couldn't help myself

Originally Posted by beerassassin

couldn't help myself

Please don't restrain yourself, that looks superb

I like the way you have painted the motor guards

You should be very pleased with yourself as this is one of the better canopies I have seen made for the mQX

cheers John.

Originally Posted by scotsoft

Please don't restrain yourself, that looks superb

I like the way you have painted the motor guards

You should be very pleased with yourself as this is one of the better canopies I have seen made for the mQX

cheers John.

thank you for the kind words!

painting the motor guards is a good idea, I'm lazy though and just used electrical tape I made a quick stencil so I can cut new ones easily in the future

and I am very pleased with the new canopy! thank you Frank Lachmund and Topper for making and supplying IMO hands down the most beautiful canopy for the mqx!! you can't see it but there is actually orange pearl in the green paint. not my idea, but I'm glad Frank added it. nice subtle touch!

Speaking of motor guards and visibility.... has anyone figured out a way to make light-weight, high-visibility "Nerfy" motor guards that perhaps give more ground clearance?

Perhaps take pieces of colorful swim noodles. Perhaps cut down the existing motor guards into just "spikes" that would stick into the swim noodle material?

Originally Posted by Jim_Marconnet

Speaking of motor guards and visibility.... has anyone figured out a way to make light-weight, high-visibility "Nerfy" motor guards that perhaps give more ground clearance?

Perhaps take pieces of colorful swim noodles. Perhaps cut down the existing motor guards into just "spikes" that would stick into the swim noodle material?

Check post #282
https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...589171&page=19

Originally Posted by 4x4rc

AFAIC the major selling point of the mQX -- and the reason I agree with Blade's claim "the pilot's quadcopter". You can try out whatever you want knowing it will essentially shrug off any crash and you'll keep on flying (provided you stay over longish grass). Most of the bigger tris and quads are heavy and powerful enough to sustain some sort of major damage.

I've had the mQX since January, flown probably 250 packs since then, crashed various times, and the entire damage is two props (both broken when hitting the wall or floor indoors). Booms, shell, wires, motors, shafts - all original issue.

it is very forgiving,...:and fun!

Having a blast with mine. I do however have one motor (back right) that the the main gear and pinion gear have a black.... stuff on them.... dirty.
None of the other motors (gears) are like that. When spinning the prop by hand, I can feel a "click". like there is a burr in the main gear. Weird.

I've had this a few times. Try cleaning the cogs of the drive gear. Although the fit is tight, fine dirt can build up between the cogs. Avoid using something metal as it could damage the brass. I use one of those triangular wooden toothpicks. Also check the teeth of the white plastic gear.

Lastly, check the tracking of the plastic gear. It should track in a nice line parallel to the prop. If it undulates up and down, re-seat it with the propellor assembly, If that doesn't help you may find it's warped in which case the replacements are pretty cheap.

Originally Posted by flying-llama

So far, I have been reading about dying motors and shorting boom wires.
I have a more mundane problem. After several crashes, the electrical plug from one of my motors to the boom wire socket is coming loose.
I have tried bending the plug pins apart, which tightens the connection a little, but the plug still soon pulls apart from the socket.
Any suggestions on what to try next? I am thinking of adding a layer of solder to the plug pins.
Thanks.

So, I tried adding a layer of solder to the plug pins: sometimes the motor receives electricity, sometimes not.
Tired of this, I cut the boom wire motor pin socket off and solder the boom wire to the motor pins: still more sometimes connected, sometimes not.
Then I noticed that the white motor "wire" bended a bit too easily at one point: it turns out that the white plastic wire insulation is in one piece, but there is a break in the wire inside the insulation. The 2 ends of the break sometimes make contact and sometimes not.
My guess is the break came from that (right front) motor popping out of motor cover several times on crashes.
I cut the insulation at the break and solder the 2 ends of the break together: the mQx is finally running.

Originally Posted by flying-llama

So, I tried adding a layer of solder to the plug pins: sometimes the motor receives electricity, sometimes not.
Tired of this, I cut the boom wire motor pin socket off and solder the boom wire to the motor pins: still more sometimes connected, sometimes not.
Then I noticed that the white motor "wire" bended a bit too easily at one point: it turns out that the white plastic wire insulation is in one piece, but there is a break in the wire inside the insulation. The 2 ends of the break sometimes make contact and sometimes not.
My guess is the break came from that (right front) motor popping out of motor cover several times on crashes.
I cut the insulation at the break and solder the 2 ends of the break together: the mQx is finally running.

