FLYBAR EXI 450

Well, I did it.

I removed the ZYX Stabilization Gyro and the flybarless head, installed a metal 450 flybar head, and an Align GP780 tail hold gyro I've had laying around. Took me less than an hour to setup the mechanical head and to program the gyro. I took her out for a test spin. The gyro held, and she hovered somewhat controllable in a stiff breeze. The disc looked like it was tracking well, couldn't see so well in the darkening light. Dialed down the gyro to about 30%, I think. Need to work on the DR/Expo settings, check the tracking, but all in all I am pretty happy with it! I don't know why, but I was surprised the gyro worked. I didn't know I had one that worked, but there it is!

The original EXI canopy!

The sweet complexity of the flybar cage.

So complex, so simple!

Love that flybar!

I think the tail control lever on the tail was a bit too tight, and maybe it burned out the small tail servo while I set this up. I loosened up the control horn and since I found out it wasn't the servo but the orignial ZXY gyro causing the oscillation, I reinstalled the mini eMax servo. It's bigger and works well. I had to replace the aileron servo which was damaged, so I replaced both the pitch and aileron servos to match the Corona servo on the elevator. These are very strong quick servos. This thing is now rock solid. The system spun up nicely, was perfectly balanced!

I decided since I had one, and I think the other tail rotor head was a bit loose, I replaced it. Its nice and tight.

I am pretty psyched to have a flybarred 450, even though I don't enjoy flying these smalker helis. All I need now is a 700. Oh, and to learn how to reliably fly them!

EXI 450 FBL

I have been reworking the 450 with the Tarot ZYX 3 Axis heli stabilization system. I have never been fond of these budget gyros, not because they are budget (there is a big place for FBL systems that cost $40 rather than $200). They are not easy to program as the software isn't designed by the manufacturer, works sporadically and can be difficult to use. The ZYX has been discontinued. It uses the now wildly outdated free FBL software that itself was so easy to use, but the gyro doesn't communicate with it reliably. This pretty much leaves the market to the poorly manualed and very difficult to software install/setup of the V-Bar knock-off Mini K-Bar that comes in a green and a blue case, or the ZYX knock-off that is made by one maker under several names. I watched a video of the Mini K-Bar installation and while the plugging in is fundamentally simple, the installation of a PC Driver, then the complexity of the setup software made this less desirable. It uses the Mikado V-Bar software, but it's not clear, being the manuals are poorly written, which version you can actually use. There is an "Express" software that sounds like it might be simpler for most pilots, but who knows. The ZYX Knock-Off likely suffers from the same issues at the Tarot did. Its not clear if it is the original firmware or the updated S2. Both Tarot devices are no longer made. Tarot did, it seems, move into the upscale systems market.

Mini K-Bar

The ZYX system itself isn't reliable either. I finally figured out the oscillation issues I previously had with this heli was the gyro. Yesterday I swapped out the units from my other defunct 450, and worked to transfer the config file to it using the FBL software. It looked like it worked. I hovered it, and the oscillation was done, she was still super skittish, and then all hell broke loose. I am not entirely sure what happened. The receiver may have lost signal evidenced by not just the blinking receiver light, but the fact that HOLD failed. For some reason the lost signal failsafe did not cut the power. She hit the ground and ripped off the main blades, screwed up a servo, bent the main shaft and broke off a feathering shaft retaining screw in the shaft. Both the receiver and the gyro came off the fuselage. Not sure if that happened first? No idea. But for a moment there, sluggish response to the controls aside, the tail oscillation was gone. she tore off the mains, broke a screw inside the feathering shaft, tore teeth off the main gear, and bent

ZYX Knock-Off

I have decided I want the "simplicity" of the mechanical setup of the good ol' cage flybarred system. I looked around the shop and found a whole bunch of 450 parts in bags I had lost track of. I found a nylon 450 flybar main rotor, never used, a couple of HK500 metal flybar heads. I am pretty sure I have a plain old tail hold gyro sitting around somewhere. I wonder if, in that huge bag of parts, I have metal replacement parts for the nylon head?

I can get an affordable ($30) all metal head from China, but no one seems to sell these stateside, though in passing I saw one for $50 that may have been. There has been wholesale abandonment of the flybar systems I don't understand. They work wonderfully for sport pilots and take no special skills to set up. Most of us are not 3D pilots who need DFC Flybarless systems. I don't know if the market thinned as pilots abandoned this far more affordable system, or sellers just stopped selling them forcing us into the more costly FBL systems. Its nearly impossible to find new simple MEMS Tail Hold Gyros like the Spartan Quark or Align 780 anymore.

