RunRyder - MX-400 Service report

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e-Ark X-400 - MX400 > MX-400 Service report

Dave588
Senior Heliman
Location: ST. George UT. USA

Im not too new, I have a BCP and can fly it in fast foward flight, and can do some loops, I'm not to bad, but I'm not good.

Thanks for the info!

www.rcdudes.com
Another^Great^Form

01-28-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

Kaput!
I advanced myself to the first inverted attempts at 15.5 hours.
Did the wrong bail out move and ended inverted in some tree.
Damage is:
• One main blade broke.
• One tail blade broke.
• Vertical fin broke.
• Horizontal fin broke.
• My newly installed main drive gear lost teeth – must be replaced.
• Canopy is broken.
• Frame is bent through elevator servo attach area (bent back – good as new).
• One push rod bent (bent back).
• Feathering shaft bent.
I am amazed again how little damage there is, considering the fact, that I pulled the helicopter with full power and negative pitch in the tree.

01-28-2006 Over year old.

BoneDoc
Senior Heliman
Location: San Antonio, TX

Sorry to hear about that, but glad to hear that most of the heli survives ok

.

Are you still using the plastic tail case?

**If you ain't crashing, you ain't flying hard enough**

01-29-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Dave588
Senior Heliman
Location: ST. George UT. USA

Well I flew it for the first time to day,

Dude I love it

one thing I am not happy with is my gyro does not hold the tail at all, im getting a Futaba 240 Monday,

well on my report:
2 flights 25 MIN of flight.
.alunimun tail grips
.alunimun elavator
.T-REX slider

www.rcdudes.com
Another^Great^Form

01-29-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

BoneDoc
Senior Heliman
Location: San Antonio, TX

do you get slop with the TREX slider?

**If you ain't crashing, you ain't flying hard enough**

01-29-2006 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

rwj

Veteran - Location: Kenosha Wi -

What size pinion are you asung?

01-29-2006 Over year old.

rwj
Veteran
Location: Kenosha Wi

What size pinion are you using

01-29-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

I am using the 14 tooth pinion with Helimax motor and speed control – works great.
Head speed is between 2250 and 2350^-1.
Yes I still use the original plastic tail gear case. I never had trouble with it. It even lived through all incidents. I read somewhere that the metal tail box isn’t needed and tends to slip on the boom.
No slop with the TREX slider at all. I still have my rudder servo mounted in the frame, but I made a stiff carbon push rod. Seems to work with my GWS gyro.

01-29-2006 Over year old.

rwj
Veteran
Location: Kenosha Wi

Where did you get your aluminum center and how much was it? I am still putting in the electronics and waiting for a 3107 servo and my motor.

01-29-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

Got the aluminum center at GrandRC.

I am flying again. Replaced all the parts mentioned above.
Also installed a TREX washout assembly (XL) – just like the double bearing assembly. The original parts are still good.
Thought I try the TREX Fly bar paddles as suggested here.
What a difference! The helicopter is a lot more maneuverable.
Changed the radio to the new Spectrum DX-6. Kept my Futaba servos and the JR pitch servo. Flew it now for 1.1 hours in this configuration (7 flights). Still dialing the radio in.
But it works. All my glitches at high power settings and long distance are gone completely. Even if I have to say, I experienced a sudden yawing twice for parts of a second at one flight. Not sure if that was a glitch – sure felt like one.
Total time is now at 16.58 hours and 116 flights. The MX-400 is still going strong.

02-04-2006 Over year old.

Nugz
Heliman
Location: N.J.

my center hub also cracked on first boom strike. Upgrading is a must. I also went w/ the trex alum blade holders(new gray color)

MFD

02-05-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

Just noted - some guys had problems with the little screws holding the seesaw bar to the center hub. These sit in little bushings and penetrate the plastic seesaw bar on either side.
I lost these in my first crash some many Dollars ago. As I replaced them, I noted they are delivered to short for my taste. I cut some longer screws down and made sure they go in all the way and stop just short of the fly bar running through all this. I was able to get a significant amount more penetration (usually not a bad thing). Added a drop of CA on assembly - and I am proud to report - the entire assembly lived through one inverted impact and a full speed tree encounter. No lost screws again and all the plastic is accounted for.
I am also happy with my aluminum frame.
I was able to take it apart – not as bad as it looks – and virtually bend it back to perfect shape just using the power of my own hands (like to hire a mechanic) and a pair of worn out pliers with added padding. It flies again and as straight as my 32 dollar non heading hold gyro allows for. Thanks to the power of GWS. Actually – it does a pretty good job in holding the tail. I do have to fly it – but that’s what it’s all about. When my aerobatic gets passed the loops and rolls - I probably have to get a better one.
Also, I checked all the parts in my elevator lever and arm assembly again to see, if the most feared play has occurred between both of them. No it hasn’t – none at all and that after all impacts. All parts are plastic but glued together.
I am at 124 flights and 17.5 hours.

