I have an all metal version of the HK450. To me, it's a total waste of money and time. I would also say it isn't safe. I noticed several things wrong with mine as I was putting it together.
1. The belt will not stay straight. It has a twist in it. If you hold it by both ends it has a permanent twist.
It worked so I tried it anyway.
2. The main rotor housing wobbles on the main shaft. I noticed this after I hovered it.
3. One blade holder does not line up straight making it impossible to ever get the blade tracking right. I was going to order new ones but I wanted to test fly it first.
4. The drive gear is not flat.
5. The one way bearing does not feel ok.
6. One of the paddles screws on at an angle.
7. There is too much total slop in the linkages on the rotor assembly.
8. One of the fiberglass kit main blades was warped.
9. I ordered a set of carbon spare blades with the kit. The mounting holes do not line up, so they are useless.

I ordered another set of wooden blades. They were perfect. OK I know!! so looking back now I should never have tried to fly it. But I did and it flew without vibration or wobble. I only hovered it to check the tracking. It wasn't too bad but I would have to wait for new blade holders. I hovered for a few seconds, then landed. I decided too take it back up just to hover a little more. I heard a snap but nothing seemed to change. I landed and took it home. I checked it out good because of the snap I heard. The bolt holding the main rotor had sheared off on both sides. The rotor assembly stayed on because the bolt had seized on the main rotor housing.

So now I don't trust anything on this heli. I might try one of the Tarot kits but I will not pay the exorbitant price for a Trex450 kit.

Loyd

k for the curious, here are the best images I could take of the swashplate with my phone. It seems that it is all the way set, then again, I'm not really sure what I should be looking for

Thanks for posting the pics, and I'm glad it all survived your test flight!

The Tarot swash is quite different from my HK ones - I'm pretty sure the HK ones are actually just pressed together.

On your Tarot one, the bottom piece, which has the two indents, is screwed into the upper part, sandwiching the centre ball and the two plastic washers. Since you have so much lateral play, it's possible that lower part isn't screwed in all the way, and you might be able to tighten it up. Without the special tool, you might be able to make judicious use of a hammer and some sort of punch or drift, to attempt to screw the bottom piece in a bit more, and I reckon it would be worth a try.

You might also unscrew the bottom part, to check if there's some sort of obstruction preventing it being screwed fully tight - could be a bit of swarf, or bad threads.

Out of all the swashes I have tried (and I have tried them all) the Tarots hold up the best and have less play even over time.

Originally Posted by tsakali

k for the curious, here are the best images I could take of the swashplate with my phone. It seems that it is all the way set, then again, I'm not really sure what I should be looking for

I would say when you screwed those to long balls in you damaged the inner ring. The tarot swashes are between $10 to $14 dollars.

FWIW...I have a Tarot kit like his with maybe a little less slop in that pivot ball on the swash and it flies perfectly fine. This seems like a mole hill being turned into a mountain. 14 bucks is just going to buy another swash that more than likely has about the same amount of slop. Heck even Align swash plates have the same issue after a while.

Originally Posted by mhills51

I would say when you screwed those to long balls in you damaged the inner ring. The tarot swashes are between $10 to $14 dollars.

what do you mean? the ball links connecting to the feathering shafts?

No, Aligns problem is in the bearings and play in the upper and lower half's. This will effect your flight. They have the worst 500 swashes ever. My tarot only developed play in the ball after four really bad crashes and like you said won't really effect anything, but tsakalis is really bad. Not your normal play.

The Align 450 se swash I have sitting in my box has no play between the upper and lower swash plate halves. Only the same play in the pivot ball. Mhills....the play that you reference I would agree would not be good to fly with but in tsakali's case his is in the same pivot ball. It does look excessive and really a shame considering this is a new part however should still be able to fly. Personally I would buy an ALZRC replacement swash.

I'm guessing just acquiring the tool I need to work on it, it'll prolly be cheaper to go with a new swashplate. What about the DFC head /swash combo... does that fair out better in comparison?

Also clubheli has the tarot swash, but it doesn't specify v2. are the swash plates the same between versions
?

They are the same. Just make sure it is for the Pro.

Originally Posted by mhills51

No, Aligns problem is in the bearings and play in the upper and lower half's. This will effect your flight. They have the worst 500 swashes ever. My tarot only developed play in the ball after four really bad crashes and like you said won't really effect anything, but tsakalis is really bad. Not your normal play.

If I could just get the plastic ring and bearing for the Tarot 500 swash I could fix the one I damaged in a crash a while back and use it as a spare. The CNC parts are fine it just has a dented plastic ring and a bad bearing.

Originally Posted by tsakali

I'm guessing just acquiring the tool I need to work on it, it'll prolly be cheaper to go with a new swashplate. What about the DFC head /swash combo... does that fair out better in comparison?

Also clubheli has the tarot swash, but it doesn't specify v2. are the swash plates the same between versions
?

450 Pro, 450 Pro V2 and 450 Sport and 450 Sport V2 all use the same swash. The 450 Sport swashes are blue instead of black but are otherwise identical. The 450 SE and 450 SE V2 use a smaller swash. I believe that everything before the 450 SE uses the same size swash as the SE.

I'd recommend a standard FBL head if you're want to run moderate head speeds for sport flying and soft 3D. DFC requires rock hard dampers which doesn't perform well at lower head speeds.

If you continue to have problems with the swash driver arms binding you could get the Align ones.

http://helidirect.com/align-450fl-me...em-p-24337.hdx

Or you could just get an RJX head.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...450_HK450.html

I have the RJX 500 head and it went together perfectly.

Originally Posted by ridge_racer

The Align 450 se swash I have sitting in my box has no play between the upper and lower swash plate halves. Only the same play in the pivot ball. Mhills....the play that you reference I would agree would not be good to fly with but in tsakali's case his is in the same pivot ball. It does look excessive and really a shame considering this is a new part however should still be able to fly. Personally I would buy an ALZRC replacement swash.

I got a Alzrc one DFC about 4 months ago and it came with zero grease in the bearing and a rough spot.

Swash with no grease (0 min 23 sec)

Hit or miss with clone stuff as usual...