LATEST MODS

The highly anticipated iOS5 was released for the iPhone 4. This is the first major release version that had a working jailbreak from day one. Check out the video I made on how to jailbreak the iPhone. In the video, you get to see the easiest method I came up with to put the iPhone into DFU mode.

You’ll need a copy of RedSn0w version 0.9.9b5 or later. I like to download from iClarified:

http://iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=16424

Here is my steps to easily put the iPhone into DFU mode.

Easy iPhone DFU mode:

1. Have the iPhone connected to the computer and turned on.
2. Hold down the Home button and Sleep button at the same time. Keep both buttons held down until the phone turns off.
3. As soon as the phone turns off, count to 6 alligators. (Basically, 6-7 seconds) Then release the Sleep button (top button). Make sure you continue to keep the Home button held down.
4. That’s it. Redsn0w will automatically detects when the iPhone has entered DFU mode. Once you see that has happened, you can release the home button at your leisure. Remember, successfully entering DFU mode means the screen will be blank/off.

Here’s the video clip of the entire jailbreaking operation. You can watch it in 1080p high res. Hope this helps you figure out the process.

Fabricated a carbon fiber main shaft for the 9958. Here’s the stock 9958 weight before and after the carbon fiber shaft upgrade.

The stock weight without the battery is above. The carbon fiber upgrade 9958 is the photo below.

The main motor has a lift of about 42g. So shaving a gram off the flight weight will allow the motor to essentially be 7% stronger. So it’s every gram counts with these micro helis!

Top photo is the 9958's stock weight. Bottom photo is with a CF main shaft.

Here’s a video with it flying. Unfortunately the battery was mostly gone by the time I thought of turning on the camera.

Someone on the RC Groups forum wanted to know the gear ratio of the Blade mSR so they can possibly use them on another RC vehicle. I took a picture and figured I’d share here.

Blade mSR Pinion and Main Gear

A project I have been putting off until tonight. Switched out the aluminum 9958 main shaft to a carbon fiber one to shave off some weight. Just sharing some dimensions in case someone else is thinking of making a carbon fiber main shaft for the Xieda 9958.

Comparision of main shaft between Xieda 9958, Bravo III, modded 9958 CF, Blade mSR

First I took a Bravo III carbon fiber main shaft and drilled a hole at the top (The bottom two holes works out well already). Then I measured 3mm from this hole and simply saw off and discarded the excess at the top. The hole location reflected the location of the top hole on the Blade mSR because I was gonna fit on the Blade mSR head onto my Xieda 9958. Here’s a close up of the Blade mSR main shaft in case anybody else there needs it.

Blade mSR Main Shaft hole location

Another angle of the Blade mSR main shaft

Here is a photo of the Xieda 9958 with Blade mSR head and flybar. As a bonus, if you look closely, you can see that the swashplate hub has a pivot ball like the mSR. I stole the upper hub out of the Trex 100s. I like the idea of the pivot ball and the link balls on is about 16.5mm. Much longer than the Xieda’s stock hub’s ~12.5mm. So more throw.

Xieda 9958 modded with Blade mSR head, blades, flybar

The result of these modifications is that the Xieda 9958 flies really well. In fact, the sliding tendencies the stock 9958 has during bank turns appear to be all but gone. Unfortunately, I made too many modifications at once, so I don’t know which of my changes is responsible for the improved, tighter turns. I will do a follow up post once I figure out if it’s the carbon fiber shaft, the Blade mSR Head, or Trex 100s upper swash hub that is responsible for the improved flight.

A couple of comparison pictures of popular 1s LiPo’s for micro helicopters.

Hobby King's Nine Eagles 120, Hyperions 130 for Nine Eagles, Hyperion 160, Turnigy 160, Turnigy Nano-Tech 160, Thunder Power 160, E-Flite 120

Here’s the relative heights. The Nano-Tech is not puffy. They all look like that for some reason, and as you can see…are thicker than the other 1s cells.

Hobby King's Nine Eagles 120, Hyperions 130 for Nine Eagles, Hyperion 160, Turnigy 160, Turnigy Nano-Tech 160, Thunder Power 160, E-Flite 120

Just a public service announcement regarding E-Flite’s Blade mSR 5-in-1 RX board. I learn the hard way that E-Flite has at least two revision of the 5-in-1. And between revisions, they also reversed the polarity of the battery plug. I didn’t realized this when I had to replace a fray battery plug on one of them. I took a quick glance at my old 5-in-1 board to ensure I got them soldered on the correct way.

Unfortunately for me, the two boards were different revisions and the battery plugs were suppose to be soldered on the opposite way from one another. See the photo below:

So now I have two bad 5-in-1. Major bummer, but lesson learned.