Trex 500e conversion to DFC

[ianmat]

I am the proud owner of a Trex 500e and I am seriously thinking of converting it to flybarless, instead of doing the same to my 450... can anyone point out if this is worth doing and what benefits I will get.... or am I best off not bothering and saving my money?

[tomatwalden]

I am the proud owner of a Trex 500e and I am seriously thinking of converting it to flybarless, instead of doing the same to my 450... can anyone point out if this is worth doing and what benefits I will get.... or am I best off not bothering and saving my money?

My personal take is that flybar v flybarless is a preference thing rather than better or worse ... If you do convert, I would seriously look into whether or not your want DFC mind ... My flybarless 500 is the EFL (swash follower) version rather than DFC. Interesting that even Sab are now offering Goblins with normal flybarless heads ...

[trillian]

My 500 is the old version and originally came with the metal flybarred head. I flew it like that for a bit over a year and it flew very well. The only thing I did was add a programmable mix (ail to elev) to get a clean aileron roll with it. I also added a bit of weight to the stock plastic paddles.

I converted it over the summer to FBL using a BeastX ver2 and RJX head. I was flying mainly with Align blades in flybarred form and these still worked quite well FBL but I got some Mavrikk G5s and liked them a bit better so that's what I have stuck with.

The differences are;

In FBL form it has a bit less drift in aero moves, particularly where you have vertical stops at the top of a climb, it also flies in FF flight a bit straighter.

When it comes to flying really smooth and making really fluid movements, for example doing a graceful figure-8 with even banks, steady speed and height, it was better with the flybar, it was smoother and more linear in feel and easier to make a figure-8 look right. The hovering has also suffered vs how it used to hover in flybarred form (I'm talking about if you really try to hover precisely over a flag, not just an arbitrary spot in the air).

Since it gained some accuracy in the aero stuff I think the conversion was worth it and overall I like the way it flies and have adjusted to the difference in smoothness. (I still had to use a programmable mix to get a straight aileron roll, which surprised me).

[ianmat]

Ok noob question, how is DFC different to flybarless?

[maddog7]

DFC IS flybarless.
I think it's a little difficult to say exactly since I believe DFC refers to "direct flight control" I think it was a system as opposed to a single component per se but Align call the head that uses "A" arms from the blade grips direct to the swash a "DFC" head. The alternate system uses a device that clamps to the mainshaft to transfer from the swash.
Reading about on the web, it seems the issue some have is as a result of the "A" arm being too stiff and preventing the dampers in the head allowing the grips some movement.
The same system is used by others, noteably compass, but they use plastic for most of the arm which allows the grip to flex.
I'll try and find some piccies.
D

[maddog7]

DFC head vs compass head.
Not everyone has issues with the DFC head though.

[Dan22]

Hi mate,
I have just finished my 500 conversion to flybarless. I have to say it was stable before the conversion but now its hands off stable in the hover and as Trillion says tracks better in forward flight, goes like stink and it's totally transformed the heli. Mine has the DFC conversion with a BeastX fbl system which was easy to set up. (Big thanks to Spanner for the help)
When i fly my flybarred Raptor i notice i have to make a lot more corrections during flying and it lacks power compared to the 500, the Raptor is still my favourite heli though!
So yes well worth doing in my opinion, the down side is i now want a fbl 450 (prob Blade 450X)

Dan.

[trillian]

When i fly my flybarred Raptor i notice i have to make a lot more corrections during flying and it lacks power compared to the 500, the Raptor is still my favourite heli though!
So yes well worth doing in my opinion, the down side is i now want a fbl 450 (prob Blade 450X)

Dan.

'Speaking of the Raptor, last time I took the 500 and the Raptor 50 out and I had not flown the Raptor in a while and had become very used to the feel of the 500 I was experiencing the same thing, being very aware of having to correct more on the Raptor. I also thought the Raptor seemed a bit twitchier around mid-stick so I added a bit more expo. So, the FBL 500 is actually changing the way my other helis fly as I try to get them to all converge into something similar.

[Leigh Beaumont]

I own a 500 last year as fly barred machine and it flew great, so purchased another this summer but decided to convert to fly barless as that's the way I've gone I thought they were good before but it's awesome as a flybarless using a beastX v3 software it's now my fave machine to fly. I try all my new moves on this machine and won't be selling it any time soon.