeah just what's needed down there, another storm. Good luck once again. Hopefully this TD will not develop into another hurricane.

rlmarch

WhtBronco glad to see that back up in the air. I put the G4's on last week. I had a couple of flights on them before the rain came. They seem at least as good as the TT's.
Barracudahockey, Sorry to here about your recent crashes. I also change my blades regularly along with a couple other parts just to keep it looking good lol.
All it does rain over here. That hurricane just keeps sitting here. It looks like no flying this weekend either.

WhtBronco

Maybe you guys can help me understand something here. After the boom strike I changed the following parts: main shaft, spindle, dampeners, flybar, tail boom, tail rotor pushrod, main blades and tail blades. Then I cleaned and lubricated everything. The issue is that when I was flying this past weekend I noticed that I was hovering, in ST1 mode, at just under half throttle. So I figured that my pitch settings had changed due to the parts replacements and such. Well last night I found that the pitch settings were almost right on the money. I adjusted them anyway to NORM: -5 4 10, ST1: -9 0 9 and ST2: -10 0 10. The changes made were within 1 degree at center stick. Would 1 degree really make enough difference that I’d go from hovering at just over half throttle to just under half? Seems to me that it wouldn’t, although I believe the head speed increased as well a bit. I haven’t got a heli tach so I can’t check it to be sure though. I am sure that the head speed was too high during high speed descents around 0 pitch. That was corrected/adjusted.

Now that I am thinking about this I remember that during my post flight inspection I found some play in the main shaft. That would also change the pitch settings and I guess could cause a change of few degrees as well. Typing this stuff out for you guys to read always sparks something in my mind.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Did you change the double links?

WhtBronco

No, I didn't replace them. They appear to be straight though against a metal ruler edge.

I guess you're suggesting I replace the double links though?

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Well if you did that migh throw off the pitch if you had adjusted the tracking at the double link (a bad idea)

Parts are here, Rappy is fixed and that stupid hurricane is headed out to sea, looks like a prime flying weekend!

I'm STOKED

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Take a real good look at your collective servo, may even want to yank it and pull the top make sure the gears look good and feel smooth your cogswell mighta slipped a cog.

WhtBronco

Hmm, that's a good idea to check the servo. I always check the servos after a plane crash. So why didn't I thnk about it with the heli. This might explain why I have 83.5% travel on the high end of my pitch curve for 9 degrees and 6.5% on the low end for -9 degrees of pitch.

BTW, other than the turnbuckles you installed is there any other way to adjust the blade tracking other than turning the double links?

I hope you get flying and enjoy it. BTW, no more busted tail booms for you. I have to work most of the weekend again so I doubt I'll get any flying time. Moving server rooms is no fun.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Use the long links that go from the swash to the mixing levers. One full turn on the link will give less movement than the double links.

WhtBronco

Oh okay, thanks. I'll give that a try.

To be honest though I know the links are to go on only 1 way and all the other links are marked so it's easy to tell. I cannot for the life of me tell which way the double links are suppose to go. Even after trying the fit test. Ya know sliding it on and find out which side goes on more. I just can't tell.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I can but just barely. I have to switch it back and forth fairly quickly. One will be obvious.

I cracked one or 2 by putting it on wrong so I check carefully now. I don't know whey they did that with those 2 links.

WhtBronco

Well Andy as usual you were right. With very careful attention to detail I was able to see that the double links did go on a bit more 1 way than the other. So I corrected that and adjusted the associated long link to compensate.

The collective servo is fine no issues there. Removing the play in the main shaft got my pitch settings back to almost what I had before the boom strike, within 1.5 points across the board. That little bit of difference may also be attributable to looking down the pitch gauge a bit differently.

I finally found on Raptor Technique the blade tracking method you mentioned, using the long links rather than the double links along with setting the tracking on the bench ot get very close or right on. I have to try that. I do not like hovering and trying to look at the blades closely. I tend to drift towards myself a bit. So I usually get it light on the skids and kneel down to set the tracking. This may be even more unsafe, but I feel better knowing the heli is close to the ground and I pull the stick back to settle it quickly if needed.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

I have found that with careful setup, and carbon blades, I never had to fool very much with tracking on my 50.

I was out for a while this morning but it got fairly windy. Got 3 pretty good flights in without chopping any tail booms though.

Tomi

My Feedback: (4)

I haven't visited this forum in a long time!

Whitebronco, you probably remember when I was asking about what heli to get and all.. well.. I've been flying since May. I got the heli in may. Went straight to the TT 600mm Carbons at the 3rd week of hovering and forward flight. No crashes since until last Saturday when I was practicing Autos.

Autos after autos after autos.. it was fun! So I decided to keep doing autos. I was flying in the evening so night time was coming pretty quick. Of course.. Last flight I wanted to do a auto. I was nervous cuz I was the only one out there and some spectators decided to watch. I got kinda cocky and did tons of flipping and wierd stuff that people never thought a heli would do. So My last auto, I came down on the run way and it slammed onto the ground. Because I was nervous, I wasn't thinking about my collective angle. I think I had plenty of positive. Yeah Plenty nough to where I didn't have enough Headspeed to auto it in. It slammed down on the pave, bounced up about 1 foot and fell over onto the Curtis MP2Q pipe. Muffler + Rocks = ugly scratch!

I have red dampeners on there and they help alot. I've had a few hard autos because I didnt know how to do forward autos. I always went straight up and bring it down vertically.

The blades hit the boom, bent it all up. Broke the Flybar Loop linkage, sheered off the bolt that bolts the metal ball to the blade grip, broke the double linkage on the other blade grip, REALLY bent the Spindle shaft, and didn't break anything else.

The Main shaft looks straight, but of course I'm gonnna change it out anyway. The flybar barely bent. But I"m gonna change that out too. Since the blades folded and landed on the left side, the root end of the blades has a bit of road rash. The TE kinda got chewed up about 1-2mm in. About 2 1/2 inches wide. Very Minor. Some Epoxy and Graphite powder should be a good touchup reinforcment for it.

While waiting on the parts from Heliproz, I decided to take the tail box apart and clean it up. Same for the Auto hub, cleaned it up and oiled it up with some Tri-Flow lube.


So far I'm pretty much happy that I've been flying this heli, Pushing it this far, without a crash. I wouldn't call it a crash. It landed on it's skids and bounced. lol. Overall I'm glad nothing else Broke!!


Okay Okay so one more thing did break. And it's unusual. Makes me laugh and wonder!! The antenna hole on the rear skid broke..LOL. My antenna was hanging around and I thought it was loose. I pulled on it for some tension and it flopped around. I looked down and the little eyelet broke. I thought that was pretty darn funny.

Mavrikk Crash Kit with 600MM woodies = $39.99
Blade Grips - $9.69

$55 shipped. + At Home Daddy = I"m so glad the blades didn't break!!!!

If anyone needs wood blades, let me know. I'll sell it to you for $18.50 shipped.


-Tomi