Esmart build (Working It Out) Pictures and video

Yup deff. less parts to break and less parts to affect other parts during a negitive rotating moment!!!LOL
I really like the idea of less rotating mass, more power going to lift and not motion!!!

Probably right.

Donnie D

Just balanced out the Smartie using 1.5oz. in the nose of the canopy.. Very odd thing, I noticed for the FIRST TIME that the blade tracking was off!!!! Only very slightly mind you but noticeable none the less!!!! Shocking!!!! It must be the blades!!!!LOL
Going out for the second flight!!!
I sure hope the start coupling comes tomorrow for the "G" I'm really gettin anxious to fly it!!!

Donnie D wrote:

That is one of the sharpest looking E-Smarts I've seen yet. And the layout is neat and orderly.

I may have missed it earlier in your thread, but what horizontal and vertical stabilizer fins are those? They look great and look like they are very strong.

Donnie D

The horizontal is the esmart CF one and the vertical is a trex 600 extreme 3d CF super
thick and rigid. The stock CF esmart vertical is really weak and I broke that quickly.

The flybarless setup is spendy not sure if it is in my budget but something I am considering. The flybarless heli's on my sim fly and respond very well for me. Just
a thought right now.

FD, I thought you would like the swash mix setup. One thing I noticed is if I give
the Elev 5~10% more than the Aile, I get a great response to quick and fast
turns without to much over reaction of the heli. Also makes front or back flips
better.

By the way anybody weight there Smart? I am in at 6lb. 10.7oz flying weight.

good to know about the CF ESky Verticle fin, I almost bought one but will get the T-Rex one instead

I guess maybe I just got a strong one!!! I've had a couple, well shall I say"Hard" landings and have not broken or even cracked it!! Guess I just have been lucky!!

Well guys,
Still have a bad tail shake.
I ran it up with everything attached except for the main blades and I really didn't feel that much of a vibration but there was some. Although it is no where near the amount of vibration as it is when hovering.
I wasn't so sure that the head wasn't causing it so here is what I did today.
I left everything together but removed the tail blade assembly with the hub. I also removed the paddles from the flybar and main blades and then spun it up. I could feel a very very slight vibration along the boom but I attribute that to having the heli sitting on the kitchen table which has a smooth surface.
Next I put the paddles back on and spun it up and got the same results. I then put the tail assembly back on and spun it up again with the same results.
I haven't put the tail blades back in yet. I did make sure they were balanced and weighed the same. I've also checked my main blades to make sure they were balanced and also weighed the same.
Since I have replaced the plastic tail assembly with the one from the Trex600 I have to drill out the holes in the stock Esky tail blades by a little bit as the mounting screws have a shoulder on them and are a tad bigger in diameter. I originally just opend them up with a .125 drill but I have access to all drill sizes at my shop and will wait until tomorrow to get a bit that is .0005 over the shank size of the screw. I really don't think that will make a difference but you never know.
The only thing that is left is the feathering shaft and that seems to be straight or the head dampners and they seem to be fine as well.
This thing is vibrating and shaking like Suriano's was with the head problem but with mine it really seems to be noticible in the tail and not in the head.
By the way, I did leave the tail blades loose and I also loosened the tension on the belt as well.

GW wrote:

Well guys,
This thing is vibrating and shaking like Suriano's was with the head problem but with mine it really seems to be noticible in the tail and not in the head.

Thats the trippy part. The head shakes from mine really affected the tail also. At the
same time I found that the tail blades had to be really loose but with no side play. Every
time I would tighten them just slightly I would get a vibration in the tail. Same with a
loose belt. My belt has to be just on the slight tight side. Also using silicone spray on
the belt helps.

I still get a bad vibration some times it is intermitent. Still try'n to track it down. I
think it is the upper bearing on the main shaft. Odly enough though I also found
that I have to grab both blades in my hands and pull out on them. If I push in
on them it will vibrate like crazy. There is some slop in the holes to the blades.
If I pull out the vibration goes away.

I need to get new CF blades....Still working on the money for those.....It has
cost me a lot of money to get this heli to fly.

