Boca Bearings Workshop: Blade 180 CFX Helicopter: Part 1 -- Opening

Boca Bearings is the proud owner of a shiny new Blade 180 CFX! We've been selling quite a few of the bearing kits for this thing, so we figured we'd get one to try out. For science!

We're gonna test fly it, put some some new bearings in it, fly it some more, shoot a few videos, etc. We'll probably do some Microheli upgrades at some point. Our only experience with flying helicopters so far has been the 130X, so that is our point of comparison.

First Impression

Right out of the box it looks like a really nice machine. It is far more robust than the 130X. In terms of length and width it is only slightly larger, but everything on it is beefier and feels way more solid. It's heavier, and I love the stock carbon fiber frame.

A few things I noticed right off the bat:

It has radial servos throughout, 4 in total. It doesn't use those linear servos like on the 130 that are prone to failure. You can also see the 5800kv brushless motor that is shorter and fatter than the 130x motor.

This new box tail design looks much more sturdy. Hopefully it is easy to work on.

Plastic swash just like on the 130, but it looks plenty strong enough. I'll upgrade to the aluminum one at some point.

180 CFX battery (below) compare to 130x battery (above)

3-cell 450mah battery

I've gone ahead and set up my DX6i for it. Now all that's left is to bind it and fly it......

2 comments:

BatwingMarch 15, 2016 at 4:38 PM
I have been flying a Blade 230s for a couple of months. I got the RTF version. The transmitter is cheap but it was already programmed for basic flight mode, agile and 3D. Blade also included a panic button which has been very handy. I usually start off in basic then flip to agile then 3d and when I hit panic button I can usually recover without a crash. Brilliant. When I got my 180cfx I also got a Spektrum 7 transmitter with sim card. I programmed it for the 180CFX but I cannot figure out how to set up the different flight modes. Current settings are like hovering a cat on a hot tin roof. Any suggestions?
UnknownMarch 23, 2016 at 1:51 PM
Hey! Thanks for the comment. I'd offer some suggestions but you seem a bit more advanced than me. I'm still working on getting my hover orientations down. I can do tail in pretty good, and I've been practicing some right and left, but I haven't tried nose in yet. I wonder if I should go out in a field where I have lots of room and just get over my fear of the 3D mode switch. For the 180 CFX I use a Spektrum 6-channel. It hovers pretty nicely, I just messed around with the pitch curve a bit but I didn't change the settings very much. It's definitely more touchy than the 130 but I am getting the hang of it. What does the panic button on the 230 actually do when you hit it?