Happy Hirobo :D

[Doozer]

Just put two tanks through breaking it in. I hovered a little more than 15 minutes per tank (avg using stopwatch timer in radio). I had to go about a 3/4 of a turn more to get it to run cool. It was hot and raspy at the factory settings. It was running pretty rich after the change, but I left it that way. I'll lean it up some in a few more tanks.

Here's a video of it on the portable bench:



I tried to give the engine some gas and killed it. I had to pull the canopy off and restart it, but it cranked right back up with no problems.

[Dave]

Sound like a bunch of angry bee's

And where was it you were off to......

Dave

[Doozer]

Mar 22, 2011 16:27:58 GMT -6 Dave said:

Sound like a bunch of angry bee's

And where was it you were off to......

Dave

Beeees... they're everywhere... save yourself. LOL

A cul de sac? That's French for dead end. Most of them have a circle at the end so cars can turn around. At the end of our street we have one of those.

Google Earth Image:

My house has a pin on it. The empty field to the left of the cul de sac is where I fly. As you can see, it's all dirt and I didn't want to take the nitros there. I'm just breaking in this engine and I have to hover it... all that dust would fly up and I'd be cleaning up mud.

Here's a video of the third tank through:


I learned a few things. The richer I made the engine, the smoother it ran. I had a little wag at first, so I set it down, felt the back plate, made it 3 clicks richer, and the wag disappeared. So did the vibrations. I didn't dial indicate the fan but I'm sure I need to. One thing's for sure, I didn't come close to 1.5 turns out from the factory settings. 3/4 turns was the most I went out, and I'm sitting at 1/2 turn out right now. 1.5 turns would be a Smokey, raw fuel mess. I had some raw fuel spillage at 3/4 richer than factory.

Also noticing that I need to go back to factory settings to get it started. I can get it started rich if I remove the glow plug, turn it over and get some fresh air in the engine. Put the glow plug back in, set the trim and it cranks right up.

[Doozer]

Flew more today. Still taking it a bit easy, keeping it where I can keep an eye on the fuel. This is really one awesome heli. Those hovers yesterday were practically hands off. If it wasn't for the wind I'm sure I could have done it. FFF is like on rails, no sh^t! This would be a great beginner heli. I wish I would have had the foresight to start here. Really feels like a whole new hobby.

[Doozer]

I just got back from flying. This heli just amazes me. It's certainly not meant for 3D, but it is a very nice sport flier. It was very windy this afternoon, and you almost couldn't tell. Sustained winds of 20 mph with gusts that were much stronger. There were a few gusts that pushed the heli up or down, but I had more than enough power to handle it. Smooth and light describes it best. My Trex 600 ESP feels like I'm flying a brick after flying the Hirobo. I seriously want another Hirobo at some point.

I think I've got it tuned fairly well. Head temps avg 200 +/- a few degrees. Smoke is consistent loading and unloading the head, and the engine purrs. I'm using a CY Muscle Pipe (thanks Ernie) and I'm quite pleased. It's not much louder than my ESP, and the power is nice. I was getting 10 minutes per tank without running out of fuel. It's very refreshing to refuel and put another 10 minutes in the air time and time again. The fuel tank is 480cc or 16.2 oz., and I drained out close to 4 oz. So I'm getting between 45/50 seconds per ounce of fuel.

[Doozer]

A couple of interesting things happened this week with the Hirobo. Since I'm waiting on China for Frenzy parts (your order is processing...processing... processing), I've had a chance to put some fuel through the Hirobo.

Well, I decided to try another pipe on the hirobo. When I took the MP5 off the Hirobo, I noticed quite a bit of varnish on the piston. That didn't make me happy, because this engine is new and shouldn't have that much varnish. I guess I was running it somewhat lean.

Yesterday I ran it with the pipe from the Frenzy and that was ugly. It was spitting raw fuel and acting really rich, but the engine temps were were in the low 200's. I took it up anyway and my son says immeadiately "that sounds funny." I bring it back to settle into a high hover and had a flame out. I auto'd it down but landed hard enough to break the rear landing gear and cracked the right side of the frame near the front skid. It stayed upright though, so I guess you could say it was a successful crash.

I drilled a hole on some spare frenzy skids I had, CA'd the frame together and put the CY Muscle Pipe back on. I took it out to fly today and had no problems. It flew great but I realized I had probably been flying it too lean.

It's been really hot here lately, and you want to go a bit more lean in the heat (exactly the opposite of what you'd think you're supposed to do). So I was running in a few (3 or 4) clicks leaner than the standard 1 1/2 turns out. So today I opened it up to exactly 1 1/2 turns out and it ran really nice. I could have kept my finger on the backplate all day. The head temp was 175 3 fins from the top. But I'm sort of upset because the damage is most likely already done. I guess there's nothing like having some experience.

[shakey]

Looks very stable Doozer. It would make a great beginner for someone. You will have a lot fun with her I'm sure. Good luck with it.