FBL 450, special blades or not?

[trillian]

'Just curious about this.

I see discussions here and there about FBL blades on the bigger helis and I see people selling their standard Radix blades etc. as they have moved over to a dedicated flybarless blade.

So the question is; Are FBL blades needed on a 450?

I have yet to take the plunge into the flybarless world and I'd be interested in trying a Beast X on a Trex 450 at some point but would not want to lose the ability to run inexpensive blades.

[Andy from Sandy]

FBL blades tend to be a little heavier and have a neutral cordwise CoG; if you hang them up by the bolt holes they will hang down straight.

"coolice" found on his 450 that the Maniac blades are heavier than the Align blades and are working better.

[coolice]

Hey.

Out of all my Align models I found my 3G'd 450 PRO to be the most troublesome to start with, while the model flew ok even in hard 3D any fast forward, backwards, upright or inverted stuff didn't inspire confidence. What I had was a porpoising on the elevator, almost a pitching up sort of problem but i felt it was almost as if the 3G was struggling to find a happy neutral on the elevator axis in FFF.
I tried multiple settings, sensor mounting pads, KBDd hard head dampers and C/G positions but none of these worked great until I fitted heavier main blades.
I couldn't get some EDGE blades at the time so grabbed a set of 29 gram Maniacs which have made a world of difference to the model, the pitching o the elevator has gone and the model inspires much more confidence.
At some stage I do intend to try a dedicated FBL blade, I have Edge's on my 550 and Align 3G 690's on my 700E and these feel good.

As above EvoAndy has seen my trials leading to a setup which works well on my 450 PRO, so I would say without doubt the smaller 450 models do benefit from a heavier or FBL blade. I am convinced it was a weight issue, the stock Aligns are just too lite to help provide a stable head in fast flight, great on flybarred models though.

The latest 450 blades from Align which are very well priced I've seen have differing weights, actual weights of these I do not know but my Maniacs are 29 grams each so another blade around this weight should help smooth things out but I am yet to try others on tue model.
.

[Toolman]

I am interested in the same question, thinking of going 450 flybarless.
I currently have 4 pairs of blades, so would be a pain if they won't work.

I see there are Flybarless Radix 325's out now as well as the edges.

Tim.

[tourerjim]

There's already a post on here with same thing anyhow as I mentioned in the other post I've read on other forums of people using a 3D pro blades & haven't needed to balance them I found them on Hobbykings web site, I'm at the moment trying them out on my 250 FBL with beastx & have been swapping back n forth with the Align carbon D's & much to my surprise they perform better so I will get a couple sets for my two 450's & I will report back once I've tested them' so I have decided Im keeping the 3D ones on my 250.

[Mikej]

I use dead cheapo $4 H-K blades on my Copterx 450 Beastx - I find them absolutely fine, I'm not much of a flyer however - flips, loops, rolls etc. are all that I can do

[pgkevet]

I'm flying the cheap 3D blads on my 500 and 600fbls but then I'm just mean.. havenlt swapped a 450 to fbl (yet) but ya can bet I'll fly it cheap too if I do.. the amount of times I hit dirt it's a necessity....

[coolice]

Hey.

I'd be interested to know what weight the cheaper blades come in at?
I would imagine them to be heavier as while they may look carbon on the outside, to save money may well be more glass fibre inside which adds to the overall weight.

As I mentioned it's only been on the smaller 450 where I've found heavier blades to be ideal, on the 550 the stock Align 520's worked well and initially on my 700N 3G the 690D's worked great to.

The EDGE blades on my 550 feel good, hence why I'm keen to try the smaller version on my 450. However the Radix are also on my list to try, I might have to ask the boys at Midlands nicely if they have a working set I can try ;-)
.

[tourerjim]

I'm flying the cheap 3D blads on my 500 and 600fbls but then I'm just mean.. havenlt swapped a 450 to fbl (yet) but ya can bet I'll fly it cheap too if I do.. the amount of times I hit dirt it's a necessity....

If there same 3D blades then the ones on my 250FBL take a good stick banging with no probs.

[pgkevet]

Hey.

I'd be interested to know what weight the cheaper blades come in at?
I would imagine them to be heavier as while they may look carbon on the outside, to save money may well be more glass fibre inside which adds to the overall weight.

weights on HK website 21g each
https://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/...dProduct=10820

[coolice]

weights on HK website 21g each
https://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/...dProduct=10820

Hey.

Ah, about the same as the Aligns then. They are;

325D's are 40g a set.
325F's are 44g a set.
.

[tourerjim]

I've just remembered I've got somewhere two pairs of 3D pro blades 500 heli size ones so weekend Im going in search for them, brought them of 'cant remember who it was' but they are member on here tried them way back when I got-em but cant remember why I took em off only had couple flights but now Im FBL with my 500 I'll try them again cant even remember having to balance them.