500 HK500GT Blade Tracking Problem

Tony

Tony

Staff member
I'm sure you guys remember the maiden flight of the 500, and I had said that the tracking was way out. After the maiden, I took it back inside, rechecked everything, and it was still way out. Well, today while I was replacing all of the broke parts from the crash, I found out why. The friggin head block that the feathering shaft goes through is drilled crooked. This makes me kinda mad lol. How hard is it to drill a straight hole lmao. So, even after putting it all back together, I still can't fly it. Now, the debate is on. Should I pay $11 for the EXI head block, or $30 for the Align that I KNOW is drilled straight? I have a feeling that I'm not going to be buying anymore knockoffs from now on. I wonder what I will find on the 600 as time goes by....
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
Just took the blades off, and removed the feathering shaft. I measured the hole that is drilled in the block, and they are exactly the same (4.13mm) from the top of the hole, to the top of the block. So, that only leaves a couple more options. The feathering shaft was straight, even after the crash. So, I looked at the rubber dampners in the head, and they show signs of tearing. So, I took the extra material off of them, flipped them around, and put it all back together. Spun the head up, and the blades are exactly where they should be. So, next order from ReadyHeli, I'm ordering some dampners for the 500. Man I'm glad it's not the head block lol
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
I took the head all the way apart, and cleaned and lubed everything. Sanded down the thrust washers so that I could tighten down the bolts as well on the head and tail. And THESE are the servos that I'm using. Not the fastest on the market, but they get the job done...

UPDATE

Well, after flipping the dampeners over, I took the 500 outside to see how it would go. First thing I noticed, I was shaking like a leaf hahahaha. Always seems to happen after I crash something. But, I spooled it up and I'm still having the same issue with the ESC. If you don't know what that is, I will move the throttle up, it will jerk to life, hold the idle for a bit even though I'm raising the stick, then it will just jump to life. Don't have a clue what is causing it, but I won't be getting anymore ESC's from hobbyking...

So I spool it up and take it to mid stick. This thing has a ridiculous head speed lol. So I keep going on the stick all the way to 3/4 and nothing. Mind you at full stick here on the desk, I had >13* of pitch. So, I keep going and finally it takes off, leaning WAY to the right. I mean WAY to the right!! The tail starts to wag a little (slow servo on the tail) so I land it and turn down the rate in the Tx. And I take back off.

As I'm in the air, I'm having to fight this thing more than I ever fought my 250. Now that's sad! I get it up to eye level, and yet again, the blades are out of track by 2"!!! I know for a fact that I have them perfect. So, I'm thinking it has to be the dampeners in the head. So, it's back up on the wall and will stay there for a while. I need to decide if I want to keep it, or sell it and just get something better.

BTW, landing this thing is a chore, and I found out why it tipped over last time. With one blade pushing up, and the other pushing down (yes, that is what it's doing), this thing is stupid unstable. When I landed it after my daughter came around the garage, I didn't watch it, and counter as I landed. I just landed like I usually did, and the out of track blades threw it on it's side. So, that mystery is solved. Now we are onto the next one......

I said it before, and I will say it again... I will never buy another knockoff. I will pay double the money, and know what I'm paying for will work. Anyone want to buy a 500? lmao
 
RCD

RCD

Glencairn Drone
Id be glad to fix your esc problem by selling you my 60 esc for a insanly good price! lol. Im still confused why you cant fix the blade tracking by adjusting linkages?
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
Because the feathering shaft is held in place by two rubber dampers. If those are not stiff enough, it will let the blades flop around. And if they move, it will adjust the pitch of the blades. It's kinda hard to understand without actually being able to see it. It's actually starting to make me mad, cause the 500 sized helicopters are supposed to be some of the most stable helicopters out there. But, at this time, my 250 is more stable than the 500.
 
L

L PLATER

Member
Tony I have read your past posts and I think the dampeners are either too soft or worn.

Try the Align grey dampeners as they are very firm and may help you.

You are expeienced enough to know that the blade tracking is important enough to sarcrafice a little bit of pitch problems.

You should not have >13 degre pitch as you will have a very unstable peice of rc when the pitch range is that high. (great for 3D)

I would also look at your pitch curves if you are not getting of the ground untill 3/4 throttle, you should be lifting off at 50%.

Hope this helps.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
I could actually put more pitch in this heli haha. But, last night right before I went to bed I was looking at the heli. It was driving me nuts on why with everything setup perfect, it didn't want to get off the ground, then went all out of wack when it did. Well, I think I figured it out, but I'm going to need to do some more checking first...
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
Here is a short 19 second video showing what I'm pretty sure is the problem. There is no way this thing should have this much play in it. The dampers are also bad, but this is worse. In this video, I'm not having to put much pressure at all on the blades to get this to do what it's doing. It's amazing that things like this are being sold. I see metal washout arms, and mixing arms in my future lol. Let me know your thoughts.

<iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UYCyDkiu8Qg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
L

L PLATER

Member
Tony, you may have to ream out the links as they look too tight to me, also dump the plastic and change over to metal mixing arms etc.

Cheers
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
I had the swashed locked in position. Otherwise the links would just move the servos. And I wanted to show in the video the amount of give these links have. It will more than likely be next week, but I will be ordering new metal washout, and mixing arms. I will also be ordering new dampers, just not sure what ones I want to go with yet lol.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
That's exactly what they are doing. Gotta love plastic lol. I'm just finding it hard to push the buy button after spending all that money on my new 450.
 
Paulster2

Paulster2

I am El Taco!
I hear you on the "spend more money" thing. It surprises me they even sell their helis with it like that. I'm sure you are not the only one who has had this exact same issue. I wonder if HK's "Pro" version of their helis are any better? I would hope so.
 
Tony

Tony

Staff member
The HK500CMT is the all metal and carbon fiber of this helicopter. And, I have never heard anything bad about that one. The Pro is also full metal and CF so there shouldn't be anything like this wrong with that one either. I will find out next week when I get it lol.
 
RCD

RCD

Glencairn Drone
Why did your heli come with plastic parts on the head anyway? Those were almost like rubber.
 
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