Set my mind at ease! Few questions about my build.

[John Cook]

#1 these dang ball links are so tight in various spots that my servos constantly buzz at neutral. I wiggle the sticks and they are fine through the motion, but once back at neutral buzzing. Will this hurt the servos? Is this binding them? I assume they are "trying to find center" but are being "resisted" by the links. I've had digital servos on all of my helis and 9252's will buzz sometime, but I haven't notice continuous buzzing like this.

#2 The ball links seem to come off w/my ball link pliers pretty easily. While they are so tight on the ball, they are so easy to pop off with the ball plier. Now I"m worried that one might pop off in flight and cause a crash.

#3 My belt pully is warped a bit. Common problem I know, I don't have the tail together yet so I can't let the belt tighten up to see if this will cause any problems with how the belt rides or not. How much is too much?

Last question is embarressing. How do you measure cyclic pitch. I was under the impression you put the main blades inline with the heli and them measre deflection with a pitch gauge. Do you move the Aileron when meausring? Sorry, I've never worried about measuring cyclics prior as I just got my max pitch set and measured, then I would dial up my swash mix to get max cyclic range w/out binding. Seemed to work fine, but never really knew how much Cyclic pitch I had in degrees, it just worked.

[ckoelliker]

1&2
My links loosened up after a few flights. I did have one link that I thought came off too easily. I switched it out w/ another. I had a crash the other day and not one link came off. I do not know if that puts you at ease or not. But for me I think the links will hold up.

3
My tail belt gear was warped. It was noisy at first, and very tight meaning the mains blades had a lot of drag on them at first. Everything loosened up after a few flights. But I did have my belt break on flight number 45, and I am still not sure why it broke. It might of jumped the tail gear, but I just do not know. Maybe it just loosened in flight and then jumped, so in that area I would try to be as careful as possible.

4
If your blades are parallel to the boom you check the aileron, and if the blades are perpendicular to the boom you check the elevator. I may have it backwards, but just check whatever control deflects the main blades and not the paddles.

Also watch the main gear. Find the high spot and set it tight at that point. It will be noisy at first, but after a few flights it will bed itself in. If you set it to what I would consider to be a "normal" backlash you have a good chance of stripping a gear.

[John Cook]

sweet
thx for the info
I'll go over her with a fine tooth comb prior to maiden. Unfortuneatly it will be months probably till weather breaks here .

Any suspect links will get replaced.

thx for the imput on the cyclic measurements
John

Originally Posted by ckoelliker

1&2
My links loosened up after a few flights. I did have one link that I thought came off too easily. I switched it out w/ another. I had a crash the other day and not one link came off. I do not know if that puts you at ease or not. But for me I think the links will hold up.

3
My tail belt gear was warped. It was noisy at first, and very tight meaning the mains blades had a lot of drag on them at first. Everything loosened up after a few flights. But I did have my belt break on flight number 45, and I am still not sure why it broke. It might of jumped the tail gear, but I just do not know. Maybe it just loosened in flight and then jumped, so in that area I would try to be as careful as possible.

4
If your blades are parallel to the boom you check the aileron, and if the blades are perpendicular to the boom you check the elevator. I may have it backwards, but just check whatever control deflects the main blades and not the paddles.

Also watch the main gear. Find the high spot and set it tight at that point. It will be noisy at first, but after a few flights it will bed itself in. If you set it to what I would consider to be a "normal" backlash you have a good chance of stripping a gear.

[edge]

My two cents as to ball links is to throw those that came with the kit away. I know many say to run and they will loosen up. Maybe so, but my perception is that they are of poor quality. I replaced mine with links for Align 600. Those fit snug, but are easy to move. No servo buzz!

[John Cook]

Originally Posted by edge

My two cents as to ball links is to throw those that came with the kit away. I know many say to run and they will loosen up. Maybe so, but my perception is that they are of poor quality. I replaced mine with links for Align 600. Those fit snug, but are easy to move. No servo buzz!

hrm
good to know
I think I have a pack of 600E ball links somewhere
now am I too lazy to redo it all or not. That is the question lol.

PS anyone see the irony in the statement of Align ball links being higher quality. Sorry I just had to throw that out there heeh! Especially after the 700 ball link bashing.

[vikas]

Originally Posted by edge

My two cents as to ball links is to throw those that came with the kit away. I know many say to run and they will loosen up. Maybe so, but my perception is that they are of poor quality. I replaced mine with links for Align 600. Those fit snug, but are easy to move. No servo buzz!

i agree i tried some align trex500 ball links on outrage 550 the difference is huge, they are free but dont come off easily

[mhanley]

+1 I tossed my stock links and used t600 links, much smoother movement on the head, servos quit buzzing, and I don't have to worry if they will "break in" or not.

[John Cook]

Originally Posted by mhanley

+1 I tossed my stock links and used t600 links, much smoother movement on the head, servos quit buzzing, and I don't have to worry if they will "break in" or not.

ok cool
I ordered 2 bags of the 600 links. Wondering how this will change my sizing the rods though. Oh well, will figure it out.

thanks guys

I do like the balls though

[mhanley]

The 600 links are about the same size, I wouldn't worry to much, my rod lenghts are far different that the specs in the manual anyway.

