How did you manage to loose teeth during flight? Do you have a soft satrt on your esc.. what brand? Do you have too much back lash? or was this the Hk gear that could just be crap?

Originally Posted by evltoy

How did you manage to loose teeth during flight? Do you have a soft satrt on your esc.. what brand? Do you have too much back lash? or was this the Hk gear that could just be crap?

The holds in my HK gear were drilled out of round and had to be replaced. It didn't appear to be any softer than the Align one I replaced it with. If the teeth stripped during pitch pumps, I would anticipate that the gear mesh was a bit loose. I'd be interested to hear what Endolf thinks happened.

I was trying some pitch pumps to see if the tail would hold steady, my throttle curve on normal mode was also set wrong, so there was too much throttle increase. Still shouldn't have wrecked the main gear though.

The main gear looked fine before flight. The motor doesn't appear to move, so I don't think it's slipped, and the mesh was set before first flight using a sheet of paper between the gears.

It may be that the gear was very very slightly out of round, too little to notice, but enough to present a reduced mesh on 1 part of the gear, during high load this might have given up, and once you have a slip the rest of the gear would have been toast anyway.

Endolf

The good ol’ paper trick to set gear mesh.

One thing with that trick is that you can still get tight & loose spots from a gear that is out or round.... even with Align gears.

I found that setting the back-lash manually then going around the gear in 1/4 or 1/8 movements to make sure the back-lash is in its tolerance. Have the screws on the motor firm enough so the gear can’t move it, but you can adjust when needed.

I also mark the maingear with a sharpie or paint pen at the tight spot so that you can easily check the mesh after a few flights.

I replaced the main gear and got the fusuno jolly bee canopy on the hk550 now, desperately trying to get a break in the weather to go fly, took it over to a field near work to get a pack flow, my left arm was dead when I got there from cold and carrying batteries+tx awkwardly so I had an awful flight. Managed a few figure 8s and that was it, left thumb was twitching like mad. Shame, on the 450 I'm up to simple aerobatics (loops, rolls, immalman turns, stall turns), was hoping to push the 550 a bit.

Maybe over the weekend it won't rain as much as it's due too.

Endolf

Originally Posted by Gaz-b

Did you find the tail thrust bearing to be useless the outer on mine which should rotate inside the blade grip was a tight press fit fitting.

I'm having that issue, it was ok for a bit, but the screw was coming out of one of them, so I stripped and rebuilt the grip/hub assembly, it's all too tight now, can't get the grips to rotate properly. I was trying to find HN6103B in the uk, but everywhere seems out of stock. Not sure if it's the bearings or the blade grips that are not to spec.

Endolf

I had a similar problem with my tail rotor after reassembling the grips. It turns out the thin shim washer that goes on the radial bearing sleeve needs to be set perfectly before putting the radial bearing back in the grips. One of the radial bearings feels notchy, but I don't think it's the thrust bearing, it feels smooth while pulling on the grips.

on mine it was the bearings it had inner plates all round the outer should have a smaller OD and must not contact the grip.

My guess is that tolerances in use for producing hubs, grips and even the feathering shafts are way too large. The counter measure in use during assembly is setting the screws at zero bearing tolerace, using glue to lock them. I found all 450 and 500 HK heli s disassebled and greased and reassembled to show this phenomenon.
Changed parts for align ones in my 550 and 600gt, kept the 450 s as is.
All fly well :-)

I finally got my 550 tested again last week, I got some new thrust bearings from rcbearings.co.uk and the smaller races no longer are tight on the hub and grips.

Tail is working fine now.

Endolf

What are you guys getting total build cost at? For decent equipment. I've been playing with the shopping cart and am getting to $500 pretty easy including shipping. And does not include batteries which I need at least 2 and that's another $120. I might need to stick to 450's. The price jumps crazy like! I'm getting close to prices of used Align if I shop around.

Originally Posted by shahram72

What are you guys getting total build cost at? For decent equipment. I've been playing with the shopping cart and am getting to $500 pretty easy including shipping. And does not include batteries which I need at least 2 and that's another $120. I might need to stick to 450's. The price jumps crazy like! I'm getting close to prices of used Align if I shop around.

Check out my build log on my blog. I posted a cost list.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...1&postcount=66

My 550 costings

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...UE&output=html

It's not quite done yet, the beastx suddenly snap rolls right up to 45 degrees when hovering side in to a reasonable wind. Suggestions are it's tail vibes, so I'm hunting those down at the moment, hopefully the posty will deliver the bits to replace the tail box and pitch slider today, if that works I'll add it to the costings. I also got some bling on the 550 that isn't on the costs, a canopy, some quick release canopy holders and some F3C skids.

Endolf

Just opened your costings, and at first glance I thought, wow, $97 for the 550 kit - until I realised it was GBP!

How's that re-branded Suppo motor working out for you?