| 2009-07-29 | I gave in to my most basic weaknessess and ordered an RC helicopter. Well a
helicopter, some tools and some spares. I blame my brother. He had a 'passing interest' in them years ago and gave me his books. Much later I bought a toy coaxial from Maplin and played with it on and off and, when it fell apart, bought a simple 2-channel replacement from Amazon that was useless. You had control of the throttle and the tail rotor so you controlled up and down and had some input to the direction it pointed but nothing at all in where it went. I was annoyed but I realised nothing could be done for it so I upgraded. Sadly that factored the price by ten. 1 x E-sky Belt CP V2 (35 MHZ, mode2, Green) 1 x RC Helicopter Pitch Gauge 1 x EK2 0900A USB Softdog cable 1 x EK4 0009 Main blades 1 x EK1 2178 Ultimate RC tools (just Allen keys and screwdrivers) 1 x Blade Balancer 1 x EK1 0186 1800mAh 20C 11.1V Lipo Battery (a spare) |
£225.76 |
| 2009-08-01 | I read about crashing regularly as being a standard part of learning. Gulp! Order Flight Sim so I can crash cheaply. 1 x ESKY Flight sim software and controller Join Heliguys shop Forum because forums are my thing. |
£19.49 |
| 2009-08-03 | It arrived. It's not very green but I don't
really care. I charged the first battery at work and gave it a quick lurch on
the office floor. I read some really scary stuff on a diving forum about Li-Po batteries so I go to Ebay: 1 x RC lipo battery safe charging bag |
£5.90 |
| 2009-08-06 | I'm bgining to worry about repairs so I want some bits. Stuff from Ebay 1 x Esky Belt-CP RC Helicopter Upgrade Metal Head and Tail 10 x Main Blade For Esky Belt CP Helicopter EK4-0009 1 x RC Lipo battery Voltage Alarm Indicator 7.4v 11.1v 1 x GT Power CCPM Servo/ESC Consistency Tester Futaba |
£43.84 |
| 2009-08-09 | First real attempt. Just a lurch about the patio. This is probably where I put the flats on the main gear although I didn't think I hit anything too hard. First post on the forum. Looking at the blades edge on is scary soback to Ebay: 1 x Draper Safety Helmet/Ear Muffs/Visor |
£15.03 |
| 2009-08-15 | Find flats on the main gear (two patches). Ask on the forum if it matters. It does. Heliguys lists the gears as backorder so more Ebay parts: 3 x Esky Belt CP Helicopter Parts EK1-0539 Main gear |
£12.45 |
| 2009-08-17 | Stuff ordered on the 6th arrived. The metal head is impressive. Another quick run up. It lurched about and seemed to loose the tail rotor. The tail rotor belt is very slack so I dumped the files on how to adjust things. The screws at the bottom of the holes that tighten the tail don't seem to 'respond' to the screwdriver very well. Bits from Heliguys 1 x EA-035 Transmitter Neck Strap (adjustable) 2 x INT-040 Main gear 138T (with one way bearing) This is the supposedly better gear from the Interceptor kit. Hopefully the teeth will survive me better. |
£20.01 |
| 2009-08-18 | I noticed I also have a busted rotor tip. Balance up a new pair of blades and fit them. Start following the 'alignment' instructions Ask questions on the forum about the ball joints and the vibration. One of the cowling mounting pins broke off. |
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| 2009-08-19 | Forum reply points me to 'Ball Joint Pliers' Find them on Ebay. 2 x Ball joint pliers for RC Helicopter The 'Interceptor' gears came. Swap one in. It's a bit of a game doing the bolt in the Jesus nut. I also ordered a cheap camera. It claims to weigh 18 grams and there was a demo from one on the Heliguys site. A flying camera quite appeals. 1 x 4GB mini Spy Gum Recorder DVR Video Camera 640*480 |
£27.05 |
| 2009-08-20 | Standard Esky gears arrived. I finished the blade alignment. The ball ends is beginning to look a bit second hand prying them off with a screwdriver. Promise myself a pack of mixed ends next time I'm buying bits from Heliguys. Then I notice the tail boom is bent so 'next time' is now. The bent tail probably explains why the belt went slack. 1 x EK1 0524 Linkage rod set 1 x EK1 0503 Tail drive belt 1 x Aluminium Hub for 400-450 Training Kit 1 x EK1 0422 Flybar 1 x EK1 0423L Tail boom Blue 1 x EK1 0428 Canopy Shoring |
£24.28 |
| 2009-08-25 | Parts arrive from Heliguys but missing the linkage rods and Ali hub but
with an extra tail piece but I don't notice that at the time. I rebuild the tail |
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| 2009-08-26 | The ball joint pliers arrive. Try and fly and it seems to go flat. No lift even on full throttle. I didn't think I'd used it for that long yet... Slight smell of 'warm' but the ESC is OK to the touch. Charge battery in the bag |
