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Midland Helicopters . HeliProz . ZoomsHobbies

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e-Century Hummingbird - Swift > Great days flying with 3dpro and a trex
 
 
djtilko
Senior Heliman
Location: United Kingdom Leeds

Was offered the use of a ware house today so went with my Century 3dpro and my trex and had an excellent days flying thanks Crasher :af
This is the first time Ive got any real time in on the sticks with the 3dpro and all I can say is roll on summer what a great little micro this is. I stuffed it in twice but not too hard and no damage, it is superbly responsive, and was so much better than the trex in an indoor arena. I am no 3d flyer but it was really great fun flinging this heli around the ware house, zooming up to the wall pulling up and turning it round on a tanner whereas the trex felt in comparison to be very sluggish and rather large. What a great little heli, the trex was brill as well but not as zippy as the 3dpro. Done more nose in today than I done for the last 3 weeks, feel I am getting somewhere now :af

I know that outside the trex will leave the 3dpro standing in any sort of wind, but indoors its been a blast :ev

On a weekend full of snow glad to get a few flights together and the 3dpro was just the ticket.

djt
03-12-2006 Over year old.
 
 
Normsthename
Heliman
Location: Leicester, UK

Glad you like the 3Dpro, I hope I can get mine finally sorted.....
First hover the motor had a bearing failure.
Second Hover a really vicious tail wag and it dropped down breaking the undercarriage, and because of that it took the rear rotor tail grips and gearbox out......
What little time I have had hovering it, it seems to fly really well.
Third time lucky......I hope....

Andy
03-13-2006 Over year old.
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
djtilko
Senior Heliman
Location: United Kingdom Leeds

I must have been lucky because Ive not damaged mine in about 30 flights now so not doing bad for me! Havent had to replace anything yet since I put it together and after reading about all the problems on the forums I thought it would be a right dog!! but this is the best micro size Ive tried and if the Hornet is better I will eat my hat! Far better than the Trex indoors as its much more nippy and flickable.

I was alarmed at first with the tightness of the tail drive but after a few mins running it really freed up well, so dont worry too much if the tail drive seems very stiff.

Your having very bad luck its unusual for a motor bearing to go. Ive had a couple of different outrunners in mine at the moment its got the Century outrunner one and its very much up to the job, but not quite as much power that the vl diy motor that I wound myself, with that it was absolutely awsome a bit too much really.
03-13-2006 Over year old.
 
 
martinic
Veteran
Location: NB, Canada

How do you find the 3D Pro relative to the Trex? I'm an advanced beginner (hover in all orienations, FF/FFF) and I find the 3D Pro is hard to keep in one place in a hover in the gym whereas the Trex is as stable as a rock. Is this normal or could I have setup issues?

I've balanced everything (entire head in a highpoint balancer) and the head is free moving (metal swash and flybar seesaw) - I can puff on the paddles and they'll swing down. It's not quite as fluid as my metal head Trex, but it's close. I'm using 30% expo and get +/- 9 pitch. Other than that, the bird is stock. My stock wood blades track well and are balanced perfectly.

Hints? Tricks? Is it just me (skills or lack thereof)?
03-13-2006 Over year old.
 
 
djtilko
Senior Heliman
Location: United Kingdom Leeds

martinic, Ive just been hovering the 3dpro in my kitchen in a space aprox 5 foot square and no problems holding it steady, it goes where you tell it in a blink of an eye but is easy enough to hold in the hover pretty still, I was doing nose in with it at the warehouse for around 10 seconds or more no more difficult than the trex. Maybe you need to cut down the throws some more, or even more expo.

One thing that I find important is trimming it out i.e setup the aileron left and right and forward and back pitch so it doesnt move about in the hover, do a hop then if it drifts in a particular direction trim it out and try again, especially the tail gyro, I get the head speed up to nearly take off stage then trim the tail in heading hold so theres no drift to left or right when its holding give it some and away ya go.

My head is quite stiff on mine didnt bother freeing anything up and I like the setup like this maybe youve introduced a little slop by going too far with the freeing of. The 3dpro seems to like things setup a little stiff. What about your servo linkages? no play there?

Let me say the trex will outperform the 3dpro outdoors no problem, but indoors I feel the smaller micros can fly rings round the rex!! I have both trex and 3dpro and i also have the swift, and the bigger they get the slower they get comparitavly speaking I know the bigger ones are just as quick but the percieved speed seems slower. Got a great buzz flying my 3dpro in the warehouse whereas the trex was more of a yawn! Im not knocking the trex's just more adrenaline flying the pro indoors for me.
03-13-2006 Over year old.
 
 
martinic
Veteran
Location: NB, Canada

Thanks - that's good info; very helpful. I did find true slop (not dampening) in the head on the feathering shaft/grips. I added some 3mm washers on each side of the head to remove the slop - it's tightened up the dampening a bit though. I haven't flown it since I did this. The slop was bad enough that I could move each grip noticeably in opposite directions - it was quite a bit of slop.

