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 It uses the now wildly outdated free FBL software that itself was so easy to use, but the gyro doesn't communicate with it reliably.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.