MaxiR Tips

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MaxiR Assembly Tips

MaxiR Equipment tips

MaxiR 4 blade Heli tips

Outfitting a MaxiR

MaxiR Spare Parts Suggestions

Maxir Parts Evolution

Freewheel Mod, by Russ Beck

MaxiR Tips and Tricks, by Dominic Rocheleau

MaxiR Rod sizes - stock up on carbon rods!

MaxiR Crash Kit Value?

For now, this tips page is a work in progress, with tips added piecemeal. Would you like to submit a MaxiR tip? Please submit via email along with the name or internet alias that you'd like used for credit and your submission will be added with thanks.

MaxiR Assembly Tips

Beware that the current version of the MaxiR kit instructions is not very complete! One must think ahead a bit and imagine the sequence of assembly rather than blindly follow the instructions like they were a complete sequence of assembly or something... like I did:) In this regard, one should install the tail boom support holder, pushrod guide and servo mounts before capping off both ends of the tail boom (mount or gearbox).

Don't force bearings onto shafts! This will make it very hard to take apart. While others have reported issues in other areas like the main shaft and tail rotor, the only one I had to adjust was the cross head shaft. It really is a trivial matter to chuck it up in a drill or dremel and wrap it with a piece of emery paper for a few brief runs, followed by trial fits. I think that this is better than having too loose a fit in the bearing!

The tail rotor blade grip bearings tripped me up a bit. FInd a brass tube to match the O.D. of the bearing and use it to press the bearing all the way to its seat.

Take your time on the entire tail boom assembly. Careful assembly will save headaches later on. Don't be afraid to take it apart and look for binding or sources of vibration. Make sure that it has a very free feel when giving the drive pinion a spin.

The MaxiR's tail rotor case tends to twist on the boom, sometimes after an incident, sometimes from the torque alone. Some folks have carefully drilled a hole through the case and boom and fixed the two together with a tiny self-tapping screw. I went a simpler route and used a small drop of black CA on the joint, until I get some tiny screws.

When fitting the bronze pins that hold the main gear and rotor head to the shaft, I line up the holes by holding the assembly up to the light. Then I use first a fine pin, then a thicker one to help with any needed alignment. Before all this, it's worth making sure that the bronze pin can be inserted to each part without much force.

If there's more than a little bit of the main shaft poking out through the bottom of the main gear, then you need to flip the shaft around.

Freewheel kit issue: There was some problems with the first freewheel kit. Now there's an upgrade with a second ball bearing and a cap to hold it under the main gear. Use that.

Check all main shafts before you use them. Some of them have a slight bow and I wonder if it's done when the holes for the pins are drilled becaue the bends seem to be in that area. Anyway, it's a lot easier for all parties if the shaft is checked before use and returned unused. I check mine by holding them on a true level with a light behind to see any gaps between the two. I'm checking all the ones that I get in to sell now.......

(click photo to enlarge)
Modification for easy pinion replacement:

In my MaxiR manual on page 10, under "service Bulletin" (after fitting tail drive pinion), they describe cutting a hole in the upper part of the box and normally having it covered with adhesive tape. When a pinion needs replacing, squeeze the pinion with pliers until it is deformed so it comes off easily. Then remove the tape and insert a screwdriver into the gearbox, using it to support the crown gear against being driven into its mate on the tail rotor shaft while the new pinion is pressed on. This eliminates the need to disassemble the gearbox.

On the left is a photo of the slot I cut ..... Note that the white dome is not really the crown gear, but some grease on the end of it. I marked the location of the hole from the inside of the case with the gearbox assembled and the bottom removed . I used an Exacto knife to draw a line just inside the crown gear and another against the plastic spacer, so that the screwdriver could pass between the two. Also shown is the way I bent the "L" pins inward a bit to fit without excess tension/friction.

The first time that I tried instaling a new tail drive pinion prooved to be a bust without a third hand to "pry" the screwdriver against the force of installing the pinion. I ended up just doing a maintenence inspection of the gearbox while I tore it apart. I think that an arrangement where a screwdriver or thin steel bar could go all the way through both halves of the gearbox would work better! Sometime later, during the rush of a funfly, I was able to get my wife to help steady the parts and it worked well!

Get a GWS puller!

