evdreamer

I finally figured out how to communicate with my controller, so I did a quick program to light up all the LEDs. Then I also built a regulator to power everything off a 12V battery.

JPEE

Nick, your board looks great. Man that LED/LCD? is bright so it can be seen in the daylight. In time I am sure you can nail the bugs out too.

Mark, yes they do have by Eflite a metal tail drive gear. I tried one a year ago or so but the aluminum is very soft and by the time (my early days) I crashed and bent it, it was showing great signs of wear. So I'll stick with plastic.

ME: I havent flown since last Tuesday! Wind wind wind except for Sunday, and I did yard work.


JPEE

evdreamer

JPEE,

The display uses LEDs. LED displays show up better in bright light than LCDs do. They are also cheaper, but use more current than LCDs do.

I wrote the majority of the code that I need a few months ago, so I just copied and pasted it into this project. However, I still need to write some more, but I will have plenty of time for that during my Thanksgiving break. I also installed my temp sensor and a continuity detector, which would have come in handy to tell me my glow plug was bad. Programming is sure a lot easier than designing the rest of the electronics.

Least you have nice winters for flying.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Not much going on here, horrible weather, rain, wind, cold...[&o]

Nick,

Looks like you are making nice progress there on the board...did you get any new glow plugs for testing?

JPEE,

Sorry you are doing yard work instead of flying....

BTW, STAY AWAY from that metal speed up gear, don't know if you caught what my expereience was, but it ended up making a very annoying, loud clicking noise, and I have no clue why it would do that, I took it back out, and went with the stock drive gear, and all is good now.

I think member bad400 also reported the same issue....[X(]

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

I was going to pick some glow plugs up after work today.

Nick

rotarydoc

Nick,

Rob just emailed me, and he's decided to keep the Trex 600 nitro, he's been working on it, and says it might fly this weekend...so that's off the market...

He offered to make me a good deal on a .90 size nitro...[X(][X(]

I have no idea what he's got for sale, although I think he has 2 different Avants.

I also don't know what a "good deal" will cost me, considering the price of those helis new, and so forth....just something to think about, I'll see what he says.

Hope you can get some glow plugs today so you can do more testing.

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

Those Avants are nice, but they are probably gas guzzlers with the 90 size engine.

I got 3 glow plugs and some fuel, since I had a $5 coupon that ended next month. I hooked my Ni-starter up to a glow plug and it was cool to see it light up.

I just got my Voltmeter working and it was only off by .2V, but that was probably due to the bad tolerance resistors I was using. I am going to wait to work on the glow starter part again until I get the programming done on the display. I will probably work on the temp sensor next.

Nick

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi all,

JPEE,
Sorry to hear about the wind and getting stuck doing yard work. Hopefully you'll get some nice weather in the next few days!

Nick,
Sounds like your getting some work done on that board. If I'm not mistaken don't they use LED's for night blades and also strips to go on planes for night flying - I've seen some video's and they are surprisely bright for thier size.

Glenn,
Like me you also are getting crappy weather, but you also have the cold to contend with. [] Can't believe your considering a nitro - you guys are really ramping things up around here, I don't think I can hang!

Brought my heli's in hopes that I'll get at least a break in the rain in the morning. I can deal with cloudy weather but can't do the rain or the fog. Got my fingers crossed!

Mark

rotarydoc

Nick,

Rob sent me another email, and kinda changed up on me a bit....saying that the left over parts from his 600n rebuild were almost enough to make another heli...

I would need frames, servo tray/mount, clutch, clutch stack, fan shroud, and main gear assembly to complete it, about $200-$250....and he wants $200 for the rest, not including engine, or electronics...so I'd be into it for about $450 or so...and I have an engine, and electronics from the Raptor, although outdated...

So, I dunno, something to think about...then, I think about the low budget Trex 600n, fiberglass, belt tail...for $319...might be a better starter nitro, for when it does crash...alot cheaper to repair....I can't believe those side frames in CF are $60+ EACH!!

This stuff he has is a torque tube tail, and all metal upgrade parts...which can be good or bad in a crash...as you know...

I don't know...I'll have to think about it some...not sure if I want a large project like that, or would rather just get a kit, where everything is new, and there...no chasing after little obscure parts that might be missing....

Oh, the .90's are Miniature Aircraft, one is flying, a Fury, and he has enough parts to make a Stratus....didn't mention prices, and I don't think I want a .90 just yet anyways...

