evdreamer

Mark,

I had a good 4th.

Hope you are making good progress on the 500. I got the motivation to take out my one way bearing/motor assembly. It was kind of hard getting at two of the screws that attached the motor mount to the middle bearing block. The bearing was kind of dry. I shoved as much bearing grease in it as I could. I did a long hovering flight and the motor spun for part of the spool down. So maybe a few more flights the bearing will get back to normal.

Nick

JPEE

Hello Nick and Mark,

HOT HOT HOT is an understatement!

Mark, I hope the 500 comes together for you. With your past build experience you should be gold. I do have a question for you? When FBL system are you going to use........ I hope a mini VBAR!

Nick I hope that is the cure for your one-way bearing.

A few months ago I bought a used Align 450 FB head as the original head HK wore out and was sloppy, I am sure a crash here and there didn't help either. Because it was used, I bought new dampeners so the head would be tight and responsive. Though there was no inward or outward play in the blade grips, up and down with the blade extended there was. I used to get this problem with my old Blade 400 and they sold shims to put between the grips and the rubber in the head blocks. So I took a power run to my LHS and picked them up. I put .03 on each side, problem solved. I took a test flight over the house for one pack and she flies like a dream. However, I must add she flew great before and the blades were even in tracking but it was that slop that made responses positive and negative or flying inverted sloppy and there was a moment of pause because of the sloppy head to catch up with my stick moves.

Again to HOT to fly anywhere these days.

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

Nick,

Glad you found the motivation to grease your bearing...sounds like the bearing is a bit of a bear to get to...hope this does the trick for you. Are you serious you did an entire battery with just hovering?? How did you resist the urge to do a little more?

I remember hearing some threads on the 550 forums mentioning problems with the OWB and the solution was to swap the stock one for an aftermarket one...that was why I suggested it but it seems yours is unique and the grease appears to be working.

JPEE,

Sorry the heat is everywhere...summers can be brutal sometimes.

Going to pass on the V-bar...a bit out of my price range right now. I'll be going with a BeastX.

Glad the shims worked on your 450 head...a nice and inexpensive fix.

Going to be working on the 500 tonight. Purchased 2 GenAce's and some more powerpole connectors today (was surprised to find I was out of them )...going to have to wait to buy the BeastX as funds are not there yet.

Mark

JPEE

Mark,
You will do fine with a beast X. There are several guys that use them here as well. They are one grade below of the Vbar and will serve you well congratulations on your choice. It was only 107 here today everybody laughs and says oh! It is a dry heat, like that means something. Don't misunderstand me, I truly realize the difference between 107 dry heat and in a state such as yours with humidity which raises the index. I almost could not wait for summer but now that it's here Winter is starting to look good already! LMAO

evdreamer

Mark,

I was flying in my backyard and it is kind of hard to do anything but hovering with a 700 sized heli.

John,

You want to skip over Fall. I know at least one person not looking forward to winter.

Nick

JPEE

Mark...... you are a hoot my friend!

J-MICHAEL

I think you all are a hoot !! Hope all has been well my friends, haven't posted here since 12/10/2010 and miss the hobby and the great bunch of guys here Someday I'll be back, just make sure you guys stick around until then ok ?? ! I'll need help to learn how to hover again (Lol) and getting up to date on the new technology... I keep in touch with Dave (Choppersrule) and Eddie (Ol' Baurwin) just because they are on my Facebook and know they are still doing ok, in which I hope is the same for you all also Take care guys, and like Jpee had once told me, friends don't say goodbye... They say "Until next time"..... [8D]

evdreamer

It is good to hear from you again Jeff. I don't plan on leaving any time soon.

Nick

JPEE

Jeffery, I second what Nick said!

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

I don't feel like such a stranger now that JEFF is back!!! Long time no see, my friend, glad to hear from ya again, hope all is well!!

Well, I'm just about recovered from the storms we had here way back on the 29th of June...a day I won't soon forget...lost all power for nearly a week (6 days)...and it was in the upper 90's the entire time...including the 4th of July...

Quite miserable would be putting it lightly...but, I survived, and just about have everything back to normal a week later, we got power restored last Thursday. It'll be a long time before I don't take flipping a light switch on for granted!!

