Motor break in? HPFP

So the HBFP should be at my door when i get home. Im going to balance everything that I can read about, reinforce things that I feel comfortable with and spin it up tied down to make sure it all works right.

One question-should I "burn in" the motor? Im not really comfortable taking it out and doing the AA battery/under water thing, but if i spun it up with no main blades (no load) would that accomplish anything/hurt anything? Is it even necessary on one of these? I know its a "starter" bird but I want it to last as long as possible.

Any other "preflgihts" i should do?

You obviously have been reading up on it, SMART thing to do. Please make yourself a training gear if you don't get one with it. That is very important. Also if you have a smoothe surface to practice over, you can leave the balls off the training gear. Also expect any vibration you have in the heli to be worse with the training gear. The gear will not cause vibration, but it will magnify it.

I don't think you need to worry about breaking in the motor. I've never done it, and I've had no problems. You really should add heat sinks to both motors as soon as you can. I'm convinced they help the motors last longer.

Anyway, main thing to remember is to be PATIENT. Helis are hard to learn to fly. It ain't gonna happen in one day.

Have fun, and remember were all here to help.

Donnie D

Thanks D. Heatsinks, spare blades, training gear and push rods came with this order

Ill just pull and balance the blades with whiteout, maybe this weekend solder in 2 fuses to protect the 4in1 if Im feeling gutsy.

I'd take it all apart and balance everything that can be balanced. If you don't it will be all over the place, and if you are flying training gear on it the flight time could be measured in seconds. Vibration effects it that bad.

You should also consider the mods in this thread - Link

IMO the stock Honey Bee barely has enough power to fly, so I wouldn't waste any time breaking in the motor. Swap it for the Xtreme motor.

Sorry Jack, but I have to respectfully disagree with you on that. I have a fully stock HBFP ythat I have flown close to 300 times. The only thing that is not stock is a set of Super Skids, and I have no problem with power unless something gets out of adjustment. If that happens, you're right, you must track down the problem and correct it. But the HBFP will do just fine stock as long as it is set up properly. Set up is everything in RC helicopters, whether it is an HBFP or some giant scale monster.

Donnie D

By the way, unless I have some some catastrophic crash that could come at any time, my HBFP, after nearly 300 flights, still flys just as good as it did the first time I flew it.

Thanks guys,
I doubt i will spending too much on upgrading the little thing, short of spare parts. To me, its a trainer-and when I feel good enough, I plan to either buy/build a bigger CP bird, but that will be a ways off.

The fiance claimed the HB as my birthday present ( I guess Im hard to buy for) and all i got to do last night was take it out of the box and make sure everything looked ok. Then i had to put it back and wait another month to get it...women.

Info from www.eflightwiki.com :
Motor break in:
Makes the motor last longer and cuts interference. It helps the brushes wear to fit the commutator without the sparking that occurs if you use full voltage. You can do this by running the motor from a single AA battery for an hour or two, or running the motor underwater from about 4 AA cells for about 5 minutes (dry and oil it afterwards, you don't want it rusting).

Donnie D wrote:

You really should add heat sinks to both motors as soon as you can. I'm convinced they help the motors last longer.
Donnie D

A got a tail motor sync with it. I cant for the life of me get it on the motor. Does anyone have a pic with one attached? its just the blue xheli one, but i feel like i would have to move the tail motor wires or bend the sync fins out of the way of the tail rotor axle. Thoughts? Also, what do you all use to adhere your heatsyncs? I have some high end artic silver thermal compound I am saving for a new PC build, but I could use a drop of it early i suppose.

The only way to get the heat sink on the tail motor is to unsolder the wires, put the heat sink on, then solder the wires back. Just make note which wire is on top and which is on bottom so you put them back the same way they came off. Really easy job. If you don't have a soldering iron, you need to go ahead and get one. You will need it sooner or later to replace the tail motor when the time comes anyway. Just a small iron is all you will ever need. You will also need one if you ever do a build.

I've never used any adhesive on my heat sinks. They sort of snap on and have always stayed on with no problem.

Donnie D

Branflake12, to get my tail motor heat sink on,(1) I cut the zip tie on the body holding the tail motor wires.(2) I took the screws out of the tail motor and pulled it out of the holder, you will be able to pull a little wire out after cuttting them loose.(3) Slide the heat sink over the pinion end and guide the wires through the fins in as close to normal pattern as possible.(4) Reinstall motor, pull wire back snug, and re-tie the wires. I have four HB series copters, and this worked on all four!

Donnie D - I balanced the main blades, tail blades, had the flybar paddles placed evenly and at the same angle of attack. Also, I had the main blades tracking evenly. I guess there's some other stuff in the head that I didn't have balanced.

If my HBFP's climbing power was doubled (at least doubled) it'd be equivalent to a stock Lama. I wouldn't rule out a problem in the head that could cause that kind of power loss. It seems a little unlikely, but but not impossible.

Jack the R wrote:

Donnie D - I balanced the main blades, tail blades, had the flybar paddles placed evenly and at the same angle of attack. Also, I had the main blades tracking evenly. I guess there's some other stuff in the head that I didn't have balanced.

If my HBFP's climbing power was doubled (at least doubled) it'd be equivalent to a stock Lama. I wouldn't rule out a problem in the head that could cause that kind of power loss. It seems a little unlikely, but but not impossible.

I don't know Jack. I've had several ocasions where my HBFP had very little to no lift. The first time I noticed it, I allmost threw out my batterys because I thought they were all going bad at once, which I figured would be possable since I purchaced them at the same time. Anyway, thank goodness I didn't, because I kept checking and found some little problem with the head that was my problem. Every time since then when that happens I allways find some maladjustment that I correct and she goes back to flying great. I'll admit, they are a bit fickle, but they fly good when they are ballanced and set up right. I even changed my main motor out once because i thought it was bad. Still have the motor and will use it when the one I replaced it with goes bad. I think I have had one main motor go bad and maybe three tail motors to go bad since I've had the heli.

the hardest thing about fixing an HBFP to me is figuring out what is wrong.

Donnie D

[quote="Donnie D]
the hardest thing about fixing an HBFP to me is figuring out what is wrong.
Donnie D [/quote]
i totally agree with that donnie,sometimes it`s the smallest adjustment that can bring the biggest gain
don`t always assume it`s the batteries or motors;blades/flybar paddles are absolutely critical and have got to be perfectly adjusted

jerrydgaines wrote:

Branflake12, to get my tail motor heat sink on,(1) I cut the zip tie on the body holding the tail motor wires.(2) I took the screws out of the tail motor and pulled it out of the holder, you will be able to pull a little wire out after cuttting them loose.(3) Slide the heat sink over the pinion end and guide the wires through the fins in as close to normal pattern as possible.(4) Reinstall motor, pull wire back snug, and re-tie the wires. I have four HB series copters, and this worked on all four!

I think I will try this option first...then D's. If the fiance lets me touch it again before my birthday.

As the original question goes, "burning in" electric motors is not required. You may run them on idle power (without load, no blades) for a couple of minutes to let the brushes set. Some say it will minimize the possible sparks that can happen on full power and damage the commutator. But I haven't seen any proof to it yet. This is in case of brushed motors. Brushless motors don't need any break-in.

Actually, for this subject it's better to check some RC cars forums. They are trying to run them on max power from the first minute. In helicopters you rarely run them on full power.