Helicopter project part 1 Introduction and history

[large_ghostman]

WARNING CONTAINS DEV BOARD PORNOGRAPHY​

Sorry for the picture quality, I had to give back the telephoto lens while I was shooting, some of the pictures arnt great.

I got the helicopter Christmas year before last, it flew around 4-5 flight's before it's final crash! I am rebuilding it and this is my journey.
Part 1 (this) is a little back ground information on what I know, and some details on what I intend to do with it. First a picture (rubbish one) of what is left, I have yet to find the radio control unit, this was lost while moving but is here 'somewhere'.

**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**
It had a thin plastic nose shell, this was utterly destroyed in the final flight and has been removed. Before I go into details etc, I will post a pic of some the boards I can choose from for this project, note they are a long way from being all mine, but there is a couple I can use
**broken link removed**
I will post in a bit some details and plenty more pics

 

[large_ghostman]

Sorry about that I had something to do!
Anyway
The helicopter was about £130, it came from a very small 'toy shop' about 40 miles from where we lived in devon. The helicopter came in 3 version's, the top of the range one (I havnt seen it), the next model down and mine the one here. The guy that owned the shop got 12 of mine and 12 of the next model up, he took everyone's details and tried to start a sunday morning flying club for them, we went 3-4 times but it was a bit far. I did manage to get a chance to fly the next model up though on a couple of occasion's, the difference between the 3 models was not that great in some way's. This is what I know of the differences.
The other model I flew had 2 battery packs instead of one
It came with a heavy dead basic camera that could only take a limited number of still pics.
It had a different plastic nose cone
The rest from what I remember was essentially the same, they both used the same frame and same motors, the other model was a fair bit heavier and flew better because of that, I found mine was too light, there was little control on take off.
In the end that what was what caused the big crash, I found you got the rotors spinning's and had to kind of start them pretty quick or the metal stabilizer bars at the top snagged the blades below! The problem was, just a slight increase from this point and the helicopter took off, but it was very quick so I found it difficult to take off in a controlled way. It would simply shoot straight up to about 10 meters, the other model was heavier so when you tried to take off, it rose at a more controlled rate.
In some ways that's good, it means I need to add some weight! This is ideal because the mods I have in mind will add some weight ,I am not going too heavy though, I am aiming for a weight between what mine is, and what the other type weighed.
After flying both I know the motors have plenty of power, the main rotors are driven separately in opposite directions from one motor each, I am fairly sure the motors are brush less, there is also a tail motor that I am sure just gets the nose to drop so the helicopter goes forward, the battery pack is also as far forward as the body work allows.
I am making it semi autonomous for now, maybe full GPS autonomous flight later on, this mainly depends on my getting my head around some of the maths involved for it.
First job is to try and find the controller, I will then remove the rotor blades and do some test's. There is an inbuilt problem with one motor, when they are armed and you pick up the helicopter, one of the motors can short on the body work and the rotor spins full pelt catching your fingers sometimes ,I had 4 stitches from the first time.
There is also a few repairs I need to make including a bad bend in the rear shaft, I have straightened it as much as I can but really it needs a new one.

As per advice I will keep an eye on weight, but it is fairly powerful for what it is, and I am sure it can handle the mods I have in mind.
So what do I have in mind? I dont have my book handy at the moment, but in the next post I will out line some of what I have in mind, I have thought alot about what I want to do, and apart from the fully autonomous bit, if I break it into chunks it isnt massively difficult. I am keeping the post's fairly short so those with a slow connection might find it easier to follow.

TBC
next post to detail a bit more of what I intend, feel free to comment, dont be offended if I choose to follow my own path on this one. I hope you will find the project as enjoyable as I hope too.

 

[Mickster]

The motors, which drive the counter-rotating rotor blades, appear to be brushed DC motors. See 1st image in post#2, you can see the pressings which hold the magnets to the motor casing. Just a little heads-up.
Incidentally, from that image it looks like the motor is a face looking out from some sort of imprisonment.

Regards.

EDIT:
FYI, you are correct about the motor on the tail. It's purpose in this application, is to pitch the airframe for forward and backward flight. The yaw is controlled by adjusting the counter-rotating blade speed, with respect to each other.

 

[ghostman11]

This is LG I cant post on my name.

I thought about the motors being brushed however there is a pcb on the bottom of each?? I am sure your correct, however untill I can take it apart to get a proper look I cant tell. If your correct (I have no reason to doubt you are) then I have learnt a great way to tell the difference .
More later with pics once I can post again!!!

This is LG

 

[4pyros]

oh no now what? why can you post using your account?

 

[4pyros]

A spare parts site;
https://www.feala.com/FXD-A68690-rc-helicoter-and-A68690-parts.htm

 

[4pyros]

More spare parts;
**broken link removed**

The main drive motors look like regular brushed permanent magnet motors with a board mounted to the power leads to hold noise suppression caps.
You should look up upgrade parts for your Hei.

 

[large_ghostman]

Hi, thanks for the link, I am surprised about the motors, and more surprised by the battery. Mine is totally dead and wont charge, I dont have the charger now anyway. I am going to upgrade myself I think
The link is very handy as I have the top rotor bar bent, trouble is by the time I add shipping to the UK its expensive for spares. The helicopter has real potential, but seems some corners were cut, I am going to continue this thread over at AAC, I have a completely stupid ban here on a thread and I am sick of being treated so differently. I will catch you over there 4pyros, hopefully later I will have some better pics as well.