Swash ball mod...WOW!

Today I received a pleasant surprise in the mail. I had ordered an alum. hub, swash ball mod, and a few other goodies from helihobby (very quick on the shipping by the way) I installed the new hub and swash ball mod and took a test flight. What an amazing difference! With the new swash ball mod my pic. flies soooo smooth. With some slight trim adjustments I could hover in one place with almost no stick inputs. I also use to have some slight vibrations with the standard swash setup but those have disappeared with the mod. Does everyone have the same results that I did? If so that is surely the best $10 anyone could possibly spend on their pic!

Yes, I agree the swashball mod is one of the best. I have some alum swash's and also stock w/swashball. I believe the stock w/swashball flies just as well as the $80 anodized swash. I think the ball is the key.

Jeff

Try the AR Link also, that makes a big difference.

[pgoelz]

Speaking of the A/R link, when did Ikarus close the holes so that the pin has to be passed through the link? The Piccolo I just finished setting up for a friend had one made that way. It can no longer come off the pin like the old ones could.

[W.C.mach]

I think the new AR link came out with the CP upgrade. Warren

I flew one of the new Ikarus A/R links for a while. It's a great improvement as I think it also tends to not get twisted as bad as the old ones did. I didn't try this yet because I have Rigoleth links, but I thought that maybe using 2 of the new links (one on each side) might be a cheap alternative A/R Mod.

Jeff

[pgoelz]

Damn, you're right.... I knew it looked familliar! I have to hand it to whoever is doing Ikarus' design, they do nice work and they fix things.

Now if we could only get them to make the ball and spring mod standard, it would make the Piccolo all that easier to fly at a very small cost increase.

And I think Mario had a good idea a long time ago for a mod that is even simpler. Put a piece of silicon tubing over the mainshaft such that the swash is a tight fit over it. That will prevent the swash from moving up and down and will also perfectly center it. And the silicon tubing will still allow the swash to tilt. He even applied it to a CCPM setup by putting silicon tubing over a piece of aluminum or brass tubing that was a sliding fit over the mainshaft. When that was pressed intot he center of the swash, it centered the swash and removed all slop while still allowing up and down movement and tilt. Clever. And yes, I DID GET IT FROM MARIO [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Sounds good, I can't find any Silicon tubing, Anyone tried anything else they could recommend (preferable around the house?).

[edarter]

Paul - my Picc is about 3-4 months old and the AR pin is closed - I've never yet had it detach itself...

[edarter]

my order turned up today Anks - so I'll be trying my goodies out tonight ! can't wait !!
The machined head is a work of art, and I can't get over how tiny the ball in swash mod is !