Assembly: Raptor 50 Titan SE

[flypilot]

Hi everyone, thought I should write a little about my comeback to glow helis by making this thread on building a Raptor 50 Titan SE heli. Having been away from glow helis for over 6 years now I am kinda looking forward to getting into it again.

My good Friend Tom Erik Rolfson is the guilty one as he recently got a 50SE himself and seeing how this heli now has matured into a really poppy 3d heli I wanted one myself..

Check out the video of him flying it not long ago:

Earlier I didn't like the plastic canopies the raptors came with but the new Fiberglass ones are a different story, nice shape and comes all finished with stickers on and sealed with a clear coat. The SE kit comes with a lot of metal upgrades and also a carbon fiber tail fin.

The gear that will go into the heli are:
Engine: Hyper 50, wanted the 55 but its too expensive as of right now
Muffler: Align
Servos: Futaba 9451 on cyclic
Gyro: Align 750 with the new 650 tail servo
RX: Spektrum 7100R
Battery: New Hyperion 2100Mah LiFe

So wish me luck

[jschenck]

Just a thought, if you don't have the servos yet get the Align DS610's (or 620's) for the swash plate drivers. Then you can run all the servos off the LiFe pack straight, no regulator - get a less expensive RX and faster servos.
I have had a couple of Futaba 9451's, they are great servos but I don't know about running them above 6V.

Should have bought the TT-53RL :glasses2:

[flypilot]

Thank you for the tips, appreciate it. If I did not have the servos allready I would certainly use the Align servos but I had these allready and are not worried about using the Futaba servos at 6.3 volts nominal. Chose the AR7100R for its revlimiting capability and ease of installation.

With regards to the engine I was considering the TT but reading about all the carb. problems I went the safe road going with a slightly less powerful OS, I will more than likely upgrade to the OS55 down the road when the price drops beyond the initial hype...

[flypilot]

Okei so the building commences, my impression so far is that pices are well thought out and sturdy, the result of many years of the raptor evolution.

The tank comes pre assembled and one only needs to attach two fuel lines to complete it. Next is the clutch bell and this is also just a matter of remebering to use locktite and your good to go. I do not have any equipment to balance this assembly so I don't know if this is required? Im thinking that the clutch liner will balance it self out once it gets worn in.

Next is joining the frames and the only thing i did here is applying a little bit of goop to the main shaft bearings, that will ensure them doing a proper job once the shaft is installed.

Only thing I wish TT would do is supply the kit with a small tube of one way bearing grease, such a small thing that just makes the kit so much more complete if included. So I had to use the only thing I had and that was align grease, hopefully it will hold.

On to the pictures, enjoy.

[jschenck]

not worried about using the Futaba servos at 6.3 volts nominal.

I have a Hyperion LiFe - it's nominal 6.6V, well over 7V off the charger. Great battery btw

I've built many Raptors, a few hints I like:

Put a bit of RTV in the frame pockets that hold the fuel tank nubs, keeps the frame from cutting into the fuel tank.

The fuel clunk lines that come with the tank are very soft and will disinigrate quickly. Replace them with Hayes black clunk line during assembly.

shrink wrap the tail drive gear to keep the pin in place. I also drill an inspection hole in the tail case to help keep an eye on the pin.

green loctite the pinion bearing on.

Put an extra collar on the mainshaft just below the upper mainshaft bearing. That way if your lower jesus bolt comes out you can just auto it down rather than having the mainshaft pull out of the heli.

I drill a small hole on the collective tray to allow a wrench easy access to the starter coupling grub screws.

[flypilot]

Wow, thanks, great tips..

Regarding the pin in the tailgear, on this SE the pin is locked in place with a setscrew, do I still need to check this regularly?

[TmMugen]

shrink wrap the tail drive gear to keep the pin in place. I also drill an inspection hole in the tail case to help keep an eye on the pin.

Can you elaborate more?

I just gotten my titan se after such a long time. Feels like a long time.

[flypilot]

A bit more progress today...

