Galloping Ghost

My Feedback: (12)

Hi,

I just picked up a used GWS Dragonfly and am having some difficulties getting it off the ground. With the stock nimh battery on full charge, the bird would get light, but not lift off. Everything seemed to be running fairly smoothly, but try as it might, the little chopper would not break ground.

Out of desperation, I installed a 11.1v, 1200mah lipo in the bird. It now had ample power, and I was able to make some short, semi-controlled hops. After about 15 minutes of playing, the main motor fried. This didn't shock me as I knew I was pushing the little 280 with 11.1 volts.

My question is, why didn't it get off the ground with the stock battery? The rotor speed seemed to be pretty good, and no amount of tweaking the blade pitch seemed to make any difference. Even with the 3 cell lipo, it needed 3/4 throttle to get off the ground. I am now waiting for a new motor and a 2 cell, 730mah Thunder Power battery. I also have a new set of blades coming that I will try.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Scott

www.thistledownflyers.com

acr1346

The slightest amount of vibration (and I mean slight), will load the motor to almost half
RPM. Balance the flybar (without the main blades on) by holding it over your head and
run up the throtle. Scotch tape as needed then put on the mains and do the same thing
again. It really makes a difference. It took about 25min and a foot of tape in 1/2in
peices to get the rite amount on the correct blade. Real trial and error effort. I fly it
on a two cell 860 TP. Really thinking about a heat sync on the IC chips for longer flights
without overheating the speed controler and letting the smoke out.

Galloping Ghost

My Feedback: (12)

Thanks for the tips. I will start by putting on a new motor and blades and balancing everything.

One thing I'm not clear on with these micro helis is how tight to tighten the main blades. Way back when I flew gas choppers, we didn't tighten the blades very tight so they could find their own position. However, on this forum, I've read that the blades need to be tight. Perhaps someone could shed some light on this.

Thanks,

Scott

www.thistledownflyers.com

acr1346

Its hard to explain tight, but if the blades move freely they are more likely to cause boom strikes due
to lag positions allowing the blades to dip lower than when straight out. They should be able to be moved
but should not be able to move by gravity alone if the heli is held sideways. Some spin it up to hover speed
and reduce rmp slowly (keeps the blades from leading) and lock them down when the head stops. Thats to
tight for me.

Galloping Ghost

My Feedback: (12)

Boy, do I feel silly. I could not get my Dragonfly off the ground, and today I solved the problem. Turns out the whole problem was the high throttle limit on my Hitec transmitter was set low. I dialed it all the way up, and voila, the bird now has power! [:@] I actually hovered it for a few seconds. Now, it's just a matter of balancing everything and practice, practice, practice.

It just goes to show you to always check the simple things first. In my excitement to get the bird flying, I overlooked one of the most basic things. [X(]