Review/Assembly KDE Trex Tail Upgrades

[Finless]

KDE has some new upgrades out which can be a little technical to install. The Trex700 tail control system and the Trex 550/600/700 High Performance tail upgrade.

KDE asked if I would review them and show you all how to install them on your Trex700. No problem! I love KDE stuff

So on with the show. The videos are in 3 parts.

VIDEO LINK -> Part 1 - KDE Trex Tail Disassembly and Assembly of the Upgrade Tail Slider (96 Megs)

VIDEO LINK -> Part 2 - KDE Trex Tail Control Upgrade Assembly (54 Megs)

VIDEO LINK -> Part 3 - KDE Trex550/600/700 Performance Tail Upgrade Assembly (50 Megs)


Enjoy folks!

Bob

[KDE Direct]

Hey Bob,

That was great, thank you for the videos! You did an excellent job explaining all the finer details of the install and noted all the things to watch out for during each step. It's easy to see why you are the leader of RC Helicopter videos, you have the talent.

I'll look into the Bearing Holder upgrade and the internal sleeve. As a quick note, rather than trying to use a Soldering Iron to heat the components, a Heat Gun or Butane Torch is a much easier method to use. The team and I simply use a Heat Gun (a cheap one purchased from a local hardware store used to heat shrink-tubing) to heat the Aluminum housing of the Bearing Holder. Once the Loctite gets to the right temperature, it will liquify and the bearings will pop out quite easily without having to damage the bearings. In a pinch, a Lighter also works well at the field.

Then, you can choose to use "The Greaser" to regrease the original bearings, or toss them aside and use the new ones supplied in the kit.

[Finless]

I used a soldering iron because that is what most people have. I try to show how to do things with the most common tool. I do have a pen torch and yes I do use that myself for this kind of stuff. Just wanted to show people how to do it with something most everyone has. Yes for the slider the lighter also worked as I showed in the vid. Even then getting a tool on the tiny lip of the inner race past the spacer was a bear. But this is true for many things like getting the bearings out of blade grips etc.

FYI folks in the beginning I said I was going to show the boom supports and take them apart. DONT DO IT! They do not come apart. This is why I did not show this at the end like I said I would.

So just FYI there.

Bob

[HeliBenj]

Hey Bob, thanks for the nice vids.

Similar to the Outrage design which I liked on the Velocity.
Will be interesting to know if you can notice any difference in flight in case you had problems with your tail.
Maybe dumb question, did adding a bunch of bearings and ali and screws far off the CoG affect it or is it too small to make any difference?

[Ozz58]

Do they make the tail control system upgrade for the 600 or just the 700?

Looks like a nice and needed upgrade.

Craig

[philipfrank]

if they make one for the 600, it should also fit the mikado.

the stock 600 slider works on the logo.

i'll take one.

[Finless]

I don't think on a 700 there will be any noticeable difference in CoG honestly. Haven't flown it yet but I bet I wont notice much in that area. I think this tail upgrade will simply be easier on the servo and more reliable as far as wear and building slop. My bell crank was getting pretty loose on the slider ball which is a problem with Aligns design over time. With this upgrade I don't think this will ever build slop unless the bearings wear out.

Bob

[Dogdocphil]

Thanks for the Vids! I am a BIG fan of KDE's stuff and I will be getting this upgrade soon! Hello Patrick!

[insane99]

just pressed the order button from HeliDirect. now for the wait. Postal strike may hold things up a bit

[Hellsiege]

I have a flybar'd 550 - wondering if this upgrade would get rid of a wag I've been chasing since built? I do have a decent ammount of slop and the wag seems to be there no matter the gain / RPM and then goes away for brief periods only to return randomly? Order the upgrade?

Steve

[Justin Stuart]

The bellcrank/pitch slider seen in the video is for the 700 and not for the 550/600, right?

[KDE Direct]

Originally Posted by Justin Stuart

The bellcrank/pitch slider seen in the video is for the 700 and not for the 550/600, right?

Hey Justin,

Yes, the design is only compatible with the 700 series helicopters at the moment. Due to the size difference between the slider on the 700 and 550/600 series, they are not compatible with the same upgrade design.