Anyways, nothing new on the heli front here...

JPEE, Sorry to hear it's been hot for you as well...dry heat or not! Hope you get a break soon...

Mark, Congrats on the new heli, sounds like you got a really nice deal, and I'm sure you'll love it when you get it all completed...

Nick, Sure glad you don't have to sweat it out on the trucks anymore....and yeah, I do have A/C here at the shop...for about a week there, I was actually GLAD to be at work!!

Jeff, Again, nice to see you back!!

Hope you guys have a nice weekend, I have to work tomorrow...[&o]

I'll try to get back on here a bit more often, barring any 6 day power outages!

Glenn

evdreamer

Glenn,

That is good you have power again. Hopefully you don't have anymore intense storms there for awhile.

Nick

J-MICHAEL

Glad you guys are doing good, and there will be a day I'll be back ! Take care all....

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

First off - Jeff, welcome back!! Glad to hear from you and hope all is doing well with you. Nice to see your old avatar around again.

Glenn,

I never knew you guys had such bad storms that it knocked out electricity...for an entire week in JULY??? Oh my goodness I can't begin to sympathize with you with the heat and no AC. At least it was nice to be at work...

I've noticed down here many of the subdivisions will have all the wires underground and the only place the wires are above ground are on the roadways and such...guess it makes it simpler to find downed wires after a storm and less to repair.

I'm glad that week from hell is over for you.

Nick,

Have you had any chances to wring out your Whiplash with its newly greased OWB? I think you could get a couple tic tocs in between those trees in your backyard with no problems.

Yeah, I'll be happy with fall...just ready for summer to be over. If I got as much snow as you guys get each year I'd not be looking forward to winter either.

JPEE,

Dry heat...wet heat...heck, its still darn hot so who cares about technicalities.

Been working on the build so wanted to share some of my progress...as you said JPEE, this will be gold and your right as it has been an easy build this far. No surprises...pleasantly surprised everything has gone together without a hitch...and no screws got stripped. Maybe Align upgraded their metal.

Mark

evdreamer

Mark,

It has been near or in the triple digits the past few days, so I haven't been out flying. My batteries wouldn't like it and neither would I.

That is good the 500 build is going smoothly.

Nick

JPEE

Hello Boys,


Nice to see some action on the thread. In order:

Jeff,
Always great to hear from you. Geez, I remember the good old days when you, Glenn and Nick and I would fly on the sim together all night! You cutting the frigging spokes out of your main gears, drilling holes through everything to make them "lighter" on every thing you flew. Ah! yes those were the days. It has been at least three weeks and I have had nothing up in the air (besides a test hover on a 450 in the yard). I have just been busy with other pressing matters and can't find the time to fly. Oh, of course there is the heat wave we are all experiencing to boot. But the fleet is still there ready to go when time allows. Come by a snoop anytime, we love ya man.

Mark,
A mighty handsome build you have going on there if I say so myself. Looking at the 500 I see traits of the 450 Pro, old 500 and 700 all melted into that new model. You are meticulous in your builds and even your table set up shows that. I think she is gonna be a swell flier for you.

Nick,
Can't fly in the back yard it is too small BAH HUMBUG................... "getter done"! With your super flying skills it is a no brainer. HEAT, well yes I will give you that lol, that has been a pisser for all of us now for sometime. Just funning you a bit Nick, I'll fly my 450 and 500 over the house high and make small controlled orbits but I always fear if the heli drops for some reason who's car or roof will I damage and get sued for, remember................. I live in California, the Law Suite Capitol the entire USA!!!!

Today at house #2 which we are getting ready to rent I sweat some copper pipe and made a manifold for sprinkler valves. That was easy, the work came when I had dug a 30' trench 12" deep to lay the pipe in on Tuesday. That all took me 4.5 hours and that was all I had in me. I must have forgotten I am "old" and on SS#......... am not supposed to be doing hard labor like this............. hummmm LMAO


Glenn, thank God your ok. Honestly I don't know how you did it? Living in the dark would be tough for 5-6 days for sure, but no A/C at home during that time, you godda be kidding......"no way Jose" could I have done that part of your plight-full 5-6 days. You are blessed with some brass ones my friend. Take care and buy a generator that will push your A/C, I did.