Tray a motor you may have a dead spot or the brushes are going out

Originally Posted by BlueHavoc

it is very forgiving,...:and fun!

true, although nature is not always as forgiving!

I had a close encounter with a very large owl the other night at my local dog park. I went up right after dusk to show a friend the LED kit in action. we were standing close to a large tree and I had been in the air for about 5 min, buzzing around and doing loops in the vicinity of the tree. suddenly out of the treetop a very large bird (what I decided later had to be an owl) comes swooping in after my mqx! the mqx looked like a tiny bug in comparison. I immediately started making evasive maneuvers and brought it down as quickly and close to me as possible. the owl had chased it for a couple seconds then flew back to the treetop. the whole thing happened very quickly

I know there are owls that live in my neighborhood, they are elusive but sometimes you hear them at night..

a close call, but it was pretty damn awesome!

Originally Posted by micros

I've had this a few times. Try cleaning the cogs of the drive gear. Although the fit is tight, fine dirt can build up between the cogs. Avoid using something metal as it could damage the brass. I use one of those triangular wooden toothpicks. Also check the teeth of the white plastic gear.
.

Just FYI - I use a stiff bristled artist brush about 1/2 in. dia. Just brush downward while slowly rotating the gears to clean both gears at same time. Only takes 2-3 min for whole craft.
Also...re: intermittent connection problems....I had one I traced to where the boom wire connects to the motor plug. Finally found it with a continuity checker. Must have been a bad solder joint. Stripped the black insulation, re-soldered, covered w/ glue, AOK since.
Hope this helps.....fly on......

Originally Posted by 4x4rc

AFAIC the major selling point of the mQX -- and the reason I agree with Blade's claim "the pilot's quadcopter". You can try out whatever you want knowing it will essentially shrug off any crash and you'll keep on flying (provided you stay over longish grass). Most of the bigger tris and quads are heavy and powerful enough to sustain some sort of major damage.

I've had the mQX since January, flown probably 250 packs since then, crashed various times, and the entire damage is two props (both broken when hitting the wall or floor indoors). Booms, shell, wires, motors, shafts - all original issue.

I agree - the mQX seems fragile but because it's so light it seems to not sustain too much damage on crashes.

I've had mine about 2 months and few crashes but so far nothing broken - I know that will change

Can't say the same for my helis or planes, they have had various repairs.

Starting a build on a DVI F450 quad shortly and looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by beerassassin

true, although nature is not always as forgiving!

I had a close encounter with a very large owl the other night at my local dog park. I went up right after dusk to show a friend the LED kit in action. we were standing close to a large tree and I had been in the air for about 5 min, buzzing around and doing loops in the vicinity of the tree. suddenly out of the treetop a very large bird (what I decided later had to be an owl) comes swooping in after my mqx! the mqx looked like a tiny bug in comparison. I immediately started making evasive maneuvers and brought it down as quickly and close to me as possible. the owl had chased it for a couple seconds then flew back to the treetop. the whole thing happened very quickly

I know there are owls that live in my neighborhood, they are elusive but sometimes you hear them at night..

a close call, but it was pretty damn awesome!

That is freaking incredible! I've heard fellow pilots here talk of hummingbirds & dragonflies chasing & interacting with their quad but never a large bird of prey! It would have been something to witness that!

Originally Posted by BlueHavoc

That is freaking incredible! I've heard fellow pilots here talk of hummingbirds & dragonflies chasing & interacting with their quad but never a large bird of prey! It would have been something to witness that!

it was definitely my first encounter with a bird of prey lol

I do have a regular group of visitors at my park during the daytime though. usually a hummingbird comes over follows me around for a little while, also when I fly up high I usually become encircled by this group of smaller sized birds. my most common visitor however is this large black bug that is almost always right on my tail. I see it when I fly closer, but it appears to be following the mqx around the entire time. today a couple pigeons flew by and I saw one of them craning it's neck looking over lol