Started on the head and a great thing on this SE is the metal washoutbase, also the pins for the radiusarms now includes E clips so that they don't fall out in flight. Only issue I had with this was that one of the E clips broke, but there was plenty of spares in the spares bag thankfully.

also mounted the Pitch mechanism and this went in without any hitch.

Enjoy..

[fadi]

Originally Posted by jschenck

I have a Hyperion LiFe - it's nominal 6.6V, well over 7V off the charger. Great battery btw

I've built many Raptors, a few hints I like:
shrink wrap the tail drive gear to keep the pin in place. I also drill an inspection hole in the tail case to help keep an eye on the pin.

Hi
Are we sure this is always applicable with the Titan SE design?
While this is very true and common on a raptor design, I've found that the Titan SE comes with a setscrew to lock the tail pin, but also the tail case design seems molded in such a way to prevent the pin from sliding off...
I don't know I might be wrong, just an observation

[flypilot]

Had an issue with the tailgear today trying to insert the pin...it seems the hole is not properly centered in the wheel so the pin does not go all the way through, had to increase hole to 2,5mm on one of the sides and this way the pin could go all the way through...

Also added a picture of the set screw beeing thightened so the pin is properly secured, it should not come out now.

Also had another issue and got a bad surprise opening the box to the 7100R, and sure eonugh the sensorbracket had a crack in it...DANG.... ordered a new metall bracket from this guy: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_1833wt_915

[flypilot]

Okei, got some more done..

The head went togheter pretty much without any problems and using the new 2 piece dampers you get a really stiff head, just remember to grease up the inner side of the damper to avoid too much vibrations during spoolup.

Flybar assembly is super easy with the grooves in the flybar rod itself.

Using the stated lenghts on the links from the manual, the head looks pretty good setup before I have had any chance to measure anything...

Enjoy..

[flypilot]

Allright, real progress today..

Engine, muffler, gyro and starter arrived today...

Got almost everthing installed, only missing battery now, and have to do some fixing of wires etc..

Also thinking of buying a metal fan as well, worth the 45 dollars?

Mounted the gyro up front, that way I don't have to run extension wires all the way to the front where the RX is.

Also wonderig about moving the tail servo to the front, but how will the pitch pull pull system be?

[flypilot]

Allright, despite alot of wind and turbulence at the field today I got 4 tanks in, the needle now is at 1 turn and 5 klicks, hopefully this will be a good starting point. We shall see when people with more experience in engine tuning have a go at it.

The heli is very stable, and I mean VERY stable, and this is even in rough conditions, our little windsock was 90 degrees to the ground and add a bunch of turbulance to that, still I was quite easilly able to maintain a stable hover....great...

Did not try any 3d yet as I was flying with a temporary battery and did not want to brownout and crash my new baby Will get the LiFe battery before the weekend and will be doing some more flying then.

[jschenck]

sorry about the late response, here is how I shrik wrap the tail pin

http://runryder.com/helicopter/t522066p1

[flypilot]

A picture of the electronics layout..

[flypilot]

Some inflight pictures from today.

Revlimit is now setup to 1700 in normal and 2150 in idle up..perfect

[Mareebaman]

I have just ordered my Titan SE from the shop. I see you have carbon tail blades. What size an manufacturer and from which shop? Thanks for the help!
Best Regards!

[flypilot]

Originally Posted by Mareebaman

I have just ordered my Titan SE from the shop. I see you have carbon tail blades. What size an manufacturer and from which shop? Thanks for the help!
Best Regards!

No problem buddy, any 92mm carbon blades will work great, I found the ones included to be way to soft...

[Rapman1]

Hi Flypilot,

Did you rear mount the tail servo.? Also did you adjust the mixture screw at all on the OS, to get it to fire or did it fire straight at factory settings..?
Just in the throws of re-building a second hand SE.

rAP

[flypilot]

Nope, My tailservo is in the front.

Regarding the mixture screws I set it at factory setting of 1,5 out on the main needle and I did not touch the low end needle. Now I am at 1 turn and 5 clicks out on the main needle.