Brushless Piccolo
The stock G295 motor on the Piccolo is a fairly cheap and effective device, it is "280" sized with threaded mounting holes and a splined shaft for gripping the plastic motor pinion. Why change it?
Well it only just does its job, any extra load such as a minor binding of parts or a blade problem can result in a complete lack of flight or very short flight times, and the motor is variable in quality, wears at an unknown rate and could be a bit more efficient. It is possible to rework the motor, ventilate the can, retime it and add bearings, even a fan and heatsink. If you want to prise the motor apart and tinker with it that's great, enjoy yourself, that's part of the Piccolo experience!
The little brushless motors available are more expensive, even more so when you include the controller. The advantages you purchase are: Longer flights. More power. Zero brush wear or reduction in performance over time. I have some pictures somewhere.
Click for a closer view.
The Schulze 18be controller works very well with the Astro AF010 motor. The motor came with a controller attached, a Jeti-made 6 amp controller resold by Astro-Flight. this worked, but had a very jerky startup, often taking two attempts opening the throttle to get the main rotor turning. It also had a coarse throttle action which made hovering a bit of a yo-yo process. Given the choice I would buy the motor without controller and pay extra for a Schulze or Castle Creations controller.
UPDATE: The Astro controller is now made by Castle, and is the Phoenix 10 type, though with simplified software options. It has superior throttle response compared to the old Jeti. Well done Patrick Castillo of Castle Creations.
To fit the motor requires two 4-40 thread screws, the ones which came with my motor were a little too short. Beware of fitting screws much longer, they will damage the motor. The gear pinion is a 10 tooth ECO-8 pinion from Ikarus. I shortened the grubscrew as it tended to hit the motor screws. I wanted the pinion well pushed up the motor shaft, as it ensured the main gear teeth ran on the parallel part of the motor pinion, the teeth spread a bit at the top.
To fit the Schulze controller, a little wiring is involved. It needs battery power, motor connection, and also throttle signal from the receiver. If you keep the Piccoboard, this means splitting off power and throttle signals somehow. Here are a couple of wiring diagrams:
Note I have since rewired this a bit, the battery power now goes straight to the Piccoboard, then out again to the Schulze
Here are a couple of shots of the y-lead. Click these again for close-ups
The special lead is made from a servo lead, a piece of 0.1 inch header plug (3 pins worth, this from an electronics supplier) and a single plug pin from a servo lead extension kit. Here in England it is possible to buy the pins and crimp tool from model shops. Some heat shrink tubing is also visible, red and clear, I believe this was 1.6mm and 2.4 mm sizes. However you achieve the connection, it needs to be light and above all reliable. I only used 3 pin header because I had some and it was smaller than using a whole servo plug.
The Astro isn't the only solution, my friend Kevin is getting on well with a small Hacker motor. These are available in several winding versions, this one is a B20L-36. It is wound a little "hot" for standard blades even at this spec, and Kevin has cut the blade trailing edges to reduce the load and let the little beast spin a bit faster. It has a 2.3mm shaft like the Mabuchi 380/ Speed 400 types and needs the pinion hole opening up to use the standard Ikarus pinions.
Go back to my main Piccolo page to find some links to the manufacturers and suppliers for this good stuff.
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