CMPro Edge 540T

[pulsar110]

Hey guys, thought that Id share my experience and what I did with this plane. I bought the old one that they were selling, yellow fuse and blue wings with about an 80" WS. Anyway for power I used a Turnigy SK 63-64 230KV, CC110HV and 12S lipo. The motor is rated for 10S but it seems to be handling the 12S ok. Im swinging an APC 20-10W prop. Its drawing about 75 amps at full throttle and with some management I can get 14 minute flights easy enough. It will hover at half throttle and weighs in at 13.75 pounds, which is less than what CMPro says it will weigh with a gas engine. Id say over all its pretty good for a $200 27% airplane. The reason I went 12S is due to the batteries, I use them in other things too.

[KatManDEW]

Any more info on this plane, like where to get it?

[pulsar110]

Looks like Nitro Planes still has it in stock.

http://www.nitroplanes.com/edge-540t-50cc-giant-scale-rc-plane.html

[KatManDEW]

Thanks for the link.

[pulsar110]

you bet. we put a Garmin vista in my Edge and clocked it at 128mph. funny cuz i didnt think it was goin near that fast.

[flyguide7]

I bought the CMPro Extra 330L with the fiberglass fuse and I have have it nearly complete. My set-up consists of the Turnigy 63-74 170kv motor and the new Turnigy 120 HV ESC and 10 cell 5000 setup, I ordered a 12 cell 5000 set-up but it is still back ordered. I am wondering what sized prop to use. I am currently considering a 22 x 12 APC to start with. I should maiden it within two weeks. Looking for IMAC type performance. We shall see! I will post some pictures this weekend.

[pulsar110]

I switched to an APC 22-12WE prop yesterday. The motor didnt like it very well and screeched at my when I poured the coals to it. Seemed like maybe the timing wasnt quite right. Ill tinker with the settings on the ESC and see if I can get it to run good. As a temp fix at the field I went into the servo speed program of my 9303 and slowed down the throttle to .75 of a second and that seemed to help. Thus is why Im kinda thinkin the timing or advance just needs a little tweeking. Other than that Im very pleased with my setup. In flying about 6 minutes nothing is getting warm and thats with alot of full throttle flying. Thus Id say that you should be able to have IMAC performance pretty easy with your setup.

[flyguide7]

Pulsar, I have heard that the Turnigy motors have had some bearing issues. I own three of them and I have not had any specific trouble, but the motor in my Sebart Su-29 50e will screech for a second once in a while like when it starts up. But not when it is running. No play at all in the bell. So I check it regularly as a preflight item. But I love those motors. I hope the ESC will perform as good.

I have a question what settings are you using on your ESC? I am sort of a plug and play guy when it comes to ESCs. What is timing? I havent a clue.
I have 21 electric aircraft! I buy the ESC plug it in an go. From what I understand that is not really the case with large motors. Thanks in advance for your advise.

[pulsar110]

i have 2 of these motors. one is in a Sundowner F1 and uses the same ESC you are using and I have had no issues at all with it, however its swinging a 16x14 prop.

now with the one i was talking about above im driving that motor with a Castle Creations ESC. They have a cable to plug into my laptop and change a few settings. I can do things like tell the ESC if its a plane or helicopter, turn the brake on and off, turn a governor on and off, then there are settings such as switching speed which adjusts how fast the ESC switches between each phase going to the motor(inrunners and outrunners use different speeds), then you can move the timing a bit too. when you do this its like tuning your engine.
your setup should be great i think and be plug and play.

[Gandalf_Sr]

Pulsar, how's your 80" Edge working out? Any tips on the build?

I have bought one from NitroPlanes and plan to fit an Exceed RC MonsterPower 160 (245kv) Brushless Motor along with a Turnigy 100A HV ESC and run it on 7800mAhr of 9S LiPO. I'm guessing that a 20 x 10 prop will be a good starting point.

I have many Turnigy motors and they have been great but 2 of my RC friends have recently bought big Turnigys and had the magnets come loose.

[KatManDEW]

I have many Turnigy motors and they have been great but 2 of my RC friends have recently bought big Turnigys and had the magnets come loose.

That's disturbing. I saw where some are replacing the bearings with better bearings before they fly them, and I could live with that, given the very good motor price. But I don't like the idea of the magnets comming loose, and this isn't the first time I've heard of that happening.

