Originally Posted by OrbitalGolem

How does one know if the feathering shaft needs to be replaced? I've had several rotor down impacts in grass with no apparent ill effects on the servos, head, blade grips, or main shaft. However, what is the easiest means of testing that the feathering shaft hasn't been knocked out of round? Is it as simple as moving the aileron/elevator very slowly and looking for any "weirdness" in how the blades change pitch?

The easiest way is to hover it and look at the blade tracking. Another way is to remove one blade and turn the feathering shaft with a driver and watch the blade grips as you rotate the feathering shaft. Any wobble means the feathering shaft is bent and needs straightened or replaced.

Good Luck, Don

Has anyone bent their Feathering Shaft on the Mini yet?

Is the mini cp supposed to be able to piro and stay stationary? Every time I piro, I get a drift to the right. I can counter it with left aileron (just) but it would be nice if it just span on the spot.

Also, I'm wondering what techniques people are using to level the swash? I've only done it by eye so far but is that enough? I can't help feeling I'm getting this drift during piros because of it.

Originally Posted by i812

Has anyone bent their Feathering Shaft on the Mini yet?

Not until I started running crazy head speeds. I have noticed that my mini likes to eat main shafts though.

Originally Posted by weeb

Is the mini cp supposed to be able to piro and stay stationary? Every time I piro, I get a drift to the right. I can counter it with left aileron (just) but it would be nice if it just span on the spot.

Also, I'm wondering what techniques people are using to level the swash? I've only done it by eye so far but is that enough? I can't help feeling I'm getting this drift during piros because of it.

AliShanmao and others have indicated that piros are not as precise as expected, but if you think this one is inaccurate/slow, then try piros on a V120D02S or worse, a V120D01.

well I just attempted my first flip to inverted hover with mixed success, I got in to a hover a couple of times but the excitement of getting it there got the better of me and each time I automatically flipped throttle hold... it was fun though. I have given up while I'm ahead for the time being.

After a few hard crashes (on grass and concrete) the sum total of damage is a cracked canopy.... I think I got away with more than I should have!!!

Originally Posted by i812

Has anyone bent their Feathering Shaft on the Mini yet?

Originally Posted by weeb

well I just attempted my first flip to inverted hover with mixed success, I got in to a hover a couple of times but the excitement of getting it there got the better of me and each time I automatically flipped throttle hold... it was fun though. I have given up while I'm ahead for the time being.

After a few hard crashes (on grass and concrete) the sum total of damage is a cracked canopy.... I think I got away with more than I should have!!!

i have never bent a feathering shaft on the mini nor genius nor d02s. my v120d05 on the other hand...

nah, if you are hitting the throttle hold on time and you crash with some style then the worst you will get is a broken tail boom. this heli can take some serious punishment. even the canopy has to take a serious beating to break. i am thinking that this new "master mini" will fix the problem with the tail to landing skids struts.

now if only the canopy was made of some kind of light rubber or something. hmmmm, light rubber canopies... i think i am on to something. talk to you guys later, i am going to hit the man cave and see what i come up with.

Paint the inside with 3M rubberized undercoating.

Originally Posted by itsmillertime

Paint the inside with 3M rubberized undercoating.

thanks for the quick responce. so i should get this?
http://www.amazon.com/3M-03584-Profe...9623464&sr=8-1

so this should in theory make my canopy more crash resistant? interesting..... i am going to try this out.

It should make it pretty indestructible but at the expense of a LOT of weight. I was semi-kidding, lol. On a side note, I just got my flashed and governed esc working but have to resolder a few servo leads I broke while installing everything. I can't wait to fly this thing again. I plan to govern it down to 5,500-6,000rpm to get rid of the speed of a 8,000rpm headspeed but it will still have a reserve of power to eliminate bogging. I'll still have the 8,000rpm headspeed on st. 2 because I love the way the mcpx blades sound doing an inverted climbout. Once I replace the fets I lost I can install the brushless tail too which should not blow out... ever.

Originally Posted by i812

Has anyone bent their Feathering Shaft on the Mini yet?

What are your symptoms. I'm wondering if I bent mine.

It works! I'll need to fine tune it but the teeny .4g governed esc works. This is not the final installation, this is just hastily thrown together so I could test it. But look how minuscule the esc is. Once I get my new fets I'll mount them side by side and both the main and tail esc's will still be smaller and lighter than the Walkera 10A.

Governed to 30%, near stock headspeeds I get 9:30 flight times to 3.65 volts on Hyperion 550's. Even after 9 minutes the headspeed did not drop and it still had lots of power. I went a little longer than I should have (put 484mah back in, 88% discharged) but still 8-9 minutes with a conservative 3.7v left and it has a huge reserve of available power so bogging is a thing of the past. Running at full throttle I stopped after 4:30 of crazy performance and put back in 293mah, only 53% discharged. I also have a middle speed that is the best of both worlds. Great flight time and performance.

I'm only running 60% pitch travel right now because the 7mm tail won't hold. I bumped a stick with my blades which gave me more positive pitch before I could land and re-adjust my servo arms and the climb out was nuts. I mean it's already pretty damn fast but with more pitch it was just stupid. It piro'ed out of control because the 7mm tail isn't cutting it. Once my fets get here I'll put the hp03t brushless tail motor back on and bump the pitch travel up to 70-80%

Oh and I have an even bigger main motor to go in

I think my previous Feathering Shaft was bent, one of the bearing locked at one end of the Feathering Shaft and the screw at that side cannot move anymore. The bearing still can rotate but the rotor head was not balance, if straightened the blades, I saw one side was slightly lower than the other and felt vibrate while rotating even I had adjusted every links and blade tracking.

More testing:

The Walkera esc I replaced weighed 2.1g so both of the 3.5A's will save me 1.4g.

All up weight at this point is 54.2g and I plan to shave a couple of more grams off of that with lighter servos. I just did some thrust tests.

In normal mode: 160g negative thrust, 90g continuous
st. 1 : 215g negative thrust, 125g continuous
st. 2 : 240g negative thrust, 155g continuous

Now I'm torn between leaving it be and fine tuning pitch travel/ curves so the tail will hold or putting on the hp06v2/ hp03t and having crazy power but at the expense of flight time...