I will be posting all of the Tips & Tricks for the N5c on the Synergy website. The first post is up, check it out here –>  http://synergyrchelicopters.com/models/tips-tricks/n5c-tips-tricks/

Loving the Synergy flybarless head so much on the N5 I had to fly a bit before bed! Make sure you check it out in HD!

Testing on the Synergy 50 size flybarless head has begun. This head will work with virtually any 50 sized helicopter.  I’m confident the testing will go well so we should have this head available very soon!

We now have a skilled painter on staff at Synergy Hong Kong. This paint scheme will be available very soon! We are still discussing pricing ect…. stay tuned for more information.

Updated – 8/19/2010 (New items in BLUE)

Below you will find information concerning the equipment I use, my personal rotor head setup, and some build tips.

• Main Blades – Curtis Youngblood Radix 600mm Stick Bangers
• Tail Blades – Curtis Youngblood Radix 92mm or 95mm Tail Blades
• Paddles – 600 carbon fiber flybar paddle
• Cyclic Servos – Futaba BLS252′s or BLS351′s
• Throttle Servo – Futaba 9257 or 9650
• Gyro – Futaba GY520
• Tail Servo – Futaba BLS251 or 9256 (both are 720us servos)
• Engine – OS55HZ
• Receiver Battery – Thunder Power TP900mah-2SPLRX(2 flights) – TP1800-2SPLRX(5 flights).

My rotor head setup is geared toward a balance between smooth tracking and quick cyclic response. Below are the mechanical settings I use on the N5 programmable head. Settings in the manual will give the novice to intermediate pilot a very nice and stable helicopter.

• Bell Mixer – Both Bell and Hiller on the inside position (illustration below)
• Seesaw/Flybar Carrier – Center Position (illustration below)

Main Shaft Pinch Collar -**CRITICAL**

Some of the Main Shaft Pinch Collars are tapped on both sides. This will cause the pinch collar to not grip the main shaft tight enough. Please check your pinch collars to make sure that the front side is a 2.5mm through hole and the back side is tapped. If not it is very easy to run a 2.5mm drill through the front side of the pinch collar.

Head Axle Sleeve

I’ve noticed quite a few people with low head speed wobbles and there are a few reasons for this. The stock dampers are very tight in the head as well as on the spindle. The main blade axle must be greased so that it can center properly during flight. I’ve found a few helis out there where the head button bolt was pressing against the main blade axle sleeve! If you are going to run the main blade axle sleeve make sure you do not over tighten the head button bolt, it will run into the sleeve if tightened too much. I personally have stopped running the sleeve because I didn’t see a difference in performance with the sleeve and it can actually hurt your performance if not centered properly. My suggestion….. ditch the sleeve!

Pitch Slider Lock Washer Tips-

The lock washer works very well if you follow these simple tips.

1. Flatten the lock washer in a vise or arbor press.
2. Press the lock washer on to brass pitch slider using a socket with the same outer diameter as the lock washer. Be careful not to press the lock washer on too far as it will make the bearings bind.
3. Apply medium CA in between the teeth of the lock washer.

Things to check if you have a high frequency tail vibration?

• If you’ve had a crash, check your tail hub and tail output shaft to see if they are bent.
• Check to make sure your bearings are tight in the vertical fin and opposing tail plate. If the are slightly loose, use CA to secure them.
• Do not over tighten the rear boom clamps. These clamps are very strong and the gap does not need to be closed.
• Tail output shaft should not have excessive play within the flange bearings. If you think there is too much play then I would recommend green or red loctite to secure the shaft within the bearings. Make sure you take the tension off the belt before securing the shaft into the bearings.
• Tail Blades – I can’t stress using quality tail blades enough. The N5 has a 4.66:1 ratio which means at 2150 on the head, the tail is spinning 10,000 RPM. If your tail blades are slightly out of balance or the CG is off, it will show up as a vibration in the tail.
• Through experimentation, I have found that slightly longer boom supports can make the tail rotor a bit less susceptible to high frequency tail vibrations. We will include these in future kits.

Plastic Main Blade Grips / Plastic Tail Blade Grips -

Both are discontinued! There were only 61 kits released with these plastic grips, if you have one them, throw them in the garbage! We would rather play it safe with metal main blade grips and tail blade grips.

Belt Tension -

Too much belt tension will create a lot of drag in the tail drive system. Too little tension will create belt slapping on the boom. The N5 does not need an ultra tight belt, try to achieve a medium belt tension that does not cause boom slapping or create excessive drag. The N5 belt has an XL tooth profile so skipping teeth and slipping should not happen. If the belt is setup correctly you will not even know you are flying a belt driven tail. After flying a belt driven tail on both my Logo 600 and my N5, I never want to go back to a torque tube. The simplicity and durability are unbeatable.

Engine & Clutch Stack Alignment-

Mount your engine and clutch stack into the frames as shown in the instructions. Leave all bolts lose at first. First tighten down the four engine mount tab screws. Next you will want to check your main gear mesh. You can rock the engine slightly toward or away from the main gear to achieve a slightly better mesh. Once you are happy with the main gear to pinion mesh, tighten down the eight motor mount bolts to the frame. Once the engine is secured you can now check the start shaft for free rotation. Move the clutch stack slightly fore or aft until you feel the start shaft is free within the one-way clutch bearing. Tighten down the four clutch stack bearing block screws are you are done.

