balance_mind

Could not resists the temptation and bought the #37 with the aluminium head.
Will be joing the #37 family soon and seek advices from the veterans here.

armycopter

It looks like a good deal. Especially with the brushless and lipo. I know I have that much money into mine so far and I don't have an aluminum head! Maybe you can figure out where the head comes from (align?). I was looking at it last night and comparing it to the Align head and it looked VERY similar. Not exact, but structurely the same...

soneebee

The 37 that you posted mark seem to have an align head.. even the design is the same.. I guess they made some changes on the shaft and creadted the metal head... not that heli really rocks.. and the looks are great.. the problem is the parts.. do you think this are like the align head.. if so then the parts will not be hard to find.. Man that heli is a good looking one.. it like haveing a smaller TREX.. of having an MX400 PRO.....

langecivta

the head that is on that 37 on ebay looks just like the one that rcandme.com is selling for the df #35 and #36[link=http://www.rcandme.com/servlet/the-435/C-dsh-RH-Walkera-35-fdsh-36-CNC/Detail]head[/link]

armycopter

It looks similar, but from what I understand the 35 and 36 are not CCPM models.

balance_mind

Like soneebee, my concerns are the spare parts on it. If it's align, then no problem. If it's not and the modifications were alot, then problem comes.

Until I get a closer look on the parts to be able to differentiate them.

By the way Army, what're their replies with your qns to the vendor?

armycopter

He/She never replied...

W37 Cepeda

I don't give particulars on store.. I stay away from that.
But any decent rc hoppy shop that carries align and trex, will
have the parts.

soneebee

army.. that store might be a bad one... if there are no replies then it they might have been just joking around...

Heliwannabe

Speaking of spare parts I have some on order after a not so very hard landing. [] Got the main rotor blades, some head pieces, the tail boom and the tail holder. Hey Army mine will look like yours with the Align boom I already had with the servo mount (already Installed). How come the parts bills always seem to come within a couple of dollars of $50. Humm. Oh well I was going on a trip anyway.
Jim

balance_mind

Have asked the vendor today and guess what they replied?

They say it's a Align rotor head type. (Although I'm still skeptical about it that it needed no modifications to fit into the #37)

It can be purchased for US$100 including shipping fee.

My first standby replacement for the #37 will be the servos with the HS65HB.

armycopter

Jim, it is funny, now that you mention it, that my parts bills are almost always $50 or $60. Hmmm, sounds like a conspiracy

Balance, hopefully there will be some kind of manufacturer stamp on the head when you get it. I would like to know exactly who makes it so that we have options to purchase one. I don't like only being able to get something from one source.

W37 Cepeda

Army.

You mentioned replacing some of the servos on the DF37. with HS-55 from HItek.

I did the same, but discovered some things we should bring up on this forum.

There are good things and bad. This is the list of what at least happens on mine.

1. If you replace the rudder servo with a HS-55 you loose the rudder mixing feature.
rudder mixing is a function of gives more rudder "out" as you increase the throttle.
This prevents the copter from jaulting clockwise when starting it or decreasing throttle.
On my unit it starts to spin clockwise until I reach a certain throttle point, this is ok,
but it was better before, cause the copter never moved in any direction until I commanded it.
Also, this is important, you must switch on the GYRO back to "normal mode"

2. If you replace the left and right servo, you actually reverse the left and right function.
The proper way to fly is to place the copter facing away from you. Nose foward, tail back, that's
what you see. When you apply left elevator, the copter goes left, apply right elevator, it goes right.
With the HS-55 servos, this is reversed. This could be a bit confusing for those who learned how to
fly the other way. The guy at the hobby shop said to reverse the function on the remote. Well , I have tried
that, with no resolve. I know it could be done by swapping potentionmeters inside the remote, is it really worth it? well. I don't know.