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| 2009-08-27 | It's no better on a charged battery so it comes to bits. I discover the new gear is melting round the one way bearing Ask questions on Forum again. I notice missing parts from the last order and complain. |
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| 2009-08-28 | Send extra bit back. Answers on forum. Finish reassembly Spin up with a new gear and oine way bearing. All seems OK. |
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| 2009-08-30 | Investigate 'Feathering shaft'. Everybody seems to bend them when they
crash. Discover mine is bent. Order pack of 4 from an OEM Order more bits from China: 1 x One way bearing 1 x E-Sky Servo 1 x Swash plate guide 2 x Tail boom 1 x Screw set |
£52.49 |
| 2009-08-31 | Buy a bigger toolbox at B&Q- I can see the way things are going here... More Heliguys stuff: 1 x EK1 T009 Hook 1 x Swash plate Levelling Tool 450 Size 1 x EK1 0404 Feathering shaft set 1 x EK1 0405 Ball End set 1 x EK1 0427 Push rod set |
£42.16 |
| 2009-09-02 | I buy a cheap used Belt CP on Ebay for £81+£10p&p At worst it's a complete set of spares and the two new batteries would be £70 |
£91.00 |
| 2009-09-05 | Order 4.5mm nut driver from CopterX | £4.90 |
| 2009-09-06 | I'm reading about DTS (Direct To Swash) modifications but they need special
servo mounts to eliminate all the linkages. Nice idea but I want to see some
before I plan anything. Order 2 x Mini Titan servo trays from Midland Helicopters |
£4.90 |
| 2009-09-07 | The Ebay helicopter and the special feathering shafts come. The helicopter is clearly a V1 but and no manuals but lots of spares with it. It has a metal head and tail upgrade, the Rx has been moved to under the body. The spares include: 2 x tail boom EK1-0535 2 x fly bar EK1-0536 1 x controlling shaft set EK1-0521 4 x feathering shaft EK1-0540 1 x servo linkage rods EK1-0548 (opened so probably part used) A set of paddles and a tail rotor (clearly the ones swapped off for the carbon ones fitted) 1 x special shaft for EK5-0201 EK5-0395 (I think it's the feathering shaft for the metal head) 2 x ... well the packet says tail blade clamp set but they must be main shafts for the rotor. Another set of screwdrivers but, sadly, no sockets. Also another pitch gauge but the small sort so now I have both types. I try to make it run on one of my batteries and it tries. I daren't do anything clever but it trims out and lifts into a hover without destroying itself. I decide to try and restore it to more 'standard' form. Start stripping it back. Bother! The glue used has dissolved the insulation on some servo wires. Virtually everything the glue, a solvent, has touched is trashed. Spend ages hunting the net for the shrouds and crimps to rebuild the cables and then realise I can have 4xSG50 servos for 12 quid. Order them. A new ESC is £17 from Heliguys. I'm tempted... What about a carbon body? That was £30 ish... You could go on forever like this. |
£12.00 |
| 2009-09-08 | Rats. Those were SG90s I wanted not SG50s. Idiot! Try again £17.99 for 6 The Mini-Titan servo trays are on my desk before the email saying they shipped. If I'm doing a big build I will need some bolts. M2 seems to be the one that matches and feels about right. Hit Ebay for: 200 x M2 x 10mm cap head bolts 4 x 50 x M2 nuts 200 x M2 washers 50 x M2 spring washers Thread lock (breakable) 1 x Precision oiler from a model train company I looked at carbon body kits but they're £50 quid not £30 I got tired of waiting for Heliguys to get the spanner set back in stock so ordered 1 x Hexagonal screw driver set (EK1-T013) 1 x 150mm Ext lead 26AWG (E15026) 2 x 300mm Ext lead (E30022) from Kool Toyz |
£76.48 |
| 2009-09-09 | 5.5mm spanner arrived from CopterX Swopped out the bent feathering shaft. The illustration in the manual is OK but some of the parts are already solidly inside the rotor holder which means you have less parts than you expect. |
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| 2009-09-10 | Nuts, bolts, etc. and oiler arrived. I finished putting the feathering shaft back together. Checked the blades balanced (center and total) Checked the blade offsets. All OK. |
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| 2009-09-11 | I have a day off to go hang gliding but the weather wasn't having it so
