UK newbie looking for your advice please

[Jimbertmate]

Hi all,

First up I'm new to rc helis and the BRII is my first purchase. It flew out of the box, as promised, and I was one happy bunny. However.....

...after say 7 or 8 flights of about 10-20 secs each (hey, I was learning how to fly the machine!), and a few crashes - nothing major just bumps into sofas etc, it now won't lift off the ground and goes into a violent spin on the floor.

I've tried fully charging but that makes no difference. I've checked the angle of the rotor blades and they're ok and undamaged. What I have noticed is this - and excuse my amateur terminology, I will use the descriptions straight from the instruction manual - the base rotor doesn't always spin and I can see that the base rotor long stem notch is lifting up and out from the notch of the motor mount. I have tried pushing the capping tube down as far as it will go but this makes no difference.

Can anyone suggest a solution? At the moment I'm more inclined to return it and swap for a new one than cut open the styrofoam body and start tinkering.

P.S. I've used the forum search function and found topics on spinning but none mention the notches lifting up and out.

James

[Steve Shepard]

James : Good for you, trying to find an answer in search! I wish other folks could learn that. Here is some reading that should help you out :

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=324396

http://theclassroom.50megs.com/Bladerunner%20Information.pdf

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/archive/index.php/f-225

Get rid of the body first, and look for info about "Bladerunner Proper Lubrication". Very important to "grease the machine".
Get it greased up before you wear out the motors. And spend as much time as you can stand reading through the pages of this forum. You will find answers to questions you don't even have (YET), but you will get more addicted to these little buggers. Most BR owners have several, or a few extra BRs, "Just In Case" .

Once you get the body off, the reason for the displaced rotor hub will be evident, and is self-explanatory as far as repair is concerned.

Get used to having to tweak the blades after every crash, and sometimes "just because".

Have fun
Aloha,
Steve

[natterjak]

James,

As you've noticed, the only reason the heli will spin wildly is if one of the rotors loses drive. I'm sure you realise that the design relies on both being spun to counteract the torque effect that would otherwise spin the copter around. I can't tell you specifically why your lower rotor is losing drive, you've already tried the obvious of reseating the retaining tube. Try looking further along the drivetrain, to see if there's any free play in the mechanics - perhaps as the rotors spin up one of the gears (cogs) is lifting out of alignment with it's mating part?

Anyway, if you do cut the body off as suggested by a previous respondant it will help you fault find. It will stop you being able to return it though, so you have to decide whrther to just complain to the retailer and get a replacement.

Good luck!

[Steve Shepard]

Not for the point of being argumentative, but a company manager of ITC has assured us that removing the body WILL NOT void the warranty. If your local retailer gives you static, just tell them to check with ITC to get the word straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
However, any obvious damage or repairs done by the consumer will be easy to spot, and will make your warranty null and void.

Aloha,
Steve

[madriff]

br was my first rc-heli also..and a fine bird she is too:)

once i had a bit of control over it,the body came off,cogs got greased,and the spacerless 'spacer' mod happened..its like a totally new machine now with longer flight times and a atleast 50%more control and forward flight.

if its easy to get a replacement id say do that first..just incase its something broken,but at the end of the day,that body has got to come of as steve says for lubing at some point.

good luck:)

[Jimbertmate]

Hey guys,

Thanks everyone for your excellent replies. What a great forum this is.

I'm pleased to say that my bird is now back in action, or should I say even better action!

I was reluctant to chop off the body just yet, but by carrying out the spacerless spacer mod the 1/3 of the capping tube is firmly holding down the lower rotor and preventing it from lifting up and out from the drive cog. It now flies how I imagined it would, trimming is much easier to adjust and generally I'm like a kid at Christmas once again!

Next up is lubing those moving parts I can reach...... :)