Align G800 Gimbal - what the T-rex 800 was intended for

[steph280]

The new Align aerial photography system has came out. Named G800, consists of a 3-axis gimbal system, with electronic stabilizer control. This system is designed as a drop in fit for Align's T-Rex 800 Trekker helicopters.

From the description posted on website, the G800 stabilizer requires Align's 3GX flybarless gyro system, as well as Align's APS auto pilot system. These components allows the gimbal to have a host of operation modes, including (translated):
- manual control
- 3 axis stabilized heading hold
- 2 axis stabilized heading hold
- tilt attitude lock
- horizontal level attitude lock
- neutral hold
- rescue mode (saves camera equipment in crash)

http://www.align.com.tw/shop/product...oducts_id=4715

Looks pretty slick!

Some photos courtesy of AKFly

[hidaven]

1800.00!! I can strap my Sony cam on the skids for a lot less.......

[ChasCS]

Jeff makes it look pretty good here.

YouTube

YouTube

Chas

[350Z_Al]

It looks nice... I have a bit of an interest in trying one out... Just need to decide if that interest is worth $4k for a trekker, gimbal and aps...

[hidaven]

You can get a really nice gps and camera mount setup on a hexa copter all in for the price if this thing.......nice idea but way too expensive.

[Dino Spadaccini]

trekker is a camera ship but you can sport fly it with 780 mains and mid 3d

[hidaven]

Dino, in all honesty pal, when you market a heli as a DFC "3d" machine, one is VERY likely to interpret that as a heli that CAN do 3d. There are reports of stock parts not being up to the task if you do anything more than hover. Align should have built and designed this bird much better for the marketed "3d" potential buyers. If it were just a camera ship as you state, then that's how they should have marketed it plain and simple.

[Dino Spadaccini]

YouTube (Short URL)

YouTube (Short URL)

now kenny is a world class pilot as we all know, and if you plan on flying your 800 like this every flight then you better stock on batteries ESC motors as well as a few main gears this type of all out flying on any 800 size heli is going to wear things out asap keeping thing real and down to earth about any 800 not just ours. And again when you buy any heli the PM service is part of your ownership

[hidaven]

Dino, you need to read through the threads. A slipping OWB block is NOT part of routine PM. KDE had to come to aligns rescue again and design a much better solution to a bad stock part that has been slipping since day one. Second, the cheap white gears are wearing much more quickly on the 800 forcing us all to get the better black ones. Align was having issues with these on the DFC 700, what made them think the same white gears would hold up better under MORE torque? Now lets talk about the DFC dampners that are compressing way too fast and much due to the increased torque on a head that was designed for a 700. Also the feathering sleeve is now a quickly wearable item. A lot of us are also having issues with a slow tail wag where binding is not the cause. Lastly the idiotic under sized skids are a joke. Many of us moved into the Quick UK large gear to get proper stability. Keep in mind that I have less than 50 flights on mine and am NOT a 3d pilot.

Like I sated before, if this was a true camera heli then market it as such and loose the 3d and DFC marketing nonsense. I'm now into this thing hundreds more to add the needed upgrades and personally emailed Patrick at KDE to request a better more robust head as he had a great remedy for the garbage stock OWB block. Wait, I have an idea, how about if you hire Patrick to look over your final designs and have him add his 2 cents? That guy knows what it takes and he wouldn't be in such demand if Align concentrated on quality vs releasing a heli every few months.

Lastly, offer the front and rear TT black gears to us trekker buyers for FREE like you did the DFC 700 buyers. Not one logical reason why you shouldn't.......

[Dino Spadaccini]

we can sling mud all day you and i, what i like to know is how is that 2 auto unit doing for you that tim and jeff hooked you up with after you stripped the thread out of trying to put the main gears onto, .


please show me where the trekker was show cased as a all out 3d 800 heli

why should the front and rear gears be free theres no problem on the trekker and in the case of the 700 its an upgrade and you have already gone free parts

[hidaven]

Dino, BOTH replacement OWB holders were garbage. The aluminum is way too soft. I replaced it with a quality stainless steel KDE version that not only had better hardened threads but also a design that eliminated that POS stock design that still has the spacer that slips! We are NOT talking "bling" upgrades here Dino. These are parts that never should have made their way into a bird of this size and cost. Forget my rant, read the threads! There are others that have had the same experiences. There's a professional builder on here who's on his fourth set of dampners!

The white main disintegrates at the pinion and needs to be updated to the better quality black gears as should the TT front and back. Why in Gods name these gears not standard at this point is pathetic. Better more reliable gears should NOT be an upgrade Dino!

Lastly, let me reverse it, where in the world did it state on my box that this was a specific camera ONLY Platform??? My 1700.00 kit said DFC/ 3D period. Meaning to anyone with an IQ over 80 that the heli was equipped to fly 3D in addition to hauling a camera around. Not "change your blades to fly mild 3d" Dino.

But the kicker is that I'm having these problems and I'm not even flying 3d! Just sport flying. I knew this was a stretched 700 before I bought it. I just thought that Align would have beefed up crucial areas to make this a reliable and safe bird. For 1700.00 PLUS a soon to be 300.00 in needed mods I expect better.

[Dino Spadaccini]

Hidaven you can keep ranting all you like if you are in the need of true help let me know ranting about want needs to be free and what you personally want by ranting will not get you the help you're looking for.

