Manufacturing quality

[head_node]

Hey there fellow Freaks, just a quick question for you Gohbee guys 'n gals. I recently got my stinger 50 up and have had a pretty rough go of it. First, I had a pretty severe vibration. I found that the clutch bell was visibly wobbling. I re-mounted the engine several (hundred) times, to no avail. I finally found the problem: The pinion gear was either manufactured poorly, or installed poorly. I removed the start shaft, and could spin the clutch-bell/pinion assembly on the shaft; the clutch bell rotated perfectly clean, and in-plane. The pinion, however, was terribly out-of-shape. I replaced it, and that problem was fixed.

The major vibration is gone, however, there's a small high-frequency vibration now. I've found that the hex-start-coupler is severely off-center. Being, the hole through the center of the part isn't in the center. Matter of fact, it's so far off I can easily see it with my eyes (putting a micrometer on it makes it really hilarious, it's so bad). I'm thinking this may be either the cause, or part of the high-freq. vibration.

Long story short, in your experience with these machines, is there anything else that I should be on the lookout for, in regard to poor quality parts? I know that I should have re-kitted it in the beginning, but I seriously doubt that I would have caught either of these issues.

Oh, and I'm not trying to bad-mouth the company or its employees. I fully understand that you get what you pay for. I'm a cheapo, and I'll gladly fly the snot out of this machine when its time comes...

[flyinfool]

Improving quality is now and always has been a high priority at Gohbee.
No they are not perfect yet but it is being worked on and they are getting better all the time.
I look at it as, I am currently building a heli from another manufacturer, It is a $1,400 KIT. The instructions make note of holes in the wrong places and where you should drill the new holes to make the parts fit and other parts that must be filed down to fit.

I expect a $1400 kit to be of better quality than a Gohbee, but that is not reality.
Reality is that I have not seen a single heli brand out there that does not have , or has not had issues. Some issues potentially catastrophic.
I will NOT (for hopefully obvious reasons) get into the discussion here about which brands have which problems or the other brand $1400 KIT heli that I am building with many problems.

As far as things to look out for......
Depending on your current skill level, If you are a beginner, then the setup out of the box is great. If you are going to be hammering 3D you will want to upgrade the dampers to the 90 durometer "On Edge" dampers, you may also want to upgrade to the all metal head and get the 8 tooth tail speed up pulley. These are the only upgrades that I ever recommend, and I only recommend them if your skill level is ready for them.
If your skill level is not ready you are wasting your money on the upgrades.

Like you mentioned, you may have to work thru a few minor issues but can then enjoy flying the snot out of an inexpensive heli.

[head_node]

Jeff,

I agree, sometimes you have to work through some issues. That's probably all I should say about it.

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm not a beginner, but have the stiffer dampers. It's taken my intermediate/advanced setup well. As it should, it's a machine designed to do that. I'd just like to feel the stock configuration flying characteristics before I go spending more scratch upgrading the thing. Thanks again, Jeff.

[Max2342]

Hi there, i am unsure about the pinion right now, but i remember to read somewhere that it is best to use some threadlock to fix it it place,(I assume its the pinion right above the clutchbell).

I believe this was in the manual of the style 50, which is basically the same helicopter but sold in europe. I did not check the starter thingy so far but i have to say that i have very few vibrations compared to other helis i had. Maybe i am much of a noob but to me it does not look to bad. I will be able to compare the heli soon to a major brand because i just build one of them as well.

I have to say that the style of their head build does pleasure me more than the look&feel of the stinger, but the plastic on the otherone seems to be a bit crappy, so i ordered a cnc sesaw there because screws seem to be kinda over-tighten from the very start.

So i guess there are some issues but i had great fun so far in the first 9 flights with my stinger.

[sleddog7]

I had some vibes with my 50. That was until I dail indicated my fan/clutch assy. and then balanced it as a unit.

It's now as smooth as high-priced heli.

[sleddog7]

...one more thing, I can't say for certain, but I don't think the hex-coupler should spin once the clutch is spinning. The start shaft "C" clip should not have pressure up on the clutch bell.

[head_node]

Thanks for the input, Max and Sleddog. I, too, don't think the start coupler is spinning in flight, but it was so badly mis-shaped that I really want to eliminate that possibility. I'll make sure to check the fan assembly. Thanks again, guys.

[flyinfool]

You do not need to loctite the gear into the clutch bell since the direction of loading is trying to tighten the gear in place. You certainly can put loctite on it if it makes you feel better, it won't hurt anything.
When installing the engine, if you spin the start shaft by hand backwards while moving the engine slightly you can feel the resistance to turning on the start shaft. When that resistance is at its least amount is when the engine is perfectly aligned with the clutch bell and start shaft.