02-08-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

I am now at flight 143 and 19.78 hours. The MX-400 is still going strong.
It is 33 flights and 4.4 hours since I last worked on it not counting the lubrication done after every day. Here is what I have done at flight 109 and 15.38 hours:
• Installed DX-6 radio.
• Repair as mentioned above.
• Modification back to the original plastic swash plate.
I am happy to report:
The DX-6 radio works for me with no problems and as advertised by the reseller.
The plastic swash plate was installed just to see how well and long it will work. My metal swash plate developed a lot of play within the 15.38 hours of use. It works for me. I can not feel the difference (I am not a 3D- pro yet).
The plastic swash plate has not developed any noticeable increase in play over the 4.4 hours of use.
My flying has developed to a more aggressive level with very frequent loops, rolls and Immelmans. The average amp draw over the flight increased therefore to around 11.5 with respect to the 9.5 in my previous more relaxed flying.
The helicopter performs so much better with the installed TREX fly bar and paddles. Response is very direct and immediate.
The plastic TREX tail pitch slider is in use for 14.1 hours now and is as tight as on day one – unbelievable. The best $ 12 I have spent so far.
Also - the entire tail drive is still original (belt, boom, gears, shaft, tail box and so on). Never has been repaired or modified.
Motor and ESC are performing flawless. I believe the supplied 14 tooth pinion is optimal for the 6 pole Helimax motor. I have tried a 13 tooth but was lucking a bit for my taste.

I really enjoy my MX-400. It is a good and reliable helicopter which can be fine tuned to flying preferences just by changing the fly bar paddles. A few TREX parts will make it even better.

02-15-2006 Over year old.

cloud9
Heliman
Location: New York, NY-manhattan

Major Wagging problem with my MX-400 Please help!!

I have the MX 400 and love it too. I have a similar setup no T-rex parts but all aluminum. I am a beginner and it flys perfect, got my training with the Horse Fly. Anyway I crashed once before any of the upgrades and since then I noticed this wag(like a random system glitch it is most prominent in the tail, looks like someone slaps it every few seconds)I'm not sure if it was there prior to the crash but I don't think so. It is DRIVING ME CRAZY. I am using the Futaba 6EXH. Since I noticed this "wagging" not hunting I replaced the following items:
Bought a brand new GY 401 gyro, bought a brand new reciever, replaced every upgradeable part, made sure the tail was slop free, new blades, carbon tail blades, spindle, shaft, gears main tail and belt, tail boom I basically made a new heli. The only two things I did not replace is the motor and the speed control.

Since then I never crashed but the tail keeps slapping on me looks like split second radio interference, which I thought it might be so I bought different crystals, still the same. The funny thing is that it ONLY happens if the motor is running, not when it is just sitting there powered up. I am thinking maybe it is the speed control?? Does anybody have advice me and my bank account are desperate!

02-15-2006 Over year old.

Squirrlybird
Veteran
Location: Suffolk, Va US

Edited

02-15-2006 Over year old.

Soniq7
Senior Heliman
Location: Sacramento CA

I had that problem with the sudden hits like an invisible fly swatter. It turned out to be one of my servo wires had rubbed thru against the corner of the frame, something I would not have expected.

02-15-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

I don’t really have an answer either. I had very frequent glitches similar to what you describe at power settings above approximate 80%. They always appeared as a tail “wagging”. I think they actually came through the throttle channel (I made that up – just a guess).
Since I installed the DX-6 radio, all that is gone for good.
You could play with the rudder servo arm length and the gyro gain if you think it is in any way related to these items (connect the pushrod more inboard and turn the gain up or so - may be?)
I am using a non heading hold gyro (GWS PG-03) and a Futaba 3107 servo for the rudder. The servo actuates the tail via a home made carbon rod. I am happy with the way that setup works and I don’t even have Revo mix setup yet. I do have to fly the tail and counteract for power changes to some extend but nothing dramatic.
At 148 flights and 20.36 hours.

02-16-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

I did a “perfect” tail rotor – boom first touch down on flight 161 at 21.86 flight hours.
It was perfectly executed and I am happy to report, - it is possible to do that in fast backward flight, without to destroy most of your rotor head or main blades and to walk of the field with something still looking like a helicopter. That was the optimistic version.
The pessimistic – some damage was done and is not completely defined yet.
I will post later.
Lesson learned:
Sometimes it takes longer for the brain signals to move all the way from your head to your fingers than it takes the helicopter to reach the ground. This is very unfortunate and is not the helicopters fault.

02-24-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

My Helicopter is flying again.
The tail first hit caused the following damage:
• Tail shaft bent.
• One tail blade broke.
• Tail boom bent.
• Rudder servo gear stripped.
• Main gear lost most of its teeth.
• One mixing lever broke.
• Covering on one main blade shows small cut.
• Canopy has small crack.
The plastic tail gear box including bearings, plastic tail pitch slider (TREX), fins, boom holder, belt and belt drive gear are not damaged at all. It was interesting to see, that the belt is as good as new in its entire length after being used for 22 hours and the crash.
Now at flight 164 and 22.2 hours.

03-03-2006 Over year old.

celihopter
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth first on the left..

Now at flight 187 and 24.98 hours.
still running smooth.

03-15-2006 Over year old.

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e-Ark X-400 - MX400 > MX-400 Service report

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