[Tower]

Hi Folks

Just finished a complex project that I have worked 5 months on and needed a TREX fix. Got lucky and snagged one of the first 600E Pro kits. Anyway, my addiction is building right now (True joy is a trex kit full of bags of pieces) and to slow the process a bit I thought I'd share this build with anyone that may be interested.

The 600E Pro was a next logical step for me . I have a couple of 450 and 2 500 REXs. The 600E uses two 500 batteries (3000 ma 6S) so - easy transition!!

The box arrived this morning from Flying Hobbies in good shape. The first thing I noticed was This Thing is Heavy. That's a shock after 450's and 500s. The second thing (after opening the box) was This Thing is Big. The blades are huge! If you are used to bigger helis and nitro machines you are likely laughing - for me they are an eyeopener.


Unboxing
Here are some pictures of the Box and contents - More to come as the build starts. Sorry a few are out of order!

One odd thing right off - the canopy appears to be a perfect fit on the 450pro - see picture

[4wdmt]

Oh man. I am jelous. Been checking that new 600e Pro lately. Nice to see one here in our forum doing a build. Please continue posting updates. I'll watch this thread everytime I'm here.

I think I will be selling one of my helis now, lol.

Nice pic with the 450 w/ 600 canopy.

[Tower]

Well, the head went together very well dispite being a bit more complex than what I am generally used to. The relatively larger pieces make for more room to work and the extra linkages went together quickly. Typical align quality. Very nice throughout. As usual the fastners were all finger tight in place and only a few critical ones were thread locked (not sure why?) - the rest are now. Interestingly the thrust bearings came lubricated - I have not seen that before. The paddles came in at 17 grams with the weights shown below installed (13g without). I set the linkages up for 3d (rather than F3C) which generally meant installing the ball link balls at the furthust point from any fulcrum point. I installed the weights (which are screwed in and can be removed) because a little spunkiness is nice - too much generally gets me in trouble. I left the F3C orange dampers in as well - will have to see how these work out. I have not yet balanced the head. Interestingly the main shaft has the same welded stopper/collar as the 450pros - I kind of like the adjustable collars better - 2 washers for shimming are supplied.

Areas for improvement
1) I am almost out of loctite (blue) the supplied tube is the same size (volume wise) as the 450's but the threads are more in number and bigger!
2) The ends of the flybar paddles are a bit rough - odd - usually they are very smooth and finished with nice shiney CF - see photo.
3) And finally, the flat spots on the flybar are not quite centered - they are off by about 3 mm.

The box all up weighed 4.38 KGs (9lbs 10ozs) useless information but now you know.

And - meet Kirby - My trusted heli dog and 600E gaurdian

[Tower]

Originally Posted by 4wdmt

Oh man. I am jelous. Been checking that new 600e Pro lately. Nice to see one here in our forum doing a build. Please continue posting updates. I'll watch this thread everytime I'm here.

I think I will be selling one of my helis now, lol.

Nice pic with the 450 w/ 600 canopy.

Hi 4wdmt - thanks for the feedback!

[4wdmt]

Thanks for the update. I am very intrigued with the new head design. Having some options for either 3D or F3C set up is good. I just can't imagine how much bigger the parts of this 600 size is.

Kirby seems bored, you need to finish your 600e up so that he can go out .

Joel

[Tower]

Originally Posted by 4wdmt

Thanks for the update. I am very intrigued with the new head design. Having some options for either 3D or F3C set up is good. I just can't imagine how much bigger the parts of this 600 size is.

Kirby seems bored, you need to finish your 600e up so that he can go out .

Joel

He is never that impressed with the building process. Not sure why. The 600e parts I am sure are about the same as other 600's - just a lot bigger then the 450 and 500s I am used to.

Frame next!

[Max]

Nice Build thread so far....

That 600 is going to be one big mamma when its done

[Tower]

Normally I find the frame a walk in the park compared to the head. Not this time. The drawings challenged me a bit and the order of them was a bit mixed up. More to follow.

The carbon fiber was perfect. And the fit and finish of parts the same. The drawings (Align does not provide instructions for assembly) led me to believe that the frame mounting blocks (aluminum blocks that join the bottom plate to the sides) are attached first to the bottom. This is not the case. The small frame doublers at the rear and front of the side frames are installed first with the rear and aft frame mounting blocks to the side frames. Only the center block is attached to the bottom plate initially.

The motor installation was interesting. I have not put in a motor before that does not allow for adjustment. I expect the nature of the drive system mandates zero tolerance on the positioning of the components. It is the first time I have run into a motor setup where both sides of the motor shaft/pinion are supported. The addition of the "motor pinion gear mount" (see photo below - it is another bearing block) certainly insures a rock solid drive system. It also created a real problem. The installation of the motor comes several drawings after the frame assembly and installation of the pinion gear mount. Unfortunately, the moulded in servo mounts block the required direct insertion of the motor straight down into the frame. I had to remove the pinion gear mount to get the motor assembly in - no fun with the Loctite dry (see pictures with red arrows of clearance issue). I ran the motor wires forward to the port (left) side. It does not show this detail in the drawings - I scrutinized Align sales photos to get this detail.

I really like the gear. Very wide and low - less chance for tip over when the thumbs are acting dumb. Also keeps the C of G low with those heavy batteries overhead. Make sure you don't tighten the set screws to fix the skid pipes before attaching the gear to the bottom of the frame. The skid pipes end caps are a relatively loose fit and need to be glued in - a drop of slow zap inside the pipes for each worked well.

The battery tray system is pretty slick - it comes preassembled - 4 bolts attach it. It appears very rugged. I will likely put a little silicon on the rails to lubricate it. The silver block at the front of the assembly is a push button which releases the tray (slides forward).

The frame was a joy overall - It is fun to build - you see a lot of progress quickly and trial fitting the canopy gives you a sense of the machine.

Things that could be improved;
1) Improve order of drawings with respect to motor mount. The motor pinion gear mount should not be installed until after the motor is in.
2) More clarity with respect to the frame blocks - they should be shown attached to the side frames not the bottom plate.
3) Show the motor wires on the drawings to inform routing decisions.

ps - my little bottle of supplied thread lock ran out half way through the frame - I have a spare which has been pressed into service.
Also - keeping this build thread going is fun but not slowing me down much! - Thanks for the feedback Joel and Max!

.

[4wdmt]

Slowly but surely. Thank you for the added notes of your build.

If I get this correctly, due to the design of the motor mount, it is going to be a fixed gearmesh and no option for other pinion sizes?

Thanks.

[Tower]

Hi

I took a look at the 600 and 700 manuals (posted at the Great Hobbies site - Thanks!!) and noticed the existing 600 electric have an adjustable motor mount and the 700s use the fixed mount with supporting head block. I can't see how the 600E or 700 could change pinions alone as the space cannot be adjusted and therefore not accomodate varying widths of the pinion.

I dug out the March 2011 RC HELI magazine which has an article on Gears. They talk about the Helical system and note that they "produce a load perpendicular to the axis of rotation, thus making it essential to have a thrust bearing on the main shaft..." I assume the bearing block on the side of the pinion opposite of the motor is what they are refering to. This Helical system does not seem to accomadate varying pinion sizes.

Maybe swap both the main gear and the pinion as a pair?

Thoughts?

The Trex 600E pro Build continuous - Servos are underway
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