HDX 450 Build Videos will be here

[backman8571]

All new HDX450 SE kits are shipped with the new 3550KV not the old one.

The new one is a goog copy of JGF's high power motor.

Works great, also for all, use futaba gyro tape, that will get rid of some of the tail wag.

Cheers

Per

[jblloyd]

I have purchased a SuperFrame STK to replace the Align 450XL frame. I thought, according to the ads at HeliDirect, that all components of the TRex were interchangeable with the SuperFrame. I have found that the Align main gear and tail drive gear do not fit. Is this correct or have I built the frame incorrectly?

Thanks for your help

[Finless]

They should fit as long as you use the LONG spacer that comes with the HDX main gear. Maybe it was in your kit?

[Russ]

My horror story!
After flying my 450 for awhile now I decided to clean up the electronics. I'm using a 430l motor, BL35G esc and a GY401 with an HDS577. 56hbs every where else. TX is a DX6. I had the RX on the front top plate above the battery the esc on the side and the gyro on the bottom frame plate. I moved the gyro under the boom the RX to the bottom plate of the frame and the esc to the front top plate above the battery. Went out to fly and had a couple servo glitches but didn't pay much attention to it. After a while it became a very bad case of servo glitch with all but the tail servo involved. I moved some wires around, didn't help. Put in a JGF450TH and a CC35 I had, didn't help. Moved more wires around, didn't help. Tore into an old computer for a ferrite ring cut esc rx lead rapped through ferrite ring replaced connector, didn't help. I'm thinking I must have screwed up my RX. While thinking about what I would do about the RX I decided to move things around again and put every thing back the way I had it to begin with. Guess what no glitches. What the *#*$&.
Lesson learned "If it ain't broke don't fix it."

Cost of lesson
1. 2 weeks of fly time :arggg:
2. 1 motor (already had)
3. 1 esc (already had)
4. 1 old computer (oh well)
5. many hours of aggravation :arggg:

On the up side I did gain a ferrite ring glitch suppressor(HA!) and I also took the power supply from the computer for my charger.

[jblloyd]

Thanks Finless for the quick response. I am using the wider spacer that came with the kit but that's not the problem. It seems to be that the tail front gear is too tight against the lower drive gear causing a bind. Seems like the lower drive gear is a bit too large in diameter. I have ordered a gear kit from HeliDirect to see if there is a difference. Have you ever used the stock Align gears in the SuperFrame?

[dutch_anykey]

@Russ,
Thanks for the story :D I have the same placing of electronics as you...i wanted the setup like you tried when moving stuff around. impossible because my rx is to big to fit inbetween the frame (hitec rcd8 ultra narrow band dual conversion...yeah its as wide as the name of it :lol: ). I was thinking about buying a new rx because i have had a few minor glitches...nothing to worry about...but still....
I was thinking that the relocation of the electronics would be the solution.....but from your story it made it even worse..
Maybe my glitches come from the mast with gsm and many more exotic antenna's in it, that is 20 metres away from the place i often fly....

@Finless
The Align mainshaft and spindle shaft fit just fine :D Man i allmost forgot how smooth this thing can fly with perfectly straight shafts and a good setup (thanks for the vids in the t-rex section Bob :D )
Changed the stock bl motor with a clone 450th that i had lying around here...man the clone even performs better then the bl motor that came with the kit. I managed to get the front tail gear to slip on its shaft....(witch exually is my mistake by not tighten it to good....have to check...but i still don't like the fact that there is 2 screws inthere...it makes it exually weaker then with one grubscrew..same for the pully on the sonix tail unit)

I have another problem now...my align 35g ESC wont do soft start up anymore...even tough at startup the confirmation beeps make the sound that it is in soft start up mode. Not that it is bothering me that i dont have soft start-up anymore.....but if it is not working what else could be wrong with the esc....
Anyone had this problem?

regards,
Maurice

[Russ]

@ Maurice,
Does that motor make a short winning sound when it starts up? Does it kick hard and then spool up? The reason I ask is because I had one of those clones and thats what it did to me. I can tell you this, the 430 bl starts much softer with both my bl35g and my CC35 then does my JGF450TH. The TH kicks hard when it starts up with both of my esc's the BL does not. Therefore in my case I don't think its the esc at all I think its the motors.

[dutch_anykey]

Hi Russ,

No motor is spinning up fine...not shaky...but the soft start up was working with the bl motor that came with the kit....and it stopped working some day with the same motor......so it has to be the esc..

cheers Maurice

[Russ]

Oh ok I misunderstood. sorry!

[BarnOwl]

Thanks Finless for the quick response. I am using the wider spacer that came with the kit but that's not the problem. It seems to be that the tail front gear is too tight against the lower drive gear causing a bind. Seems like the lower drive gear is a bit too large in diameter. I have ordered a gear kit from HeliDirect to see if there is a difference. Have you ever used the stock Align gears in the SuperFrame?

