T-Rex 500, EXI 500, HK 500, CopterX 500 and other clones

[old_city_painter]

Fatdaddy, here are some shots of my CopterX (EXI) 500.  Not much difference!



and the HC500

[FatDaddy]

Very Cool my friend!!!! Do you have the Torque Tube on it?  Another cool thing here!!?? I see you have a HC 500 too!! Well I also have a HDX 500 which is the daddy of the HC..Pretty cool..Great minds fly alike!!!! This is a bad heli design.. And once you go with the KDE upgrades there is no more except the finned motor mount..I finally found that too from.....http://www.gforceheli.com/c291071_en/index.html

[old_city_painter]

I guess us Old F***s think alot alike!   No, my CopterX 500 has a belt driven tail.  Spent the weekend overhauling my ES600 (E-Smart).  No crash involved, just a re-hab.  MicroHeli delrin gear, new main shaft, new motor (the original one went bad, bearing failure), new pinion, and a metal tail box with the Hurricane 500 blades.  Re-rigged the main rotor, and added a set of T-Rex 600 skids.  The stock skids were way to spongy.  Won't get to fly her till this coming weekend.  I may be old, but I still have to work!

[FatDaddy]

Very cool bud, I need to do my "E" soon.. The motor is on its way out now and the4 swash plate is gettin loose..Think I'm gonna go with one for the TREX/EXI 500, Maybe microheli or something, I do have new ESKY but don't know if I'll use it.. Did you use the stock pinion? I've already added the Rex skids. in fact I've got them on both "E"'s and the "G" and the EXI!!
Well sadly I can't work anymore.. you go thru life hoping to retire eairly, but then you are forced to and man it SUCKS!!!! 50 and DONE!!!! Now I sit home and built and fly Heli's.. NOT as cool as it sounds!!! It SUCKS Pain 24/7...

[old_city_painter]

Well, maybe I can cheer you up some! Sorry to hear about the pain thing....I know how it sucks, had a tumor (skin cancer) on my left hand and the pain got real bad before I had it removed!  And I still had to work with the bloody thing before the surgery.  Now I have a quarter-sized skin graft there.! :( Better now.  Yes, I'm using the stock pinion. Seems the pitch on the main gear will not match up with the standard pitch on the Rhino gear I bought.  So, stock it is.  My Esky swash is holding up well (all metal) so I did not replace it.  I'm thinking about putting a Logictech gyro on her, but I'm not real clear on how to set it up.  From what I understand you have to set it up in rate first. Is this correct?  How well does it work?  I would like a real solid tail.  I'm using an Align GP750 now and it's ok, but I understand the Logictech is a real solid holder.  I think part of the problem with the stock motor failures (bearing on pinion end) is the fact that the stock pinion is aluminum.  Aluminum conducts heat really well, and with the hard plastic main gear the friction really builds up the temp.  I'm hoping the delrin main gear will not build up as much heat with the aluminum pinion.  What do ya think!

[FatDaddy]

Well, The alu. and hard plastic gears could be it..I'll need to think bout that.. I love the logictech 2100T and have it on all my heli's, including 2"E" and a "G" Smarts.. Pretty much all gyros need to be first setup in rate  mode to correct for tail drift.. Once that is done,,and it is easy it just takes some time sometimes. then the rest is done in HH.. But there a couple vid.s I used in the beginning and I'll post the link again that make it real easy to set them up.. They work GREAT!!! Solid as a ROCK even on the larger birds.. On the 500 and up helis I use a Ino-Lab servo...D261HB I think it is and it also is a GREAT combo with the 2100...look here for set up help...http://store.rcsupersales.net/servlet/-strse-2311/Logictech-2100T-Gyro--pls-/Detail

You know the more I think about the Motor and pinion, It is making some sense, the heat would be carried right up the shaft to the bearing and even an extra heat sink would of no help for that!!!! I don't have any Delrin gears as I've never stripped one and I have plenty if I did So you will have to let us know how it seems to you....