See-ya wouldn't wanna be ya JPEE

rotarydoc

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the sympathy...deserved or not...it was kinda rough...I just kept asking/reminding myself what it must have been like 75 years ago when (most) people didn't have A/C...[X(] It's all what you get used to I suppose, if you never had A/C, you wouldn't know the difference

That made it a little easier...lol...

I few things that you don't normally think about happened...like I went to have a chocolate bar....well, needless to say, when the temp in the house is 99 degrees, the thing was a sloppy mess...practically liquified...

Then, the weekend after, I went to pay a bill (snail mail with this one, most I do online)...and the envelope was already sealed shut from the humidity..[X(]

I was actually more worried about Tiger than I was myself...she just kinda laid around a lot...not doing too much...with a permanent fur coat, she must have been pretty warm!

But, it's over and done, and we survived...the hardest day/night was the 4th, which was the 5th day, it was about 99 degrees that day, so I spent most of my day at the mall...came home, and the house was a comfortable 99 inside (it gets hotter than that under the sun..), and by the time I went to bed, it was a chilly 93...and humid as hell...talk about hard to get to sleep!!

Anyways, not much new here...

Mark,

The build is coming along very nicely, I know you'll love the 500, in my mind, it's the perfect size heli...not too big, but much more stable than a 450...

JPEE,

Hope you can find some time to fly before long...but as long as you are keeping busy, that's all that counts...

Nick,

I see where you are in the 101 range there today....too hot to fly in that, I totally agree...we just hit 100 here in Baltimore and D.C., it's a bit cooler here in the suburbs, about 98, I think....


I don't care....at least I have power....and I don't even mind paying the bill !!!

Hope you guys have a great week....

Glenn

JPEE

Hi Guys,

[img][/img]"I pulled the trigger" on a new heli, a 450 V2 Quad copter.

The guys has been building and flying them at my field. With and without FPV. They have a heavy lift capacity yet most are using GOPROs and they are pretty damn good videos too. The videos are clear and have no static nor jello effect on the outside of the video frame.

This quad is the top of the line for the newest electronics out. You buy the quad at one vendor which comes with what you see in the picture. 4 motors, 1 frame, 4 ESC's, 4 props. The high end side, the stabilization, GPS, etc comes from a separate vendor.

This is what the quad can do and has done in front of me at the field.
1. Turn off the radio............ it raise's straight up and hovers and waits.
2. Then it will return from you took it off from and land "all by itself"
3. With the NAZA and GPS units the guy sent it up and got some altitude over the field. He then set the GPS to the "hold" position and the heli hovered maintaining its altitude and position for 7 minutes while planes and helis flew below him all being recorded on his GOPRO.
4. Lastly, if your flying it and get crossed up and loose your orientation, you again can flip the switch and with a pre programed setting it will "correct itself" and stabilize itself to a hover at its present altitude until you are ready to fly it or........ just tell it to come home and land by itself.
5. If the battery runs down before you land, the quad will "over ride "you" and bring the heli home and land it before it falls from the sky.

There is one additional capability this NAZA and GPS can do. You can input via a laptop coordinates (way points) to where you want the quad to fly stop hover or not and make these rounds to the preset flight plan once you launch it. HOWEVER: Today there is a huge fee to do that from a web site, like $15.00 per way point. But I am told by the quad owners, there is a "hack" already out that will let you by pass that fee.

I saw every action of this quad as described above Tuesday while at the field, except the "way point flight" So my daily fly buddy and I bought ours yesterday. They are out about 27 days until all of the parts arrive.

I did get to fly two packs in the 700 on Tuesday while at the field and did my highest to date "auto" in from about 60 feet. This was my 4th attempt. I feel comfortable now with them and will continue to end each flight with a auto from higher altitudes. It is a weird feeling to be flying and then kill your motor, it goes against what a pilot is not supposed to do, you know what I mean.

JPEE

evdreamer

John,

That looks like a fun new heli. Are you going to do the same thing in the Align video that you posted where they had like 5 helis in the air and let go of the transmitters?

That is cool that you are doing autos at a higher altitude.

