Originally Posted by eagle777

Heh, my comment about the top & bottom of the plastic case....Geometry..ummm.

I put a couple washers (1.4mm) under the arm on the Tarot tail to start, and it worked! I ended up with 6 0.25mm shims, and there is no binding whatsoever. I hope this helps someone else. Thanks again.

Take a close look at these two sliders and you'll see why you had problems.





The upper one is the Pro slider, they removed the raised bit where the ball screws in in order to move the ball in closer to the center of the slider and reduce slop. If you use a Pro bellcrank and an ESP slider the plastic cup rubs the slider and causes resistance. You can shim it like you did or you can put the cup in upside down and ream the hole at the small end of the cup slightly to allow the ball to move freely (it will restrict the neck of the link ball otherwise) Best way to do this is try it ream a little, try again, until you have it free, then glue it in. If you do this the link ball must be screwed in from underneath the arm though the cup. Personally I think your method is better as it leaves the possibility of upgrading to the pro slider and grips later on.

If you use a Pro slider and Pro tailgrips together on an ESP belt tailbox you need to use the plastic links from an ESP slider or they can lock. Just using the slider alone or the grips alone can't lock but because the Pro links are slightly shorter and the Pro tailgrips have slightly shorter arms they can lock up when used together.

Atomic Skull - good pick!

This could be the issue I have with my 550 too. Funny thought that I dont have this problem on my 500fbl that I'm currently building and I have the same bell crank on both helis.

On my 500fb have the Align Metal Tail Rotor Control Arm Set H60186 (no cup) which has no binding on either plastic or metal tail case.

On my 500fbl & 550fb I have the Align Metal Tail Rotor Control Arm Set H60186A (with cup) which has binding in the centre only o the 550.
This now all makes sense why with the plastic kit arms have no bindings as it doesnt have the cups

Sorry guys. nothign to do with helis but I need to show you all this.

Meet Porter. The World's First Driving Dog. (1 min 48 sec)

Pretty kool. My dog has yet to learn his name let alone drive a mini.

Originally Posted by evltoy

Atomic Skull - good pick!

This could be the issue I have with my 550 too. Funny thought that I dont have this problem on my 500fbl that I'm currently building and I have the same bell crank on both helis.

On my 500fb have the Align Metal Tail Rotor Control Arm Set H60186 (no cup) which has no binding on either plastic or metal tail case.

On my 500fbl & 550fb I have the Align Metal Tail Rotor Control Arm Set H60186A (with cup) which has binding in the centre only o the 550.
This now all makes sense why with the plastic kit arms have no bindings as it doesnt have the cups

I had some play time last night so I had to check out what we were talking about.

First I had a look at the 500fbl that had the cup style bell crack (Align metal control arm) and found that I had 2 shims in place between the bearing and the tail case mount.

Then I checked the 550 and found I only had 1 shim in place. I added the copper shim that came with the hk kit and immediately the binding had disappeared. The whole setup is smooth as butter now.

Thanks guys for the ideas & help solving the issue.

Originally Posted by Atomic Skull

Take a close look at these two sliders and you'll see why you had problems.

Thanks a bunch Atomic! I'll order a couple more of the correct sliders. I wish it would have been more clear when I ordered in the first place.

Originally Posted by kdean

Thats a good idea, but i wanna take it out tomorrow to test it and it would be easier to change blades at the field. Have you ever seen dampers 'go bad'? And would that cause the huge gap?

Let us know what the problem ultimately was. I'm kind of interested.

Originally Posted by 2Doggs

It's great to have people evaluating new packs - but the trouble is you need to have a lot of cycles thru them before you can say if they're worth the money.

There is one thing I didn't mention with the lot of Blue Lipos.. All packs have failed by having one cell bad. That cell was always the sixth one (according to my tester) and mounted against the frame.

I had somewhat asked around at the field, but no one has had this problem. Is there someone here that has wrecked a cell that was closest to the velcro & frame? I am wondering if it is chance, or shtty batteries.

