Blade 400 - Greasing and Lubrication

[dam74]

Not to worry Boggy, it's all a learning experience with these helicopters
I blame it on the lack of information from the manufacturers. How hard would a detailed sketch of one side of the rotor head of been. It has so many components that it's impossible to comprehend the diagram.

On another note Boggy/Steve/Dan/Grant, could you help me with pitch settings?
Helicopter is pretty much ready to fly now besides the pitch settings. I did a bit of a test in my living room and it seems to be drifting to the left which it did before the crash. Nothing noticeably wrong except that low/zero throttle/collective gives some spin to the rotor. Probably me naffing up the binding again or menu settings

[xygax]

I set all mine up to 0 pitch at center stick and then a pitch range of +/- 10 degrees this is done on the pitch curve as the mechanical movement is diferent on diferent models...my knight will do just about +/-13 at the onset of binding and some of the litle uns will do similar... you dont really need more than 10 degs until you get into serious 3d the hover point on most helis is around 6 degs so you have more than enough for a climb out at 10 degs and you can still bog it at that if not careful...

Steve

[dam74]

Yeah that is what I thought steve. Previous tutorials on the subject have suggested around +10, 0, -5 for beginners/normal then for stunt around +12, 0, -12.

So I'm a little concerned about center stick reading of +4 to 5. I am using a large pitch guage, the one for my Century Hawk Pro but have made sure it's closed fully. Could slop be causing it to be inaccurate and giving misreadings? Should I bite the bullet and get a micro/mini guage?
If so any recommendations for 400/450 size helis as I'll probably get a T-Rex 450 clone next?

[anyw]

hope no one minds me coming in here, i had shall we say a little bump with my blade a couple of nights ago, afterwards could see no obvious damage but when starting her up there is what i would call a slight vibration do you guys think it could be the feather shaft

[dam74]

Anyw, I'd suggest a strip down and take a look. I started to get slight vibration after a couple of my first bump which was too much forward cyclic when keep the collective constant. The result was no lift off but a tilt into the ground so the blades slapped the dirt. After that I noticed a slight vibration but didn't think much of it. Then last week I had a major cockup that required me to go in with the rotors spinning to disconnect the power. The damage most likely occurred then to my feathering shaft but after the second time I stripped the heli and my o-rings were damaged along with the feathering shaft. Had lots of other damage aswell such as flybar rod and the two M3 bolts that connect the rotor head to the shaft and the lower bolt aswell. I'd seriously recommend to disconnect and look it doesn't take much effort to check. Also check the flybar rod isn't slightly bent aswell but I'd most likely suspect feathering shaft.

[bladeboy400]

guys check the motor also sometimes the battery comes back and bends the motor shaft after that the bearing breaks up i also suggest the blade 400 bible which if you aint got you can google if not pm me i will send link regards

[BigBeard]

A bit late but I found this head layout picture handy.

[anyw]

thank you, looks like i will have to have a go at stripping it down to have a look.

[dam74]

Anyw, don't consider it a bad thing. It won't take much time to do in the evening when sitting down with a glass of beer/wine or whatever tickles your fancy. Reassembly time is quite quick if you make note/photograph what you do. I've had mine down to no motor, main shaft assembled and all of the linkages/pushrods removed. Took me about half a day to reassemble at a leisurely rate and I could of probably done it faster if I had documentation/pictures of how it went together. However I had to rely on guys on here to build up my confidence on how I put it back together.

[xygax]

about 40 mins from a pile of bits to trimmed up and flying... for those little uns... it becomes instinctive when you have done a few

[dam74]

about 40 mins from a pile of bits to trimmed up and flying... for those little uns... it becomes instinctive when you have done a few

Now you've made me feel bad for taking so long I think most of the problem I had was the 3mm inner diameter shim placement. I think most of it was put back together this morning in about 30min. Trimming is something I'm not sure about either

[Dan1982]

When I first took mine apart it took ages to put back together must have nearly took a day with no help from the internet just the exploded diagram (what a bitch that can be). Now I too can strip down all bent bits and replace for new in about 30-40 mins. Which I guess it is not a thing to brag about really, I just got to stop crashing!!

[anyw]

going to have a go in the next couple of days, it will be the first ever attemp so be prepared for lots of questions. first 2 questions where is the best (quickest place to get the parts) and any tips before i start would be great.

[dam74]

First thing is to make sure you take your time and take lots of photos. Also make sure you have a few containers to store the parts. I tend to use plastic angling boxes (the only things I had at hand), the other good thing to use is plastic box a bits organisers. Lots of tradesmen use them (such as myself) to store bits.

I'd use the following websites for reference:

The Blade 400 Bible
How to Repair and fix Your Blade 400 Helicopter
Was bored, made a diagram of feathering shaft assembly - HeliFreak
Blade 400 Repair


As for spare parts I recommend the following websites:

Genuine Align RC Helicopters and Spares Parts from Sussex Model Helicopters
Fast Lad Performance

I use the top most website but both have the eflite range of parts iirc. Both are very rapid with delivery as well. If I place an order early monday morning (eg. before business open) I will recieve in Tuesdays post so they'll be there when I get home from work.

[anyw]

thanks silly question is the feather shaft a standard size for all helis this size or is every make/model different

p.s who thinks she will never fly again after i've had a go at it