Rave Radio Shack Extreme Rescue...

[Hauntme13]

I just got the mini BR today and I like it! It is kind of annoying though when you get in a situation where rotor clash is imminent. I wonder if putting some thin, light neo mags on the tip of each rotor blade where they repel each other would prevent rotor clash? Hmmmm. I might have to try it. I've got some 5x5x1 N50's for a cdrom motor I might try.

[Steve Shepard]

Bad idea, adding magnets.
More than likely, that amount of added weight will render your bird unflyable. All BRs are already running on the ragged edge, as far as weight is concerned. That is why most of us who want the best performance and longevity out of our motors remove the body and any other extra-terrestrial weight right at the get-go.
The extra weight will cause undue wear and tear on the motors and battery, and they are at the design limit already.

What you need to do is to modify your flying technique so as to eliminate the posibility of rotor clash. You just can't horse these wee things around, like you can the "regular" coax helis. It was only designed to "be passively stable in hover." Quote from Petter's patent application.

Since you didn't specify which "mini" Bladerunner, ( BR l, BR ll, Extreme Rescue, or Micro-Mosquito, it's hard to know which one you have. If it's anything but the MM, here's a tip to help you avoid clashing your blades. :

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

Aloha,
Steve

[smoothchat]

I love this micro flight experience (I live in a small inner city house with no room for larger craft).

Does anyone know where I can buy the MM from someone who will ship to Australia? The BR2 has only just arrived at local stores (BR1 never made it) and I'd like to add the MM to my collection of 3*BR1s, 1*BR2 and a couple of other sub-micros.

I also need to source a micro slow flyer for my loungroom.

[Hauntme13]

Originally Posted by Steve Shepard

Bad idea, adding magnets.
More than likely, that amount of added weight will render your bird unflyable. All BRs are already running on the ragged edge, as far as weight is concerned. That is why most of us who want the best performance and longevity out of our motors remove the body and any other extra-terrestrial weight right at the get-go.
The extra weight will cause undue wear and tear on the motors and battery, and they are at the design limit already.

What you need to do is to modify your flying technique so as to eliminate the posibility of rotor clash. You just can't horse these wee things around, like you can the "regular" coax helis. It was only designed to "be passively stable in hover." Quote from Petter's patent application.

Since you didn't specify which "mini" Bladerunner, ( BR l, BR ll, Extreme Rescue, or Micro-Mosquito, it's hard to know which one you have. If it's anything but the MM, here's a tip to help you avoid clashing your blades. :

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

Aloha,
Steve

OK, I have the radio shack rescue one with no tail rotor.

I'm a bit confused though, you write off my idea saying it will be too much weight without even knowing the weight of the magnets? I have removed the foam body as well but I don't think that adding a half of a gram of magnets will render it unflyable even though I just removed 5 grams of foam body. I think a simple, lightweight mod that would completely prevent rotor clashes would be very worthwhile.

[micro_builder]

actually, the magnet idea might not be a bad thing to try. if the magnets were high grade N45 or preferably N50, they could be very small and have very little weight, but still be strong enough to interact with eachother when they get too close. plus, even if they weigh almost nothing, it would still be adding weight to the blade tips, which would give it a little stronger gyroscopic force, maybe making it a bit more stable.

the interesting thing would be to see how the two rotors react when a forward movement causes the two rotors to come close to eachother, but then get repelled by the magnets. i could forsee it either continuing forward with the rotors trying to clash, but not being able to, or the magnets repelling the rotors away too forcefully and it just crashes down.

i think i've got some 1.5x2mm magnets that i may give it a try. i dont think they're neodynium magnets so it might not work as well, but it sounds interesting enough to try.

nick

[bonneyg]

Just watchout that a magnet doesn't get thrown off by the roatation of the blades, one of those in your eye could really ruin your evening.

[NoZebra]

I say go for it, and get plenty of pics if you can.

[magohn]

Picked one up today from the local RS. Flight times dont seem more than a couple of minutes. Will a Kokam 340 fix this and can I still charge the kokam with the RS supplied charger (takes 4 'C' cells) ?

Also, is it worth chopping the body off?

Any other upgrades to help fly time \ handling?

Thanks guys...

[micro_builder]

the 340mah might fit, but it'll be a tight squeeze if it does, it should certainly increase your flight times too. the stock charger should still charge it, but it might take a little longer because of the increased capacity of the 340.

i would definitely suggest removing the body, its one of the best things you can do for the heli. it drops weight, gives more cooling to the motors and lipo, ect. do a search for the spacerless spacer mod, or something similar, its a good one too.

nick

[magohn]

Originally Posted by micro_builder

the 340mah might fit, but it'll be a tight squeeze if it does, it should certainly increase your flight times too. the stock charger should still charge it, but it might take a little longer because of the increased capacity of the 340.

i would definitely suggest removing the body, its one of the best things you can do for the heli. it drops weight, gives more cooling to the motors and lipo, ect. do a search for the spacerless spacer mod, or something similar, its a good one too.

nick

Thank you! Can anyone give advice on how to cut the bdy off? I dont want to cut thru wires etc that I cant see.

Thanks much...

[growermn]

Dont cut it...it has a seam down the middle kind of like an AA...it will pry apart with just a little help, in my case used an exacto just a tiny bit. jeff

[magohn]

Originally Posted by growermn

Dont cut it...it has a seam down the middle kind of like an AA...it will pry apart with just a little help, in my case used an exacto just a tiny bit. jeff

Cool...popped right off. Model is now MUCH quieter for some reason and seems more responsive. The only issue is now the tailboom vibrates a little more than it ised too. Any ideas to strenghten it?

