Originally Posted by hamradioflyer

Hey Guys,
A heads-up on the AXN floater. I have been a glow pilot for many years and recently started with electric foamies. I got the AXN floater, flew great 10 times with a 2200mah 30C lipo. Yesterday took it at half throttle for two minutes, it quit responding. I saw a trail of smoke and later a ball of fire and watched the ball of fire fly over the horizon . It was a helpless feeling. I ran about 1/2 mile and found a brushfire in a farm field. Was able to put out the fire and apologize to the neighbor. Haven't located what is left of the plane.
I suspect the esc fried and shorted the battery causing the fire. I had no prior warning, esc or motor never got particularly hot before.
Don't think I'll be buying any Chinese ARF's. I usually builf from a kit and populate with reasonable components.
Frank

That's rough, my plane crashed due to the ESC burning up too but I had gotten it wet the day before. I think most of us ended up specing better parts soon after buying this thing. If you buy another I'd replace the ESC and just keep the stock one as a spare. Some people seem to have better luck with the motor than others, having a spare never hurts.

Originally Posted by hamradioflyer

Hey Guys,
A heads-up on the AXN floater. I have been a glow pilot for many years and recently started with electric foamies. I got the AXN floater, flew great 10 times with a 2200mah 30C lipo. Yesterday took it at half throttle for two minutes, it quit responding. I saw a trail of smoke and later a ball of fire and watched the ball of fire fly over the horizon . It was a helpless feeling. I ran about 1/2 mile and found a brushfire in a farm field. Was able to put out the fire and apologize to the neighbor. Haven't located what is left of the plane.
I suspect the esc fried and shorted the battery causing the fire. I had no prior warning, esc or motor never got particularly hot before.
Don't think I'll be buying any Chinese ARF's. I usually builf from a kit and populate with reasonable components.
Frank

My motor seized after about 50 flights. I had loose magnets before the seizure that I thought I fixed. I never lost control of the plane but when I opened the canopy there was a slight burning smell. The ESC still smells like burning electronics, I retired it. The motor shaft was stiff and notchy when I removed it. Since the seizure and motor replacement I have replaced all the servos with HXT900 or Tower Pros as two, an aileron and rudder, had failed.

BTW: I think it will be hard to avoid putting China made components into a build. I buy nearly all my components from Hobby King in Hong Kong and have very good luck with them, mostly the Turnigy brand.

Originally Posted by tankd0g

So it turns out, with the 6x5E from RCTimer, which I'll assume is a "real" 6x5, paired with the CF-28-12 motor, the plane flys pretty much exactly like it did with the stock motor and 5x5, except it's a lot quieter. It'll do a belly takeoff and handle a bit of wind, loop and climb vertical for about 20 feet before it stalls. I got some video but it's mostly a blur because of the small area I was flying in, turn, turn, turn, loop, loop, loop

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpnKjQNPZaI

So, there is a detectable difference between the ? 6X4 and RCT 6X5? Do you have both the HK 6X4E and 6X5E? I am going to try a couple of HK props next time I order.

BTW: After about 60 flights I was forced to replace the servos as two of them had failed or were near failure.

Are the esc that are frying the blue 20a ones with the metal fins or are the just generic colored shrink wrap ones? I wonder if my metal blue fin one might be a change because previous problems? Can post pics later.

Originally Posted by garymcc

So, there is a detectable difference between the ? 6X4 and RCT 6X5? Do you have both the HK 6X4E and 6X5E? I am going to try a couple of HK props next time I order.

BTW: After about 60 flights I was forced to replace the servos as two of them had failed or were near failure.

First I tried a HK TGS 6x4E, it was a little too slow, would be fine if there was absolutely no wind. Then I tried an RCTimer 6x5E which was good. I also have an RCTimer 6x4E but it looks like it's the same pitch as the HK. I don't know how to actually measure the pitch so I'm just eyeballing, the 6x4 seems to have a broader blade at the base.

The RCtimer and TGS packages look the same except the instruction sheet is printed on different color paper.

The 6x4's are probably going to be plenty on the 2200kv motor if I ever get around to installing it. I like that the Emax motor uses the stock hole locations, but I had to drill them bigger anyway because I had to go out and buy some #4 bolts as the stock ones were too small, the heads slipped through the Emax's pre-drilled firewall mount. I'm going to stick with the slower motor for now and try to get some level flight and some video, it's probably going to be much easier on battery life too. I put a longer arm on my rudder servo so it has a ridiculous amount of throw now, have to try to get away from using the ailerons with the camera. I'm not sure what the plane comes with for servos from HK, mine had Emax servos and they are working pretty well but I do have a couple HXT900s ready if I need them.

This is the first time the plane didn't come home wrecked so it's not like it has a lot of flights on it, going to a big open place with grass this weekend so that should be a hell of a lot less stressful

Originally Posted by BaracW

Are the esc that are frying the blue 20a ones with the metal fins or are the just generic colored shrink wrap ones? I wonder if my metal blue fin one might be a change because previous problems? Can post pics later.