I'm certain the bird needs trimming - but for hovering I would have thought I could compensate for trim. The heli was all over the place - while trying to hold it in one place tail in, it goes in all directions within a ~5' circle. Maybe more expo is required to deal with my slow reflexes. I just find it odd that it's that much different than the Trex - not what I expected.

I haven;t worked on the head to loosen it - I had worked on sanding the balls to loosen the stiffness on the stock plactis parts, but those have been upgraded now and I foudn the head moved freely without any additional work - the steel balls on the swach and flybar seesaw are great. The head's not completely loose (ie. I didn't introduce any slop/play). I'm using the ball links in place of the z-bends on the servos - should be better than stock in that area. I'm using S75 servos on the cyclic and an HS50 w. GY401 on the tail. The tail is solid. Maybe the S75 servos aren't centering.

What kind of expo are you flying on your 3D Pro? Also, what kind of headspeed are you running? I'm at 2400 RPM.

It's nice to be able to compare notes! Thanks!
03-13-2006 Over year old.
 
 
s80mac
Senior Heliman
Location: San Diego

For head dampening a peiece of fuel tube slipped over the spindle in the centre works great really tightens things up.I could never get the stock ones tight enough, if you keep adding washers you will preload the blade grip bearings which is not desirable.
03-14-2006 Over year old.
 
 
martinic
Veteran
Location: NB, Canada

S80 - my problem wasn't loose dampening, it was actually slop in the grips. Each grip could be easily flexed in opposite directions (one up, one down).

I added the washers (one 3mm on each side) and if I tightened the screws all the way the bearings would load up as you say (they became notchy). I replaced the soft phillips head screws with socket head hex screws and only tightened them to the point where the bearings were loaded and then backed off slightly.

Fuel tubing in the head should stiffen the dampening without this loading - good idea.

I might try reducing the extra washer thickness to find a perfect fit. I probably need more of a shim than a washer.
03-14-2006 Over year old.
 
 
djtilko
Senior Heliman
Location: United Kingdom Leeds

martinic

Just had a look at my tx (Multiplex Profi 4000) and the settings are :


Roll (aileron) atv 40% both ways left and right
Pitch (elevator) atv 40% both ways forward and back
Yaw (rudder) atv left 55% right atv 65% to slow the piro rate down.

No EXPO ON ANYTHING.

With Multiplex there is one thing to remember that the throws with multiplex are greater so if mine are eg 40% then on a JR Futaba etc it would be around 50% or so.

Hope this helps keep it real

djt
03-14-2006 Over year old.
 
 
martinic
Veteran
Location: NB, Canada

Wow - that's not much throw on the cyclic! Interesting. So, you have finer control and no dampening around center (Expo). So, this should mean that you're getting less movement of the servos for each degree of movement on the stick whereas I'm getting flattened response around center due to the expo but a bunch more travel (ATVs for roll and pitch at 100%).

Are you doing any rolls or flips with this setup yet? If so, how's the cyclic response? Does it flip well?
03-14-2006 Over year old.
 
 
djtilko
Senior Heliman
Location: United Kingdom Leeds

martinic

No I am not doing rolls or stuff just circuits maybe a stall turn or two, but I feel this thing would do it if I could, on the throws I have

djt
03-14-2006 Over year old.
 
 
martinic
Veteran
Location: NB, Canada

That's cool - I'm not looking to do loops or rolls with the 3D Pro yet either - I just want it to be reasonably stable in a hover (close to what I'm getting out of the Trex if that's possible). I'm really looking to use the 3D Pro for indoor at the gym - that's almost done for this season. I've been flying the Trexes at the indoor sessions this year, but it some people are uncomfortable with something that heavy and powerful in the small space in the gym.

I'm going to rework the head and will try reducing the cyclic ATVs and no expo like you have to see how it'll work. Interesting approach - I'll try anything once.

I've got an RC Helitech belt drive kit coming - I've had my 3D Pro tail lose authority twice now - the mesh is a pain to set up right. It feels fine on the bench - no slippage at all even with moderate loading, but fly it and I lose the tail occasionally. There's nothing like piroing into the ground.
03-14-2006 Over year old.
 
 
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HeliHobby . Ron’s HeliProz South . Century Helicopter

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e-Century Hummingbird - Swift > Great days flying with 3dpro and a trex
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