Cool on the glow plugs....they live up to their name when you power them up, eh...lol??

Sounds good on the voltmeter, are you using silver band resistors?

Have fun with the temp sensor...

I'm surprised you bought fuel....giving in and maybe flying once more before the snow flies?

Glenn

evdreamer

Mark,

Yeah LEDs are used for night flying.

Glenn,

Yeah, less than a second the glow plug was bright orange.

No, I am using gold 5% resistors. The accuracy also goes down with the conversion process, so it might be a combination of those two.

So far trying to figure out the conversion process for the temp sensor is turning out to be harder than I thought.

If I have one good day I will go flying again or maybe wait till January 1st when the guys I fly with want me to go flying too.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Mark,

Been lucky so far up here, we have the rain and crap, but it has not been really cold yet...not like it's gonna get in a couple of months...[X(] It gets pretty cold up here from time to time, I've seen it in the single digits a few times in the past few years, and I think the coldest I can remember was 1982, when the actual (not wind chill) was 4 degrees below zero...[X(] That is rare though, it doesn't get like it does for Nick here!

Actually I got my feet wet with nitro a couple of times previously....once about 4 months or so ago, with the self destructing RAPTOR .50....and waaay back in 1989 with the GMP Cobra...

I have no issues with nitro, in fact, I love it...but I have to decide what my long term plans are, and if I want to commit to driving that far to the new club field on a regular basis, since there is no real place to fly one closer.

Hope the rain and the fog hold off for ya in the morning so you can get some flying in...not looking too good for weather here, maybe on Thanksgiving after turkey!

Nick,

Cool on the glow plugs.

Sounds like the temp gauge will be challenging....all the better, more rewarding when you figure it out...

WOW, Jan 1st in Lincoln Nebraska???[X(][X(][X(] BRRRRRRRRRRRRR

LOL

Never know, it might be sunny and 55!

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

It sounds like my club always flies on the 1st of the year, but that doesn't mean I will be out there if it is too cold. They probably run into the club house after flying, since there is a heater and AC in there.

Now my meter is as accurate as my Fluke DVM, so I don't know what happened there, but I am a happy camper.

Nick

helicorpse

Hello..... and Good Day!

Well, I'm just kinda laughing at myself for being so tight that I squeak when I walk!! In the LHS the other day I was *****in' at Eflite over the disparity in pricing similar parts for the B400 and the Blade CPP. In particular one part which I buy so often after a crash, the feathering shaft which is identical in all ways to the B400 feathering shaft except for length. You get two in a package for the B400 for the same price as you get one for the Blade. Well, for a minute or two in time I've started cutting down the B400 shafts with my Dremel cutoff wheel, a little bit off each end to modify it to fit the Blade CPP, just check to see that the allen head cap screws don't bottom out before they snug up. When the pin shear off the tail rotor blades I plastic epoxy the blade to the driven gear. I repair broken skid legs by drilling thru the skid and JB welding a carbon fiber rod with a small fillet of adhesive at the base of the skid. I have become very successful in straightening bent main shafts also and often get several crashes out of them if they don't strip out the teeth of the gear. Hmnnn what else.. don't know.. I often use that clear packing tape for boxes to repair the outer covering of the wood symetrical blades after some kind of contact has started deteriorate the covering. How cheap can you get?

Helicorpse
Peter

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Nick,

Sounds cool on Jan 1st....man, your club is luxurious!! A clubhouse with AC and heat??? Ya'll got cable TV too...lol!??

Congrats on your improved voltmeter, no matter how or what made it work..lol...that can be good or bad...good that it works, but bad that you don't know why...

Cool on the Fluke meter, I never forked over the bucks for one...I did get a Kent Moore (GM special tool) one made by a company called Beckman, that makes high grade test stuff...but Fluke is the one to have...

Peter,

I hear ya...I have always marvelled at the fact that CP/CPP Eflite blades are more expensive than B400 ones!! Go figure???

I can't think of too many more ways to save money on the CPP than you mentioned...lol!

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

There isn't a TV in there, but there is an old radio.

I just got done testing my temp gauge outside in 40 degree weather and it was one degree off from an analog one I have. Right now I am watching it slowly increase again.

Nick

JPEE

First a correction for a statement I made.

