bradheli, that's a nice mod you made on your CB180Z, thanks for sharing i will be ordering the parts to modifie my CB180...I have one question where did you get your red tail gear holder.
thank you

Originally Posted by Lutin

bradheli, that's a nice mod you made on your CB180Z, thanks for sharing i will be ordering the parts to modifie my CB180...I have one question where did you get your red tail gear holder.
thank you

Hey, that will make you number 3 on the conversion. I actually bought my first 180Z from Banana Hobby. They sell it as the Air Hawk, buts it just a re-label job. It has several red parts on it.

http://www.wowhobbies.com/cb180zparts.aspx is where I get my parts but it does seem that these are black in their inventory.

http://www.bananahobby.com/wk-ak-26-80395-prd1.html Here it is... in red with the bearings for $3.45. At least parts for this heli are cheap!

Originally Posted by freezywilly

Another piece of the puzzle falls into place. I also misused the WK mode.
Did not do a carefull setup in that mode.

I had to learn most of this stuff the hard way too. I think my 180 sat on the shelf for a month before figured out what I was doing wrong. This is probably the most common thing causing spinning after people have rebuilt from a crash. You would think that Walkera could spend a few dollars to have their manuals proof read. It would take so little to make these manuals so much better!

Originally Posted by KillerJupe

Hummm... I've never actually done/looked at this, just kinda used it as it came, and I only have the 2403 for now.

Do you just flip it to WK mode, and level everything out so the servo arms are at 90 degres?

Then use a shwash leveler to set that up?
Thanks for answering all the questions, my tinkering today resulted in a botched flybar... somehow the blades were fine

No sweat. This tail setup, and the swash setup is really important, especially if you have crashed or had the tail apart before.

So, if you want to do the thing right, take screws out of your EV and AL servos and pull the horns off, with the linkages still attached and hanging from the swashplate.

Switch on the TX, connect the battery and bind it. The servos will all jump to the centered position. Make sure your trims and subtrims on the TX are all at zero. Do all adjustments with the RX in WK mode.

Now put the servo horns back on the servos so that the swash is perfectly level. If its not level, put the horns on at the next click on the servo gears. If its a fine adjustment, adjust the linkage length by twisting them a few turns longer or shorter. Get the swash as level as you can in all directions mechanically, then if you need even finer adjustment, you can use subtrim in the TX menu. This should not be required.

Do the same with the tail rotor. With all trims at zero on the TX, mechanically adjust the tail servo or linkage so that when its switched on and bound, the tail is perfectly centered. Try not to use TX subtrim as you should be able to get it perfect just by adjusting linkage.

When you have done this, switch back to gyro mode. You should be able to fly hands off (other than throttle) if its a clean accurate setup.

Yes, with everything setup level, you will see that the servo horns are sitting at 90 degrees. Remember, you are aiming for a level swash and a centered tail. With the wrong linkage length, you can have 90 degrees on the servo arms (horns) and it can still be unlevel on the swash and tail.

Let me know how this goes. I'm happy to help. Just sitting at a PC designing circuit boards.... boring....

Originally Posted by KillerJupe

Hummm... I've never actually done/looked at this, just kinda used it as it came, and I only have the 2403 for now.

Do you just flip it to WK mode, and level everything out so the servo arms are at 90 degres?

Then use a shwash leveler to set that up?
Thanks for answering all the questions, my tinkering today resulted in a botched flybar... somehow the blades were fine

I don't use a swash leveling tool. I do it mostly by eye then use a razor blade (super flat, thin surface) that I glued to a little bubble level. You can do the tail by eye for sure. You need that swash to be flat and level when you first bind up and all TX controls are in the middle.

A bent flybar will cause a bit of shake. I normally bend it back in shape many times before I replace it. If you want it to be perfectly smooth, change the flybar, put a brand new main gear in, if it has any damage at all. Smooth and balanced make these things way easier to fly!

If you aren't going to do the belt upgrade and you are going to keep changing these gears, here is a trick we learned from Levi the Kiwi CB180Z mechanic...

When you are trying to remove either the front or the rear gear that is pressed onto the drive shaft, instead of pulling, cut it off carefully with side cutters.

If you just pull, you are sure to pull it at least partially out of the other gear and you are at great risk of moving the center shaft bearing which is a real drag to reposition! I know this too well.

