bdavison

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Ok guys, here is part 1 of the E-flite assembly and tuning thread. This first section is just an assembly thread and does not contain any tuning tips or modifications. Its just simply to show the assembly of the heli from skids to head. There will be more coming. It takes a long time to take all the photographs and compile them.


This thread will consist of 55 detailed pictures and text to go along with each. The pictures will be posted in order. It takes a while to post all these pictures and text, so if your waiting for the next step, be patient with me. I have ALOT of work to do.

The threads will be as follows

1. Basic assembly of the frame, rotor head, and motor installation.
2. Servo installation and Avionics.
3. Tail motor assembly and installation
4. Tracking and adjusting the head
5. Adjusting the gyro.
6. Performance modifications
7. Extreme Modifications.

This thread will start as though you are beginning with a bunch of parts and are constructing the heli from the bottom up.

First, you will start with the skids. Assembly is pretty straight forward on this part. Refer to the picture to see how it goes together. The purple part is silicone fuel tubing that was assembled over the skids for asthetic looks.

Then the unassembled frame.

Next, take the main shaft, and install one of the ballbearings as shown.

Then slide the main shaft into the frame. You must ensure that the ball bearing fits snugly into the socket on the frame.

bdavison

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Verify that the ballbearing is in the socket on the frame.

Slide the top ballbearing onto the shaft and press it into the top socket on the frame.

Slide the main shaft retaining collet onto the main shaft and tighten it onto the main shaft

bdavison

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The swashplate as shown has short and long control arms. Take note of this for later in the thread as it is important.

Slide the swashplate onto the main shaft. Gently pull the swashplate anti-rotation slot rearward and insert the swashplate anti-rotation pin into the slot. This keeps the swashplate from spinning once the heli head is in rotation.

Now attach the control arms to the swashplate as shown in the picture.

bdavison

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Next we move to installation of the motor.

The motor slot is cut so that you can adjust the mesh between the pinion gear and the main gear. The mesh is extremely important. If the mesh is incorrect, it can result in stripped gears or an overheated motor. FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.

Install the motor, and install one of the screws. Leave this screw loose so that you can adjust the motor in the slot.

Using a slip of paper, insert it between the gears as shown. Once it crinkles the paper as shown, install the second screw and tighten both down. Now remove the paper. Spin the gear by hand to check it. It should run smoothly around, and should not catch or bind anywhere.

bdavison

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Hope you guys are enjoying so far....

Now we move on to probably the most confusing part of the heli. Head assembly.

The head doesnt have to be confusing. There are alot of parts. Assembly of the head is critical. If it is not assembled correctly, it wont work.

First, Start with one of the blade grips. Each blade grip has two ball bearings and a small metal cylinder inside. Very rarely do these ballbearings come out of the blade grips.

Take the paddle control pushrods and line them up as shown. Push them onto the blade grip and turn until it looks as shown. Be careful installing the pushrods as you can break them if you are too rough with them.

bdavison

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Next, attach the end cap screw, and washers to the spindle. This should be assembled as follows in order.

End cap screw
Large washer
Small washer
Spindle.

Next, push the assembled spindle into the blade grip as shown.

Install the washer onto the spindle.

Install the o-ring onto the spindle.
Lubrication of the o-ring should be done at this point. The o-ring should be lubricated with silicone. Do NOT use petroleum based lubricants such as machine oil or gun oil. Petroleum based products will degrade the o-ring.

bdavison

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Now slide the center hub onto the spindle.

Slide the second o-ring onto the spindle.

Slide the second washer onto the spindle.

And finally, slide the second blade grip onto the spindle.

bdavison

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Now attach the second end cap screw to the spindle to finish the blade grip installation.

Now its time to install the paddle control frame.

The paddle control frame has a ball bearing in it. It slides over the post on the center hub.

Then put a ballbearing onto the remaining post.

bdavison

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Ok, now stop, take a break and go get a coke.

I am....whew this is alot of work........


Ok....are you back?

Now take the paddle control frame (b) and attach it to the center hub as shown.

Install and tighten the two screws that hold the paddle control frame together.

timothy thompson

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you actually took yours apart now sky pilot might get his to work just flew mine landed on the roof and off . its a riot i wish i had longer flights but ill burn motors faster also flew me venture 30 .

bdavison

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Now attach the ball links from the blade grips to the rotor head frame. Do this for both blade grips. Dont worry about setting the control links at this time. That will come later during the tracking and trimming thread.

Now, attach a paddle to the flybar. Push the paddle all the way on as far as it will go. Then tighten the screw and nut that holds the paddle onto the flybar.

Now slide the a flybar collet weight onto the flybar and tighten into place as shown.

Now start the flybar into the paddle control frame as shown.

bdavison

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Now set the paddle control frame onto the rotor control frame as shown in the pic, and slide the flybar through.

Slide the second flybar collet weight onto the flybar.

Now install the final flybar paddle all the way onto the shaft. Dont worry about lining or adjusting anything yet. That all comes later in the tracking and trimming section of the thread.

