How do I get the tail wires out of the 2 little tabs on the main frame? It looks like they have a small opening along the length of each one but I can not get the wires out. Are they slots or tubes?

Originally Posted by jack herr

How do I get the tail wires out of the 2 little tabs on the main frame? It looks like they have a small opening along the length of each one but I can not get the wires out. Are they slots or tubes?

The one near the tail pulls out away from the frame and the one nearest the front has the gap to release the wire towards the centre of the heli.

So the rear one pulls out towards the outside and the front one has the opening on the inboard side? How do I actually get the wires out from that little slot it's almost invisible

Originally Posted by jack herr

So the rear one pulls out towards the outside and the front one has the opening on the inboard side? How do I actually get the wires out from that little slot it's almost invisible

Carefully pull it out with a small screwdriver. Better to replace these wires if you are fixing the boom, they are known to cause shorts after messing with them...

Originally Posted by jack herr

So the rear one pulls out towards the outside and the front one has the opening on the inboard side? How do I actually get the wires out from that little slot it's almost invisible

I'd recommend using something nonmetallic, like a wooden toothpick, or plastic screw driver (like what Walker gave to tweak the Pot). I'd be afraid that with a metal tool, it might accidentally scrape the thin enamel coating off the wires which may result in causing a nasty electrical short and smoking something. Even with a nonmetallic tool, be very careful, and try not to kink or stress those wires.

Once you learn which way the wire holders are oriented, and how to take out the wires, it will become easier to do in less than a minute.

Also, below is a repeat from last month:

BTW, every Mini newbie should be aware of these Mods:

Originally Posted by i812

Below are some mods many people believe should be done to the Mini CP as soon as possible:

• Servo Saver mod - Bytemuncher's RCG Blog has detailed info. Indoorheli has reported not fully tightening the Main Shaft Collar Screw also prevents stripping Servo Gears.
  
  
• RX Saver Mod - Attach a somewhat stiff support from bottom of Battery Tray so it extends inside the bottom of the Canopy and helps keep the Canopy from easily sliding upwards when it is hit from the bottom. Marioinc posted details. I think if this mod (or any other mod that keeps the bottom of the Canopy from easily pivoting upward) is performed, then there might not be a need to do the RX Coil Saver mod.
  
  
• Canopy Saver Mod - Apply a strip of tape along the entire bottom edge of the Canopy. The Canopy is very durable; however, it easily splits starting from the bottom edge, and then over time the split travels towards the nose. Hopefully taping the entire bottom edge of the Canopy will prevent splits from starting.
  
  
• RX Coil Saver mod - Apply adhesive (Hot Glue, X2 White Gorilla Glue, CA, etc.) to Coil at front lower right corner of RX board, so Coil doesn't break when Canopy is taken off (in a crash?). If the Coil lead(s) has broken from the PWB and the lead(s) is too short to re-solder to the PWB, it can be carefully unwound as required (one of the Coil's leads easily unwinds one loop at a time from the outside inwards; however the other lead has its end exposed but immediately get buried under all the windings - if that lead is too short, probably the other lead will need to be completely unwound, so the coil can be rewound with long enough leads at each end), rewind as necessary (depending on which Coil wire lead broke from PWB), and re-solder as required. I think the Coil can be replaced for about $0.35 + $2.80 shipping from DigiKey.com; however, we should get one and verify it works before publicizing the Part Number.
  
  
• RX Antenna end - Keep it as vertical as possible - this will keep its exposed bare tip from electrically shorting against the Motor or RX circuitry, and have the Antenna positioned for best signal reception. Some people feel safer insulating (Liquid Electrical Tape, X2 White Gorilla Glue, Hot Glue, Heatshrink, etc.) the exposed wire at the tip of Antenna.

After the Servo Holder's - Canopy Holder Rod breaks from a strong crash, Hot Glue a 38 mm (1.5 inch) length of 1 mm CF Rod centered across the back of the Servo Holder above the Servo Holder Guide Pin and Screw Head. If at a later time the Servo Holder needs to be removed, the Hot Glue and Canopy Holder Rod can be removed as required.