Edit: Checking 'lipo vibration battery failure' doesn't come up with much.
The cell contacting the battery tray would have the most contact vibration I suppose. If you strapped the pack tightly down to the tray, maybe that would have more effect on the plates & structure of the cell. Who knows? I'll treat my new packs the same way I guess

I'm pretty committed with the packs, new connectors installed. Hmm, wish me well. Or not ill at least. Fast shipping!

Still need to put the TT on the blue heli, the vibration on the red tail (500 #2) is a bitch still. Edit, excuse the right pointing nose on 500 #1, the left grommet was off Agh. Anyway. carry on. I wish I had a different cheaper cooler funner less work hobby sometimes.

Oh, who am I kidding, I just need to get more focused.

Originally Posted by eagle777

I'm pretty committed with the packs, new connectors installed. Hmm, wish me well. Or not ill at least. Fast shipping!

Still need to put the TT on the blue heli, the vibration on the red tail (500 #2) is a bitch still. Edit, excuse the right pointing nose on 500 #1, the left grommet was off Agh. Anyway. carry on. I wish I had a different cheaper cooler funner less work hobby sometimes.

Oh, who am I kidding, I just need to get more focused.

Nooooo...your absolutely rite. . This hobby is a lot of work and a constant money siphon. I have 4 helis, and it all ways seems to be a constant upkeep. Its rare that I have all four flying perfect. I imagine it to be like taking on a new wife with a bunch of kids. Lol. ..And yet we continue, something to do I suppose.

Originally Posted by eagle777

There is one thing I didn't mention with the lot of Blue Lipos.. All packs have failed by having one cell bad. That cell was always the sixth one (according to my tester) and mounted against the frame.

I had somewhat asked around at the field, but no one has had this problem. Is there someone here that has wrecked a cell that was closest to the velcro & frame? I am wondering if it is chance, or shtty batteries.

Edit: Checking 'lipo vibration battery failure' doesn't come up with much.
The cell contacting the battery tray would have the most contact vibration I suppose. If you strapped the pack tightly down to the tray, maybe that would have more effect on the plates & structure of the cell. Who knows? I'll treat my new packs the same way I guess

Sounds like you might be able to salvage some 5s packs from the dead 6s ones, then. how many cycles did you get before they failed?

I dont know.... All 10 Blue lipo’s have the same cell (6) fail. What are the odds of that happening? I understand the cells can fail, but all ten packs with only cell number 6!

To me I feel like something else may be causing or encouraging the problem.

Had a tail boom break due to apparent metal fatigue today. Was doing repeated piro stops and noticed the tail rotor was at a 30 degree angle so I landed immediately and saw that it had cracked where the clamp holds the boom and was bent at a 15 degree angle. Didn't hit anything with the tail it just cracked in midair. If it had been a TT I'm pretty sure it would have crashed.

EDIT: I think it was the 10mm screws I was using to hold the boom supports, they had dug pits into the boom and it cracked right at this point. Going to switch back to 8mm screws. Also the tail belt is perfectly fine.

Originally Posted by evltoy

I dont know.... All 10 Blue lipo’s have the same cell (6) fail. What are the odds of that happening? I understand the cells can fail, but all ten packs with only cell number 6!

To me I feel like something else may be causing or encouraging the problem.

Well, I only got about 40-50 cycles out of them. Never pulled more than 45-50 peak amps, more like 30 average, and always landed at 3.75 to 3.8V cell. I always checked the batts after each flight, and after 30 cycles or so, cell #6 would be 3.7V then after a few more flights, 3.6V. I'd fly them until #6 was 3.4V and saw a decrease in overall power for the whole flight. The bottom cell would be noticeably hot & puffed. I mean $30 was a steal at the time, but you get what you pay for I guess.

Maybe the mfr installed a bad cell in each pack and somehow they got to the U.S. No idea.

I've used a lot of Turnigy Blue 3S and 4S and never had a cell go bad like that. Generally all the cells degrade at the same time.

Temperature can do that. Is your speedcontrol under your battery tray and getting too hot?