Finally broke the main rotor blades

[pjdog]

I've had a B400 for a long time. Been flying it all summer. I really like the B400. I never have any trouble with it. It came out of the box all ready to go. They come with woodie main blades which is a good thing I think. I'm not much of a RC Helicopter pilot as I've not got allot of stick time with Helicopters. Every time I go out to fly the B400 I wonder if this is the day I finally break it. I'm still on the first set of Main rotor blades. I think I've got well over 100 flights on the B400.

Yesterday It was to windy (Gusty) to fly in a small place (Back Yard). I was in the mood to fly so I went for it. Besides my granddaughter had her boy friend here and I thought I'd show off a little. He thinks my toys are cool. Guess you know what's coming right. A gust of wind sent me towards the garage, then towards me. I put some left stick in the helicopter which it responded to but then lots of wind came from the other direction which had the helicopter on it's side heading toward the house. I put lots of power and full right stick. Before I knew it she was getting real close to the driveway and I knew I was going to have a problem. The main rotor blades hit the drive way many times. Thank God they were woodies. They came apart and the helicopter sat down on the driveway with a thud.

The helicopter seemed OK so I put new Chinese cheapie woodie rotor blades on and went out for another flight not wanting to admit defeat and more importantly not showing my granddaughters boy friend that I was a very poor pilot. I of course blamed the windy conditions. When the helicopter spooled up getting ready to lift off all seemed well but the helicopter just tipped over on her left side in a New York heartbeat and tour up another set of main blades. Now I really look stupid. Servo gears were gone. Stock B400 servos (EFLRDS75H) servos come with plastic gears. They are great little servos but being plastic they give up easy. I have spare servos so I installed another servo, check for a level swash and installed another set of main rotor blades. Told the granddaughter and her friend than I was a very poor RC helicopter pilot, didn't have enough sense to not fly when the wind was over my head. Put the helicopter back in the carry case and watched a football game. American football.

There’s a moral to the story but I don’t know what it is.

Jack

[tombo242]

Sad story PJ, know just how you feel.

Reckon the moral is: "Never let other peoples' presence push you into doing something you know that you should not be attempting."

Can't remember who, but a wise member said that if the wind blows the canopy about while you put the battery in, it's too windy to fly. Excellent yardstick that one.

Tom.

[Dumb Thumbs]

Yep, that's the nice thing about woodies, they break apart before the rest of the heli takes a beating.

[admiral]

Hi PJ,
Don't worry about the moral, a moral is something you learn from, I bet you would try it again under the same circumstances (LOL).

I'm sick of replacing the EFLRDS75H servos I think they are just not up to the job with the B400 I did one on the weekend without a crash it just stopped working and siezed up, I'm going to pull them all out of the B400 and keep them for spares for the SR and put either Hitec HS 65 MG or HB in there place.

[chopper54]

hi pjdog
sorry to hear of your misfortune but i have just bought the rtf b400 and if my woodies last as many flights as yours i will be very surprised.

[pjdog]

Chopper54 - good luck with the B400. They are sweet fliers.

[chopper54]

thanks pjdog
i have hovered through 4 battery packs so far and was surprised at how stable this heli is. with a bit of expo on the tx it is easier to control than the sr.

[pjdog]

Hey Chopper 54:

The B400 is the best flier I have. Even better than the msr or Big Lama. By far better the the CP pro 2 or the AXI 450 clones. I don't know what makes it so sweet but it's a super flier.

It's raining here today so I have not got to try out my servo replacement and new main blades yet. The weather man says rain until next week?

Jack

[chopper54]

the long dark winter nights have set in here so its weekend flying only now for the outside heli,s.

[pjdog]

When ever I have problems flying the helicopters it's normally the AXI 450 clones that cause it. To have trouble with my very best helicopter (B400) is nerve racking. After my showing off and breaking the B400 I replaced the broken rotor blades and put in a spare servo. Today I took the B400 out for a little between rain showers flying. I noticed I was have a little left trim issue which I corrected right away with adjusting the linkage. But this persistant needing forward trim kept me on my toes. Finally I decided that there must be another servo problem from last sundays crash. At the same second I had the thought the helicopter leaned way forward and was making a bee line for my heighbors 30 foot camper. I went to low motor and took a shot in the fence. I was thinking that should not be to bad because the fence will give and I do have lots of B400 parts on hand. Broke the landing skids. Another set of woodie main blades. But the bad thing was I bent the main shaft. I thought I had a spare but can't find it. Then I thought I could use the spare AXI main shaft. But it's a different lenght. So I order parts and spares from Horizon hobbies for the B400. I think the B400 is not very happy with me. I should have checked the other servos better rather than just give them a wiggle. After a good look, I found that the elevator servo had the same broken gear. I could see it through the clear plastic case. I just got home from the LHS this morning and had bought two sets of spare gears. I guess I'd better find some good metal geared servos for the B400. Hitec I guess.

Trouble and I are going to be excellent rc helicopter repair people. We are getting lots of practice.

Jack

[admiral]

Hi Pj,

I've been talking to my LHS about servos for the B400 and recommends the Hitec HS 65HB which are composite gears rather than the HS 65MG he says the are same specs but lighter, quieter, smoother, cheaper but still a lot stronger than the plastic gears and the replacement gears are readily available and cheap. If you have a knock hard enough to break the composite gears then some sort of damage would probably happen even with metal gears.

Just thought his opinion may be of interest to you.

[pjdog]

Thanks for the input Admiral. The first AXI kit I assembled I used Hitec HS55HB's. They are still working very well. I've not had any problems with that helicopter at all. It's still going strong. I will look into the HS65HB's.

Thanks.

[Dumb Thumbs]

I'm wondering if the LHS guy isn't just looking to unload some 65HB's that nobody buys anymore
Sure the HB's are a little lighter then the MG's, but not enough that you'd notice in flight.
HB's quieter? Are you really going to hear any servo with the heli spooled up?
HB cheaper, Yes, till you start having to add up cost of rebuilding the HB's over time and downtime to rebuild servos.
With the MG's, in a bad enough crash the servo links will break before the metal gears or anything else in the servo gets hurt. I for one rather replace a link then rebuild a servo.
If you do go with the HB's over the MG's you could always swap over the gears to metal later on down the road.

When you do rebuild any servo make sure to clean out the inside of the case. You don't want to miss a piece of an old broken tooth to find it's way into the new gears.
Servo's aside, any crash bad enough to bend the main shaft often damaged the upper main bearing, maybe bottom one too. Blade grip bearings should be checked also. Easy enough to check, just slip in a new shaft and twist it around while applying a little side force. If they feel notchey they should be replaced.
This is all just things I had to learn myself, the hard way.

[pjdog]

Hey D T:

I was planning a complete rotor head rebuild any way. I'll got allot of flights on the B400 and It was getting near time for some maintenance. I have everything except the main shaft. I DO have a main shaft but can't find it. I think that happens when you get to much 'stuff'. I have seven (7) big plastic boxes full of RC Helicopter parts for my Helis. I clearly remember buying two main shafts along with all a complete plastic Blade rotor head parts. I also got the little rubber o-rings for the head. Found everything except the main shaft. I thought I could use a T-Rex shaft but it was to long. Anyway Uncle Sam is bringing me two (2) new main shafts along with more B400 stuff currently.

I use to really get upset when I crashed but that's all part of it. Repairing is fun to if you have all the parts.

Today I ordered a metal rotor head and tail assembly for the AXI 450 SE because it's been a long time sense I did any maintenance on that heli. It's been a real good one. It just does not fly as well as the B400. I think the B400 is lighter which is why it's a better flier?

Jack

[admiral]