[Gordo]

I just got the rest of my stuff. Ready to finish the Bipe. Here's what I gotta know:

1. I ordered extra of everything. I got AL gear (pinion) that slides on and off. And brass gear that won't go on at all. Which do I use and how? I've heard of "locktite" but the AL gear has zero friction, will it glue on? And how can I press on the brass?

2. Do you guys use the bullet connectors that come with the HiMax?

3. Is there a known size of "O" ring I need, or just take the motor in and get one that fits?

4. Other advice?

Thanks

 

[ChuckAuger]

The brass pinion is the one to use. Press it on in a vise, just get the motor and pinion all lined up and slowly close the vise until the pinion is flush with the end of the motor shaft. BE SURE to press against the rear end of the motor shaft, not the motor can.

Anyway, when the gear is as far as it will go, you can either stand it on it's end in a drill press with the chuck opened just enough for the motor shaft to go up into it and use the drill press to press it down the rest of the way, or...

Drill a small hole (3mm or so) in a piece of hard wood and line that up in the vise where the motor shaft will go through the gear and into the hole. Then just press the gear up as far as you need to get the gears lined up.

The vise is a little more controlled, but you will need to have a block with a hole in it. The drill press is faster, but it's easy to overshoot and slide the gear on too far.

A little Red Loctite on the shaft won't hurt, but you don't really need it with the pressed on brass gear.

Yes, use the bullet connectors. If you have several set ups, you can melt the bullet connectors off the motor leads and use a more universal connector, but the Himax ones are pretty good. DO NOT cut the wires on the Himax...ask me how I know!!

There is a known size of O Ring..but I don't know it. I was thinking #14, but I could be radically wrong. I used pin striping tape to support the end of mine.

 

[Gary Seeloff]

DO NOT cut the wires on the Himax...ask me how I know!!

OK I'm asking....since I did cut the wires on mine! But I've learned since then, I would definitely use the connectors next time.

Gordo, is your gear really aluminum? All I've ever seen are brass and stainless steel. Mine is stainless and fits with as you say zero friction. I glued it with loctite 609 and it has stayed put for zillions of flights and several "Whomps". The loctite does need 24hrs to cure, whereas the press-on gear is ready to go right now.

Gary

 

[Gordo]

Thanks guys. Gary, it may be Stainless. Looks like AL but it's so small it's mard to tell how it's density compares. If everyone else's is SS then I'm sure mine is too!

Thanks guys, today may be the day!!!

 

[ChuckAuger]

DO NOT cut the wires on the Himax...ask me how I know!!

OK I'm asking....since I did cut the wires on mine! Gary

Gary already knows this, but I'll put it here for Gordo's benefit.

Yeah, I just jumped in there with some side cutters and.....found out that the wire is actually 4 separate strands of varnish coated magnet wire, and solder won't stick to the varnish. So I had to burn the varnish off with a lighter, and scrape the wires down to bare copper so I could solder to them. All this while trying to keep from yanking the wires out of the motor, trying to keep the wire from the ESC lined up for a good connection, etc.

Took about an hour of hard cussing for what should have been a 5 minute job. But if you just sweat the Himax connectors off, you have a nice little tinned pigtail to work with.....something I sure wish I'd thought of before I picked up those wire cutters..

And yeah, if you have a SS pinion and some Green Loctite, that pinion will last forever. The brass ones will wear out (mine needs replacing now..) but I can't even guess how many flights it has..been on there since September last year.

We have some pretty good thunderstorms here today, no flying for me.

 

[Gordo]

I don't have green, so I'll go with the brass gear. But when the need comes to remove it, how is it done?

 

[ChuckAuger]

They make a pinion puller to get the old pinions off. You can tap it off with just a pair of needle nose and a punch if you don't need to salvage the pinion.

 

[Gordo]

Test flew today, light rain but very little wind, perfect ProBro weather!

Really was impressed, power was really great, the bigger ailerons made it roll very well, may need bigger elevators. Hovered and harriered easy as pie. I only got about 3 minutes on it, I don't have a charger so that is just what was already in it.

I think the CG on the plans was wrong. I had to put the battery right up at the motor even though I had the tail servos more forward than the plans already. After first minute I moved the Battery back a lot and that slowed it down and made the ele more sensitive. I will add more velcro to try even further back.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

 

[ChuckAuger]

Well if you still have a plane, you don't need no other stories! :lol:

That's the good thing with Velcro and batteries. A little CG change is a snap! Now if you need a major one, that won't be so easy. If you feel like you need bigger elevators, you might be noseheavy with the battery that far forward. But, with Depron it takes about 20 minutes to cut a bigger set of elevators and try that! It's all good, glad your maiden was a success.

 

[Gary Seeloff]

Gary already knows this, but I'll put it here for Gordo's benefit.

Actually I didn't know that. I'm glad you posted, that explains why I had such a hard time getting a good solder joint on the motor wires! Guess I'm not the most observant fellow.....

Gary

 

[ChuckAuger]

Oh! Well, you need to make sure you have each of the individual varnished wires soldered to the ESC wires. It's not good enough to just have one or two or three of the wires in each bundle connected, this will leave some of the fields dead (or some such..) But yours has been running, so I'm betting you are good to go. If you remember having any trouble with any single wires it might be worth a look.

 

[Gordo]

I've got annother question. I now have an eTec 1200 and a Thunder Power 1350 (LiPos) When I run them down to the cutoff, the both take in the neighborhood of 1100 mAh to full charge. Is that right? I don't know how that compares since these are my first LiPos. They have both been charged 3 times now. Thanks

 

[ChuckAuger]

All I could tell ya is it sounds like you are burning about 1100 Mah out of each one. The TP 1350 would theoretically be able to deliver a little more amps, but I bet you aren't drawing the max rate from either pack. A buddy wants me to try some Irate 1100's he makes, he claims they will out-perform the 1200's I'm using. I have a semi-grasp of the motors, but the batteries are still pretty baffling to me.