Another get nowhere day...

In the continuing saga of the Evolution 10cc,  it wouldn't idle. So I spent a couple of hours trying all kinds of settings with the end point and the low neelde, rsetting to factory, trying something else. She runs wondefully, accelerates fine so the best settings can be found, but she won't idle low enough to produce low to no thrust. She has this habit of slowing to a high idle, then slowing, then quitting. I have tried leaning her, running her richer, at idle, and I just couldn't find an acceptable idle. I decided to go back to the 2 blade prop, and she really seems to run better. But Ibhad enough and called it a day. Day after tomorrow I will start again. All that oil mess, she runs way too rich.

I worked on the EXI 450 FBL heli a bit. I spun her up and decided to change the main shaft. There was a bad bearing I replaced, and with a new shaft the main is totally smooth. I disassembled and cleaned the tail in preparation to replace the tail shaft, the new one should be here in a few days. I am confident this will stop the vibrations, but I am not confident she will fly well despite that. I also zeroed the swash arms using the FBL software, which I knew would balance the -10 to +10 degrees. She now has full swash movement. I am not fond of the XYZ system, its not hard to program, but the interface isn't consistently responsive, so making changes can be iffy. I think the programming is good. We'll see. Once the tail is put back together we'll know. If so I may put the other 450 together. 

Productive Day

The Sbach 10cc Evolution

The fuel nipple came in from Horizon Hobby, and a couple I ordered from Graves RC, and I installed it snug with a little red grease. Re-did the fuel lines and the leak is gone. I took her out to the garage having set up the carb needles at stock, Low 4.25 turns, Hi 2.5. She started right up, rich. For the next 2 hrs I was on my knees trying to find an idle that worked long enough to work the Low needle. I got the Low tuned, then the high, retuned the Low. I had to lean it in a bit, and leaned out the Hi a smidge.

How low can you go... my knees are killing me.

From the richer settings. I think she is leaned out a bit, but she throws a lot of oil.

This is pretty much how she is running. This was before I found the sweet spots, but pretty close.

The 450 Helis

I dusted off the EXI 450 FBL. She had issues with a severe oscillation, and I could never quite find the source. I went through the swash, and the tail. Snugged a few things, had to flip the tail blades I had installed upside down. I think there is an ever so slight hint of a wobble in the tail shaft, so I ordered a new one. Maybe that might be enough to cause an oscillation? I snugged up the main shaft collar, and then plugged in the XYZ FBL programmer and checked the settings. I am not sure why, and can't fix it, but I get +10 degrees, but only -6 degrees pitch. I have no idea why. I do see that at 0 pitch the swash arms are NOT level. I can't figure out how to get that level and have zero pitch, physically in the set up or in the software. I need to take a look at the length of the control arms, maybe they are too long? I have some work to do. The FBL software isn't the best, but it's all there is to program the XYZ 3 axis stab system. I need to look into that a bit. I haven't been super impressed by these stabilization systems, and they are pretty old. If I stick with the 450s I may need to look into replacements.

The HK450 Sport is collecting dust. It needs a few servos replaced, some new control arms. I am sure there are some other things wrong, it's been so long since I worked or flew it I have no idea.

Evolution 10cc DISCONTINUED

Working on the Evo 10cc, snugged up the exhaust extensions which were leaking a bit, and wanted to snug up the carb screws. I snapped off the fuel nipple trying to tighten it. That's when I learned Horzion Hobby has discontinued the engine and that the nipples are NIS. Crap. Found some at GravesRC, got two, for about $6, but shipping cost $8. Damn. I could not get the retaining bolt off the engine case to remove the carb, it stripped its cap. So I had to grind a line for a slot screwdrived and got that off. Turns out the screw is an odd size M2.5 16mm. So I had to order some from RTL Fastners. Jeez.

I did see that the guide screw for the barrel throttle wasn't quite right so the throttle did not close. I greased it and adjusted it, now it has full smooth range of motion. Broke out the manual and set the screws back to stock settings, High is 2.5 turns, Low is a whoppjng 4.25 turns. Once I get the fuel nipple and the 2.5mm clamp screw in, I can put it back, redo the fuel lines (there is a leak somewhere, maybe it was the carb).

So HH has discontinued the 10cc. Huh...

