Build Log The Modified LAMA 400D. CF blades Page 6

[KCV6]

Originally Posted by wabbitguy

I've never done a main gear change in a heli. I know nothing about it. So...

How do you change the big plastic gears out in the 400D? Where do you start? What to watch out for?

Mel

Mel,

First undo the 1.5mm hex socket screw in the brass retainer on the lower gear (inner shaft set gear). Pull the entire inner shaft out.

Second. carefully undo the two side retaining screws in the sleeve on the inner shaft gear (lower blade set gear in the sides). it is a firm press fit so once the screws are out, pull down on the gear and up on the inner shaft. disconnect the servo links and flex the anti rotation bracket out and pull the whole outer shaft out.

This is where it is really handy to have a spare bearing and screw set.

to get the blade holders off, remove the blades, remove the two small pin retaining screws. tape a plastic bag around the shaft and holders. spin the whole shaft between your palms, like making a fire with a stick The pins will fly out into the bag.

From there the rest of the disassembly is straight forward.

Mark

[KCV6]

Ok as discussed earlier I have finished and flown the brushless setup using two different configurations. The best setup is the 3000KV. The 3400KV is not for the feint hearted unless you want to break a vertical climb record for CX. It will do this. Climb rate is more than doubled on the 3400KV setup...... Insane. On full throttle the helicopter will probably self destruct, so very fine slow throttle input is required.

The 3000KV setup flies much like the brushed setup only with a lot more precise input. you tell it to go and it imediately goes, no brushed motor lag. It will lift over 200g with "relative" ease and still flies fine. Infact it is even more tollerant to wind gusts. My trusty anemometer says I was flying in average 5Km/h with gusts up to 12Km/h in a comfortable 21.3 degrees C. After a full 15 minute flight nothing was hot. Motors were stone cold, controllers were barely warm and the lipo was also barely warm. Al up with a 1600mAh battery it comes in at 605g.

The 3400KV lifted over 400g so far but I did not try any real fast manouvers.

AEO converters are fine, I get an occasional tail wag if I hold a steady hover, but nothing to worry about. In flight there is no wag. Also I bench ran in the brushless motors and they are getting smoother with each flight.

Turnigy 25A plush BSC's are overkill but hey for 2 bux extra and at the same physical dimensions why go to a lower current rating.

I suspect the brushless setup needs a 450 canopy if you want it all hidden.

See the pics below.

Cheers... Mark... feel free to ask questions.

[KCV6]

Outer shaft main drive gear mod. The pic shows the 2 replacement M2 stainless (A4) set screws. They were M2 x 12 and I trimmed them back to the correct length. I drilled the shaft holes out to 1.5mm and then ran a M2 tap through them and the plastic sleeve on the main gear.

Is a lot stronger than the original M1.6 screws.

[wabbitguy]

Originally Posted by KCV6

Mel,

First undo the 1.5mm hex socket screw in the brass retainer on the lower gear (inner shaft set gear). Pull the entire inner shaft out.

Second. carefully undo the two side retaining screws in the sleeve on the inner shaft gear (lower blade set gear in the sides). it is a firm press fit so once the screws are out, pull down on the gear and up on the inner shaft. disconnect the servo links and flex the anti rotation bracket out and pull the whole outer shaft out.

This is where it is really handy to have a spare bearing and screw set.

to get the blade holders off, remove the blades, remove the two small pin retaining screws. tape a plastic bag around the shaft and holders. spin the whole shaft between your palms, like making a fire with a stick The pins will fly out into the bag.

From there the rest of the disassembly is straight forward.

Mark

Thanks GREATLY Mark! I have new gears but no idea just where to start for replacing.

Right now I'm STILL watching it rain outside and flying my Blade mSR indoors (I think that mSR stands for Mel Senior)...and it DOES fly like a coaxial even though it's a single rotor.

