600 Murphy!!!! It's Always SOMETHING!!! (Align 600 Nitro)

[Tony]

So Scott just purchased my backup engine so that he can get in the air and he asked if I would make a very basic tuning video on a helicopter. This was a great chance to go ahead and set my engine up in Murphy (Align 600 Nitro for those that don't know) to run 30% nitro fuel. I was running 15% and the power just wasn't there and I was having to lean it out way too much to get any kind of power. And leaning it out isn't good.

So I transferred my fuel pump over to the brand new, unopened and still sealed bottle of 30% and fueled up the tank on the helicopter. I checked to see if the governor on the ikon was still working and judging by the slow throttle servo movement, it was. I also checked all of the controls and the tail servo again wasn't working. Unplugged it and plugged it back in, and it started working. This is starting to worry me a little.

I took the helicopter outside and that is when I noticed fuel dripping out of the engine. Fantastic. I try to bump the engine over, it's completely hydrolocked. So in order to clean it out without pulling the plug (which is a huge pain in the ass) I decided to try and rotate it back the other way by the fan. What I had forgot was I put a very nice, massive air moving aluminum fan on this engine and when I tried to turn it, it slit my finger almost to the bone. Blood everywhere from such a little cut. I'm telling ya, FRIGGIN MURPHY!!!

So I get it, finally, turned the other way and I lean the helicopter to the rear to evac the fuel out of the cyl. Guess what, the battery in my starter is dead lmao.

Oh yea, and the battery for the helicopter, the Align 1900mah pack, was sitting at 1.2 volts per cell... Yea, I know, you don't have to say it. Simply amazing that it even took a charge. It is a little puffed now though... Friggin Murphy....

So now I have a finger that hurts to hell and back, a hydolocked engine because it's leaking fuel into the engine and a dead starter battery... Just one more thing needs to go wrong....

 

[Tony]

Update. So the battery for the charger finally charged and I head outside to see if it will at least turn over. So I grab my helicopter, my DX9, my starter, my Mobius and my goofy hat. I take it out to the picnic table and I stick the starter in the starter hole and hit the button. It turns over once and stops. I hit it again and same thing. This keeps up for about two minutes until finally, I'm able to get the engine to turn over without killing the starter.

So I take the helicopter out to a place where cooking oil was cleaned out of a fryer (long story) and so there is no grass. But do you know what is there? Fire ants. And these little dudes hurt when they bite you, ask me how I know... So I decide to go ahead and crank the helicopter over a bit more before uncapping the fuel and starting it. All of this went surprisingly well. So I turned on the DX9, I turned on the helicopter and let it initialize and guess what, no tail servo.....

So I raise the canopy and unplug it and plug it back in. It's worked many times before, but not this time. So I tap on the gyro (Ikon) and it starts working.

So it appears this, what could be considered NEW Ikon gyro has a fault that is going to cause this helicopter to crash one of these days. How fantastic is that...

Screw it, I need to get this fuel out of the helicopter and do a quick tuning video in the process. So I pull the mobius out of my pocket and hit the power button and the orange light just flashes. I figured the battery was dead and just decided to play with the needles to see where I needed to go and how far on the next tank. So after having to start this thing a few times from it loading up (stock carb settings and PIG RICH!) I finally get it to spool up and into the air.

I can't for the life of me remember what I have the governor set at as far as head speeds go, but I know I should be able to hear a change between Normal, IU1 and IU2. So I put it up in the air in Normal and she is blowing smoke all over the place, including in my face. This is going to be a very long night for me. I flip it into IU1 and nothing, IU2, nothing. Cool, I didn't expect it to. So I set it down, it dies, and I go 5 clicks lean on the high speed needle and repeat.

I think in all I went about 25 clicks lean but something just didn't feel right about this. Something was off and there was a smell that you never want to smell, the smell of hot. But this thing is not getting up on the pipe at all!

So by this time I had about 1/8" of fuel in the tank and figured I would go ahead and land it and run the fuel out. With it this rich it's going through fuel like crazy. I land it and no sooner do I get to 0º pitch, it starts running out of fuel. The idle goes way the hell up, the blades are spinning faster than they ever have before so I slowly go to full negative pitch to slow them down, then the engine makes it's usual "I'm too lean" noise and dies.