Nick

JPEE

Hello Nick how are you?

I don't recall ever posting a video with quad copters as you described, perhaps I did but I sure don't recall. No..... my goal will be to fly and take videos. The other good part is that it's something you can throw in the car and take anywhere to fly without the endangerment of citizens that might be close to you.
With the "way points" I can go somewhere, go to Google maps and check the coordinates of a spot some distance away. Feed them in and then send off the quad for a video of and area I cannot get to.

I am exited to be honest about. :-)

John

Aframomum

My Feedback: (10)

Hi guys,

JPEE,

Congrats on the quad purchase! I know you've been eyeing them for awhile...with the 'way points' it sounds like you can just program it to fly at your field and you can just stay home and watch the video. The electronics sound very advanced in some of the things it can do on its own.

I saw that Align video where they were demonstrating some new technology similar to what you were describing...had the heli hovering and the guy put the tx on the ground and walked away. The heli stayed in one position I guess based on the GPS coordinates programmed into it. Interesting direction things are going.

With the auto's...that is awesome your doing them higher and higher. I bet you were feeling on top of the world after landing. Did you check out those smack video's or just decided to do it at the field? Glad that the weather cooled down so you could get some flying in.

Glenn,

Glad that your power issues are over...have you seriously considered looking at a portable generator? You guys seem to loose electricity for long periods of time. I seem to remember it going out during that bad winter 2 years ago and now this summer...just a suggestion for you to ponder over.

I bet Tiger was just as miserable as you...did he just flatten himself out on the kitchen floor? Our cats do that when it gets hot in the house - find some cool flooring (usually the lanoleum in the kitchen) and just spread themselves out on it.

Not too much going on around here...took a few days off from the build to work on some other projects. Had to do some maintenace on the lawnmower - the blade was torn up really badly so had to replace it and changed out the oil and plug while I was at it, so now its running very nicely. Surprising the difference a new blade will make in cutting the yard, single passes rather then going over the same spot several times.

Mark

JPEE

Hi Guys,


Mark,

No I haven't had time to take that download and to watch it, for the most part because I don't have time to fly right now and if I watch the video I want to "practice" what I watched. But I will say after you have done it a few times and you knock off the green from your brass ones.... lol..... they become easier on each occasion. They way they get the quad to hover and stay at any point you choose while flying or may have programmed in is by the GPS for location and the Barometric air pressure on the sensors for altitude control!


me

evdreamer

Guys,

It was a good day for flying on Saturday. There was a helicopter fun fly that I went too. There was only a few pilots that flew, but I enjoyed it. I saw a Goblin and a Synergy N5 or N9. Those were cool helicopters up and close. I was surprised how quiet the Goblin was compared to my Whiplash. The belt drive probably helps out a lot. There was also an old Hirobo Shuttle that was a .30 size. Someone had it in a box and they built it a few days ago. They were trying to maiden it at the fun fly, but the engine was giving them some troubles. There was also a big full size helicopter event at the Strategic Air and Space museum. I wish I could have gone to that, but it was at the same time as the fun fly. I got three flights in at the fun fly. I was a little careless with one of my ground moves and ruined the tips on the tail blades. I am surprised the crown gears are fine. The pitch slider popped out of its holder and nothing else was damaged. I just reattached the pitch slider and was up and flying again. Even though the tail blades still work it doesn't sound very good. So I ended up ordering some KBDD tail blades for the Whiplash and a lower tooth pinion. Hopefully both of those work ok. I stopped by my field on the way home from the fun fly and got a flight in. There was supposed to be a plane pattern contest today, but no one was at the field. I wonder if they canceled it due to the strong winds.

Mark,

How is the 500 coming along?

John,

Have you maidened your quad yet?

Nick

JPEE

Hello Nick,

Sounds like you had a great day over all.

I have only received my electronics from my EBAY vendor. The Quad is coming from China, on a slow boat lol.

JPEE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Mr. M

evdreamer

Mark,

Happy birthday.

I sold my Trex 450 today! Now I am down to 5 helis. I am thinking about selling my Velocity now. There is a guy at my club that was interested in buying it last month. I might see if he wants to buy it.

Nick