darticus

Many are selling a short flybar on ebay for the CX2. Is the short flybar better than the original? What will it allow me to do better? Ron

soloboss

I've seen these in posts in this forum and the guys using the shorter bars seem to be happy. So it would seem to follow that if you had one, you'd be happy too. And happy is good.

Personally, I'm a believer in shorter and very lightweight flybars. The flybar on a coaxial heli (like the CX/CX2) uses the flybar to make it stable. The bigger, longer, heavier the flybar, the more stable the heli. Just for kicks, I doubled the weight of the stock flybar. I wanted to see what would happen. All it could do was hover. It was a riot, because the poor thing could manage a pendulum move and that's it. I'd tell it to go, and it would go a foot and come right back. In hover I could push it around the room with my finger, but it wouldn't move. Anyhow, that's when I went to the very light weight bar.

With the flybar that I use, the heli is on the edge of being unstable. Hover is good, but not rock solid. I don't hover much anyhow, so I don't care. I can fly it inside and it's OK, but I prefer to be outside. I crash more than I'm proud of and I learn a lot and the whole experience is fun. As I learn more I post my results and there are a couple of guys using a version of my flybar. One fellow tried it and it wasn't nearly stable enough for him. If he had TBE, it wasn't the flybar's fault. But the light weight bar is more sensitive to a really good setup.
And there is such a thing as too light. I've been there and I can't fly it that way, so I kept adding weight until I had what I wanted.

Too many words. Sorry.
Heavy long flybars are very stable and not a lot of fun.
Shorter heavy flybars are more fun. Less blade clash.
Shorter light weight bars are going to keep you awake at night. Even less blade clash and more performance.
Shorter ultralight bars are just wicked. Blade clash won't be your primary frustration.

does that help?

indyseven

I found that if you take the weights off the stock bar the helli flys much nicer. Less blade strikes and more responsive. Just my opinion though. Have fun!

soloboss

I agree. That's where I started.
Then I cut those big ole boots off and added a couple of shaft collars at each end of the flybar..
Then I slid one of the shaft collars haflway up the flybar rod toward the center.
Then I removed one of the weights;
then slid the remaining weight halfway to the center of the flybar.
Then I picked up the pieces and decided that there's a point at which the flybar becomes too light.

But with each weight reduction the heli just kept getting more responsive. I, unfortunately, didn't get better at the same rate.

lookyj

soloboss,

you said it best:

So the trick is to find the perfect equation for YOUR flying style/needs!

weight + length = stability

less weight AND/OR less length = MORE PERFORMANCE (less stability).

Notes on the Flybar Mod -

I LOVE the CF Tube Reinforcement!!!!! Especially during this trial period, in finding the perfect equation between length and weight.

as far as that goes...... I'm still working on it. what are the specs on your current flybar?

Gene Valjean

Yeah, I moved my servo linkage up one, and am having more blade strikes and/or crashes. It will be moving hard foward and then i may bring it back a bit, or do a turn at some point, and I might hear a small clack! Or once it even just lost itself and came down...
If i, for example, take the weight off of the flybar, this will happen less yes??

And I'm just going to throw this in here with talk of flybar mod. Before i had the alum upgrade, I took the screw off of the top of the inner shaft, so that when it crashed, instead of bending my wee flybar, or worse--breaking the whole thing-- When the flybar was put under critical stress, it just Popped out! Thus avoiding a nasty bend or any breaking. Now that i have the alum head, I bent a flybar hours after i got it. [&o]

darticus

soloboss
Are you making the shorter lighter flybar. Do you think I should buy one off ebay?Ron

soloboss

So you are satisfied with the results. That's excellent. Of course I have some personal pride in this and I didn't want you to feel like it's a junk idea. And I have some guys out there who are wondering about the new bar and should they get one from me and is it better than stock or the other modified bars on the market. I needed another flier to say that, yes it does work.

So I guess I'll make a couple of bars and sell them. The buyers have to realize that before the change they need to have a heli adjusted perfectly. If they have any TBE, it just gets worse with the light flybar. If they won't sign up for performing the proper setup, I don't want them to have the bar. They won't like it.

I'm working on another idea. If I go to 3/16" OD tube, I can get the weight we need without the collars on the ends. For now, I have added shrink sleeve at the ends to cover the collars. The weight gain is minimal and it does cover the shiny collars. And it adds a little protection from the metal bits whirling around. This is where I am now.

lookyj

soloboss,

nice stealth mode on the flybar with the heat shrink tubing...

I've put together some vids showing basic hover, with stock flybar and the modified flybar.

Here's the links:

(waiting for upload)

Stay away from the CA, I think that was one contributing factor to TBE, I had with an earlier version of the mod. The weight of the CA, made the flybars unbalanced?!?!

I also noticed, too light and too short creates a pendulum effect. At full forward throttle, the heli flies about 5-10' then starts to come back like a boomerang.

Here's a vid showing some flying with my Mod'd CX2

http://www.rcuvideos.com/view_video....e2506156629946

Gene Valjean

Okay, I'll cave. Whats TBE???
<----noob.

pap921

Toilet Bowl effect ( turn by itself and ..almost impossible to stop ..)
Pap

soloboss

You won't wonder what it is when you get it. The heli starts a little unstable and the more you fix it the worse it gets. The heli eventually starts to circle in ever widening circles and will eventually whack a wall or something. The only way to control it is to land. Then find the source of the TBE and fix it.
Most likely cause is a bent flybar. Second, binding somewhere in the flybar / top rotor / top rotor linkage. The flybar has to move totally freely.
I'm sure you'll get more responses to this question. TBE sucks.