Thanks all...

[Captain Fry]

Having seen the "new" bladerunner 2 3 channel helicopters in tandy (radioshack?) here in wollongong australia today I was impressed by its size but having been recently.. killed as far as enthusiasm goes for these little helis after my spinblade WITH gaurd sheered a blade and mount off in a crash


....and then worse damage resulting in scrapping after I couldnt get replacements without a credit card (what the hells with that?!.... they never heard of paypal?)

im a litlte disapointed..
I came here to find a positive review of the bladerunner 2 and I was going to buy it.. 99 dollars australian.. and yes thats still near 70 US.. plus 9 dollars for a set of spare rotors if they ever do break

but instead I find steve. the inventor as far as I know. state that the motors have a big life of 5 hours and already being stressed to the limit dispite being designed for a purpace which seems to die.. its really put me off it..

True they are a toy but its .. disheartening to say the least that people like myself on minimal wages (or the fabled 10 year old with the 4 hour attention span) are going to buy this thing and expect to have it the same life span as say.. an R/C car.. or hovercraft.. while I realise these are very different craft.. 99 dollars is 99 dollars and its still alot... be it a big chunk out of ones pay or all the combined money of a 10 year olds birthday money.

I dont mean to turn this post into a rant and get it deleted.. but im glad I read what I did. and saved myself another 100 dollars worth of.. quite frankly.. what seems to be an aerial disposable nappy ( americans call it diapier I beleve) according to steve

very very disapointed.. and im GLAD I never brought the bloody thing

bring on the gyrotor

[micro_builder]

the problem isnt that the motors will burn out, since any motor can/will burn out. the big issue is when they will burn out. some motors seem to last forever, some dont. a lot of it depends on your flying style, ect, but it still comes down to how well the winding machine wound that particular motor that day, or how good the wire was that day, or if there's binding in the gear drive, ect.

the Extreme/Mini version is your best bet for reliability though. first day i got mine, i flew it for almost 15 minutes straight, something the larger BRs just couldnt do. after that long of a flight on a large BR, the motors would be roasting, but since the mini version has less mass to spin, the motors were barely above room temp. flight times never dimished, and i'm actually using the motors now in a plane so they're still going.

give it a month or two and the prices will probably start to drop. dont let the motors turn you off, there are replacements if all else fails. its a good little heli.

nick

[Steve Shepard]

Captain Fry : Whoa, there mate! I AM NOT the inventor of the Bladerunner ~ A Mr. Petter Muren, of Oslo, Norway holds that title and all the rights to the machine's unique rotor syatem. :

http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2 FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=3&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=%22Muren% 2C+Petter%22&OS="Muren,+Petter"&RS="Muren,+Petter"

(copy and paste in your browser's address window)

All I am is an ordinary, retired old fart who took a keen interest in this bird and it's maintenance, prevention of premature death, and useful modifications. The RC Groups is a massive forum and the Bladerunner's forum parts 1, 2, & 3, contain over 7,000 posts ~
This particular part has some 900 questions archived, as of Oct.9,
2006. And that is only the questions, not counting the answers and comments. I am one of the very few members of this forum who has read every one of the posts in these forums alone. There are also thousands more BR posts in the micro-heli and multi-rotor
forums. That amount of reading, along with owning 9 BRs at one time and hundreds of hours flying and repairing the little buggers,
has given me a small amount of knowledge and wisdom pertaining
to the BR family of "toy" helicopters.

You, like so many , other BR owners , have too high expectaitions for the little birds, so you suffer great dissapointment when the actual critter doesn't stand up to what you expected. What I wrote about the downside of the birds is true in a lot of cases of high hopes and low satisfaction.

Personally, immediately after bringing 7 brand-new BRs home, I read every post that was available at that time, before I ever tried to fly even one of them. It was obvious to me right from the get-go, that they would all benefit from a proper lube job, and a motor-blackening, to reduce heat buildup in the motors. Seven of my motors lasted over 20 hours each, and I also built my own set of brushes and rebuilt the other two motors. Largely, it is the luck of the draw whether you get a good one or a sour grape. I can't reveal my source of information or numbers, (Iwas asked not to), but I have it from a MOST reliable and knowlegable source that the total number of complaints about the Bladerunners manufactured and sold to date, is less than 1% of the total production run. And that is NOT a bad figure! So, in the long run, you have a 99 to 1 chance of getting a good one. Mr Muren, and ITC have constantly tried to improve the product, and have made many, many changes and improvements to the machines on a running basis. The MM and the Black Shark versions are the cream of the crop to date.

You would do well to read through these two documents to learn a good bit more about the BR and it's quirks before you buy one (or more), so your expectations will be more realistic. Remember the BR was designed as a "TOY", not a hobby-level flying helicopter.
Luckily, it can be modded and improved on by us hobbyists who just can't take "NO" for an answer. The BR does not contain even one fault which cannot be resolved in some manner by a liberal dose of common sense and talent. It is an expensive toy to us poor folks- (my income is only $700/mo.), and without the BR, I would have nothing to fly with my budget.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/archi....php/f-225-p-9

http://theclassroom.50megs.com/Blade...nformation.pdf

Aloha,
Steve