[LITHIUMSTATIC]

I have 13 flights on my heli and the stock links are loosening up fine. I honestly don't know why you would put rex 600 links on this heli. They are designed to break in and that they do. I'm very happy with the kit supplied links.

[Mecos]

Originally Posted by LITHIUMSTATIC

I honestly don't know why you would put rex 600 links on this heli. They are designed to break in and that they do.

I also went with the T600 links as a precaution for my build. Why?

Oh...

I dont know...

May have had something to do with the following link.


https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=109676




Glad its working for you though Lith. But the O-550 is production prototype after all. (A great one I might add), however, there are a small number of areas that will eventually improve im sure. In the mean time I like to “air” on the side of caution as a result of available knowledge to minimize the risk of failure that could add up to several $$$.

[edge]

("They are designed to break in and that they do.")

Interesting take on 550 supplied links! I would rather think they were designed to be economical to produce (make that cheap!). And interesting that Align links "are" of better quality. Links are obviously critical part of mechanical operation. Given their low cost, I think its wise to use links that you have confidence in for good performance.

The 550 is a well engineered beast and I'd buy it again. However, I'm not ready yet to drink the "its perfect" cool aid! :-)

[John Cook]

Originally Posted by edge

("They are designed to break in and that they do.")

Interesting take on 550 supplied links! I would rather think they were designed to be economical to produce (make that cheap!). And interesting that Align links "are" of better quality. Links are obviously critical part of mechanical operation. Given their low cost, I think its wise to use links that you have confidence in for good performance.

The 550 is a well engineered beast and I'd buy it again. However, I'm not ready yet to drink the "its perfect" cool aid! :-)

pretty much what I was thinking too. I love the overall design and almost every bit seems to be of good to high quality. However I've had a few QC issues and as a precaution I will be swapping my links as well. I just don't trust these.

Funny, when all the TREX700 drama with links was going down, I felt they were fine. Knock on wood mine are still very good. Now I probably jinxxed that heli and it will suffer a terminal link failure.

Oh well, no heli is perfect, at least not that I've come across. I still think this is/will be a great bird

[Foxden]

LINKS,

I changed all the links on Steven's prototype machine with the links that come in the production kits about 50 flights ago, I did have one link that was questionable when I was swapping them out and simply replaced it with another, the fit was snug but after only 2 flights they loosened up and have been fine for the other 48 flights, no additional wear, they don't "POP" off and seem to be holding up fine, his production kit was built with the supplied parts so it also has the same links that you are all getting in your kits. Steven is a Factory Sponsored Pilot and is told to fly his machines hard so we can guage wear and other things as the machine gets flight time on it so Charley can see how everything is holding up, Steven flys both his machines very hard and agressive and they are both holding up very nicely, routine maintenance is performed weekly before we head out to the field and I haven't discovered anything that would cause concern, currently the prototype on 6S has over 150 flights and the 8S production machine has around 30 flights.

[Jamesppp]

To be fair, the link linked in the failure above was defective. It has a void where the mold tit is supposed to be from the injection process. This can happen with any and all brands. It Sucks when it happens to you or me or him.

The Outrage team knows there are bound to be a few teething isues. It is inevitable. But, where they shine is in the support and customer service. In the case above, they stepped up to the plate and took care of business. Kool Aid sipping isnt the issue when a customer decides to support a product and the team responsible for the product.

Nothing is perfect, Im just looking for some fun.

[ckoelliker]

For those of you that can take the links off easily or by hand, are you sure they are all the way on? A few times I thought they were all the way on but another little push put them firmly on the ball. The links do look a bit rough around the edges, but mine are still hard to take off, if I tried to do it by hand my poor thumb would get real sore real fast.

[DominicD]

The fixes to the issues have been in development for awhile but the Chinese new year has put a hamper on getting them into production. I believe the linkages are on the list Every new heli has its issues but how a company responds is all that really matters.

[John Cook]

Originally Posted by HFG

The fixes to the issues have been in development for awhile but the Chinese new year has put a hamper on getting them into production. I believe the linkages are on the list Every new heli has its issues but how a company responds is all that really matters.

I agree and none of this is meant to bash Outrage
I just worry about things and would rather spend a few $ making things bullet proof as possible for my dumb thumbs

I don't mind crashing myself, but it would drive me nuts to have something like a link pop off and taco my new heli.

I inspected my current links and I don't see that hole in the end on any of them. Some have a little "chip" in the end, but I assume that is just where the flashing or nipple came off the dye. Nothing I would consider structurally compromising. My concern was more in them popping off. Some do look crooked though. As in when it's mounted on the ball the end of the link looks bent in relation to the rod and threaded portion of the link.

[mhanley]

Same here, the support from Outrage is outstanding. The weather here in Indiana has been pretty bad, but last week I got to fly my 550 for the first time on a 43 degree day, (felt like summer). I was extremely impressed with the way the 550 flew. It caught me by surprise on how quick and fast the thing is.

[John Cook]

well I decided to stay with the Outrage links. I replaced the one's I was worried about with Align links and while they stayed on great, there was a very slight amount of slop in the links that I didn't like. They stayed ON the balls great, but would move up and down just a wee bit.

So I replaced with some spares in the spare parts bag.