The GWS pinion puller has turned out to be very handy during the building and maintenance of the MaxiR. It is great for setting the pinion distance along the tail drive shaft, pulling back from a too-tight position with controlled micro-movements. With all the undoing and re-doing gong on, this thing was a real boon for this! Also, it will just slip over the tail rotor blades and can be used to smoothly press out the CF blade mounting pins. Here's a photo of this on the right, where the CF rod can be seen being pushed out to the right:
(click photo to enlarge)

Balancing using a High-Point balancer:

I got a pretty good balance of the two tail rotor blades using my trusty ol' High-Point balancer. Using a technique learned from the nice manual in the LMH heli kits, I bolted the blades together in a symmetrical manner so that the balance could be easily seen. Plus, as one increases the angle of the "V", a finer result is progressively achieved. These two photos show two different orientations, the last with a steeper angle and most of the blades' mass well above the balance point. While I'm doing this, I also rotate the balancing shaft to take a few different readings to confirm that it's not bent. I assembled the tail without balancing at first, and twirling the tail mechanism by hand served notice that they needed balancing because of the small vibration felt. I don't have any 2mm rod at the moment so I used a piece of 2-56 threaded rod that seemed to have a thinner diameter than most for some reason, plus I sanded down the threads a bit.

The main rotor blades were balanced using the same method.

On the right is a photo of the MaxiR rotor head showing it balancing nicely.
(click photos to enlarge)

A free, printable pitch gauge:

Originally I setup the heli's pitch range by eye and used "hold in your hand" runups to adjust tracking. I was going to do the first flights that way, but had second thoughts and searched the EZone microheli forum for "pitch gauge". WIthin a few minutes I had a couple of PDF files for a very practical gauge designed for the T-Rex. It wasn't hard to modify it to work with the Maxir. Good thing I used it - I had to tame the pitch range back to get it down to +/- 14, hehe. With Tuan Le's permission, here's the files:

pitch_gauge_part_a.pdf and pitch_gauge_part_b.pdf

Print onto card stock and then cut out the two parts, except leave the hole for the blade in the pointer for now. Mark that hole with the following changes. Make the narrow dimension about 4.5 mm. Make the point of the left side about 10 mm from the vertical line. make the right side point about 17 mm from that line. This gives a snug fit on the Maxir's blade and its mounting hole on the gauge's pivot line, which is what's desired. The larger dial piece needs to be trimmed a little shorter to work with the Maxir. What I did is fold it so that the angled part could be shut in the lid of the fire-safe that I use for my Lipo's and have the "focal point" of the "protractor" near the pivot point of the blade. The photo on the right shows the pitch gauge assembled on my Maxir.
(click photo to enlarge)

Before firing up the MaxiR for the first time, you might as well eliminate something that can cause vibration and unnecessary worry. At least in the case of my kit, the tail rotor blades are fairly stiff i n their mounts, even after working them back and forth a bit. Using a ruler laid across the hub, align the leading edge of one blade parallel (right side in the photo on the left) then place the ruler on the other side of the hub to align the other blade. Believe it or not, this really helps. I got "bit" by this one.
(click photo to enlarge)

(click photo to enlarge) Loose horizontal fin?
The horizontal fin may fit quite loosely on the T-shaped holder, as shown on the photo on the left. It seems that they've made a second "inverted-T" part that just isn't sized correctly. No worries - just make a small rectangular washer out of aircraft ply or similar material that can be sanded thinner to make a snug fit and place it immediately under the fin on the holder, as shown in the photo on the right. Apparently the expectation was that the builder would CA the fin to the top of this taller "T", but my preference is to leave it free to move a little.

(click photo to enlarge)

Need a quick Landing gear skid? They can pop off and get lost. Jean Robert Dumont offers this tip! USe #12 insulated building wire. See the photo of his Maxir in the flight photo page.

Here's my solution to fitting different tail rotor servos and their large arms. Shown is the LAHeli 3D pushrod and ends used with a Mikado 2 mm link and ball - perfect!

MaxiR 4 blade Heli tips:

I'm happy to report my successful flights on this neat heli. I used a Multiplex EVO9 transmitter with its easy virtual swashplate rotation programming. The MaxiR 4's manual called for -45 degree timming, but I eventually found that I needed to set +45 degrees on this transmitter. Once I got that sorted, I quiclky moved onto the first successful flights beyond just hovering as shown here. I expected the heli to be a real challenge to fly, but it is not!

Minimize control throws

Use a freewheel upgrade as well as the new tail pinion (increased mass of 4 blades)

Check that the swash tilts the same way as the control stick

Get it sorted doing hovering only with training gear

Use a 15T pinion and aim for 1700 rpm

Have at 'er, but be prepared for minor flight control differences from a 2 bladed heli.

Equipment tips

Telebee gyro (Zoom, Align, etc.): When flying in cold weather, this gyro requires a procedure to acclimate to the temperature. Start it up for 5 minutes, then power down and turn it back on. For this purpose I use a small receiver pack so the LiPO's don't get cold.

HS-50 servo: Use some good clear tape to wrap around the case to keep it from splitting apart.