[old_city_painter]

Well my logic on the aluminum pinion and hard plastic gear is this....I have been in the aircraft industry all of my life, with my background being structures and aircraft systems...so I have a pretty good understanding of heat transfer and how high heat effects close tolerance parts.  Without sufficient cooling, the parts will expand, causing the clearances to close up.  Bearings are made to very tight tolerances to begin with and cannot take high temps without some form of cooling.  Over a period of time the constant heating and cool down will cause premature failure.  The delrin gear is strong but not as hard as the plastic stock gear. Hard plastic and aluminum riding against each other at high RPM is asking for a lot of heat.  Delrin is a form of Teflon and is self lubricating.  This should mean less friction, less heat.  Just my take on the motor bearing problem.  I have noticed on the Esky birds some areas that need engineering improvement.  All of the shafts, main, feathering and tail are too soft.  They wear rather quickly and bend easily and should be a harder material.  There are other things I would change too, but I'm not a qualified engineer!   Overall though the "E" is a very nice flying heli and I really enjoy it.  Thanks for the info on the Logictech gyro...I'll have to try one out!

[FatDaddy]

Very Cool, I agree with you on all this!! I've been in R&D for Mobil then Sunoco for 30 yrs. mostly in engine and hyd. pump testing.. building test equipment for this stuff demands perfection of measuements and tolerances. So I have a very good understanding of what you speak...

Trust me ....You will LOVE the Logictech 2100!!!!

[burton8012]

also whats good about the kde upgrades in the lower frame mount protects the frame in crashes so u don't gunna buy a new side frame or even both

[old_city_painter]

Very Cool, I agree with you on all this!! I've been in R&D for Mobil then Sunoco for 30 yrs. mostly in engine and hyd. pump testing.. building test equipment for this stuff demands perfection of measuements and tolerances. So I have a very good understanding of what you speak...

Trust me ....You will LOVE the Logictech 2100!!!!

Seems you and I have a lot more in common than just heli's!    Well. I guess I'll just have to check out that Ol' Logictech 2100!   I am using the InoLab HG-D760HB on the tail of the "E" and the InoLab HG-261HB servos on the tails of my 500's.  Both servo types work very well!  I'll keep ya posted! :)

[chief qm]

Does anyone have any comments on Hobby King and their products and service? I've been looking at the HK500GT and it appears to be good for the price but shipping is steep. Are they in Afghanistan? That would explain the quoted shipping time.    8)Chief



HK-500GT 3D Electric Helicopter Kit $69.95 - http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9975&Product_Name=HK-500GT_3D_Electric_Helicopter_Kit_

T-rex 500 Manual - http://www.trextuning.com/t500-manual.pdf

Specification:
Length: 840mm
Height: 310mm
Main rotor diameter: 970mm
Tail rotor diameter: 200mm
Motor pinion gear: 13T
Main drive gear: 162T
Tail drive gear: 31T
Drive gear ratio: 1:12.46:4.68
Weight(without power system): 1370g
Flying weight: Approx 1700g
 
 
Required items.
Brushless Outrunner Motor
Servos : See linked items below.
Radio Gear : Gyro/Rx
ESC : 80A or greater.
Battery: 2 x 2200mAh 3S 20C or greater.

[Hamberg]

Does anyone have any comments on Hobby King and their products and service? I've been looking at the HK500GT and it appears to be good for the price but shipping is steep. Are they in Afghanistan? That would explain the quoted shipping time.    8)Chief

I heared from forums in sweden that hk copters has bad quality and thats why they r cheap !?

[FatDaddy]

Yea It seems we have some mechanical thoughts the same too as I also use the Ino-Lab HG-D261HB on my larger birds.. I use it my 500's and also on my "E" and it works GREAT on both sizes!! On everything smaller I use the matched 3100G.. At heliproz you can get the combo for 109.00 it is a GREAT bargin..!!!!! I always get the combo from them and keep the servo as a spare if I'm using the 2100 on a large heli..You just cannot beat gettin the 3100G for 5 bucks!!!!

[Nuttcaze]

The original HK-T500 is the bad one, the GT is suppose to be much better but I don't know too much about it. HobbyCity is in China so thats why the shipping is high. I think you'd be better with a EXI 500 Carbon Edition. Thats what I'd get between the 2.  ;)

[burton8012]

Hey FD i just got my exi 500 today look nice as hell but only problem i notice is the swashplate plastic guild has movement back an forth and the  canopy screws are tight as i can get them...did u have that problem with your kit?? before u upgraded? ohh and my kit cam with servo spacers and the canopy sucks too its all warped  and touches the main gear ....couple of u guys on here said your kit didn't come with spacers...other then that really nice....

gunna try and get some paint thinner to take of the exi logo's