EXI 450 V2

[nunyabizniss34]

OK, it arrived today....now the fun begins

Exceed Alpha 400 motor
Volcano 30a ESC
Telebee HH gyro
Towerpro SG90 servo's on cyclic and tail
CNC tail upgrade (head is already CNC, plastic tail)

The build will begin tomorrow, I just worked 14 hrs so screw it ;D
Pretty basic electronics I know, but I am no expert flyer and didn't want to spend a whole bunch of money yet. I'm sure that will come ;D Pics/video's to follow in the coming days, along with a sh!tload of questions I'm sure.

Colin

[akent]

OOPS! I tried to use the Towerpro SG90's on my Exi 450 SE, and I had horrible luck with them.
For some reason, they went nuts and caused the heli to crash once, before I found out they were doing strange things.
I replaced them with Hitec HS65HB's and have never had another problem.

Note that it was possible that the problems I had with those servos was a static problem. I ran a wire from the boom to the frame and things got better, but not perfect. Those servos I think are very sensitive. They also draw a lot of power. I know folks run those servos in helis, so maybe I just had something funky going on with mine.

The rest of the parts you have sound great.
Back then I was also running the Alpha 400 and Volcano 30a ESC.

Here's a vid of those servos and what they were doing.

[akent]

Oh, and if you can get to and remove that sticker from the motor, it will save you from a big startle later, when it starts to come off and makes horrible screeching noises!!
Kent

[nunyabizniss34]

Yikes, that's friggin scary. Maybe I will rip out the servo's from my BH 450.....I also have some that Ernie very kindly sent me. It will be bench tested many, many times before it takes to the air.

Thanks for that info Kent

Colin

[BTCat]

Sept 1, 2009 17:40:55 GMT -6 akent said:

Oh, and if you can get to and remove that sticker from the motor, it will save you from a big startle later, when it starts to come off and makes horrible screeching noises!!
Kent

Leave the sticker on the motor. That is a right of passage! We all must experience that out of the Alpha 400. You will not believe how terribly destructive that benign sticker sounds when it flies off. I wish I had a video of the look on my face when that happened ;D ;D ;D

You're going to love that EXI!

[nunyabizniss34]

I think so too BT...and you may very well become my new best friend ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D It's gonna be a fun build!

Colin

[Solitaire]

Yep, welcome to the EXI family, Colin. I think there are about 12 or 13 EXI owners in the membership now.

[akent]

Sept 1, 2009 19:31:43 GMT -6 BTCat said:

Sept 1, 2009 17:40:55 GMT -6 akent said:

Oh, and if you can get to and remove that sticker from the motor, it will save you from a big startle later, when it starts to come off and makes horrible screeching noises!!
Kent

Leave the sticker on the motor. That is a right of passage! We all must experience that out of the Alpha 400. You will not believe how terribly destructive that benign sticker sounds when it flies off. I wish I had a video of the look on my face when that happened ;D ;D ;D

You're going to love that EXI!

I remember semi-crashing when I first heard that sticker coming off!!! I thought WTF!!! And landed really hard.
I think Xheli does that on purpose!
;D ;D ;D ;D

[nunyabizniss34]

Screw that.....it's coming off! ;D ;D ;D

Colin

[19000rpm]

Good luck on the EXI build colin. ;D

The sticker on my Alpha 400 was already peeling off when I got it, so I pulled it off and I missed out on the screaming sticker experience. Probably saved me from a hard landing at the very least. ;D

Happy landings

[nunyabizniss34]

OK it's done...just taking a break before taking her outside for a few tests. 7 hours from start to finish. I gotta say.... INSTALLING SERVO'S SUCKS A$$!!! That took me longer than anything else. I am using my Blackhawk 450 TX/RX, turns out it is identical to the Exceed 2.4ghz TX and is programmable in the same way. It will do until I can get my hands on a Spektrum. Pics/vids to follow later ;D Still need to track and balance blades/set pitch.

Colin

[akent]

For the future to remove the servos:
Remove the head. One screw in the bottom gear.
Remove the anti-rotation bracket. On the Exi, you may need to remove this with the head.
Remove the top main shaft bearing holder.
Remove the spacer parts that go between the frame halves on the top.
Loosen all of the upper frame screws.

Now, you can pull the frame apart a little bit and have lots more room to work in there.

This is what I do.

It's really quick to do all of the above, especially once you've done it a few times.

Best,
Kent

[nunyabizniss34]

Thanks Kent, I will remember that for future reference. I spun her up outside....keeps spinning CCW quite violently. And no lift whatsoever. Of course, I haven't set the blade pitch yet so no surprise there, but the spinning has me puzzled. I messed around with the gyro a little but nothing helped. The gyro gain on the TX doesn't seem to be working so I am going to check the TX settings before I try anything else. The sevo horn is 90* to the boom and tail slider is centered. More to follow...I told you all I'd have questions ;D

Colin

[nunyabizniss34]

Edit to above post...got her in the air, still need to fix a very unstable tail. It's getting dark here now so I have to leave it for tomorrow but I think I just need to dial in the gyro properly. It's not a tail wag, more me having to fight the rudder a bit to keep the nose pointing in the right direction, the tail drifts in both directions like the gyro isn't holding the nose straight. So far, I like it...I like it a lot ;D

Colin

[nunyabizniss34]

Here she is

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