The one I had was black shrink wrapped with no markings on it. I was told it was 25A but I don't know. It probably would have held up fine if I had kept it dry. I think because mine came from PW-RC I got a better ESC and servos than you get at HK.

I don't know my HC one has a pretty fancy esc. Compatible with Turnigy programming card too. I just hope I got an upgrade and won't have problems others have.

Sounds like you got lucky there, they were probably out of the cheap ones.

Originally Posted by tankd0g

Sounds like you got lucky there, they were probably out of the cheap ones.

My Hobby King CF ESC was yellow and unmarked. I stripped off the heat shrink to try and discover the rating but no luck. As I recall it was programmable with the Turnigy programming card. On the back side of the ESC are three rows of 4 ICs running parallel to each of the motor wires. On one row at least three of the 4 ICs are blistered. The ESC has that "toasted" electronic smell.

If I get another CF it will probably be without any of the electric components installed, including the motor if possible.

Thanks for the prop feedback.

Originally Posted by Dunkelmann

The Hobby King Collet adapter seems to be quite heavy according to feedback. I'm dubious about getting a grub screw version because of the possible vibration and the possibility of it coming off.

The postage from the US on the Hobby Lobby one is too great. Are there any other alternatives with reasonable cost to Europe?

this is my favorite prop collet: http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?app=goods&spec_id=206

I know its 3.17mm, but I've used it on 3.0mm shafts and its gripped fine... I've tried all of hobbykings collet adaptors and they are either really heavy, poorly balanced and the washers have an I.D much wider than the threaded shaft! this collet is the lightest ive ever used too, around 3-4g

Originally Posted by hamradioflyer

Hey Guys,
A heads-up on the AXN floater. I have been a glow pilot for many years and recently started with electric foamies. I got the AXN floater, flew great 10 times with a 2200mah 30C lipo. Yesterday took it at half throttle for two minutes, it quit responding. I saw a trail of smoke and later a ball of fire and watched the ball of fire fly over the horizon . It was a helpless feeling. I ran about 1/2 mile and found a brushfire in a farm field. Was able to put out the fire and apologize to the neighbor. Haven't located what is left of the plane.
I suspect the esc fried and shorted the battery causing the fire. I had no prior warning, esc or motor never got particularly hot before.
Don't think I'll be buying any Chinese ARF's. I usually builf from a kit and populate with reasonable components.
Frank

I had also blown the ESC on my 2nd flight. I did the normal hand lunch and i'm lucky that i was flying the plane in low passes just about 2-3 meters away from me and was able to smell that something is going wrong.
So i prepared my self for landing...
these last 2 minutes were like HELL. I almost had no control of the plane but landed very good (Damn lucker!!! ). Now i'm waiting my new ESC a Turnigy 25A.

Originally Posted by maestros

I had also blown the ESC on my 2nd flight. I did the normal hand lunch and i'm lucky that i was flying the plane in low passes just about 2-3 meters away from me and was able to smell that something is going wrong.
So i prepared my self for landing...
these last 2 minutes were like HELL. I almost had no control of the plane but landed very good (Damn lucker!!! ). Now i'm waiting my new ESC a Turnigy 25A.

The ESC can get quite hot. I don't understand the manufacturer decision to wrap the ESC with shrink tube. It has heat sink on it, why wrap it?

I cut the wrapper and make square hole to let the air cool the heat sink. And also I placed the ESC outside since maiden flight. No problem so far.

Becareful if you cut the wrapper, it also hold the heat sink in place, so you might want to tighten it with something.

Originally Posted by xufos

The ESC can get quite hot. I don't understand the manufacturer decision to wrap the ESC with shrink tube. It has heat sink on it, why wrap it?

I cut the wrapper and make square hole to let the air cool the heat sink. And also I placed the ESC outside since maiden flight. No problem so far.

Becareful if you cut the wrapper, it also hold the heat sink in place, so you might want to tighten it with something.

That is similiar to my ESC. Has a nice heat sink, but it's covered with shrink too. My is blue though. Anyone having problems with ESC's that look like these?

Mine was just the type with the postage stamp sized heat sink, and the motor was a little jittery to start up even before I got it wet and was hit or miss if it would arm properly at startup. Seemed like the timing was wrong and I would have to power cycle it. I thought that was normal but the tower pro I have now works great every time.

Originally Posted by heavyj

sounds to me like time to fetch another AXN floater.

On my 2nd flight because i was silly lazy my push rods poked a hole in my ESC and fried it. I was super lucky because i didn't smoke much and I was able to glide it in. Your event sounded like a lot more fun except for the running part.

poked a hole in ESC, thats impossible if ESC is behind the servo's in the fuselage where it should be