Mark and others. I stated when asked if they make a tail gear out of metal, which they do. But my error was I was talking about the drive gear off the main gear the drives the belt from in the heli. No they don’t make those in metal to my knowledge.
The end boom rotor drive gear does come in aluminum and as I said they are soft and don’t last and are waaaaay over priced.
Thanks for the good wishes for good flying weather for me too……….I guess you did not click your heels after you wished that for me LOL as the wind is still blowing now for three days and nights 40 mph plus.

Nick, gotcha on the LCD and LED. I am so used to everyone going to LCD that I forgot like you said how bright the LEDs are and that they use less power if I remember correctly……that would be a first. LOL. Keep at it on your power panel and you are going to be so happy when it’s done and YOU did it!


Glenn, thanks for the info on the speed up gear. I did not get the clicking but it sure wore out fast!
Sounds like you really have a dilemma with the nitros and Rob’s offers…. what to do?
If and when Align comes out at the first of the year with their 700 and 800e’s I am getting one damn the cost or where I can fly something that big. I’ll drive to the frigging desert if I have to. Crap…if I get two of those puppies and put a harness on them I’ll have them pick me up and carry me around the flying field LOL.

Glenn, I am not going to get all childish with you that you have more posts than I do but I do have FLUKE lol lol lol……….
You guys…….. I just know he will come back with something to really kill me with now.
WOW that was mind blowing Glenn what you wrote about the balancing the entire head as a whole. Just have to his heli back here to try. Some great stuff there.

Jeff, I hope the rubber isolators work on the heli's tail! Thank you also for the tip on the SAB blades too. Great picture on balancing the head for sure. I will definitely try that pronto.

Thanks for tips on the fly bar and paddles too. CHOPPER I do set the calipers just like you showed to set the fly bars.
Chopper, thanks for all of your support on this Legend nightmare. Your pictures really helped too as did everyone’s. Yes I made sure there was no ENDO movement in the shaft up and down.

Kyle, thank you so much for responding to my questions on the Legend. The tip on the blades was killer too. I had no idea that you guys are running the smaller blades to bring some life into the puppy.

Vic, thank you as well. We are using the 11 tooth pinion and the same motor. Its not here with me right now but it was either a 35 or a 3700kv.

Mr. Ricky….thanks for letting me know your Legend is vibration free as the rest of the guys. Take care and I am glad your felling some better now.

Jim, is sure was great to see your name again. I really miss you. I hope in time you’ll be back when the time is right, God Bless.

ArrowNaughtic, what a tip you have provided, WOW! First let me say I am not changing out the ESC ….that was frustration leaking out of my brain and out my mouth. They do only have two bearings BUT the main shaft is much shorter than a Blade 400 or TREX 450. Now with that said I DID NOTICE the flex in the frame. That was when I found he had not torqued the frame after he got it. He is new to the hobby and I just took it for granted that he had done it. I torqued that puppy and thought….man I have it now. It made little difference I am sad to say.

LEGEND SAGA
I had another guy watch the videos and he came up with a suggestion from what he heard. Jeff will probably know this as a 450 flier. The guy was telling me that Align had some trouble with their main gears awhile back. In short, their casting of the plastic while round it was not balanced and the gear when spun was heavier one place than the other thus making a vibration's run up the main gear. Well he listened to the video and says he can clearly hear the main gear going in and out like an aaaaaaaaaah aaaaaaaaaaaah so he thinks it needs a new main gear “even� though I verified it was round and level this mis- weight issue can’t be seen. He said when you hear that sound it is the sound of main gear throwing it self due to being out of balance. We’ll see who gets the candy bar when this is done.
JPEE

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

Since just about everyone here has video's up on youtube maybe ya'll can help me get one up there as well. I was trying to upload a video and had error messages each time. Also it took nearly 25 minutes to tell me that. Thanks for the help!

Mark

evdreamer

JPEE,

Usually LEDs use more power compared to a cheap LCD with no backlight. I haven't looked to see how much current is drawn with an LCD that has a backlight, but I know most of the power is used in the backlight.

I installed a new glow plug in my heli and it started up. The glow plug I took out looked fine, but I knew there was an open some where. I also re leveled my swash and I didn't do a very good job eye balling it out at the field. The weather might be good Saturday, so I might get to fly again this year.

Mark,

I don't know what is going on with you tube for you.