Just cut off the damaged one and when pushing the new one back on, hold the other end with some sort of small, flat tool. Finger tips are a bit too soft sometimes and its a tight little area for fingers unless you have the tail off and in pieces.

There is your CB180 tip of the day!

Brad to just muddy water this question. That bearing comes out when you do the belt conversion (right?)

Originally Posted by freezywilly

Brad to just muddy water this question. That bearing comes out when you do the belt conversion (right?)

Yes it does. The belt takes up most of that area inside the tail boom.

Originally Posted by Lutin

bradheli, that's a nice mod you made on your CB180Z, thanks for sharing i will be ordering the parts to modifie my CB180...I have one question where did you get your red tail gear holder.
thank you

Order the V450D01 landing gear at the same time. You have to drill 4 little holes in it to make it fit the CB180Z, but it gets the tail way up out of the grass, its way better for take offs and landings and it looks cooler. I think its $14 or so...... Nope... I looked it up... you can get this gear for $4.99. Great price and another good cheap upgrade for the CB180Z!

May I offer an alternative. Since don't have the V460D01 skid this is what I did based on a suggestion. Get the Walera Lama 3 skid as it is a drop in replacement. Another little trick is to make a loop of music wire and attach it to the tail fin at the bottom with a pair of 2/56 screws/locknut. It can add additional clearance at the tail.

Fantastic info there... Its flying a lot better (I'm not a better pilot), I've had all the bits apart and they were a bit off

Originally Posted by KillerJupe

Fantastic info there... Its flying a lot better (I'm not a better pilot), I've had all the bits apart and they were a bit off

I remember when we were first learning, it was hard to determine if the crashes were pilot error or malfuntions. I'd say the very best activity for the machine and the pilot is getting the bird so it will hover almost hands free.

If you are learning have all 3 gyro setting on the RX set at about 60%. Just try hovering and figure out which way you are drifting, stop, adjust the swash or the rudder linkage a bit... all with the goals of keeping the trims on the TX in the middle. If they are really slight drift issues, do the adjustments in the TX subtrims.

You get good at hovering and the bird gets perfectly set up.

Do you have any shakes or ticks or is it all running smooth?

If you have the extended servo horns and you find it too radical, you can either move the ball to the next closer hole in the horn to create less travel, or you can adjust the travel some on the RX. With too much travel, if you aren't ready for it, it can be a crazy, out of control flight. Its lots crazier than a stock CB180Z which flights hard to fly forward.

If you have flown a CB180Z enough, you have crashed, broken blades and bent the flybar. Even the slightest bent will give you a vibration. If its a bad bend, it won't even spool up properly. If its not kinked, you can try straightening it out on the bird, if its worse, just replace it. When you first get into this, it looks like a tough change over... but if you do it this way... no sweat!

Although its tempting to try changing it without taking it apart, I suggest taking off the blades and the blade holders so that you get good access to the flybar bearings. It takes 2 minutes and makes the process so much easier.

After you take the 2 screws out, the flybar will still be locked in place with the 2 bearings. Use a small flat screwdriver to softly nudge them out from the inside. If you pry a little on each side, they do pop out.

Putting it back together is the same in reverse. Remember that the visable little bearings go to the inside of the flybar housing! Watch you don't over tighten the screws. Its just plastic and it will strip. Too tight and it will restrict flybar movement.

There you go. I think the whole thing takes 10 minutes if you do it this way. I have mucked around for 30 minutes trying to get those bearings out without taking the blades and holders off!

There is your repair trick of the day! I'm sure others have found even quicker ways, but this is what I'm doing now.

Bradheli,
what's the tail servo upgrade you made deside the extended servo horns.
thanks for all that info

Originally Posted by Lutin

Bradheli,
what's the tail servo upgrade you made deside the extended servo horns.
thanks for all that info

I actually don't use extended horns on the rudder. I can get full travel with the stock one.

Well, I'm actually using the stock tail servo right now on my CB180Z, but its a plastic geared toy! Until I needed it on another heli, I was using the one from my V450D01 which is much better. However, its heavy and expensive.

I'd be interested in finding better servos for all of them in this machine. I have killed a few in crashes and I don't have anything left here that will fit the EV and AL servo positions.

Has anyone changed these over to something better?