[pulsar110]

On the motor thing from what I have been able to find and read the plain Turnigy motors leave a bit to be desired. Most of the ones I speak of are orange in color. The motors I am using are the Turnigy SK series and have black cases. The only issue i have had with the 2 big ones I have is that one didnt have any adhesive between the bell and endcap, thus it came loose. It was an easy fix.

Now onto the Edge. Mine, may it RIP, was an easy build. The crash was my fault from over flying the plane WAY faster than it was made for. I pulled out of a vertical roll to level flight and it shed a wing from the root. Just as it came almost level I firewalled the motor from an idle and it was just too much for the airframe. On my build the only thing that I really changed was instead of using the wires on the tail I epoxied the stabs in place and put screws with washers thru the stab and alum tube.
I kept my CG within the range marked on the fuse.

The only issue I had with the plane in flight was that it seemed to porpoise on me however I think that had more to do with my adjustments than the plane. I had a hard time gettin the trims on the elevators right.

Hope this helps.

[flyguide7]

Hey Pulsar, sorry for your loss, I can relate. My CMPro Extra 330L died as well, specific cause unknown but during a high speed low pass on the maiden she simply made a gentle roll into the ground. What was I thinking!! It flew so good after four passes I opened her up and, well the rest is history.

Now I have a Extreme flight extra 300 88" waiting for a back ordered turnigy motor ( a bigger one than the one in my 330L). No high speed passes until I reduce the throws and have several flights on her before spurring her in the flanks. I will start a thread when she is done.

[pulsar110]

sounds great look forward to seeing it. as for the Edge easy come easy go. for a cheap plane it was a blast while it lasted. i certainly feel like i got my moneys worth out of it.

[Gandalf_Sr]

Thanks for the input guys. Nitroplanes are now sending me a new canopy (mine was cracked in shipping) and replacement undercarriage legs (mine came with 2 right legs).

Sorry to hear that your's is crashed pulsar, no chance of a rebuild I guess?

Although I realize that this is a different beast, I have a 47" 3DHS Edge 540 and it's an awesome plane.

One of my buddies was using a Turnigy SK and the other was using one of the copper-orange colored ones; both threw a magnet. The reviews for the Turnigy SK I looked at also indicated that several folks had had the same issue.

Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a Turnigy fan but it does appear that the bigger ones have had magnet glue problems recently. Maybe my Exceed RC Monster 160 will prove to be no good but at least I can send it back to a US address (are you reading this Mr Hand?). Incidentally, one of my buddies sent his broken Turnigy motor back to HC using regular airmail - cost about $13 - and he has now gotten an email saying that it has been received by HC in Hong Kong; his replacement is in the mail but it's on the proverbial slow boat from China.

[KatManDEW]

Sorry to stray off the topic (I am interested in the CMPro Edge 540T), but does anyone know where / how to keep track of the issues with the Turnigy motors, so we might know if they correct the problem in the future? I have two Turnigy motors. One orange and one black. They' great motors, and I would like to get more, but not if they are having problems with them.

[Goinav8n]

The Tunergy motors are good for what you pay for. They as some of the other motors have cheap bearings in them. They will start to make noise before they fail. Boca Bearing and other online vendors sell replacement bearings. The ceramic ones seem to be the best choice.

As for the magnets coming loose its a crap shoot on how much glue they used. Heat is the route of all evil.

Just remeber these are cheap but good motors. If you are worried about them maybe a better more expensive motor is what you need.

Jeff

[Gandalf_Sr]

I agree with Goinav8n. Turnigy are good cheap motors, I have some more smaller ones coming from HC as I write this. I always read the reviews to get an idea on what problems other folks are having.

As I said before, there may be just as many problems with other brand motors but we don't get to hear about them.

[pulsar110]

when i buy anything from HC i read the reviews and see what others have said. now that said there were no reviews on the SK 63-64 motor i bought but i figured that for 80 bucks id try it and see. now they are even cheaper. i have watched the heat very closely on both of mine and kept the temps down.

there was no possibility of a rebuild on my Edge. the fuse was in many pieces. lol.

[blnk00]

Goinav8n hit it right on the money. The problem with these Turnigy motors and magnets coming off is heat related. Keep the heat down and you won't have a problem. I've been using the Turnigy SK 170kv for a while now on 14 a123's. I'm swinging a 24x14 apce now, gives me 3500 watts, 3600 peak.

I had about 15 flights on the motor, no problem. It took 1 one minute run on the ground to loosen a magnet. I touched the motor and hey! It just so happens to be 200 friggin degrees, ofcourse the glue on the magnet is going to melt! But on the air no problem.

