Esky Honeybee FP - Replacement of the main motor.

With the new tailmotor installed, the honeybee FP was perfectly controlable again. The only thing now was that it flew only for about 3 minutes with a fully charged 7.4V Lipo.

The mainmotor had lost power too from all those flying hours. So I've replaced the main motor too. This is an easy job done within 5 minutes. I took off the heat sink and cut the strip that held all the wires a bit together.

I first unscrewed the main motor. It is held in place by two screws at the bottom. By rotating the main gear the second screw becomes visible through one of the holes at the surface of the main gear.

The wires of the main motor are attached to the "4 in 1" receiver. You can easily plug them out.

The new main motor. It comes with two new screws.

The new motor screwed on and wires plugged in. Old screws next to the skids.

The bottom looked like this. Time to make a test hover. The helicopter made a strange noise and had almost no lifting power.

After a close examination I found out that the teeth of the motor made poor contact with the gear. I loosened the screws a little and pushed the motor more towards the gear. Very tight this time.

This also resulted in a strange noise while rotating and the heli had also almost no lifting power.

The third time the grip was not too tight nor too loose. The middle way. (sounds like Buddha ;-)

This time it worked perfectly and I had an outside flight of 8+ minutes.

Flies like new !

E-Sky Belt CP V2's Maiden Flight

It was a little windy but I couldn't resist to go out and try the belt cp v2. I had the 2 batteries charged. We were ready ! ! !

It's maiden flight took about 2 SECONDS !!! ... and it even barely left the ground.

CRASH - Broken blades were the first obvious damage.

The main blade grip has bent. Ouch that hurts !

A beautiful bird with broken wings.

I need some specific tools to repair this kind of damage. So I ordered a helicopter toolbox from China and some spare parts from the Netherlands.

The spare parts already arrived but I'm waiting for the toolbox to start the repairs.

Back to the simulator for now.

And hey, I bought a large training gear set ;-)

My heli's stay on the ground.

The Honeybee against the blue sky.

The Dauphin indoor flight.

Both helicopters need repairs at the moment. I need 2 new motors for the Dauphin but they are hard to get. Out of stock.

The Honeybee FP needs a new flybar and a new tail boom. Flybars are also out of stock and I've used up the bars of the training gear.

Small technical update - Esky Dauphin

Spare parts came in. A new inner shaft + new fly bar (stabilizer) + new gear for the upper blades.

The disassembled Dauphin.

The new wheel fits perfectly.

The assembled Dauphin. It didn't come of the ground :-((

I reversed the blades. A-blades should be the upper blades. B-blades the lower blades.

It flies much better and smoother. I have right yaw again. Though the nose still tends to go left and the trim is in its extreme right position.

This must be due to a difference in power between both motors but I can control the helicopter perfectly.

Oh, Yes, I ordered my second electric RC helicopter yesterday. A small step up the ladder in rc helicopter flying...

I'm sure I'm gonna post pictures !

E-Sky Dauphin - a small technical intermezzo

Since some time this helicopter has no right yaw anymore. This means that I can't turn its nose to the right (tail to the left) anymore. I've posted this problem on a few forums about electric helicopters. Some nice heli enthusiasts gave me tips on where to look in order to find the problem. After close examination this is what I found :

The little copper wheel is attached to the motor. When it turns (motor on) it makes the large plastic wheel turn. There are actually 2 large wheels on top of each other. One to make the upper blades spin, the other for the lower blades.

This picture shows the black plastic wheel that drives the upper blades. The little copper wheel you see in this pictures drives actually the plastic one underneath the one you see.

The wheel for the upper blades looses contact at some point with the small wheel of the motor. At some other point it pushes against it.

This picture is seen from above.

I might be needing another plastic wheel or maybe a new inner shaft or probably both.

Some people suggested that one of the motors could be going bad.

Thank you for the suggestions.

Replacing the fuselage of the E-Sky Dauphin. (step by step)

The new fuselage in front of the old one.

First I took off the stabilizer.

I took off all the blades. (notice the damaged tips) You only need to remove 4 screws and the blades come off.

All blades are taken off. This heli won't fly far.

I removed the 1st pin that holds the fuselage to the inner frame.

This is the second pin.

Two pins taken off.

This is the inner body of the helicopter.

The swash plate.

This picture reminds me of two famous Hollywood robots :

The led on the old fuselage is still connected.

I took out the little plug that connects the led light on top of the tail.

The one connected to the new fuselage went in.

I connected a battery to check if the led worked... It didn't :-((

I had connected the plug upside down. In this picture it is done correctly.

The led flashes.

I taped the wire back to the frame.

I put the pins back in place and the blades back on. Job done ! ! !

A few pictures of the Dauphin in its new clothes.

I think the helicopter looks great !

I've made an appointment with my dear brother who's a photographer. We're gonna do a little photo shoot of the Dauphin in action.

I can't hardly wait to fly this beauty !