stay home, tidy up the workshop and convert the heli-blog to html. Investigate the Ebay purchase helicopter a bit more tightening up one of the sloppy bits in the head and replace the fly bar paddle with no grub screw (the painted one) with one that has a screw. Phone the office to see if there is anything for me and there is a package. Oh quandary... Is it worth popping in to pick it up? I am expecting five possible packages but Alex says it is the size of a CD case so it's probably the SG50 servos or the thread lock neither of which are worth the walk so I might pick it up tomorrow or just leave it until Monday. It's too windy to fly helicopters either... |
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| 2009-09-12 | Gliding is blown out again so I stop off at the office and pick up the
package on the way to Asda to do the weekly shop. It's the spanners and cables
from Kool Toyz. The spanners are OK but the cables are wrong. However, since I
was planning on cutting them up to rebuild other things they are not too
wrong and after the postage swapping them out neither they nor I would be in
pocket. Time to sort out the ESC with its torn cable and interesting line supresser. I have all the electronic building kit you could imagine including full surface mount rework so the end comes off the 150mm extention, the ESC is stripped and rewired. Sadly the insulation on the new wires wasn't completly soldering temperature friendly but it worked and a bit of black, all I had, heat shrink sleeve and some superglue for the label and it was all back together almost looking official. Flushed with pride I begin to wonder about the similarly trashed servo. It turns out to be much the same job. I set it up on the receiver, the ESC and a battery on the bench and it works. Using my first helicopter as a guide I get out some cable ties and resew the harness. A quick try when the bits are in place but without the motor hooked up to the ESC indicates that the servos are doing their thing with the gyro getting its act together and then all four control axis are doing what I expect to the mixing is working OK. I tighten up my harness job and thread the aerial so nothing can get into the works. One of the swash to control arm push rods is bent so replace that and adjust it to exactly the same length. Add a few kilos of lead shot on the skid base and run it up. The blades track reasonably enough that I'm not going to mess about. Got to try it... Didn't go too well. Still, after a careful inspection, I thought it was only a blade. So balance a pair of blades and fit them and then go through the set up again from scratch. Oops! The swash plate wasn't even nearly level. It was way off trim after I swaped the servos around so the way it lutched as it came off the ground was perfectly expected and reasonable. So I go through the whole game from begining to end like I should have done after pulling a servo out. I get to the final stage and run up the rotors to do the final alignment check and the knob on the top of the rotor shaft is wobbling. I've bent the main shaft! Kick me somebody! I can't fix anything metal because I need some lock-tight so that's would for it night except for a trip to Ebay for bits. 5 x EK1-0521 Controlling shafts 2 x EK2-0538 Main shafts |
£11.98 |
| 2009-09-13 | Get on with the head rebuild. I have lots of problems and a total restart using my cheap set I bought back at the begining shows problems. Bits may be broken and they don't match the Esky drawings. Rather than discover this later and get stuck I order another head as a set of spares but this time with Esky part numbers. | £19.08 |
| 2009-09-14 | The forum puts me onto some guides for rebuilding the cnc head and tail at
BuzzFlyer which I rip for my collection of useful links. Since I'm using their
work to do the job I buy the bits from them. 1 x Thread Lock 1 x Clear CA Glue - THIN 1 x Belt-CP Main Shaft Set - EK1-0538 2 x Titanium Turnbuckles 44mm ESK002 2 x Ring-link push-rod EK1-0413 1 x Screws set EK1-0446 Get to the office and the screws, guide, servo, one way bearing and booms I ordered on 30th have arrived. The Thread lock ordered on the 8th arrived so the one for today is a spare. Those 4 x SG50 servos I ordered on the 7th arrived. I wonder what I can do with them? |
£37.09 |
| 2009-09-15 | The BuzzFlyer stuff all arrived. OK I ordered it before I left for work but 'next day' on my desk is nice. | |
| 2009-09-22 | Get back into the office after a long weekend playing on the hang-glider to
discover that lots of the bits have come. The 6 x SG50s, the 5 x Controlling linkages and the Esky metal head are sat on my desk waiting for me. Gosh I have lots of servos now. |