3. Replacing the servo that controls foward and reverse, has no impact.


The only thing that stands to gain, is responsiveness. The HS-55 are more responsive, and give
you better control of the copter, to the fact it makes it easiler to fly. This is a big plus. If you
can live with a reverse left & right function, then no problem.

I highly recommend leaving the rudder servo alone. The Gyro is programmed to work with the original
servo.. the rudder mix and AVSC function will be off when you install the HS-55 in it's place. If you fly with the
GYRO in NORM position, you will not feal the impact, except for the missing rudder mix feature.

One note on Servos..

If you killing your servos, did you know that most hobby shops tell you not to throw them away or even
replace them? YEP. I lost 2 original servos on my DF37. The gears were eaten up inside. Some hobby shops sell
servo repair kits. I will find one that can be used to replace the gears inside the walkeras servos.
These kits range from 3 -6 bucks. And its very simple to repair a servo. More on this later.....

Good Flying.

armycopter

Cepeda,

I ran into the same problems you describe, however, I have fixed them all. I would suggest fixing the left and right (roll) servo's rather than learn them backwards. If you take a look at my posting a page or two back, you'll see my new dipswitch settings. This will alleviate the reversing of the roll servo's. Also, I am able to keep my Gyro in the AVCS mode, but I had always had REVO mixing turned off (dipswitch 12 on, V1 and V2 all the way left, dipswitch 12 back off). My gyro works great but to use the HS-55's you'll need to flip the reverse switch on the gyro in conjuction with the new dipswitch settings.

With my new servo's the bird is very responsive and works exactly the same as the stock setup. Good luck!

W37 Cepeda

Not even close, the heads are very different.

What you guys are seeing there are trex simular head gears.

Plus the hole to holds the head on place along with the rest of the gear is

higher on those models, except for the DF37 one ebay, which is custom made.

The problem lies on the fly bar. All the ones you see have the flybay

below the main rotor. I don't like the one on ebay, of the fly bar setup, in

my view it seems weak, with to many options for it to loose alignment.

The Zrod shape holder solution is the way to go. The actual balance is always mantained, no matter

what, cause the Z-rod shape holder is dead center held by two ball bearins on the head.

You can never loose balance on it, even if you crash! The one on ebay has everything exposed,

which makes it look cool, but that's it. If you crash, you will bend the shafts the go to the flybar.

The only thing holding it dead center are the two ball linkages with the hex screw stop. It does not do

it for me.

example on the df60:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Aluminum-Alloy-M...QQcmdZViewItem

the other soltution, shown below is exactly the same as the TREX 450 metal head.
it is better tough. but I still prefer the zrod shape holder.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RTF-ALL-Aluminum...QQcmdZViewItem

soneebee

When I replaced all my servos I had no problem with the mixing.. I guess you just have to know the correct dipswithces to change in order to ge the correct mixing again...

balance_mind

I have to agree with w37, his analysis are pretty true. the Z-rod design was great.
The head for the #60 is very solid as compared with the one from ebay and the one posted by langecivta for the #35, #36.

But i still it's think a good upgrade and hopefully it's not limited from one source.
Well, there's always someone needed to try.

W37 Cepeda

I know my dip settings.

The HS-55s makes left and right reversed.

, nothing on the DIP settings would change that. I have tested it.

Tell me your settings.. and also indicate the following. I will test it immediatly.

1. DIP settings offcourse.

2. LEFT SERVO to what port on the reciever? _________.

3. RIGHT SERVO to what port on the reciever? ________.

My test will have the chopter facing away from me, as it to be looking
at the tail first... CAMERA BEHIND VIEW.

W37 Cepeda

GREAT NEWS. THANKS

I will go ahead and READ CAREFULLY this issue.. But I will keep the original rudder servo. I will make the change back to the HS-55s.

The other thing I have though, is... I don't wish to loose my V1 and V2 settings. Right know the left pot, I luv the way it works.