Finally, Tom Z created a " ... Mini ... Review ..." thread that has alot of useful Mini info in the first few posts.

Thanks for all the info. I could see right away that no metal tools should be used. Those slots where the witrs have to come/in are really small. I am 56 and even with reading glasses I can hardly make out that there is a slot(thats why I posted, to make sure they were relly slots) When/if I get the wires out I may enlarge the slots a little then put a dab of hot glue over them after instaling new tail wires. Sheesh, didn't know I had to have micro surgical skills to play with my toys.

I got to put the first battery through my new Super CP an hour or so ago and my jaw was dropped to the floor with the punch available even with the old stock batteries that give me less than a minute of useless flight on my stock minicp.

Normally the change from normal to idle up gives me a small drop and little jump when changing back. With exactly the same tx and settings I use on the Mini cp, the Super gave me a massive punch up or down.

At this point I grabbed the genius motor I had sitting there but never got round to installing as I had a brushless upgrade on it's way with the same order and fitted it to find it's really similar performance to the stock mini cp motor in the mini cp.

I do have a genius gear to try but I'd be stunned if a couple less teeth on the main gear can be such a difference, will re solder the battery connector and swap genius motor over to get to the bottom of it before doing the brushless upgrade. Will try and grab some footage over the next day or so but now i'm thinking my mini cp was underpowered big time.

One of my mini's servos is grinding slightly but works. Are their gears available for the mini cp servos like the v120 has?

No replacement gears available the last I checked. Myrcmart.com has the servo for $9

I was having a great time today, flown a few batteries. Everything was normal. Then, when I tried to take off again, the heli would not lift. Turned out, the front (elevator) servo got stuck. I didn't crash (today), is it common to stip a servo during flight? I guess it might took a beating from previous crashes...
I'll open it up and update, and probably do the servo saver mod.

I believe it is possible to strip Servo(s) in flight, if you didn't incorporate some kind of Servo Saver mod, AND don't have either the Servo Travel Adjust or Pitch Curve set to a maximum of 60%.

The Mini's design is physically capable of only allowing slightly more than 60 % Servo Travel. If the Servo's try to move to their full extent, there will be binding either with the Swashplate and the lower Main Shaft Collar, or Upper Link and Blade Grip. If you try to force the Servo pass the upper or lower binding points, then something has to give - most likely the weakest "link" will be a tooth inside one of the Servos, or (hopefully) the Servo Motor won't have enough force to fight the binding. Unfortunately, the Servo Motor seems to be stronger than the Servo teeth, and the teeth breaks instead.

The Servo Saver mod helps in the above scenario; however, if you're a stick banger and frequently try to exceed the 60% maximum, it will become tedious to reset the Servo back to 90* every time you try to exceed the maximum physical limit.

Whether you do the Servo Saver mod or not, the easiest solution is to program the TX's Travel Adjust to 60% maximum. In a subtle way, Walkera recommends the same; however, they quietly express it through their recommended Pitch Curves (i.e. none of their recommended Pitch Curves are above 60% Pitch).

Originally Posted by i812

I believe it is possible to strip Servo(s) in flight, if you didn't incorporate some kind of Servo Saver mod, AND don't have either the Servo Travel Adjust or Pitch Curve set to a maximum of 60%.

The Mini's design is physically capable of only allowing slightly more than 60 % Servo Travel. If the Servo's try to move to their full extent, there will be binding either with the Swashplate and the lower Main Shaft Collar, or Upper Link and Blade Grip. If you try to force the Servo pass the upper or lower binding points, then something has to give - most likely the weakest "link" will be a tooth inside one of the Servos, or (hopefully) the Servo Motor won't have enough force to fight the binding. Unfortunately, the Servo Motor seems to be stronger than the Servo teeth, and the teeth breaks instead.

