450 My First real heli customer!

Westy

LEGEND
had a guy contact me through NZ version of Ebay "Trademe" as I have at hte bottom of all my for sale items .... that I fix all helis, do flight training and transmitter heli setups and test flights for reasonable prices.

ANy HOOOOWWW ....

this guy has a KDS 450s one of the original ones.... and it has a 7 channel transmitter. he was complaining that every time he tried to take off, the tail was trying to flip forward over the heli.

I took the job and stripped the head and foung no damage to the mainshaft or feathering shaft and all linkages were intact and bearings were all free and not binding.

The head is of really low quality and I have convinced him to upgrade to a TArot 450 Pro quality metal head. He has wooden blades too ... so I also asked if he minded upgrading to some reasonably priced Carbon Fibre blades. - He Agreed.

In regards to the rotor head ... there is heaps of slop in the washout links and I put it down to total poor manufacturing and plastic parts are all worn.

so I moved onto the K7x KDS radio and since I was not familiar ..... I did a quick 15 minute brush up on the Tx with a manual.

Here is what I found:

  • All the trims were all over the place
  • Sub trims were to the extreme
  • Dr settings were crazy - Elevator with 70% DR and Aileron 85%
  • Pitch curve was miles out
  • Throttle curves were totally wrong
  • the model was set up for a PLane rather than a 3 servo CCPM heli
  • Gyro was at 100% on normal mode and -100 on ID1 .... so had to sort that out too.
  • then I set up the CCPM using endpoint adjustments to get nice smooth up and down the main shaft level swash.

The Heli would not have even taken off let alone fly!!! Lucky i did not try to test fly first before doing all my checks.

SO once I cleaned up al that mess, I moved onto swash setup.... it was leaning forward a full 5mm!!!!! so i went back to the drawing boards and measured and set all the linkages. 90 degrees all the servo arms as close a possible and used sub trim to fine tune it.

I then worked on the head with it on and tidied up all the linkages there, set 0 pitch ad mid stick and then set a master blade up. Got the second blade in as close as I could and put the heli out to do the final tracking. the blades would not track properly ..... "USELESS WOODEN BLADES + SLOPPY HEAD LINKAGES = TOTAL WOFTAM" so got is a close as I could while it was actually in the air as i would set it up just before take off and get it pretty good and then it would be miles out in the air.

Anyway I have gone as far as I can until the new parts come .... so will keep you all in the loop once it comes and show you the difference some decent bits do for performance..... not wonder people just struggle with flying these junkers! ..... and give up..... if htey had a decent heli to start with .... the flying is a lot easier.
 
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murankar

Staff member
Well I guess trying to fly a 3 servo 120° heli as a plane of course your gonna have issues.

Good work, will there be a video?
 

Westy

LEGEND
did you want a video? or what? before head change and after?

I started to do one on the maintenance and checking ..... but thought that was a bit stupid let me know ....
 

Westy

LEGEND
cheers! I am hoping that I can get these people all interested in the heli scene and I can then build them decent helis for fair prices and set em all up for them ..... that is what I enjoy and watching someone get thier hovering sorted .... and shutting down with a grin from ear to ear!
 

murankar

Staff member
I forgot the lol at the end. I was kidding about it. That job is a basic repair and setup and I think that has been done many times over.
 

helicc16

the Smoothie Pilot
kudos on your patience. I had my fair share of frustration working with junky helis like the Erazor 450. The people at Xheli.com did a fantastic good job at promoting low-quality products. They even manipulate reviews/comments to their advantage. Anyway, hope you get that thing flying right. A video won't hurt! :)
 

Westy

LEGEND
I can certainly show what a sloppy head looks like ..... compared to the new one!... when it comes ..... just can't get the tracking right.
 

cpo

New Member
did you want a video? or what? before head change and after?

I started to do one on the maintenance and checking ..... but thought that was a bit stupid let me know ....

I'd be interested in seeing whatever you have to share!
 

Westy

LEGEND
Ok Will do one then to show the difference in tracking and what to look for once it arrives
 

Westy

LEGEND
Got some of the parts today .... The New Metal Tarot Head assembly turned up.

as with any new part. It is all coming apart for inspection and Re Thread locking!!! - Every .. .and I mean Every screw, nut, bearing will be stripped, cleaned, lubed and thread and bearing locked prior to assembly. I am still waiting on the Carbon Fibre blades and will throw it all back together and run it up! customer will be happy as!

First thing I noticed with the New Tarot head is some for the screws are loose and the sliding washout block is a little tight for my liking and the blade grips are smooth... but still a little too tight for me.

Very lucky for me ... I checked every screw and ball joint..... all loose, not a drop of thread lock or bearing retainer present!

would hvae been 5 seconds at spool up and it would have hand grenaded everywhere!
 
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Westy

LEGEND
update..... got the head last week. Balanced up and CG'd the blades popped it in the air ... with a little trimming .... it flies like a different machine.

I have to put plenty of inputs in as it feels like the characteristics are changing on me, but I am putting it down to poor centring servos and a cheap TX. The servos have a bit of play in them too which does not help ..... but I am not spending millions on this thing for the client..... just want to show him it can fly reasonably well and finish my trimming and hope he will enjoy getting used to it and will come back to me to build him a real heli!!!!
 
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