Get a micro antenna: I've had good results with two different brands of micro antennas. They save weight and give a much neater installation! Photos/info here:

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This Page		Other Tips Pages
MaxiR Assembly Tips MaxiR Equipment tips MaxiR 4 blade Heli tips		Outfitting a MaxiR MaxiR Spare Parts Suggestions Maxir Parts Evolution Freewheel Mod, by Russ Beck MaxiR Tips and Tricks, by Dominic Rocheleau MaxiR Rod sizes - stock up on carbon rods! MaxiR Crash Kit Value?

Beware that the current version of the MaxiR kit instructions is not very complete! One must think ahead a bit and imagine the sequence of assembly rather than blindly follow the instructions like they were a complete sequence of assembly or something... like I did:) In this regard, one should install the tail boom support holder, pushrod guide and servo mounts before capping off both ends of the tail boom (mount or gearbox). Don't force bearings onto shafts! This will make it very hard to take apart. While others have reported issues in other areas like the main shaft and tail rotor, the only one I had to adjust was the cross head shaft. It really is a trivial matter to chuck it up in a drill or dremel and wrap it with a piece of emery paper for a few brief runs, followed by trial fits. I think that this is better than having too loose a fit in the bearing! The tail rotor blade grip bearings tripped me up a bit. FInd a brass tube to match the O.D. of the bearing and use it to press the bearing all the way to its seat. Take your time on the entire tail boom assembly. Careful assembly will save headaches later on. Don't be afraid to take it apart and look for binding or sources of vibration. Make sure that it has a very free feel when giving the drive pinion a spin.		The MaxiR's tail rotor case tends to twist on the boom, sometimes after an incident, sometimes from the torque alone. Some folks have carefully drilled a hole through the case and boom and fixed the two together with a tiny self-tapping screw. I went a simpler route and used a small drop of black CA on the joint, until I get some tiny screws. When fitting the bronze pins that hold the main gear and rotor head to the shaft, I line up the holes by holding the assembly up to the light. Then I use first a fine pin, then a thicker one to help with any needed alignment. Before all this, it's worth making sure that the bronze pin can be inserted to each part without much force. If there's more than a little bit of the main shaft poking out through the bottom of the main gear, then you need to flip the shaft around. Freewheel kit issue: There was some problems with the first freewheel kit. Now there's an upgrade with a second ball bearing and a cap to hold it under the main gear. Use that. Check all main shafts before you use them. Some of them have a slight bow and I wonder if it's done when the holes for the pins are drilled becaue the bends seem to be in that area. Anyway, it's a lot easier for all parties if the shaft is checked before use and returned unused. I check mine by holding them on a true level with a light behind to see any gaps between the two. I'm checking all the ones that I get in to sell now.......

Balancing using a High-Point balancer:
	I got a pretty good balance of the two tail rotor blades using my trusty ol' High-Point balancer. Using a technique learned from the nice manual in the LMH heli kits, I bolted the blades together in a symmetrical manner so that the balance could be easily seen. Plus, as one increases the angle of the "V", a finer result is progressively achieved. These two photos show two different orientations, the last with a steeper angle and most of the blades' mass well above the balance point. While I'm doing this, I also rotate the balancing shaft to take a few different readings to confirm that it's not bent. I assembled the tail without balancing at first, and twirling the tail mechanism by hand served notice that they needed balancing because of the small vibration felt. I don't have any 2mm rod at the moment so I used a piece of 2-56 threaded rod that seemed to have a thinner diameter than most for some reason, plus I sanded down the threads a bit. The main rotor blades were balanced using the same method.

On the right is a photo of the MaxiR rotor head showing it balancing nicely. (click photos to enlarge)

(click photo to enlarge)	Loose horizontal fin? The horizontal fin may fit quite loosely on the T-shaped holder, as shown on the photo on the left. It seems that they've made a second "inverted-T" part that just isn't sized correctly. No worries - just make a small rectangular washer out of aircraft ply or similar material that can be sanded thinner to make a snug fit and place it immediately under the fin on the holder, as shown in the photo on the right. Apparently the expectation was that the builder would CA the fin to the top of this taller "T", but my preference is to leave it free to move a little.	(click photo to enlarge)

I'm happy to report my successful flights on this neat heli. I used a Multiplex EVO9 transmitter with its easy virtual swashplate rotation programming. The MaxiR 4's manual called for -45 degree timming, but I eventually found that I needed to set +45 degrees on this transmitter. Once I got that sorted, I quiclky moved onto the first successful flights beyond just hovering as shown here. I expected the heli to be a real challenge to fly, but it is not!		Minimize control throws Use a freewheel upgrade as well as the new tail pinion (increased mass of 4 blades) Check that the swash tilts the same way as the control stick Get it sorted doing hovering only with training gear Use a 15T pinion and aim for 1700 rpm Have at 'er, but be prepared for minor flight control differences from a 2 bladed heli.