At least you could narrow it down to your head. You basically did the same thing I did to find out what part was causing the vibration. You knew it had to be in the hub because when you spun it up with the hub you got the vibration so you were able to narrow it down to that one thing.
I've got everything back together minus the tail and main blades and spinning it up this way I don't have the bad vibration. In fact there is very little vibration which tells me either the tail blades or main blades are creating the problem.
I also had the tail blades loose without side to side slop and pull on the main rotor blades as well and I had the vibration.
Tomorrow I'll put on the new tail blades and spin it up to see if there are any vibrations. If there are no vibrations or very little than that only leaves the main blades and I've checked them 3 different times for balance, weight and tracking.
One thing I did notice is that while spinning up on the ground there are no vibrations but as soon as I bring it up I start seeing the vibration. This would seem to act like a tracking problem but yet the mains are tracking. If I look near the top of the canopy while I'm hovering, I can see a little vibration but at the tail end, it's crazy.
I have the main blade tension set to were I can turn the thing on the side with the blades horizontal to the ground and they will stay put but with a quick jerk they will move downard about 1/4 of the way towards the ground. That's the same way I set my 450 up and it's fine.
I'm almost at a loss as to what else it may be.

Just to shoot some stuff at you.........Check the set screw for the tailblade assy.
Try the silicone spray on the belt. Make sure the belt isnt to tight or loose.
Just concentrate on the belt. Run the heli with a tight belt, then imediatly loosen
the belt and try it. That would completely eliminate the belt. Try a different set
of tail blades.......

I had major tail problems also and most of it came from the head. You said that
the head is what you removed before all this started. Just thinking about your
problem brings back the memory of the frustration I felt.

Well I did it....... I just purchased a set of wide chord CF blades...........







Now I will have more stuff to try on the Esmart..........

I've seen those Maverack blades up close at Fatdaddys. They're allmost too purty to actuallly fly.

By the way, what kind of silicone spray do you use on your heli's?

Donnie D

They are really sweet blades!!! I run these on both my "E" and my EXI500CF!!!
They are really great!!! Sadly I've also broken several sets of them too!!!

FD, in your pictures the blades on the esmart looked like G4 blades. Were
those the ones you broke?

Did you ever check that spare esmart head inner diameter? I would like
to buy it if you still offering it up. It will give me a complete spare unit.

Donnie D wrote:

I've seen those Maverack blades up close at Fatdaddys. They're allmost too purty to actuallly fly.

By the way, what kind of silicone spray do you use on your heli's?

Donnie D

Automotive...Pyroil multi-purpose silicone lubicant............

Yes 2 sets of G4 blades I've broken with the "E",your right!!! The EXI has the G5's on it and the "E" now soon will have!! I in fact have just ordered sev. sets of blades of diff. sizes.. Mav.'s and CY Radax 350's for the G5 Outrage..

No,,, I went to get my snap gauges and lo and behold!!!! Someone must have borrowed them!!!! So I checked by hand fit and there is no problem with the one I have... And no it is not for sale...Sorry!!! You can pick up the parts at HeliDirect...

NO WAY!!!! I wont order another Central hub!!!!!!

Dont you remember? I have had 4 maybe 5 of them all over sized.
I dont even remember how many I had it was that many.....

OK leave me hanging, Im cool with that..........

By the way Helidirect was sold out a long time ago and thats why they gave me the Hurricane head. So folks dont order it from Helidirect. They wont have it....

Fatdaddy wrote:

If your still in need, and it sounds as if your not, I do have a main rotor hub thats extra,
Its used, very lightly used, but it is good if it is still needed...

What happened..... I do still need it........

You know what I forgot about that one!!! That is one that went thru a crash and I just switched the whole thing!!!! I'll check into that and see what the story with it is and if I still don't need it... But you are also not "in need" as you were before having gotten the head from HD..
Now that I'm gonna be flying a second "E" and going to a CNC head on the "G" I just might need it!!!! I really can't see how you would ever damage one of them in a crash so I don't think I'
ll need it for that, but puttin together a metal head for the "G" is where I just might have need for it... Let me look in my box of parts and see just what is in there and I will let you know!!!!