UPDATE 10/16/19: One of the reasons I really love Horizon Hobby is their incredbile customer service. Yesterday I left a note asking about HH having d/c'd the 10cc Evo and my being at a loss for a fuel nipple. Dave Poole the Service Manager has one laying around and will have it sent to me gratis. I love these guys!

Flying with the big boy...

Took the Sbach and its unreliable Evo 10cc, and the very reliable though sometimes hard to dry start RCGF-USA 30cc MX-Bach. I took the MX-Bach up after several minutes hand flipping her. She ran very reliably, and I took her up for a few minutes. She flew wonderfully, but I really don't like to fly in front of a crowd, especially the incredibly skilled Cody. He would never make me feel uncomfortable, it's all me, in my head. But I mean, Cody Wojcik... come on! So I landed and set her aside for a bit. I then took up the Sbach with its Evolution 10cc, which started and ran fine right away, but after a few minutes of flight and light aerobatics, quit. Dead sticked to an acceptable landing, tore off a wheel pant, but otherwise she is fine. It took some time, but I got her started, but in idle she would slow to a stop. Cody wanted to help but I really didn't want to take his time as much as I wanted to let him fix her. He came to fly with a couple of visiting quad pilots, I think to video. I took the cowl off and tried to lean her out, as there is is oil all over the wing, suggesting its rich as I have always thought, in fact, the low was 4-5 turns out! But she wouldn't turn over with anything less. I managed to make her not want to start at all. I decided to set her aside, and watch Cody fly his Extreme Flight DA 120.

I caught a few moments of Cody's flight. I wanted to watch more than video, so I only caught a few unremarkable moments. Watch his fingers. He makes this huge plane float, every movement is what he wants, not what he accepts. I have no desire to 3D, but would love to someday have that confidence. Oh, and the engine started with one flip. I had not intended to stay long, and was a bit pissed about the dependability of the Evo, so packed up and left them to their fun! I did get to watch one of the FPV Quad pilots tear through the air as I packed. WOW! I have seen videos, but this thing screamed. Fun to watch!

Looks like I have some work to do on the Evo.

Surgical or "Huck" Towels

I have used surgical towels as a work top "bounce suppressor" for years. This one is several years old. I wash them every so often, but eventially they need to be replaced. They absorb liquids like oils and glues, and keep screws from launching into the abyss. I never knew they were called "Huck" towels, nor why.

I just bought a boat load from Amazon, here is a nice new blue hone. No nap, no snag.

I will never need to buy another one again. I prefer these as they are not like build towels that snag eveything and get pulls, and they are cheap so if they get stained it's simple to toss and replace with a new one.

Here's The Amazon Link!

Series and Parallel: Keeping it straight

Image: Overclock.net

Image: Aliexpress.com

Flying blind

I made the mistake of trying to fly with my glasses instead of my contacts and I made this decision on an overcast and sprinkly day. I don't see as well with my glasses.

Took the freshly rebuilt HK500 FBL up. It went about as good as one might expect. Lost orientation, limited heli skills, yeah, a mess. I dragged the new canopy over for the pic, it having gotten tossed far afield. I know I need more sim time, but I want to get comfortable with flying the actual heli. I was doing fine, 4 min in to a nice basic flight, sometimes having issues getting the tail around. I was outbound, a bit far away, and lost control when I wasn't sure if she had turned nose back in, she drifted and I made things worse. That was the end of that.

I already have most of the rebuild done. I have to order a new belt, it broke in the crash as the tail boom separated.  Replaced the main shaft, the feathering shaft is fine. The tail shaft will need replacing. Lost a control rod, replaced it. The canopy took quite a lot of damage, glassed in some repairs.

The tail boom is 461mm long. The tail belt is labled as 400mm. Not sure how that works... We'll see.

I also brought out the MXS-R with its 30cc DLE. Took a bit to start, haven't run it in a while. Took it up and even that big plane was a blur, not enough orientation in this light with my glasses. Landed, called it a day.

Disappointing.

Well, that's a thing I know now...

For a number of years now I have whined about off brand EC5s not going together right. I don't know how I got there, but I read a thread about EC5 gripes on one of the rc groups, and someone commented that the off brands often go in backwards from the Horizon Hobby originals, that is, you don't press them through the back, you instead rub the wires through the plastic, solder them, then pull them back through the front.

I just got two new batteries, so tonight I did that and they went together simply...

Damn.

HK500 has a new lid!

KILLER!