Hurricane Build for a novice?

[Cralis]

Hello!

The people that are importing my hurricane (Which is now somewhere between Hong Kong and Johannesburg, then shipped to me in Cape Town) offer a build service for R500 (500 South African Rand = around.. $75. They do know helis well, so I assume it would be built well and test flown.

I have never built a heli. Infact, the only repairs I have done are main shafts on my Trex 450SE, replace tail boom, replace skids... that's about it.

How easy is the EP550 (CF) build? How long does it take, if you can maybe do 4 hours a night?

Would you recommend a pro builder or what?

[Fredrick]

Build it and watch finnless bob's vid's and nothing will go wrong i tell you:D

[Cralis]

Thanks. That's indeed what I thought, but then I hear of people battling with programming the ESC, and getting servo horns set correctly. I watched those videos. Not a chance in hell I can take the head apart, but he does say you don't really have to. I guess I can give it a bash. :)

[ftriple1]

Hi Cralis. I have just built a Hurricane. It was the standard version, but the issues you mentioned are common to all I think. Never built a heli before, or even seen one up close "in the CF", if you will. The ESC was a challenge, mainly because the instructons were not the easiest for me to understand (reversed throttle channel on my radio didn't help I reckon) and when I got into the program mode it didn't quite seem to work exactly the way they said it would, but in the end it was very simple (and help is only keystrokes away). Servo horns need to be set up right. I ended up making a template on a plastic rule from the arms themselves to transfer onto the horns, worked perfect first time. The trick seemed to be to lock the swash level and build the links working down to the servos, and then up to the head and set everything level or zero along the way. The head is nothing to be afraid of. Get some zip lock bags to keep the parts in the right groups, and use thread lock on metal to metal. And most important, Finless Bob's videos made the difference for me. As for the build service, the price seems good for the time that goes into it. But I was amazed how much I learned from your own build, I certainly love my bird more for having built it. There may be easier, more developed machines to build. I don't know, this was my first. And I can say for sure it is something you can do. Hope this helps.

Pete

[ukgroucho]

Build (/rebuild) it yourself... that way you know it's all done right and tight.
Also when you come to fix after the inevitable you won't be starting from scratch...

You don't need to disassemble the entire head in one go. Just work around it a bit at a time... reassembling each section as you go and making sure you thread lock the metal bits and review how much 'bite' the screws into the plastic bits have (see Bobs vids for more info on that). The few plastic bits on my CNC head had worryingly little thread retaining them and I ended up replacing some screws with stuff from 450 spares.

It is also worth getting a ball link resizer and making sure that all of the linkages are free to move. If you get that right then it will fly much nicer.

... and the head setup is actually pretty straightforward on the 550 because most of the linkages are the fixed length 'plastic rods'. If you follow Bobs videos for the servo to swash control lever setup - get that absolutely spot on - then the swash will be level and will stay level throughout it's range of movement.

[bcritch]

This Heli is easy. I took mine all the way down and built it all the way bask up by watching the Finnless videos. If I can do it, any blind monkey could do it also.

[ping]

It helps a lot seeing everything assembled before you start. I'm really not a fan of ARF helicopters as you almost always have to rebuild some part of it. However for a beginner seeing an endless sea of bags and parts can be very daunting. Aside from resizing all the links in the head and adding lock tight to the frame screws you really don't need to do much work to this heli.

Setting up the servos is really simple pickup the Metal elevator arm and these servo arms (if your going to drop in the spektrum servos) http://www.readyheli.com/JR_HD_Servo_Horns_Arms_2_p/jrpa215.htm
Then setup your linkage for 0 offset those HD servo arms have holes exactly where they need to be.

I disagree with some other posters about the metal grips being a required upgrade. If your just starting out the full plastic head is ok UNDER 1800 rpm with wood blades. When you move up to heavier carbon blades and increase the head speed then you'll need to be thinking about metal grips.

[AussieJester]

I took mine all the way down and built it all the way bask up by watching the Finnless videos.