Also, Finless brought up good points on the install, so I want to let customers know we are listening to these and are working on addressing any difficulties with the install. I'll make sure and keep everyone posted on the progress for future production releases.

[Ozz58]

Originally Posted by kegerator

Hey Justin,

Yes, the design is only compatible with the 700 series helicopters at the moment. Due to the size difference between the slider on the 700 and 550/600 series, they are not compatible with the same upgrade design.

Also, Finless brought up good points on the install, so I want to let customers know we are listening to these and are working on addressing any difficulties with the install. I'll make sure and keep everyone posted on the progress for future production releases.

Are you planning on making this upgrade for the 600 series?

Craig

[KDE Direct]

The "V2" version has been released, which now includes the internal Bearing Holder Collar and a few other modifications to drastically simplify the install and performance of the upgrade. Thank you Finless for your constructive criticism in the video and to customers who sent us great feedback, the new V2 design is an improvement that was worth the time and effort.

I've attached the new Installation Diagram to show the changes for installation.

[Scootz74]

KDE Team, Thanks for the Excellent and, might I say, Lightning fast customer service when I had a damaged component in the V1 kit and for the technical help your team gave when Installing it on my lil' machine. (Finless, you and I must have gotten the kit at the same time, so your videos were not there for me to watch, sadly.)
I have since flown the machine and the "Flying Roto-Tiller" has not only lost its slop in the linkages, but the best part is the complete and utter loss of tail wag that I was having from the stock set-up.
Thanks KDE.

Finless and the Heli-Freak Team, The videos are excellent and straight to the point (in detail) and in a very layman's description for ease of understanding. Thanks for your hard work (Like something that you love to do is considered hard work...But...) and effort to help all of us that strive to enjoy this hobby to its fullest.
Thanks Finless.

Have one more thing for the KDE team.
What do you think the difficulty would be to change a few of the components to "flip" the rotor from the right side to the left side for scale fuselage applications? (i.e. Bell 222 or Bell 430) I don't think that I would trust anything less on a high end project than the quality that I have seen from your crew.

[KDE Direct]

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[Finless]

Originally Posted by kegerator

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Brain fart? What happend?

Bob

[KDE Direct]

Sorry, wanted to correct this before posting again...

Hey Guys -

I was just helping a customer who had a distinct tail wag that he could not get rid of. He had installed the AT700-PTC-V2 design on his brand-new TREX 700E V2 3GX to try and get rid of the tail wag, and no luck. We tried replacing the tail servo, changing settings in the 3GX, and all of these wouldn’t cure the issue…spent a few days and many e-mails looking into this...

Well, turns out there is a design-flaw in the new ALIGN V2 Metal Tail Rotor Holder assembly released separately and with the new "V2" 3GX kits. In the new stock design, a dual-radial bearing is added to further support the tail (similar to the PTU upgrade, just different bearing ordering). What the designers missed is a critical spacer that goes between the outer radial-bearing and thrust-bearing to prevent lockups. Similar to the Main Rotor Assembly, this spacer is critical to prevent the inner-race and the outer-race of the radial bearing from contacting the thrust-bearing washer at the same time. Without the spacer, the assembly may feel smooth on the bench, but once the axial loads are imparted by the centrifugal force of the tail blades, it will lock up in flight and cause severe tail wag issues. Essentially, both the inner and outer thrust-bearing races are locked, and excessive forces are needed to turn the assembly in flight - producing the problematic tail wag.

For the customer, he installed an older ALIGN V1 Metal Tail Rotor Holder he had available with the KDE Direct PTC/PTU-V2 upgrade assembly and the wag immediately disappeared.

[smaze17]

Hello kegerator!

What if I'm using this assembly:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270814908870...ht_2960wt_1037

Still have the problem?

Thx

S

[Sirolf]

Originally Posted by smaze17

Hello kegerator!

What if I'm using this assembly:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/270814908870...ht_2960wt_1037

Still have the problem?

Thx

S

Same one i've ordered, these should be OK