Coil spring suspension on ES 600 skids

I wish I could post pictures but I can't so I'll try to describe. I never liked the way my HBFP or my Belt CP's tail boom came out streight from the frame horizontal to the ground and how close that made the tail rotor and stabilizer fin to the ground. About two or three weeks ago I decided to try something. On both heli's I removed just the rear screws that hold the rear cross beace of the skids on (Super Skids on both). I inserted a nylon shim about 1/8" thick with a hole in them between the frame and the skid cross frame and reinserted and reattached the screw. Now the heli sits with a really agressive looking stance and it lifted the tail rotor about another 1" higher off the ground. Looks great and helps keep the tail out of the dirt when landing. I was so impressed with it that I decided today to do the same thing with my ES 600, except I substituted the shims with compression springs. I replaced the rear skid attachment screws with longer ones so I could fit the two about 1 1/4" long compression springs where I put the shims on the other two heli's and tightenesd the screws down to where the springs are compressed down to about 1'2" or so. Gives the heli that cool agressive stance and raises the tail rotor up about 2 1/2" and gives it a coil spring cushoned suspension for the rear of the skids. Don't have this heli ready to fly yet but I think it will be an improvement. I know it has been good for my HBFP and MY Belt CP.

Donnie D

wish you cold get some pics of it up bud :(

I'm gonna try to get one of my more computer literate buddys at work to help me post some pictures, but I just edited my post so maybe it will make more sense untill then. Down near the bottom I changed " about 1 1/4" screws" to "about 1 1/4" compression springs". That should make a bit more sense.

Donnie D

I'm not sure how that will work out, one of the things about the E_Smart is the skids can cause vibrations because they are kinda flimsy, some switch to stiffer skids, I know I will because I have the same skid related vibration in mine. But then again it may work great for you so let us know how it works out

Hey whats this about? What does it cause?? Is it an issue on all es's?

Not into the ES yet but I remember seeing somewhere a set of landing gear with a set of built in shock absorbtion somewhere. Will have to look through my links. Not sure what size heli they were for.

knew I had a link somewhere

http://xgearheli.com/spidergear.htm

Maybe I should get some....I usually land hard enough that spring loaded skids could send me back into the air and I could pretend I am flying

I don't know if they will work ok or not because like I said, I haven't finished my 600 build yet. Gonna order my ESC,BEC, Gyro and program card this week. All that will be left will be a battery and charger and of course, that all important set up.

I think I'm gonna improve on my idea by adding two more springs between the two I've got on it now just to stiffen up the suspension a bit. The ES 600 is pretty heavy. As soon as I do I'll get some pics to you Prel so you can post them for me.

I really think It's gonna work good though. If it causes any problems I can easily put it back the way it was. It really gives it a nice sharp looking stance though, and gets that tail rotor up off the ground.

Donnie D

Yo Don, Just keep in mind, by adding things like you've said you have altered how your heli will lift off!!! It won't be for long cause once your skids clear ground things will flatten out but up until then she's gonna want to pitch froward!!!
But I really would like to see pix too,
stsimmons@comcast.net
Thanks

Prel wrote:

knew I had a link somewhere

http://xgearheli.com/spidergear.htm

Maybe I should get some....I usually land hard enough that spring loaded skids could send me back into the air and I could pretend I am flying

The spider Gear is not that great. Before thinking about getting one, I consulted with Super Skids. While I know that they will want to promote their product, they are honest an explained the problems with this spring technology. It's not that great, so avoid this product.

Well what is the problem??

Sorry Fatdaddy, your gunna have to wait till Nuttcaze comes on to answer that.
Donnie D is trying to raise his un for more ground clearance.

Hey RTF-HELI you really think SuperSkids will fit under a 600 size bird? Correct me if I am wrong here but isn't there a huge differance in size between 450 and 600 skids. The other problem seems to be vibration that SuperSkids won't help with. Pitty cause I am a great fan of SuperSkids.

Fatdaddy wrote:

Well what is the problem??

its just that the stock skids brackets are kinda weak and sometimes when then heli has vibration problems, its because of the skids, its not a very big problem but since I wanna use my E-Smart for aerial photography/videography, I can't have the skids vibrating my heli so much, But I've heard good thing about using T-Rex 600 skids because they are stiffer.

Prel wrote:

Sorry Fatdaddy, your gunna have to wait till Nuttcaze comes on to answer that.
Donnie D is trying to raise his un for more ground clearance.

Hey RTF-HELI you really think SuperSkids will fit under a 600 size bird? Correct me if I am wrong here but isn't there a huge differance in size between 450 and 600 skids. The other problem seems to be vibration that SuperSkids won't help with. Pitty cause I am a great fan of SuperSkids.

You are correct. Super Skids sells a re-inforcement bracket that fits underneath the Super Skids 400 Landing Gear. It's an Adapter450 and works with SuperSkids400 and most 400/450 size helis. It strengthens the frame of 400/450 helis like the T-rex, DF36, Blade400 and Belt CP where the landing gear attaches. Adds 8mm ground clearance. Stiffens SuperSkids400 suspension. Comes in pairs and with hardware.

I don't sell this item yet as it is new. I will probabl have it when I introduce the brushless mod for the Walkera #36/Exceed Raptor G2. I'm working my way up on modifying these helis for brushless. Check out my website.

I've got Super Skids on both my HBFP and my Belt CP and on the Belt I also have the spacer block that adds the extra 8mm clearance. I also have a 1/8" shim between the frame and the rear skid on both heli's that raises up the tail by about an inch on both. I haven't seen any negative effects at all. It gets that tail rotor out of the dirt and looks great. That is where I got the idea to do the same for the 600, except use coil springs instesd of a spacer. Don't know about how it will affect the heli, not through with the build yet, but I can allways put it back like it was if I have to.

Donnie D

Here are the pics of Donnie D's ES600 with the springs added