There is virtually no wind today and my little area in the back yard just held on to that smoke and took it from the helicopter right to me. But this stuff has a different smell to it. Something about it, is lighter. I think with the increased Nitro Methane and reduced Methanol, it's a little better than the last stuff when it comes to headaches. For those that don't know, I get horrible headaches every time I fly this thing, and it's not because it's Murphy lol. It's because something in the smoke kills my head. Throbbing headaches for hours when I fly this thing, so there is a very good reason there is a layer of dust on this helicopter lol. But something with this fuel is different. More testing will come about and I will see if this is better stuff to fly this thing more. And if so, then I'm paying Gaba a visit and I'm getting a case of this stuff lol. Because Murphy is going to fly more often...

If I can figure out why my tail gyro is not working correctly... This scares the living hell out of me since I have to fly in such close proximity to my self due to lack of space. If I lose that tail gyro, it's going to go into a piro and I hope like hell I can get it back down in one piece. without it hitting me...

And to top it all off, I came back in and connected the Mobius to the computer and I get the "USB Device Not Recognized" message. Fantastic, did I just lose one of my favorite cameras? lmao, nope. I forgot to put the SD card in it...

 

[smattext]

can i ask what kind of fuel you bought ? sounds like your almost having as much trouble as i am maybe i should of bought a different nitro heli LOL!

 

[Tony]

This helicopter has a very long history of pissing me off lmao. Since the day I got it, I have had issues with it. But NONE of them are because of the brand or the engine. It's what I get for getting used.

Murphy started out as a project for the forum. 18 people put in their hard work (19 including me) and money to make this helicopter possible. From the servos to the gyro to the engine to the complete rebuild from what it was, to the DFC beast it is today. But it seems that no matter what we do, or what I do I should say, something is always wrong with this helicopter. That is why it's named Murphy. Murphys Law states "If it can go wrong, it will go wrong". And guess what, it has gone wrong with this helicopter lmao.

But this thing holds a special place with me and it's the ONLY project that I can't just get rid of. Not only because everything was donated to the site (the site, not me) but because I can't let this thing beat me!!! And today, getting it in the air with new fuel and the new fan (installed a long time ago lol) is a milestone. Now, I need to put my telemetry on it and find out why the gyro is not initializing the tail servo. I'm wondering if there is not a cold solder joint in the gyro on that channel...

As for the fuel, I'm running the stuff pictured below. We will find out when I can check my temps if this stuff is running better than my last stuff.

 

[smattext]

I have torco 30% heli have you heard anything bad or good about this fuel?

 

[Tony]

I have never heard of that fuel before so I had to do some research. It seems they have a really good following and their priced are pretty good as well. I will check more into this fuel and see what I can find out. May see if I can get me a gallon to play with. I like that it's more red than the stuff that I'm running. Much easier to see in teh tank so you know when you are about to run out.

so here is an update. I got the telemetry installed on the helicopter. Now I need to find me a sensor so that I can read head speed on my Tx and have my little british girl tell me the temp and head rpm lol. Now where in the hell did I put that old temp sensor...

 

[murankar]

Rotor Rage or Cool Power 30%. Those are the only brands I know if in the States but in Europe you have OptiFuel.


This heli has been the biggest pain ars since day one. If its not one thing it always going to be another. If the motor is running then something else breaks, if the the mechanics aren running smooth the motor craps the bed. If both of those are good then the head or tail will have issue.


This kit was stripped down to just about bolts and bearing and reassembled and it still has these issues. I would not wish the kit on anyone at this point.

 

[Tony]

Actually URI, this kit WAS stripped down to individual bolts and bearings. I have had this helicopter in individual components a few times to go through everything. I even tore apart the tail grips when I did this. Then there was the great rebuild where half of the people lost their minds because they thought I was just selling everything off the kit. That is when I put the DFC head and tail on the helicopter.

So this helicopter has been torn down quite a few times and rebuilt and there is always something that comes up with it.

Oh, and I forgot to mention before, the blade tracking is out somehow now... Figure that one out... I'm thinking the blades are warped on it. They are, in fact, the original blades that came with the helicopter. You know, the ones that have road rash on the under side from it tipping over on takeoff because of the 3GX, which is why I think the guy sold it?