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CopterX CX 450AE V3 Flybarless Kit Review |
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CopterX 450 Flybarless Kit
- From EHIROBO
ESC = No brand Ebay sourced 40A
Motor = Turnigy Typhoon 2215H
Gyro = CopterX 3-1000
Servos = Digital
Radio = 9x
Motor Pinion Gear = 13T
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Now this is a nice comprehensive kit , and your not wanting for
anything but the bolt on's required to get
this bird in the air [ Gyro - ESC - Motor - Servo's Tx/Rx and
batteries ] , just the normal run of the mill
stuff , though you will need a 3 axis gyro for a flybarless head
. The kit comes with a very nice canopy and
set of rotor blades , as well as thread lock , cyno and lube [ a
nice touch ] .
There is nothing challenging about this kit , if you have built
one or two before , you can almost assemble this
one in your sleep [ Almost ] . The only part requiring
replacement was the overly long tail rotor control rod , it
was simply to long . Overall the kit is very nice quality
wise , and as I write this I have hovered it in the back yard ,
and the only challenging aspect has been the 3 axis gyro [ a
review onto itself ] , so lets forget about the gyro and
concentrate on the actual kit .
The tail rotor assembly was not thread locked , so you want to
take care of this ASAP so as not to forget ,
as well neither were the frame screws , something you might want
to do . Funny thing though , looks like the head
itself was thread locked [ very nice ] , but you just might want
to check in anyways .
Overall I found the kit to be very nice , but there are a few
things needing mentioning , the tail rotor shaft
has some play in it , now this is not overly bad unless you plan
on pulling some serious RPM , as at higher
speeds there was some notable vibration coming from the tail .
The head on the other hand simply ran superbly,
I removed the tail rotor grips etc. from the tail , so it was
only the tail rotor shaft on the back end and the head , and
spinning up the motor to 100% throttle , it was smooth , not
quite butter smooth , but vibration free .
It might pay to do a full rebuild on the tail rotor assembly to
remove the play from the tail rotor shaft , so
as to get as smooth a running heli as possible . Now at lower
RPM or head speed , there was not much vibration
to speak of , so it all depends on the variables I guess [ what
the user gets - and what the user wants ]
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The motor and servos all went in with no issue what so ever [ 9g
servos ] , surprising for the kits price point , as
usually the motor mount requires a little adjustment to
accommodate the motor [ Not with this CX kit ] .
Servos went in easy , I used the supplied servo screws [ came
with servo ] and simply self tapped them into
the frame holes , and it worked a treat , servos are tight and
secure with no play . |
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I'm impressed by the kit , but time to talk about the negatives
. I really don't like the Phillips head screws
used , I don't think they belong on a (any) helicopter kit . And
I did replace some with hex head screws
where I was uncomfortable with Phillips head screws , and I may
replace some more as time goes bye .
The play in the tail rotor shaft , ok this is not an expensive
kit , but definitely room for some improvement ,
and then there is the swash plate . There is just a little
oscillation going on when under power , I can see the control
arm mounting points moving about under power . Its not terrible
, its not affecting much of anything , but its something
that can be improved upon [ again price point might have
something to do with it ] .
When you consider how much a 450 kit can cost , the CopterX
flybarless kit [ $30 + Shipping @ time of review ]
represents some serious value for money , and if all CopterX
kits are built to this standard , how can I not recommend
it to anyone out there looking for a new kit . I cant and wont
say this is a choice kit for 3D or serious hot dogging , but
for an entry level flybarless kit , to teach the basics ,
setting up a 3 axis gyro , or to teach some one how to fly ,
then
this kit really needs some serious consideration . There are a
few minor little things to complain about , yet there are
so many things that are right , that made this kit so easy to
put together , there were no head aches [ except for waiting for
parts,
which is hardly the kits fault ] and if anything the kit makes
you look like a good builder , as things simply bolt together as they
need to [ no fitting - no mods ] . So considering the price [ I
have to ] I give this one 9 out of 10 , it just does so many
things right .
HOVERING = I have only been hovering with this kit so far as the
Gyro [ 3 axis ] has been a learning experience , and I haven't
got it set quite right yet. But I did hover with very slow head
speed , I'm talking 1500RPM or less , I then adjusted the pitch
of the
rotor blades and increased the head speed to 2000+ Rpm . Now at
slow head speed and higher head speed there was no porpoising ,
no funky movement of any kind , it was very solid . The
helicopter is seriously responsive , and ATM I have DR-70% ,
Expo-20% ,
and its still very responsive . The only thing needing attention
is the gyro settings , which have nothing to do with the kit .
This is a good
solid kit , its hover behavior is impeccable , and is very
stable through a huge head speed range , this was rather
surprising as many kits
have a definite preference for one or the other , another + for
the CX 450 FBL kit .
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