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This page is where I write whatever changes I may have made, how the helicopter was flying before and after a change, or any other misc info I want to store and share with you.
Basic Project Cost
Fuselage - $260.
Align Trex600ESP complete minus receiver - $840 on sale.
Receiver JR R921 - $100 on sale.
Microbeast Flybarless control - $200.
ESC ICE HV80 - $180.
E-xra motor - $180.
Rotor Blades 550mm CF (Mavrikk) three sets of two - $180. First I tried 550mm woodies but didn't like. Set of five - $150.
Five Blade Rotor Head with swash and swash driver (Century diamond) - $450.
Tail rotor blades (larger than stock) - $12.
Cockpit instruments, controls, and seats - $350.
Battery pack 10S A123 - $165. These turned out to not be usuable and I bought lipos to replace (that sucked).
Total cost so far is $2,727.
Subtract parts not currently used - $315.
Total flying cost right now is $2,412.
Flight Setup:
Original:
Battery - 6S1P 2650mA Lipo. It worked much better with a 6S2P 2650mA setup. These batteries are for my 500 sized Airwolf, not for this heli.
Motor - Align RCM-BL600M (1220Kv)
Pinion - 14T
Main - 170T
ESC - Align 100A
RCVR - JR R921
Servos - Cyclic (3x) Align DS610, Tail is Align DS610
Gyro - GP780
FBL - N/A
Current:
Battery - 10S1P 5000mA Lipo. (I was trying a 10S1P A123 2300mA pack, but it just didn't have the power.)
Motor - Hyperion HS4025-630Kv (I was also using a 670Kv Xera motor, but it was too high a Kv rating.)
Pinion - 13T
Main - 170T
ESC - CC ICE HV80
RCVR - JR R921
Servos - Cyclic (3x) Align DS610, Tail is Align DS610
Gyro - N/A
FBL - MicroBeast with rotor head phasing software version.
Flight Logs:
So far what I've learned is when I was flying pod-n-boom with the 5 blade head the tail worked fine. Once I put everything into the fuselage the tail did not have the holding power
needed to control the heli. I had to switch from 94mm to 110mm long blades. Now the tail works fine again.
I have also switched to Lipo's for motor power and the first hover test looked good. Need some forward flight data to compare.
4/30/2012
I have done much more testing since I switched to lipo power, and reduced the motor Kv down to 630Kv. I think I could actually use between a 570Kv - 600Kv motor for a near
perfect setup. But I am very happy with what I have now. I also have reduced the head speed greatly down to a range of 1380, 1450, and 1500. Doing this has brought the power
requirements way down also, which is one of the things I was trying to do. Now the average current draw is around 28 Amps with a Wattage value around 1100. This is much
better than before when current was 35 - 39 Amps, and power was near 1500 Watts.
Now I can easily fly for seven minutes with the 5000mA lipos and still have plenty of reserve, and the heli will perform like I want it to.
The last battle I am fighting is a vibration. I found the blade grips were not all the same distance from the center of the hub. I found one grip was missing a washer (not sure how
the happened. Too much late night assembly I guess). I fixed that and did another test flight but it still has the vibs. So I will be going over the head further to see what else I may
have missed.
Date 12/25/2013:
I see it's been forever since I updated this project. Well it still has some vibrations which I have learned to live with, but don't like. Maybe a better rotor head is in it's future. Anyway,
I do not fly this heli much because I still don't like the way it feels in the air. It seems to want to roll backwards unless I am always pushing forward on the stick, but yet it will hover
just fine. I just made an adjustment to the cyclic pitch comp today, but it's winter here so won't be able to test for months. I was told be Joel on the Scale RC Helis forum to adjust the
elevator (pitch) gain up by 10% increments and see if that helps. That will be next summer for sure. I hope it works because I want to fly this heli more than I do now. It is a handful to
fly in the wind right now. The pitch curve will also be getting redone as described by Chris from the Scale RC Helis forum. He uses a linear curve and sets up around -2, 5, and +12
degree pitch, best I remember, it's close to that. Maybe 1 degree less on each end.
I have also installed a 510Kv motor for the Align 700 in it. This allowed me to bring the ESC settings up into the 90% range and it runs cooler now. Current head speeds are 1400,
1450, and 1500. Current draw is still mid 20's Amps best I remember.
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