Nick

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

I hope I can get out after turkey time and get some flights in....we'll see...

JPEE,

I thought those ideas were pretty cool for the entire head balancing, I have not tried them yet, but I will, you can bet....esp the one that uses the heli as a balancer....maybe I can cut down on the vibes on the B400's some using that method...

I can't match your Fluke meter...you got me beat there! I would love to get one someday, but I'm making out OK with what I have now...that meter I mentioned earlier is about 25 years old, and still going strong! Only problem is I am having a hard time finding a fuse for it...we measure milliamp draw on automotive electrical systems a lot, and it's easy to blow the tiny 200 mA fuse...

I think we are confusing the tail drive gears....the one I tried that made the horrible clicking noise is this one;

http://www.readyheli.com/EFLH1455A_E.../eflh1455a.htm

It's sitting unused in my spare parts box....I still have absolutely NO IDEA why that thing makes such a horrible clicking noise, there is nothing to it!!! I also didn't notice any benefit to the higher tail rotor speeds when I was testing it, to be honest, the tail acted the same to me...

Mark,

You Tube can be a PITA to get to work/upload sometimes...but it is pretty forgiving about video types and what not... I had a hell of a time with it for a while there with the HD cam that Jeff Micheal and I use, the Sony Webbie HD....it worked at first, then it just had horrible issues, until You Tube finally got around to fixing it...

If you get too frustrated, you can always go over to Vimeo...and try that...works pretty nicely, I have a few vids on there, and I know Jeff likes it. I don't use it too much, because they charge you if you want to do more than like 1 HD video a week...[X(]

Sometimes, it's just the time of day, or YouTube just being YouTube...did it give you any explanation of why the vid failed to load? They can only be so long, I know that, but it will usually tell you....

Good luck with it...

Nick,

Cool on the glow plugs.

Hope you can squeeze one more flight in before old man winter sets in for good...

I like those green LED's....look cool...

Glenn

JPEE

Mark,
This week I tried to load on YouTube without success. At the top of the page there has been a flyer stating they will not be recognizing my browser much longer. So try after try it would not accept my upload.
Next I upgraded my Explorer to I8 and that was it! Bingo it took my uploads.

Give a look and see what your running.

JPEE

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

Happy Thanksgiving to all!! I smell Turkey a-coming soon.

JPEE,
I did see that youtube doesn't like my old IE6 so I'll be upgrading to IE8 and see if that works. I was trying to upload a simple 22MB video around 8 last night (before going in to work) so maybe that was just too busy a time. I'll give it a go again probably Friday - I have off from work, the wife will be working , and I think it will be a great time to take the little guy to the hobby shop to introduce him to the wonderful world of...radio controlled things!!

Also, were you talking about the main gear of the 450 heli or the 500 in the picture? If the 450, I recently put on the [link=http://www.readyheli.com/150T_RevCo_Perfect_Circle_Main_Gear_p/ho-0500s.htm]RevCo[/link] True gear to replace Align's main one. That may take care of the noise you are hearing if the gear is out of round.

Glenn,
Thanks for the other vid site, I'll keep it in mind if youtube doesn't work out.

Nick,
One more flight. You can do it. Have faith man!

Mark

evdreamer

Happy Thanksgiving.

evdreamer

Hope everyone had a good holiday. I have been busy with work. I also got all the things I wanted to be measured and displayed working on my little power panel, but I can't get them to work together. I have an idea of where the problem is, but don't know how to fix it at the moment. I also fixed some broken alligator test leads, so that makes things easier to set up.

Tomorrow looks like the only good day to fly for a couple of weeks, so I am charging things up right now to hopefully go fly again.

rotarydoc

Nick,

All is good here...except the weather, got some heavy duty winds going on here, 35 MPH gusts...supposed to be windy tomorrow as well, so I'm hoping for the best on Sunday...

Hope you can get some flying in tomorrow, before your weather turns ugly as well...

Sounds cool on the power panel, sorry you can't get everything to work at once...sounds like quite a challenge for sure....

Other than that, not much new here. I doubt I will get that 600N from Rob, things at work are not looking too good for making money lately, plus, I think I would rather build my own kit from new, rather than having the potential headaches of assembling a basket case...[&o]

Hope everyone has a great weekend...

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

Sorry it is windy there.

Sorry it sounds like work has slowed down for you.

Nick