Assembling the outer and inner shafts on a Lama V3

[mnwizard]

Here’s a step by step guide to assembling the outer and inner shafts on a Lama V3.

The first step is to place the brass bushing and lower bearing on the outer shaft.





Note that the raised lip on the bushing fits against the inner race on the bearing when it is placed on the shaft. If you put the bushing on the shaft upside down, it will increase friction and drag on the outer shaft as it spins, resulting in heat build up and shorter flight times.






Place the bushing on the outer shaft with the raised lip facing up and slide it down to the gear.
Place the bearing on the shaft and slide it down to the bushing.
Place the top of the inner shaft into the bottom of the chassis.






Slide the outer shaft all the way up into the chassis. The bearing on the outer shaft fits in to the larger part of the hole on the bottom of the chassis.






Slide the upper bearing on to the outer shaft and press it down into the recess on top of the chassis.





Then side the collar with the single set screw on to the outer shaft. Note that this collar has a raised lip on one side.





This lip faces down toward the chassis and rests on the upper bearing.





With the collar resting lightly on the bearing, tighten the set screw.






Slide the swash plate on to the outer shaft, making sure that the anti-rotation peg is inserted into the guide plate.





Press the ends of the links connected to the servo arms on to the balls on the left and right of the swash plate.





Slide the mount for the lower blade holder on to the outer shaft. Note the guide slots for the control arms goes down, toward the swash plate.





Align the upper screw holes on the mount for the lower blade holders with the holes in the outer shaft.





Insert screws in to mount and tighten, being sure that the upper screws thread in to the holes in the outer shaft.





Insert the control arms through the slots on the mount for the lower blade holder and press the ends onto the balls on the rotating portion of the swash plate.






This is the bearing holder and bearing for the upper blade holders.





Press the holder and bearing on to the top of the outer shaft with a twisting motion making sure that it is down as far as it will go.





Insert the inner shaft in to the bearing on top of the outer shaft.






Looking at the bottom of the chassis, make sure that the inner shaft comes through the bearing in the gear for the outer shaft and that the upper blade holder on the inner shaft is resting on the bearing in the plastic holder on top of the outer shaft. Notice the flat spot on the end of the inner shaft. Some inner shafts will have 2 flat spots, one on each side of the shaft, and some will only have 1 flat spot.






The gear that goes on to the inner shaft has 2 holes in it. Place the gear on to the inner shaft, aligning one of the holes with the flat spot on the shaft and making sure that the gear is meshed with the smaller gear on the motor.





The collar with 2 set screws goes on the gear for the inner shaft.





Place the collar on to the gear on the inner shaft, aligning one of the set screws with one of the holes in the gear and the flat on the inner shaft.





Screw one of the set screws in to the aligned holes.





Screw the 2nd set screw in to the other hole in the collar.

The gear on the inner shaft should lightly touch the bearing in the gear of the outer shaft.





This is what the assembly should look like at this point. The inner and outer shafts should turn easily by hand with no rough spots or binding.





Continue assembling the rest of the Lama and then use this link to go to a guide to help you setup the swash plate properly.
http://helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=69113

If you have any difficulty please leave a post so we can help you out.

[Rusty63]

Nice Pictures , Very well laid out .Details are fantastic . Great work Mnwizard. Cya Russell

[fleishel]

Best instructional pix ever! You really did us all a favor with your most excellent pictures! Thanks!

[mnwizard]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

[nilmel]

Great post!

When upgrading to a CNC swash plate I found out there is a difference in position of the holes for the different shaft sets fitting the Lama V3. On the spare part EK1 0557 the mounting holes are positioned 28 mm from the top and on the EK1 0316 the holes are 32 mm from the top.

Using the EK1 0316 ,where the holes are lower, causes the CNC upgrade swash plate to touch the rear motor on my Lama V3.

When I switched to the other shaft it all worked fine.

[erwin.zeez]

you know some thing it is looking so cleaned work
one of the best work i hav seen in this forum till now
xplned it good pics great
nice work


reps added

[Dr. Colossus]

I just got my "Metal Upgrade Combo for Big Lama w/ Extended Shaft" from , but I'm unable to install it.

Link to product:
http://www.rc711.com/shop/3dpro-heli...ath=166_22_116

1. I can't for the life of me take the collar off from the inner shaft (it came attached). The black screw in the collar will not budge. I've damaged two hex keys already (correct size) and applying more force might bend the shaft itself or damage the black screw. I read somewhere that they apply "locktite" in the factory, but this is ridiculous. I can't install the shaft without removing the collar...I assume? Any ideas? See pic:
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/6916/lama001.jpg

2. See picture:
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/2069/lama002.jpg
The two small golden pins (circled in red) stick out and prevent me from sliding the blade holder set over the outer (thicker, hollow) shaft. Even by looking at it I can tell that I won't be able to squeeze the shaft through. Same situation here: I don't want to force it through as I'll most likely damage the shaft and/or pins. Do the pins perhaps sink into the sides when one pushes the shaft through? I haven't been able to move the pins with a screwdriver however.

I appreciate any help/advice I can get. Thanks.

UPDATE: I tried heating the set screw on the collar with a regular iron (became too hot to touch with bare skin), but I still couldn't budge it. Damaged the other end of the hex key in the process. Supposedly, heating the screw loosens the locktite.

In regards to my second problem, I removed the blade grips from the set in the hope that I could pull out the pins from the outside. No dice. They seem to be permanently attached to the central hub set. Clearly, there's something I'm missing here...

For the time being I switched back to the plastic stock hub, which slides over the shaft without any problems. I've kept the metal blade grips. I'm also using the stock inner shaft since I want to do some flying this weekend,... but the whole idea was to extend the shaft to avoid those annoying blade strikes...bummer.