Mel

[blacksteel]

hi guys just been catching up on everything i;ve been away for a week ; and then really busy at work.hi mel caught one of your vids nice to put a face to the words .i see you have a blade msr what do you think to it . is it nice to fly anyway back to the 400 is yous still ok' i have a slight problem with mine at the moment waiting on a set of berings hopfully that will solve it.mark the conversion looks fantastic good job. i don't think that is something i will be doing just have to wait for the bigger 400 to come out next year. i finally got my canopy ;done the cut outs and made it fit first time;looks brill.do you know where i can get an exploded diagram of the 400 i need to change the bearings on the shat not sure which order they go in .hope to hear from you soon thanks mike

[wabbitguy]

Originally Posted by blacksteel

hi guys just been catching up on everything i;ve been away for a week ; and then really busy at work.hi mel caught one of your vids nice to put a face to the words .i see you have a blade msr what do you think to it . is it nice to fly anyway back to the 400 is yous still ok' i have a slight problem with mine at the moment waiting on a set of berings hopfully that will solve it.mark the conversion looks fantastic good job. i don't think that is something i will be doing just have to wait for the bigger 400 to come out next year. i finally got my canopy ;done the cut outs and made it fit first time;looks brill.do you know where i can get an exploded diagram of the 400 i need to change the bearings on the shat not sure which order they go in .hope to hear from you soon thanks mike

Hi Mike,

The rain finally let up today so I had both the mSR and the 400D outside. I flew the mSR first and it loves clockwise turns, doesn't like the other. With the "self" levelling flybar it feels like a small coax. Throw it into a good turn with some moderate cyclic, my backyard isn't big enough. It goes. Fast. I'm only using the easy settings and it's a rocket if you want it to be. And I crashed it a fair bit and so far it's holding up nicely. Flight time is only about 6 minutes though.

Then I flew the 400D, and wow. What a huge difference. The 400D will just hang in the air in a perfect hover. It's smooth, and you can just lumber around the backyard. Or you can jazz it up a bit and get it moving. But the heavy 2500g 400D copter flies like I've always envisioned a copter should fly like. It's not a rocket ship it's a precision machine.

The two are worlds apart. If I was dealing with an obstacle course the 400D would be my first choice. If I was air racing the 1oz mSR would be the clear choice.

But the reason I got the mSR was to fly in the house because the 400D is lousy inside. I thought the mSR would be a better choice. And I have to say, if you can fly a coax like the peppy little 5G6-1 around, you can easily fly the mSR. But it's still tricky to fly at times.

If I had to make a choice between the two, it would have to be the 400D. I feel I just sit back and fly it, where as the mSR I pilot here, pilot there (puns)...it's nowhere near as relaxing.

I REALLY like the conversion that Mark has done. I don't have his innate ability to just toss things together and make them work. More importantly be able to understand and modify things when they don't work.

I'd hate to foul up my 400D because it's just such a nice ship to fly. So maybe when it starts to get "tired", then I can attempt a conversion for it. So for now, I'm watching, learning and taking notes...

Mel

[KCV6]

I just changed out my outer shaft lower bearing again. Unfortunately these bearings do wear. I might have to order some more. I'll try to put together a tutorial on stripping the shafts out and still have to put up the pics on how to easily remove and re-install the blade holder pins.

Mark

[wabbitguy]

Originally Posted by KCV6

I just changed out my outer shaft lower bearing again. Unfortunately these bearings do wear. I might have to order some more. I'll try to put together a tutorial on stripping the shafts out and still have to put up the pics on how to easily remove and re-install the blade holder pins.

Mark

That would be GREAT!!!

By the way, just how long does it take you to "grind" through a set of bearings? I got about 15 hours on my current set and they're still working fine (but I got a spare set any way)..

Mel

[KCV6]

Originally Posted by wabbitguy

That would be GREAT!!!

By the way, just how long does it take you to "grind" through a set of bearings? I got about 15 hours on my current set and they're still working fine (but I got a spare set any way)..

Mel

Mel, it seems to vary, the last one only lasted about 4 hours all up, but I have been fairly rough with it with the pulling appart and putting back together with all the mods I have been doing. My first set would have been around the 15 hour mark. They weren't fully worn, I just noticed while I was working on it they were a bit "graunchy"

Mark

[Gerner]

Originally Posted by KCV6

Mel, it seems to vary, the last one only lasted about 4 hours all up, but I have been fairly rough with it with the pulling appart and putting back together with all the mods I have been doing. My first set would have been around the 15 hour mark. They weren't fully worn, I just noticed while I was working on it they were a bit "graunchy"

Mark

Mark,

What sizes are the bearings?

ID/OD/W in mm?

Cheers

Lars

[KCV6]

Lars, I'll dig through my spares a bit later and put the ID/OD and width figures here when I get a chance. Won another contract at work so I'm busy trying to sort some stuff out over the next few days

With a fresh set of bearings in it is just sooooo much nicer to fly.

Mark