Have T-rex 600 electric heli and can't seem to get Align night blades to track. The blades balance fine. The blades that are currently on the heli track perfectly. When I put the night blades on, tracking is off by at leat 1 inch. I have adjusted the ball links back and forth with no apparent change to the tracking. The blades just won't track and I don't know why. Been flying Heli's off and on for almost 20 years. Never seen anything like this. Can anyone give some advice? I have already exchanged one pair for another new pair at my local hobby shop. No difference. So I have tried two different sets of Align night blades and neither would track.

Terry

could both sets of blades be bad?
Gary

How old are the head dampners and which one's are you using?
That'd be my starting point as you've done everything else.

For some unknown reason, the blades started tracking OK. Flew them 3 times at night without doing any aerobatics. Started feeling very comfortable. So, on the fourth flight went to idle up and let it rip. Did some loops, rolls, tumbles, etc. Then the tracking went out again. So, I landed and will now investigate. I don't think it is the blades now. I measured everything I know to measure and they are fine. It must be something else.

The dampers are at least a year old. N1pster may have it right. I will replace them and see what happens. These night blades are much lighter than the blades I was flying. Would stiffer dampers be the way to go?

Sure sounds like the dampners are shot / too soft when tracking fine when relatively unloaded in normal flight then loosing tracking as soon as you go 3D.
I'd be using a slightly harder dampner on those night blades, perhaps try a few types with different hardness and see what suits your flying style best.
Remember the hard ones will take a little time to bed in.

Put in a new set of harder black dampers. No change. The blades will not track. I can get them to track only at lower speeds. I guess the blades will have to be returned.

Terry

Just plain bizarre that Terry, the hard dampners should be better at higher head speeds.
Couple of things to try,
Swop round the blades in the grips.
Make sure they are tight enough, non of this the blade drops when the heli is held on it's side, they need to be quite a bit tighter than that.

Just out of curiosity, what are the blades like for C of G and weight?

I switched blades in the grips. It does make a difference on these blades. I also tightened the grips as you suggested. I can get them to track at slow speeds. Sometimes at higher speeds but then it goes out of track once you start flying around. I'm now trying to add some stickers on the leading edge out near the tips to increase the weight. Maybe make them more stable. Charging up now for another test tonight.

The blades weigh the same, 4.3 ounces each (before stickers were added). The CG is in the same position along the length for both blades. It is so close it is scary. I don't have a balancer for checking CG along the cord. My guess is that it is pretty far back. Maybe this T-rex 600 electric heli just isn't stiff enough to handle them.

Terry

Adding the stickers to the blades LE seems to have helped. Flew for 5 minutes on rev-up 2 doing lots of loops rolls and tubbles. Tracking stayed within about 1/2" or so. At least for this one flight. I think I'll add more stickers and see if it doesn't improve more. The blades are very fast. At least twice the roll rate. Very aggressive blades for sure.

Terry

Well it's getting there thats for sure, it just occured to me, I used to have a similar issue.
Couldn't get the blades to track 2 days running, 1 day they would be fine, next day hopeless.
In the end got thoroughly fed up and changed the grips to metal, never had a problem since.

Metal grips are on order! Thanks for the tip.

Terry

Put metal grips on the heli and tracted in the blades. Have flown several times now with no blade tracking issues. The metal grips from Align are very nice looking and well made. I'd say this problem is solved!

Terry

Great stuff, glad you got it sorted in the end.