majuro15
06-24-2008, 09:49 PM
Well, I have been following all the threads on here closely and since I'm almost done with my S76 fuselage, I decided to bit the bullet and buy a four blade head.
First let me say that I was horrified of the quality that I might get, but still managed to keep an open mind. I ordered it from Flying-Hobby.com out of the UK. They were out of stock for a long time and finally got some in last week. I was hoping that they would be the "new" batch from LH.
And indeed, I think it was!!!!! I got it assembled in a plastic bag, that's it. Not surprised though. The main head is a stainless steel as are the blade grips. THe head of course has the Jesus bolt but it also has two pinch bolts opposite of each other that helps stabilize it on the shaft. The grips are one piece so I didn't have the issue of replacing those screws. The driver is also stainless steel and a different design. It has all ss links, not the plastic like Align.
I immediately noticed, however that one of the grips looked crooked, like the blade would hang low. I decided to pull it all apart and take a look.
What I found is, as had been said before, the links and the balls sucked. I replaced all of them with Align balls from the 600 and my 450 (on the swash). I also got the links from a 600 to replace the LH ones. The blade holder was crooked because of the spacer they use was cheap aluminum. It was not cut straight, causing the problem. I replaced the main blade grip bolts with alloy ones and replaced the spacers with good aluminum ones. (I am a manager for Grainger, we have everything!)
I found the bearings to be good, and the grips spin freely upon reassymbly. I also like how they use a set screw to hold in the blade grip bolts. Those were flat bottom set screws which I replaced with hex cone ones. (again from Grainger).
All in all, I spent about $25 between new links, balls and hardware. After that, I installed and hoped for the best.
I haven't flown it yet (that's the hard part!) but did spool it up and it was as solid as a rock. No wobble, no rust in the shaft, no tracking issues with the blades. The swash does wobble about three mm at full rpm, but I can handle that. It may get replaced with an Align down the road.
Overall opinion: Well worth the money. Granted, they should use quality links and balls, but we all have extras lying around right? With a little TLC, this thing is sweet!
I'll keep everyone posted on flight reports later this week.
First let me say that I was horrified of the quality that I might get, but still managed to keep an open mind. I ordered it from Flying-Hobby.com out of the UK. They were out of stock for a long time and finally got some in last week. I was hoping that they would be the "new" batch from LH.
And indeed, I think it was!!!!! I got it assembled in a plastic bag, that's it. Not surprised though. The main head is a stainless steel as are the blade grips. THe head of course has the Jesus bolt but it also has two pinch bolts opposite of each other that helps stabilize it on the shaft. The grips are one piece so I didn't have the issue of replacing those screws. The driver is also stainless steel and a different design. It has all ss links, not the plastic like Align.
I immediately noticed, however that one of the grips looked crooked, like the blade would hang low. I decided to pull it all apart and take a look.
What I found is, as had been said before, the links and the balls sucked. I replaced all of them with Align balls from the 600 and my 450 (on the swash). I also got the links from a 600 to replace the LH ones. The blade holder was crooked because of the spacer they use was cheap aluminum. It was not cut straight, causing the problem. I replaced the main blade grip bolts with alloy ones and replaced the spacers with good aluminum ones. (I am a manager for Grainger, we have everything!)
I found the bearings to be good, and the grips spin freely upon reassymbly. I also like how they use a set screw to hold in the blade grip bolts. Those were flat bottom set screws which I replaced with hex cone ones. (again from Grainger).
All in all, I spent about $25 between new links, balls and hardware. After that, I installed and hoped for the best.
I haven't flown it yet (that's the hard part!) but did spool it up and it was as solid as a rock. No wobble, no rust in the shaft, no tracking issues with the blades. The swash does wobble about three mm at full rpm, but I can handle that. It may get replaced with an Align down the road.
Overall opinion: Well worth the money. Granted, they should use quality links and balls, but we all have extras lying around right? With a little TLC, this thing is sweet!
I'll keep everyone posted on flight reports later this week.