Shaft drive version Tail heavy?

[MonsterMaxx]

I got the Gaui on Saturday. Only thing that didn't show up was the tail servo. I went ahead and built it (took it apart and made sure things were right & tight.

Must say I'm impressed with the overall quality of it.
I did have a few problems though. One of the blade grips bearing hole is way oversize (by .004") making for a very sloppy fit, no way it'll fly with this grip. The double stepped collar that holds the main shaft (between main gear and frame) had both holes stripped and will also need to be replaced. And the tail shaft was bent right out of the box.
I've reported these problems to readyheli who I bought it from, waiting to see the response.

Also reports of it building tail heavy seem to be accurate. I've got everything as forward as it'll go and it balances perfectly, though I still have to add the tail servo and linkage so I'm pretty sure it'll end up tail heavy. I may be able to compensate by running the fiberglass cowl instead of the lightweight one. What about changing to the CF boom? Can it be used in the tailshaft version?


I've also got to get some pins & a crimp to shorten the servo wires. I can't bring myself to cut the wires on the DS760, but will do the servo wires for sure.

Note: gyro isn't permanently mounted yet, just sitting there until I get the wires straightened out. Wires are not bundled either. Please don't attack the 'mess' until I finish.

My overall impression is that it a pretty high quality item which ought to fly nicely.

[Jetleaf]

The carbon fiber boom is 10mm to short for the shaft version and it doesn't have the bearing in the middle of the boom. You don't want it anyway. Torsionally, it's weaker than the alum. You can twist it 10 mm or so back and forth when it's mounted on the bird and caused vibrations on my heli at max throttle. Looks great though.

[rotarydoc]

Hey Monstermaxx,

Very interesting,as I am sitting here getting ready to place my order for my Gaui 200 from Readyhobby. So, it looks like I am in for a teardown and reassembly before even setting up the electronics?

How did you spot the blade grip bearing hole issue? Was it quite obvious? I'll be sure to check mine as well. I am wondering if I should go ahead and put a set of grips on my order as well as my other crash parts?

Thanks for the heads-up, I will be curious as to how Readyhobby handles your issue as well....keep us informed please!

Thanks for the info!

Glenn

[CHOPPYPILOT]

Guy's I agree this is a quality made heli although I too had a couple of small issues with mine when I checked its factory assembly, First there was no loctite on any of the frame screws that go into the aluminum spacers or on the four lower frame screws that go into the m2 nuts and finally the screws holding the carbon sides of the tail case together, the other was with one of the tail blade grips, I noticed one was on the hub further than the other which turned out to be a simple enough fix, I removed the screw and found the bearing hadn't been pressed fully into the grip and so wasn't seated correctly, a small amount of pressure moved it into the correct position. Not major issues but we all know small things lead to big problems in this hobby so although I would normally remove every screw to check them I didn't this time(mainly due to how small they all are) I did check all of them were tight and would certainly recommend to all to at least remove and loctite blade grip screws(main and tail) and frame and tail case screws, I have now had about 10 flights in stunt mode without any problems or parts coming loose, I think I would sooner they came in kit form so at least you know for sure its put together right.

Small problems aside Its an awesome little heli enjoy!:fly

[rotarydoc]

Choppypilot,

Very interesting, I appreciate you taking the time to post your setup issues as well. I will have to look her over very carefully as well. Like you, I might not take it down to every screw and nut, but a very careful inspection seems to be in order here!

Good to know you didn't have any major issues. At least the problems seem to be minor, and easily corrected, in most cases.

Well, I'm getting pretty close to that "order now" button...LOL

Thanks again!

Glenn

[MonsterMaxx]

I guess I just feel that for my flying machines I want to KNOW they are put together right and not by some poor chinaman making $1/day or less who's 10,000miles away.

One blade grip was very loose so not knowing what it should feel like and only that one was much different than the other I tried to figure out why. Eventually I started checking the hole with gauge pins and figured out the one was bad. I'm sure if I hadn't caught it as soon as I tried to trim the heli out I'd never have gotten the blades to track straight. I don't know if you should get an extra set, this may be an isolated error.

I found excessive loctite in some places and none in others. I would try to unscrew each screw, it it came loose I'd take it all the way out and loctite it. I did NOT necessarily take out each and every screw, only the ones that came loose when I tried to loosen them. Many in the head were right and tight, though some did come loose easily. The frame had no loctite on any screws.

The tail shaft was clearly bent, visible to the naked eye as soon as I spun the main gear.

The collar is badly machined and the threads are clearly stripped out.

The cyclic bearing is a bit sloppy, but so is the rex so I figure that's normal.

The head moves nice and smooth so I expect with a new blade grip (and a tail servo of course) it'll be ready to rock.

I look at an ARF like it's a set of instructions - "oh, so that's how it's supposed to look." I check everything. Same is true for RTR cars & trucks.

In terms of setting up my DX7, I simply copied the rex's over to a new model.
I figure that since the rex flys great, it's settings would be a good head start. Plugged the servos into the same ports and zero'd the subtrims. Picked the arm side closest to leveI and leveled it by eye with subtrim. Set the linkage lengths per the manual. It's very close w/o even doing a full on setup, I suspect I can dial it w/ subtrim or very minor adjustments to linkage.