Yeah I dont really need it. The thing is,honestly I am not sure about the hurricane 550
head. I think the esmart head is abuse proof in a way. I would rather have the esmart
head on an esmart.

I dont know where to get one that will work. KAplanes shipped one that was bad. I
got 2 from BP hobbies that was bad. The one that came in the kit was bad. Helidirect
doesnt sell it any more.

I have play in the Hurricane 550 blade grips that I dont have on the esmart head.
Comparing the esmart head to the hurricane head is comparing a tank to a dodge
dakota.

I am going to get side by side pic's of the 2 so you can see.....

Here you can see the difference in size. Also look at the grip spacing.
I am loosing blade diameter as well. Sure the hurricane head helped me
get it in the air, but overall the esmart head might be better.

WOW! Major differance.

Donnie D

You see, thats why I think I might still NEED to get the esmart head back on....

But this head fly's very well....I dont think it will last like the esmart one will.

Yea I agree that the "E" head is bullitproof especally compared to the 550 head you got!!! Do you still have all those heads you've gotten that were bad??? You know the funny thing is,, I've never heard of anybody gettin a bad head before!!! I really DO NOT want to question anything you have done ....you know I don't mean anything!!!!
But I wish I/someone could have been there with a good working "E" to check the stuff after you did on yours... I can't help think there is something that we are missing!!! Yea I know.... I don't know how that could be either but its just really wierd!!!
And I also agree that I would want the right head too..!! But its much better to be flying than not!!! I'm really glad you got it in the air!!!
Is HeliDirect just out of stock or they are not going to sell it anymore??? I'm thinkin of pickin up one more just to have!! I'm affraid that ESKY is gonna change something and F... it up somehow!!! I'm really flying the out of mine and like it a lot!!! But I got to say that the EXI500 really is just as nice to fly... Yes I know how much bigger the "E" is but it is NOT more stable in the air and the 500 is much more nimble and handles better and it has more power!!! Even if I don't slow the "E" down!! I know I'm gonna get rebuffed about this statement but to each his own!!! I also really can't wait to get the new 900!!! I should heve it very soon!! Next week I hope!!
Anyway I'm gonna use that head on the "G", sorry!!

No problem FD, Helidirect said it was discontinued. They sent me the Hurricane head
because they have no plans on getting more esmart ones.

I agree it is very weird but the measurements dont lie. The holes are way overdrilled.
I sent some back and others I had machine shops try and fix but they suck. They didnt
want to do it the way I thought it would work. After the machine shop was done it had
a bad runnout on it as well.

FD, Would you measure yours and let us know? I have had Nutts and george measure
theirs and they dont have such huge clearance. The ones I was getting the hole was
.020 larger than the mainshaft. One was .010 but still wobbled bad.

I dont see the point in ordering more because every one I have ordered was bad.
I guess Its back to a different machine shop to fix the old one I have. At least I can
fly with the hurricane head untill I find one....

If you change your mind let me know I would appritiate that..........

Ok will do But I'm gonna use it I'm pretty sure. The only thing I can't use from the CNC head on the "G" is the swash plate!!! And that sucks!!! Funky set up on that!!!
HD told you that the CNC head was discontinued?? Odd cause I hear that you will have to get that as an upgrade when the "E" comes back out and that there will not be a full CFPro like I've got!!! You will need to upgrade everything!!! That SUCKS!!!
Thats why I'm gonna pick up one more before there gone!!! I get mine for 200.00 that includeds the motor but no blades,and that also sucks but 200 is a good price I think for what you get!!!
And I'll try to measure it but like I said I can't find my snap set so I'll have to try something diff..

This is what I use..vernier calipers...





If the heli is discontinued isnt the parts as well??

Seems like Helidirect wouldnt give me a $180 head if they knew they could send
out another esmart central holder.

I think parts are running out and nobody is making replacements. Just thinking...

Yes I know what it is!1 In fact that is what I use when doin the head set up, howerer mine doesn't go down to .001 where it should to measure this correstly and I don't think it will reach inside where the measurement needs to be taken!! A snap or ball gauge is used to get inside a hole where you can't reach with a caliper. On the hub you need to take the measurement up past the slot for the pinch bolt!!And a caliper such as this I don't think can!!