JasonRP

Hello all,

I've been playing around with my Hirobo XRB Lama here, and it is quite fun. I've adjusted the tracking on the current set of blades, and as far as I know there is nothing wrong with the chopper. When I fly it, the landing "safety" skids vibrate a little bit (just less than 1/4" of virbation), and every now and then, the heli acts like there is wind blowing it around, even though it's being flown in a closed indoor room with no fans or vents blowing. Other times it will hover very stable and nice with no control input (corrections) whatsoever for maybe 10 seconds!

Any ideas as to how I can possibly dial this thing a little better for less vibration and more consistant behavior? Or, is this little heli functioning as designed.. I don't have any previous heli experience other than realflight, so maybe this good performance for a little bird?

Jason

NitroSpazzz

I'd say you have it pretty well set up. Mine just sits there for 10-20 seconds sometimes and you seem to be doing the same thing. Just have fun with it and once you have some confidence and spare blades take off all the weights on the flybar Then it flies like a real heli. Enjoy

Stormovic

My Feedback: (29)

Mine sounds like both of yours. What a great indoor micro. I have broken a couple of blades getting used to it. My blades sheared close to the roots. I used RC 56 glue to repair these and they seem to run perfectly after the repair. I do notice a yaw to the right until warmup and mine does better turns to the left than the right. Mine will hover hands off for only a few seconds before acting like most helicopters and drifting off on its own.

JasonRP

It's good to hear that mine is performing like everyone elses.. It's a great little chopper! I have been pleasantly suprised to find my LHS stocks replacements for these heli's like they are a real chopper, and not like some toy where after you buy it you're on your own. So far I've bought some extra blades and an extra landing gear, as I expect this puppy to see some heavy use!

I wonder if anyone will attempt to hack these choppers into an untethered R/C heli ?!

Jason

Hornet 51

They already have..... http://www.helihobby.com/html/xrb_radio_controlled.html

FlyingFish

My Feedback: (17)

Would love to make my lama tetherless, But not sure if I can, I'm afraid of screwing it up!

JasonRP

OK, Here is what I figured out:

My heli would sometimes fly ok, othertimes, act like it got hit with a gust of wind. Then, it started rotating to the left, requiring more and more trim to center it until, occasionally it would spin left even with full right rudder, requiring a quick landing!

The problem turned out to be the gear that is on the bottom motor shaft (I think this is called the pinion gear?) had gone flush with the top bearing on the motor.. It was only slightly mating with the rotor drive gear, and I guessed it was causing drag which would induce my spin.. It required disassembly down to the frame to get the gear back where it is supposed to be, but now it is back together finally. After careful fitment of new blades, tracking check (was ok), and light vasaline of the gears, the lama is back in the air.. I am very pleased to report a controllable and stable heli once again, quiet, and vibration is almost nil!!

I am also happy to report that there are at least two bearings that I saw supporting the main mast (the axle that spins the rotors), so these choppers seem built to last.

Jason

GMC7

How many of you guys flying the lama have broken your landing struts?

JasonRP

Yeah. I broke the landing gear the first day I was flying mine- but I am not worried about breaking it again as I was still learning the "feel" of the lama and crashed it hard trying to land it on top of a pinball machine.. DUMB! I replaced it, and my LHS had it in stock for like 8 bucks.

Now I've pretty much got the hang of it, and I'm not trying stuff that is beyond my abilities, so I don't crash too often.. I have noticed that, if you fly pretty fast forward and run outta tether, it tilts the chopper forward making it want to go forward even more.. My least favorite scenario is when I am flying fast in a circle, and the chopper gets a little outta shape.. Some quick work on the controls, and just when I think I've regained composure, I hear the telltale "BBBBRAPPP!!!!" and I know the lower blades have struck the upper ones, usually severing a blade tip..

These things are great fun! I saw the helihobby R/C conversion of the lama, but after watching the video I am not sure if the heli is as stable without the tether.. I emailed them to ask, but as of yet I have heard no reply..

Jason

NitroSpazzz

I managed to hurt mine pretty bad...I was hovering in the driveway with about 7-10 mph winds(pretty steady) then I stared some circuits real tight, fast and close. Well then I got bigger and bigger and BAM got to end of tether, wind was pushing it farther, killed throttle right before contact. I broke 2 blades, tail, landing gear, canopy Not too bad, I think I am going to CA it and try flying it again, outta blades so I gonna try gluin them as well

wag

Hi people, I have had one of these for a week and as it is my first helicopter I am having a few problems trimming. Where do most of you have your trims set?