It is set to -80%. I get enough lift to create a nice 10 foot hover. At -100% the copter does not lift @ max rpm. For me this is good, because I can actually adjust the tracking without me holding the copter. I just think having control on how much pitch "collective" is a good thing, cause later I can have the reverse function ready for inverted flight, and most important.. IS MAXIMIZE FLIGHT TIME!

Let me give you an example on how much time I can have with a lipo 1250ma battery with the stock motor.

Depending on the air temperature I adjust the following.

I fly during the morning hours 6:30am - 8:30am at a local park. The air temperature is around 72-76f.

At this stage I adjusted my pitch @ 70-75%. The air is cool and produced enough lift, this in turn extends
my flight time in a 1250ma lipo to 20-25 minutes. SWEET!

In the afternoon I went to the same park @ around 2:30 PM. The air temperature was around 92-95f.

I had to adjust my pitch @ 90- 95%. The air was hot. It did not produce enough lift with my previouse

settings. My flight time lasted 10 minutes on the same 1250ma lipo battery.

I flew the helicopter @90-95% pitch I drained my battery faster cause if the resistance the air makes
on the main rotor.

I wanted to have control over this setting, because in areas were the environmental factors like temperature
are variable at certian times of the day. I could maximize my enjoyment, by not needing to have 95% pitch all the time
when the air temperature was low enough , so that at 70% was more than sufficient, thus extenting my flight time.

This is what I want to accomplish with the HS-55s, but if I have to set it up the way you have it... I'm going to

have to sacrifice it. Let's see what happens when I set it up again.

THis is the one of the many reason I truelly believe, the DF37 is a well tought out piece of machinary.

I have friend whos being doing this hoppy for years, and has many chopters electric and gas, and large scale models of airplanes
nitro , and gas powered, prop, and turbine. Plus he is a private commericial pitol. I listen to him in everything he says to me. When he
told me I did not need 90% on the collective (pitch) to make the chopter fly @ 6:30am, I did not beleive it, but it flew and it flew
great and lasted almost twice as long. So I share this knowledge with you guys.

Making changes to your unit is nice, this is why is called a hobbie.. but you must realize that changes might cause others things
to change too, in which you must determine at that point whether it is beneficial or not, and what are the consequences.
I believe it's good advice.

armycopter

With the following settings, you should be flying exactly as you were before the servo changes. The servo's plug into the exact same receiver ports as the stock ones did.

1. OFF
2. ON
3. OFF
4. ON
5. OFF
6. OFF
7. OFF
8. ON
9. ON
10. OFF
11. OFF
12. OFF
GYRO set to REV
GYRO set to AVCS (I prefer AVCS, you can use NOR)

Heliwannabe

I for one will be waiting for the posts from Balance on the new machine. My parts are already on order but it makes me wonder if I should have waited and invested in the new head design. FYI my crash is no refelction on the machine it was tweaked in and flying perfectly. I was trying to lift off tilted from a landscaping brick and lost it. I just hope I can get it set up as good as it was.

Reading with interest
Jim

armycopter

That's ok Jim, I crashed mine yesterday too. I was doing great, flying "nose-in" when I suddently got confused and lost it. The only damage I could find was a bent feathering shaft and a nicked blade. Not too bad. I have four bent feathering shafts in my collection now. I'm going to see if my plant engineer can straighten one out for me. We'll see! Otherwise it's off to buy more parts...[&o]

W37 Cepeda

You know the align replacement is less then 5$ bucks, and you get 4 of them in a bag.
I tried bending it back, it was succesful, I guess it depends on the severity of the bend.
sometimes is not worth it.

w37 Cepeda

armycopter

Thanks Cepeda,

Yeah, I'd love to buy a bag of 4 for $5, but I have to order so by the time shipping is factored in (and I buy half a dozen other things), I'm looking at another $50!

armycopter

okay, ordered my Align feathering shafts (bag of 4) and a set of black landing gear (align). $20 for all including shipping. Not too bad. I used Helidirect. We'll see how long it takes... No flying tonight[]