450 pro and cons of dfc head

[danhampson]

at the moment ive got a fbl pro v2 and have been thinking of upgrading the head to dfc and was wondering what the pros and cons are?
ive only been flying for about 3 months and just started forward flight.

 

[Lee]

If you already have a FBL head, and you've been flying for 3 months, I don't think you'll notice any advantages. Really the advantage only come when doing Sport/3D flying, and even then a lot of people don't think it gives you any sort of advantage.
The advantage will be to have a more compact heli with a lower CG for faster roll. Disadvantage could be the possibility of a boom strike with the blades being closer to the boom and for the novice pilot the effect of faster roll could be a bad point if you are wanting a stable bird.
Hope this helps.

 

[danhampson]

yeah im looking for stability at the moment so i think i'll stick with the stock fbl head for now.

 

[Tony]

Yup, I agree with what Lee said. Lower CoG, faster rolls and flips, gets rid of the radius arms on the swash driver, lighter swash and so on. Then if you have your blades just a little too loose, give that sucker a huge pitch pump, or panic and slam the throttle down while in idle up, it's bye bye tail boom and blades.

 

[xokia]

Yup, I agree with what Lee said. Lower CoG, faster rolls and flips, gets rid of the radius arms on the swash driver, lighter swash and so on. Then if you have your blades just a little too loose, give that sucker a huge pitch pump, or panic and slam the throttle down while in idle up, it's bye bye tail boom and blades.

Please elaborate what do you mean by to loose? While spinning I don't see anyway the blade could strike the boom.

 

[coolgabsi]

Please elaborate what do you mean by to loose? While spinning I don't see anyway the blade could strike the boom.

Yes It very well can.

Every size heli has its own amount of tightness they run.

The 450 size blades should be tight to hold their weight if heli is held on its side and a jerk should be able to make them fold slightly

500 size a little tighter

600 and 700 blades should not move at a jerk

When the blades come under load in the air if the tightness isn't right, the blade will start lagging the blade grip.. And see what happened at even 10degrees of pitch.. Blades can and will touch the Boom

You will see a lot of smack pilots chop their boom off because he blade wasn't right enough and it lagged and snapped the boom

If too loose , like tony said, a little pitch pump and a simple roll will snap the blades into lag and break the boom

Fly safe!! have fun!

 

[xokia]

When the blades come under load in the air if the tightness isn't right, the blade will start lagging the blade grip.. And see what happened at even 10degrees of pitch.. Blades can and will touch the Boom

Perfect description that I could visually see it in my head thanks. If the blades not perfectly straight out I could see it striking the boom. But wouldn't you have that problem with other types of heads also? I know the DFC head is closer to the helicopter but I would think if the blade lagged enough this would be a problem for most helicopters. Is the issue non existant on other helicopter or just more likely on DFC head?

I've never heard of or seen this happen before so this is good info.

 

[coolgabsi]

Perfect description that I could visually see it in my head thanks. If the blades not perfectly straight out I could see it striking the boom. But wouldn't you have that problem with other types of heads also? I know the DFC head is closer to the helicopter but I would think if the blade lagged enough this would be a problem for most helicopters. Is the issue non existant on other helicopter or just more likely on DFC head?

I've never heard of or seen this happen before so this is good info.

True with any head not just dfc. Dfc being usually a lower it might happen sooner ... But that's the only difference

Check out the Austin heli fest video (2012-2013) there is a night fly bird chopping itself with loose blades ..

Fly safe!! have fun!

 

[Lee]

Type in Boom strike in youtube. There are hundred