Stormovic

My Feedback: (29)

Center the trims and then follow the instructions to get the helicopter flying right with blade tracking and yaw adjustments. Its really pretty simple to do .Just follow the book. Really it should not need much adjustment . The only trim mine needed was to correct a continuing tendency to yaw to the left. I turned the top blade adjustment blade screws 2 turns to the left and that fixed it. This is a great helicopter and it will teach you the dreaded nose in hovering.

wag

Ok Thanks for that advice Stormovic. With regards to setting the gyro to zero, I set it so no lights show but after a few minutes I notice the thing starting to turn so I land it to find a green or red light showing. Has anybody else experienced it?

Stormovic

My Feedback: (29)

Mine does it too,sometimes. Dont worry about it. Fly and have fun.

JasonRP

Yup, I've experienced that too.. I used a tiny bit of vasoline on the gears top and bottom, check the pinion gears to make sure they are centered, and don't worry about the LED's on the side of the lama, just fly it! Seriously, mine does exactly what yours does, and my guess is that when the motors (or motor controllers) get hot from normal use, the trim is not the same as when they are cool.. I just fly mine, it's a load of fun!! And, After flying mine for 10 minutes or so, I let it cool down for 5, then fly again. Hopefully the motors will last a long time this way..

Jason

wag

Cheers people. I've finally got the hang of it now and I'm having tons of fun now thanks. Spot landing is my thing at the moment but I plan to try the nose in flying tonight, I may not have a helicopter by tomorrow.

sherif

iam getting a lama in a few days, and i read all the posts.
it sounds like fun, execpt for the tuning. is it easy, or as hard as piccolo, or aerhawk??

sherif

ok, the lama is great, any one try the carbon fober blades for the lama?? are they worth 65$? any one try the going rc?

warren52nz

I've posted some stuff about this elsewhere but, briefly, I have the untethered version of the Lama (although it doesn't say Hirobo anywhere on it... I had to figure it out for myself. Just to be clear, I'm talking about THIS one:

http://www.raidentech.com/xrotationrchel.html

A couple of differences besides the obvious ones:

Blades on mine are a tough, black plastic and I've learned how to make them myself for 20 cents US each (posted eleswhere on this forum). So I wouldn't buy carbon fibre ones now. I tried the Lama foam blades.... average life... less than 20 seconds!! 8^(

I also read that you shouldn't lubricate the gears because it can cause the motor gear to slip and also collects dirt faster.

Mine doesn't have individual pitch control on the blades, just trim.

It sometimes starts spinning very fast in one direction and has to be landed immediately. Then it's fine again. I think it's the gyro getting confused.

If you have too much pitch on the blades (angle of attack) it slows down the rotors and the whole chopper may wobble while flying. If you don't have enough pitch then it won't take off at all. If the blades are too much out of balance, the electronics seem to sense it and the headspeed will be too low to fly. Blade shape and balance is critical!!!

If you want to make your own blades I've posted that elsewhere in here or email me at [email protected]

Cheers from New Zealand

warren52nz

Further to my post about making your own blades, I had a very good result last night while fine-tuning the new blades I made. The lift wasn't very good so I was trying to improve it. I decided to sharpen the leading and trailing edges because, unless you do that, the edges are square (1mm thick).

Not sure what to expect from such a seemingly fine adjustment, I proceeded using a "mouse" sander and medium sandpaper. I sanded off the edges from the top of the blade and smoothed everything out (not too sharp on the edge... you want to have some strength too). I finished off by putting the blades in pairs and sanding their shape so that they were exactly the same.

A minor adjustment, or so I would have thought, but the difference was truly astounding. Hitting about half throttle on the first test and the chopper JUMPED into the air and almost hit the ceiling before I could throttle off. MILES more lift!

Hard to say if the radical result was from sharpening the edges or matching the blades more exactly. As posted above, I've noticed that the motors won't rev properly if things aren't just right so I may have been getting higher headspeed as opposed to more lift from the blade shape.

Struggling with some wobble now and I dont think this one is headspeed related. I'm flying mine with no tail and no canopy. Looks funny and could be contributing to the wobble, I suppose.

Ahhhh..... engineering........ I LOVE it!!!
8^)