The Servo Saver mod helps in the above scenario; however, if you're a stick banger and frequently try to exceed the 60% maximum, it will become tedious to reset the Servo back to 90* every time you try to exceed the maximum physical limit.

Whether you do the Servo Saver mod or not, the easiest solution is to program the TX's Travel Adjust to 60% maximum. In a subtle way, Walkera recommends the same; however, they quietly express it through their recommended Pitch Curves (i.e. none of their recommended Pitch Curves are above 60% Pitch).

Thanks for the informative replay! Actually, I did flip the DR during the last flight, from 50% to 60%. I guess it might have binded, I'll check when I fix the servo.
So its 60% for all three servos? Can you flip it this way?

If I'm correct, once installed into a Mini, it will become impossible to for the Servos to move pass 60% of their "standalone" 100% full travel capability. Therefore, whatever the Mine can do, has to be done with no more than 60% Servo throw. The stock Mini can definitely flip!

BTW, the 60% number I use is a conservative "safe" number. The actually % that causes binding is somewhat greater than 60%, but definitely much less than 100%.

The actual upper and lower % number that will cause binding is very dependent on how the Mini's links are adjusted. I try to have mine set so travel is centered at 0* Blade pitch.

If your Mini stripped at 60% or less Pitch travel, then I suspect something else caused the strip. A crash would explain it, especially if you didn't use the Throttle-Hold switch and had a full speed off-angle Blade impact on something solid. I think if a person was able to activate Throttle Hold atleast a couple seconds before impact and only crashed into 2 inch or taller grass, then that alone might be enough to prevent stripping Servo gear without even incorporating the Servo Saver mod?

If you want to see the binding that occurs if the Servos try to extend past 60%, then undo all the Servo Links from the Swashplate, and manually move the Swashplate up and down the Main Shaft - you should notice the lower limit binding occurs when the Swasplate hits the top of the Collar, and upper limit binding occurs when the top Links bind at an angle with the Blade Grips.

Originally Posted by j35u5fr34k

No replacement gears available the last I checked. Myrcmart.com has the servo for $9

Thanks for the link, made an order and added some frames and servo holders to try and make my own reinforced frame. The boom mount on my mini gave in an hour after getting the brushless kit in so more patience is required. V120 and Mini cp down, so glad I picked up super cp.

I've rotated the servo gear, and did the servo saver mod (used heat shrink to keep it tight). It flies great (sport flying), and doesn't slip during flight. Guess I'll do it for the two other servos as well.
http://benmlee.com/Genius_Servo_Saver.htm

Originally Posted by i812

If I'm correct, once installed into a Mini, it will become impossible to for the Servos to move pass 60% of their "standalone" 100% full travel capability. Therefore, whatever the Mine can do, has to be done with no more than 60% Servo throw. The stock Mini can definitely flip!

BTW, the 60% number I use is a conservative "safe" number. The actually % that causes binding is somewhat greater than 60%, but definitely much less than 100%.

The actual upper and lower % number that will cause binding is very dependent on how the Mini's links are adjusted. I try to have mine set so travel is centered at 0* Blade pitch.

If your Mini stripped at 60% or less Pitch travel, then I suspect something else caused the strip. A crash would explain it, especially if you didn't use the Throttle-Hold switch and had a full speed off-angle Blade impact on something solid. I think if a person was able to activate Throttle Hold atleast a couple seconds before impact and only crashed into 2 inch or taller grass, then that alone might be enough to prevent stripping Servo gear without even incorporating the Servo Saver mod?

If you want to see the binding that occurs if the Servos try to extend past 60%, then undo all the Servo Links from the Swashplate, and manually move the Swashplate up and down the Main Shaft - you should notice the lower limit binding occurs when the Swasplate hits the top of the Collar, and upper limit binding occurs when the top Links bind at an angle with the Blade Grips.

I made some testing, and I can get up to 100% (didn't try more) without binding (tested the aileron servo).