+1 for Finless videos follow it to the letter and you will have the best built and setup Hurry possible... The head isnt as complicated as it seems when its all sitting in front of you either...agree with ping regarding the metal grips also...
Main point i got though as far as setup was keep everything level/square/zeroed when doing the linkages and you'll end up with a level swash and thus on your way to a stable heli :-)

Worse comes to worse bring it to me ill put it together for you while your off site seeing :wink:

[concept1]

let me start by saying this.
"IF YOUR GOING TO FLY THEM YOUR GOING TO FIX THEM" so building your heli is i beleive a MUST in this hobby, it will help to understand the basics of how it is built and what does what and why. the Hurricane is a pretty simple build to do and yes the CCPM set up can and will be a bit confusing, but take a few nights to get it done and you will have a great sense of accomlishment, and know how for your first crash! when I got mine I had it in the air in less then 3 hrs. I basically went thru the heli with loc-tight, servo install and fly, then I went back and spent probalby another 3-4 hrs on getting everything just right. now the first 3 hrs, probalby only had a few minutes of radio setup since I have done this before, so my gyro, and most everything else was already set in my radio, it just needed some fine tuning.

[Cralis]

Thanks guys. I believe I *might* get my heli tomorrow. Not bad timing, as it was ordered on the 25th, left Hong Kong on the 26th, and... usually things sit at customs for about 2 weeks here while they see what they can steal. It really is that bad! But, I might be in luck..

I am going to do the build, thanks for the advise and stuff. Will start a 'Novice view at building a EP550' soon. :)

Aussie, I might take you up on that offer!! :)

[Cralis]

Just got confirmation that my heli IS with a friend in Johannesburg. He has a shop, and got it quite cheap.

Anyways, I've asked him to attch the Align connectors to the engine/BEC. What else needs connector added?

I've also asked that the battery connectors use the Deans connectors. Do they come standard like that? Mines coming with 2 APlus (Unknown!?) batteries free. Will they have balance leads, or is that not normally on Lipos? I'm hoping they have Deans connectors...

But, what else will need connectors and soldering?

[erbrou]

Batteries come with balance lead but not with Deans. Also, you need to solder connectors between batteries/ESC and ESC/motor. Connectors are sometimes included with the motor and esc but sometimes not. If you use two batt packs with the Hurricane, you have to solder (or buy) an Y connector composed of three Deans to plug the two packs in serial to the ESC.

You also have to solder the BEC (if external) and your lipo alarm (if wanted) in parallel after battery packs but before ESC.

[Mikej]

Just got confirmation that my heli IS with a friend in Johannesburg. He has a shop, and got it quite cheap.

Anyways, I've asked him to attch the Align connectors to the engine/BEC. What else needs connector added?

I've also asked that the battery connectors use the Deans connectors. Do they come standard like that? Mines coming with 2 APlus (Unknown!?) batteries free. Will they have balance leads, or is that not normally on Lipos? I'm hoping they have Deans connectors...

But, what else will need connectors and soldering?

It sounds like you bought from Flying -Hobby, I did and got the A-Plus batteries - they seem to be OK, good power and not too heavy - they do have balance connectors and Deans on them. My Flying-Hobby combo also came with the Y-cable.

Cheers,
Mike.

[Cralis]

Yup! FLying-hobby indeed! Great service, and to South Africa, of all places. VEry please.

[ddracer]

Hi Folks,

I spent 3 nights rebuilding my 500 carbon and Im glad i did the build quailty was shocking. Once I had it just so I gave it to a friend a really good piolet and got him to test it. He loved it said "Its fly like a dream" he just trimed it and adjusted the P/S cyclic EXPO to -15 but that is all.

It's not hard to rebulid just check and check again and use common sence. Good tip for servo discs is to photocopy the drill plan in the manual and use it as a guide when drilling the disks. The only other thing I did was to replace the self taping ball link screws with nut, bolt and thred lock.

Adam