Could you post a picture of your setup? Somehow it sounds as you have your bearing blocks mounted the wrong way.
Stock Align tail drive gear as well as HDX tail drive gear should work no problem.
I remember in my initial build at a point I had the bearing blocks the wrong way and there was no room for the gears to interconnect.

[jblloyd]

Thanks Finless for the quick response. I am using the wider spacer that came with the kit but that's not the problem. It seems to be that the tail front gear is too tight against the lower drive gear causing a bind. Seems like the lower drive gear is a bit too large in diameter. I have ordered a gear kit from HeliDirect to see if there is a difference. Have you ever used the stock Align gears in the SuperFrame?

Could you post a picture of your setup? Somehow it sounds as you have your bearing blocks mounted the wrong way.
Stock Align tail drive gear as well as HDX tail drive gear should work no problem.
I remember in my initial build at a point I had the bearing blocks the wrong way and there was no room for the gears to interconnect.BarnOwl - I have verified that all components are correctly installed. I have some pictures and will try and attached them. If you see the pictures, note that the tail front gear is extremely tight against the lower drive gear (no play at all). In fact, you can see that the lower gear is being warped.

[BarnOwl]

Looks ok to me. I think you better e-mail Steve from HeliDirect. This is an unknown problem to me, sorry........

[dutch_anykey]

Hi jblloyd,

I noticed another thing. Not that it will solve your problem, but it looks like you have the beltpulley upside down? Grubscrew on top.. Is that shaft long enough to secure it with the grubscrews? My shaft is to short, so the grubscrews wont hit the shaft. But mounting it upside down would align the belt better into the boom.

Cheers,
Maurice

[jblloyd]

Thanks for the help. I appreciate all the input. I will contact HeliDirect about this.

Maurice - although it looked funny to me, I mounted the belt pulley in the direction that it came. The shaft does extend all the way to the top and the flat spot on the shaft for the grub screw is at the top of the shaft as well. In this configuration, the belt seems to be aligned correctly and is pretty much down the middle of the boom.

[Finless]

jblloyd, the early HDX kits did not have the "slow down" gear set. The later kits did whicc means the small tail drive gear is LARGER in diameter.
To use the Align gears you MUST use the SE blue gears as the lower main gear is a smaller diameter!!!!!

This is your problem. You bought standard white gears and that lower gear is too big for the HDX.

Bob

[jblloyd]

Thanks Bob, I ordered the gear set for the HDX 450SE from HeliDirect. Will these work?

[Finless]

Which tooth count did your order? They sell both sizes as well.

Bob

[jblloyd]

Bob, I ordered the following:
Main Gears/Tail Drive System Trex (106T) SuperFrame - HDX450SE
[HDX450-GS106T]

[Finless]

That is correct.

The slow down gear is 106T and the non-slow down gear (standard white 450X gear) is 109T.

Bob

[jblloyd]

Thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it.

Also, what about the drive pully installation (questioned by Maurice) as shown in my pictures. Is it upside down or what? The flat spot on the shaft is on the top so this was the logical way to mount it for the grub screw. I noticed in your build video that you mounted it the other way.

[Finless]

Yes it is upside down.

I got tired of messing with the HDX wobbly pulley and I put the Align gear and pulley in it.

Bob

[edfareast]

Can someone help to decide which one is better HDX 450 SE or Align 450 SE.

I need some opinion before I get one. I need help please!

Thanks,
Ed

[AdrianM]

The SE is far better. The HDE uses a lingage control of the swahplate with a teeter plate for collective control. All of that is old school. eCCPM is a better system where servos are linked directly to the swash plate. The Trex 450 SE is an eCCPM heli.

If you are trying to save a buck or 300 go for the new Trex 450SA. It is eCCPM like the more expensive SE version but it does not have all the fancy blue alloy parts and has an alloy frame instead of the carbon frame.

Here is a link to the 450SA.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=AGNH1100

[Finless]

AdrianM... Not sure what you are talking about with the "teeter plate" stuff but the HDX heli is a straight shot like the TRrex SE. So you know the HDX frame are actually very good! I have broken 3 sets of carbon frames in crashes but have NEVER broken a frame on this heli!

So know lets get to edfareast's question with REAL data (sorry AdrainM you dont know what your talking about unless you own one).

I will agree you are better off buying a TrexSE. WHY? Because you can get parts almost anywhere! Some parts on the HDX you can only get from Helidirect.

THAT is the only reason I reccomend the Trex over the HDX! NOTHING else is different and both fly the SAME!

Bob

[BarnOwl]

Adrian is comparing the Align HDE with the SE.......I think he misread. Edfareast is asking about Align SE and HDX SE.
I agree with Bob......Align SE is better than HDX SE, but for the price the HDX is very good. (Anyway, used to be when it came out, I've seen some pretty sharp deals on the Aligns lately)