Snap the paddle control pushrods onto the paddle control frame as shown. Do this for both of the paddle control pushrods.

This completes the assembly of the head.

bdavison

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Now slide the head onto the main shaft.

Then insert the shear pin into the head to hold it on.

Now snap the paddle control pushrods to the "SHORT" swashplate control arms. The short pins are for intermediate use. Use of the long arms will be addressed in the "Performance modifications section".

Your blade may or may not have long and short control arms, in which case you can use any pair.

Do NOT cut off the extra control arms. If you crash and snap one of the arms, you can switch to the other two. If you remove the extra arms, you will have to replace the entire swashplate.


Well, this completes the assembly.

bdavison

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Now dont get mad.....


POP QUIZ TIME!!!!!

Since I expect you guys to learn not only how to assemble this heli, I tricked you....

Thats right....I tricked you, I know Im a ***......but I want you guys to learn how to recognize problems with your heli and be able to correct them without needing pictures and a build thread.

So with this in mind.

Here is the quiz.

What was assembled incorrectly on the head?

billaltman

My Feedback: (7)

I know but i'll wait til someone else finds it. by the way good thing you are not doing a T-rex assembly you would be here for a while huh. Keep up the great work some people really need this kind of help. Bill

bdavison

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Here is the answer.

The rotor head frame was installed upside down.

Here is the problem.
The rotor head frame when installed upside down will place the control horns from the blade grips to the rotor head frame backwards.
This will make the blade grips also upside down.

Here is the solution.

Flip the rotor head over as shown and reinstall.

For the rest of the thread there will be no more POP QUIZZES.

See there, now you learned something. Dont just follow instructions on how to assemble things. Learn how they work and why, then you have a much better chance of correcting problems on the fly.

If your still confused, let me know and Ill try to help....hopefully I didnt lose anyone.

bdavison

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Ok guys, that concludes the assembly stage.

Now its time for the Q&A section. Feel free to ask questions, but try to limit them to whats contained in this thread.

Look for the next section....coming soon.

acr1346

I would suggest noting the washer next to the rubber dampner is of a special shape and the "hump"
should face bearing and the flat side should touch the rubber dampner.
I sould also recommend adjusting the correct "flybar length" (centering) without the paddles attached.
A paddle not fully seated on the flybar then used to measure for centering of the flybar
will cause a wabble never to be found. Center the bar, add the paddles center the paddle
length on the flybar. (I know you know what I mean and may explain it better).

bdavison

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Yeah, acro... I was saving the paddle centering thing for the tracking and trimming thread. Once we get to that point Im going to go over how to set-up the flybar, all the linkages, the swashplate, and the blades. Remember this is just assembly, not ready for flying yet.


Excellent point about the washer. I didnt mention that, and it should be up there.

What acro is refering to is the washer as shown in this picture, has a small raised bump on it. It should have the bump towards the ballbearing in the blade grip, NOT the o-ring.

If you look closely at the second picture, you can see the raised "bump"

bdavison

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Bill......


LOL no kidding. I dont think Id ever do a T-REX or Shogun thread. Sheesh. It would be like 150 pics just for the head alone. Not to mention thats just assembly. The Extreme performance part of this thread....Im even going to go into the "black box" and show its guts to everyone. The servo stage coming up next also has alot of pictures. But its pretty easy compared to assembly.

Whats really crazy, is Ive had to COMPLETELY disassemble the heli to get these pics. From bottom to top is about a good 3-4 hours of assembly time if your starting from scratch and ending in a flying heli. The good news is, I could fix this thing with my eyes closed now. Ive disassembled the heli and reassembled it for pics like 3 times.

hobbystar07

Great job so far BD..we all owe you one for the time you've put into this and for caring to help others..
Thanks..

Dr. J

liteglow

BD: do you think that the frame is weak under the 2 servos on the back (where the tail is mounted) !?

My frame did break the first day i tested the heli, i have ordred a new frame and will replace all parts over to the new frame

Anyway, i still use my blade CP with alot of tape lol ..
but the heli is nice to fly....
I only wish the tail was some better on the OEM...

paedbo

My Feedback: (2)

the only thing i would suggest is that in the post that you have the head assembly backwards that at the beginning of it you tell people there is a problem and can they find it , so they dont go ahead and copy it as they follow the thread then just to find out later they did it wrong. Good job with the pics nicely done.


btw it wouldnt be wrong if they were making a counter rotating heli :-) Ive done that before with the honey bee 2 just so i could have the main motor spin the way it was intended.

Nubie_1

Well I know I'm really new to this Hobie and probably over my head but I really liked the little Helli and it was on my channel so I got it with training gear and about 3 battery's later I'm doing the 2in hover witch is not nothing compared to most peoples abilities and i know i will crash it eventually so this little thread is so valuable to me and many others who are in over there heads LoL.

Thank You So Much
Chris

awdtsi

My Feedback: (3)

When the Blade is assembled correctly, which way are the main and tail motors supposed to rotate? Clockwise or counter-clockwise?