As for screeching issue. This will only happen when using large props. The speed controller and motor get out of sync so it will screech. Just set the speed controller to high timing and the screeching will go away guaranteed. I get the same screech on all my setups if I don't set the speed controller to high. If you are using a smaller prop then don't worry about it because the motor will not have a problem swinging the prop and it will stay in sync with the speed controller.

[Gandalf_Sr]

I maidened my Edge today. She flew really well and I snook in a knife edge just for fun and it was fine. I like the slow speed handling characteristics.

The Exceed RC Monster 160 motor is performing well so far driving a 20x10 APCE prop and pulling 2300 watts on 9S and 2550 watts on 10S. I'm using a Turnigy HV100 ESC that runs cold.

The maiden flight was done on 9S2P 7400mAH (total pack weight = 4lbs) and the plane weighs 15.8 lbs AUW which I think is heavy but it seems clear that I have way more battery in it than I need, I used just 1030 mAHr after a long power taxi followed by 4 minutes flight time although I wasn't pushing it too hard. At that rate, I should get 19 minutes from a 5000mAHr 9S pack and lose a pound from the AUW. I'm thinking 4900 10S if I can get the cells I want.

The only downer was that I landed it fairly firmly (not hard according to my witnesses) and the right leg broke off right at the fuse, the wing tip dragged on the grass but no damage was done. By good chance, I have 2 spare right legs as the one I received came with 2 right legs and Nitroplanes sent me a replacement leg set.

[pulsar110]

Glad to hear it. I was running mine on 12s and it hovered at half throttle so you will be fine with your plan. I had trouble with my landing gear too. After breaking several I redesigned the area there. Basically I cut out the slots to the bottom of the plane so that there was easy access. Then bought a piece of 1/8" thick by 1.5" wide aluminum from Lowes and made my own. That was much better, also put bigger wheels on.

[Tyler P]

Pulsar, I have heard that the Turnigy motors have had some bearing issues. I own three of them and I have not had any specific trouble, but the motor in my Sebart Su-29 50e will screech for a second once in a while like when it starts up.

The screeching is due to an ESC setting. I have an SK 42-60 500kv in a smaller Yak and it will do that once in a while. It doesn't like quick blips of throttle. I'm sure it has something to do with timing.

As for the bigger SK 63-64, yes they have bearing issues. I dead-sticked my 10s 78" Extra today due to bearings letting the stators touch the outer magnets. There seems to be just enough play to allow it to happen. I'll be contacting Boca Bearing to get some upgraded ones for my motor. I'll see if that helps at all. If not, I'll have to find one in the more expensive alternatives.

[Gandalf_Sr]

After getting my Edge home, I noticed that the leg that didn't break off on the first landing is badly cracked at the bend as it comes out of the fuse; clearly these legs are made from hard cheese composite.

After sending an email to graphtechrc.com I ordered their item Carbon Fiber UC strut #110 for the AeroWorks 33% Edge which has a wider spread and no forward rake but I believe will fit OK; we'll see.

It's a pity because this mars what is otherwise a lovely plane.

[Gandalf_Sr]

I bought a carbon fiber landing gear set from graphtechrcshop.com; the part number is #110 and it's for an AeroWorks 33% Edge Main Landing Gear. It's 3 inches wider than the stock gear and it weighs 100g more but it fits well, looks great, and is waaaayyyyy stronger. I had to open the gear slots in the side of the fuse up fully and then cut out the ply pieces that partially block the holes inside. I also fitted a spinner and slightly bigger wheels with squishy foam tires that absorb the shock better than the near-solid CMP wheels that came with the plane.

I have also changed the batteries so that I now have 2 x 5S 4900 Rhino in series giving 4900 mAHr 10S1P; I still need to re-maiden but I am happy that I'll have 2550 watts on a plane that now weighs just 6.7 kG or 14¾ lbs, that's about 1 lb lighter than before and 173 watts/lb.

Now if the wind would drop...

[Gandalf_Sr]

I flew the big Edge with the new gear but on my second landing I misjudged the distance from me (not used to the BIG size) and landed her in long grass which ripped one leg off but no other damage. I repaired the ripped off leg over the past few days.

Flew her twice today with no mishaps other than the tire falling off the rear wheel. The 10S (2x5S) 4900 mAHr batteries are more than enough for my setup, I flew for 6 minutes and put back 1700 mAHr so I'm going to be comfortably able to do 10 minute flights, even if I pushed it quite hard.

My buddy took pictures and I'll post some when I get em.