Auto Hub-

Do not try to remove vertical play, this play was designed into the unit to allow the auto hub to float and spin freely. Removing this play will affect your auto-rotation performance. Also the auto hub can be installed as it appears in the manual or flipped upside down in case the one-way is installed in the opposite direction.

Auto Hub locking up – This is a known issue, some people are experiencing this and some are not. If you are experiencing this, here is a list of things to try.

• Clean all of the grease out of the one way and apply a light oil
• Lightly sand auto hub inner sleeve until OD is between 11.96-11.98mm
• Loctite inner sleeve to main shaft (helps close the gap between OD of main shaft and ID of auto hub sleeve).

Metal Bearing Blocks -

Be sure to thoroughly heat the bearing blocks before inserting the main shaft bearings. If properly heated the bearings will slide right into the blocks without any force. Once cool they will be perfectly seated.

Pivot Balls -

If you try to remove the pivot balls, please make sure to use some heat before attempting removal. The factory was using some very aggressive thread lock on the initial kits. In the future all balls will be screwed in two threads and left to the customer for securing.

Elevator control arm set screws -

Either use flat point set screws or grind a flat on the included cup point set screws that come in the kit. Cup point set screws may allow the elevator control arms to rotate slightly after an aggressive flight. I am working with the factory to make sure the correct set screws are included in the future.

Most recently I have started tapping my inner and outer elevator arms out to 4mm. The 3mm set screws will work but as soon as a blade touches the ground, you will notice the helicopter is out of trim on the elevator.

Clutch Liner Installation -

The factory did not install the clutch liner per instructions in the manual, this will be corrected in future kits. For those that have kits now, follow these installation steps -

1. Trim an 1/8 inch of clutch liner off the end of the material
2. Insert the clutch liner into the clutch bell to test the fit
3. Wrap the clutch with one layer of electrical tape
4. Use Medium CA or JBWeld to secure the liner
5. Insert clutch into the clutch bell
6. Let glue dry
7. Remove clutch from clutch bell
8. Sizing may be needed in order to allow the clutch bell to spin freely on the clutch. Use a Dremel tool with a large fine grit sanding drum to remove material. A lathe would be ideal but I know most people do not own a lathe.

Start Shaft Hex Adapter -

• Some of the start shaft hex adapters are a little tight on certain starting wands. If you have one of these, take a measurement with your calipers and send me the details.

Engine Removal -

1. Remove the muffler
2. Remove fan shroud
3. Remove four engine tab bolts
4. Drop motor down until it clears the clutch
5. Rotate motor left or right and remove from main frames.

Tail Pulley -

Please remember to Thread lock on the Black tail pulley set screws.

Note:

Some parts of the machine have been pre assembled at the factory to reduce any parts shortages, therefore we recommend some assemblies should be stripped and re assembled before flight. Use thread lock for screws into metal assemblies. Please note that heavy duty thread lock has been applied to swash plate balls. Check these for tightness, but you do not need to disassemble. If you wish to remove these then apply heat from a hairdryer in order to loosen the locking compound. Failure to do this may result in damage or breakage of the ball.

My E9 might be one of the fastest electric helicopters I have ever flown! The speed of the E9 along with the Castle Creations Auto Rotation mode equals way too much fun! Check out the video.

Direct from the factory, here is a picture of how the N5 Canopy will look when you open the box.

Another paint job from my garage. Since I’m not an airbrush artist, I tend to keep the lines simple and clean.  The N5 canopy will come painted from the factory, I will post some pics of the factory paint job as soon as I have one. Picture updated from Caleb Philips at Huntsville, Thanks Caleb!

Here are a few shots from yesterdays build. Many thanks to my friend Rob Dix for assisting in the build of one of these machines. It’s always good to have a second set of eyes looking at these types of things. I am very pleased with the fit and finish of the N5, kudos to our CNC vendor!

We finally got some decent weather here in the south so I decided to take the N5 out for a little motor tuning and a bit of a beating to knock the dust off. I have to admit, over the last few years I’ve focused on a more smooth, fast, and precise style of flying but, ever since I started flying with the Futaba 8FG Transmitter I feel like my fingers are on some sort of ultra connected speed steroid. It is truly amazing! I also decided to try some new cyclic servos this year, the Futaba BLS252. These servos are labeled an “F3C Heli Servo” because of their excellent centering capabilities, but don’t let the description fool you! These servos are very capable of a quick, snappy,  smack-down style of flying if that’s what you desire. At 6 volts they pump out 175 oz-in. of torque at a respectable .13sec/60°. Hope you enjoy the video! As far as an update on Synergy Hong Kong, Chinese New Year is almost over, we will know more about the N5 release date after that.

The prototype testing is finally finished. After testing multiple motors and ESC’s, I am settled on the Neu 1920-1Y with the Castle Creations ICE160HV. This setup is pulling over 6000 watts of power with peaks of 160 amps. The new ThunderPower 45C packs barely get warm after a hard four minutes of flying, simply amazing! Great job ThunderPower! The Castle Creations ICE160HV stays under 100 degrees and provides data logging critical for setting up an efficient running E-powered helicopter. The Neu 1920-1Y (510kv) motor provides very efficient power, I was immediately impressed with the torque of this beast. If you are flying one of these 90 sized electric monsters, I highly recommend checking out the 1920-1Y. I will post some video of the E9 in action as soon as we get a break in the weather. For now, here are some pics…..