cannibal440
Senior Heliman
Location: cookeville, tennessee USA
| crashology: the act of logical spending on components that fail during the event of a crash
ive been messing with these helis for a while now. everyone makes mistakes and buys a heli or components they regret later. some can become quite costly. i want this thread to be dedicated for people looking for logical advice to same them some bucks and allow them to fly more on a cheaper budget. if anyone has any added suggestions please feel free to add to the thread.
#1 rule: crashing rc helis is inevidable. face the facts and choose a heli that has the cheapest crash record. i.e. a trex 450 costs considerably less to repair than a larger heli. the better your skills become you can advance up to a larger heli. still this rule applies. a raptor is considered one of the cheaper large frame helis to repair.
#2 rule: when you crash; buy 2 or 3 of the parts that break. you'll notice that most of the time its the same components that break.
#3 rule: sometimes youre not better off buying upgraded parts to replace the stock plastic ones that break during a crash. for instance on a trex 450 stripped servo gears is very common. most servos can be replaced with metal gears. you would think "man these plastic gears always break; maybe these $20 metal ones will do the trick" that isnt the case. plastic gear set is $5, metal gears are around $20. that means you can buy 4 sets of plastic versus 1 set of metal. dont think that the metal ones wont break as well. its just smarter to have 4 sets of plastic gears versus 1 set of metal.
#4 rule: if youre thinking about getting into rc helis start with a simulator first. they do a fine job of teaching you the gist of how the helis operate. keep in mind though no rc sim can fully mimic real conditions. especially thermal updrafts. once you start flying in real life avoid wind above 10mph. once you start learning how to cope with the wind then it can be fun but can be nerve racking for a beginner.
#5 rule: some components do need to be upgraded. especially if you crash frequently. trex 450SE for example: the side frames are carbon fiber and they hold up very well. if you notice they have a plastic bottom frame support. consider that your engineered weak point. when you crash all that energy has to go somewhere. its cheaper to replace a plastic bottom frame than the more expensive carbon fiber side frames. if you "upgrade" the bottom frame to an aluminum one youre more likely to transfer that energy to a more expensive area. i personally dislike all helis with complete plastic frames. nothing pisses you off worse than having to fork out a lot of money and time buying a whole new frame and transferring all your components to the new frame.
#6 rule: you cant go wrong with a good radio. the radio is your lifeline to your model. buy a good one considered glitch free like a DX7. you will be using your radio with your new model as well as any model you buy afterwards.
#7 rule: if youre in doubt, dont fly! 98% of the time your gut feeling is right. everyone makes that mistake. "just one last flight for the day" sure enough...it will be!
#8 rule: check, double check, triple check your settings. screws come loose and one loose screw can quickly ruin your fun. loctite is your best friend. preferrably loctite #242. its lightblue and can be removed when needed.
#9 rule: its best to fly with the canopy on. a lot of flyers will fly without a canopy and generally do alright. i prefer the canopy because it does a good job at absorbing crash energy.
#10 rule: dont mount any electronics down to the point that if you crash they will get ripped apart. i usually put my ESC, batteries, receivers on the heli with velcro straps. in the event of a bad crash the velcro straps will come free and keep you from shattering a $75 esc.
#11 rule: its a bad practice to fly using blades that have previously seen a crash before. ive done it before and havent had one break off but that was during my first experiences. now that i know better i wouldnt chance it. especially with wooden blades with the infamous notches at the root from the blade grip crushing into the root.
#12 rule: invest in good quality tools. you'll notice 99.9% of all the helicopter manufacturers follow the same band wagon (metric...metric...metric) you need a good pack of metric allen wrenches preferrably with the ball point for reaching inside your model. a good set of screwdrivers; lots of different sized screwdrivers are very handy. if the screwdriver fits loose in the screw dont use it because you will wear the screw out after removing the screw 2 or 3 times. a good pair of ball link pliars can make maintenance a breeze. a pitch gauge will greatly assist you with blade tracking. you also need to make or buy a balancing tool to help with balancing blades. it would be a tremendous help to have even a cheap digital caliper for checking measurements; you can buy them for as low as $12 on sale. you need a soldering tool as well; especially if you fly electrics. practice your soldering techniques thouroghly BEFORE trying to solder motor wires, etc. if you fidget too much you'll melt the insulation away and you further enhance your problems.
#13 rule: balance and center... make sure the blades are balanced. that is very important. unbalanced blades can be very dangerous. it also produces horrible vibration which will lead to glitching and loose screws. while setting your heli up you go by the CENTER. your radio should have NO subtrim on, both sticks should be centered. not on the low side, not on the high side. always start from the center. that means zero pitch on the blades, mixing arms should be level and evenly parallel with one another, swashplate level, set your servos up so the arms are at 90 degrees with the servos body in either direction depending on the model youre installing them in. your models manufacturer should have notes in the manual if they shouldnt be set up this way.
#14 rule: if youre sure youre about to crash, flip the throttle hold switch IMMEDIATELY! that will definately eliminate some damage to the helicopter. if you crash with an electric heli sometimes you forget to hit throttle hold and you can very quickly burn up a motor or speed control.
if anyone is looking to get started in this hobby feel free to PM me with any questions. i dont know everything about the hobby and i dont claim to. if any information i provide isnt true then i would expect a veteran to correct me and i will quickly edit the post with the correct information. theres no dumb questions on runryder....only dumb thumbs haha  |