I hope that one day we can meet with each other at an event and let me look your heli over and see all these problems, as for you stripping out the threads when trying to replace the main gear on the one way i would recommend heat to brake free the loc tite Align uses so the threads dont strip out as i am not seeing this problems on the guys with 700 that changed out there main gears, again if you are not that happen with the 800 then by all means sell it and move onto another heli the choice is yours.

Dino

[hidaven]

Dino, I appreciate the concern on your part. Let me state that I also am a VERY happy owner of a trex 550. Let me also state that after the 800 gets the needed mods I will once again be a very happy camper as the bird can and does perform on 12s whereas the other members of the 800 club are all on 14s.

I don't even mind Dino that there's a learning curve for Align to improve their product line coming out with improved versions of existing helicopters.....What I DO mind Dino is having to pay for parts that are offered as "upgrades" when clearly they should be offered for free as solutions to inferior parts. Are you not offering the black TT gears front and back to the DFC 700 owners? My white gears are all developing slop, Tim was kind enough to replace the main gear as it was waffled and is a much harder stronger material. A bunch of us are now having issues with the front and rear TT/ umbrella gears as the torque is finding the weakest link. How about offering these "improved" gears free of charge to the 800 owners as well? This kit was 1800.00 and its only right that a part that has been designated as inferior should be replaced. Kinda like a car recall right Dino?

Now one last point, the blades are big on this bird and the stiff DFC head is very very hard on the dampeners, spindle shaft sleeve etc. only way this is corrected is a redesigned head that KDE is working on. Maybe align can work on that part too. Most solutions are to raise that head back up a little and use more conventional dampeners. A bigger head and bigger dampeners would likely improve the situation. Until then we are faced with replacing these items after 25 flights or so. I can live with the motor although as you recently posted, one needs to crank the timing and PWM up to get decent power.

So to sum it up Dino, offer the current loyal trex 800 owners the improved gears for free please. These black gears should be coming standard in the kits Dino. There's another improved auto rotation gear due out soon that should also be included. The white 700 gears are NOT up to the task on the 800 and God forbid if this flying lawn mower gets out of control. Most of us have slop and we are not hardcore 3d flyers at all. 1800.00 is a nice chunk of change for a heli, we just want to feel that a company stands behind our expensive purchases and corrects design weaknesses without looking to turn a profit on our misfortune.

Sound fair?

[khoysagk]

BTW. it's dampers, not dampeners :rolleyes:

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[hidaven]

My Ipad corrects DAMPERS to DAMPENERS on its own, try to see the forest through the trees Einstein.........

[khoysagk]

Originally Posted by hidaven

My Ipad corrects DAMPNERS to DAMPENERS on its own, try to see the forest through the trees Einstein.........

First of all, it's dampers not dampners.
Second... "see the forest through the trees"??? No wonder so many people in this country can't spell worth shit. It's pretty sad if a foreigner's English is better than the English of a person being born here.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[Skiddz]

Originally Posted by khoysagk

BTW. it's dampers, not dampeners :rolleyes:

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

Really? That's your constructive input?

Originally Posted by hidaven

My Ipad corrects DAMPERS to DAMPENERS on its own, try to see the forest through the trees Einstein.........

Sarcastic comments don't help either...

Originally Posted by khoysagk

First of all, it's dampers not dampners.
Second... "see the forest through the trees"??? No wonder so many people in this country can't spell worth shit. It's pretty sad if a foreigner's English is better than the English of a person being born here.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

...and a follow up to the aforementioned sarcastic comment, escalated to insulting.

Clearly you're referring to yourself if you think anything is misspelled in "see the forest through the trees".

[khoysagk]

Originally Posted by Skiddz

Really? That's your constructive input?



Sarcastic comments don't help either...



...and a follow up to the aforementioned sarcastic comment, escalated to insulting.

Clearly you're referring to yourself if you think anything is misspelled in "see the forest through the trees".

I know there is nothing misspelled in that part. My point was that he meant I shouldn't pay attention to the spelling but to the context.
And how am I insulting someone for telling the truth? That's the problem we're having these days. Nobody wants to take responsibility anymore and if you say something you're being insulting. It's this whole entitlement BS.
Trust me, I'm far from perfect but I don't see how people graduate High School when they don't even know the difference between there, their and they're. Or to, too and two. Worst example: "I should OF done this and that" instead of "I should HAVE done this and that" . But I'm sure somebody will blame the school system for that. :rolleyes:

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

[TowPilot]

Originally Posted by khoysagk

I know there is nothing misspelled in that part. My point was that he meant I shouldn't pay attention to the spelling but to the context.
And how am I insulting someone for telling the truth? That's the problem we're having these days. Nobody wants to take responsibility anymore and if you say something you're being insulting. It's this whole entitlement BS.
Trust me, I'm far from perfect but I don't see how people graduate High School when they don't even know the difference between there, their and they're. Or to, too and two. Worst example: "I should OF done this and that" instead of "I should HAVE done this and that" . But I'm sure somebody will blame the school system for that. :rolleyes:

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

This is primarily an RC heli board, not a school on grammar, spelling or higher education.
Nor is it a place to pass judgement on someone's education level or level of achievement.

If you have a problem with those topics, take it up on another board dedicated to the education system of the USA.

The focus here is on the RC topic at hand and not every misspelled word or gramme error.

Furthermore, it is unreasonable to expect everyone to have achieved the same level of education as there are likely aspects of their lives we are not aware of.

The world is not a level playing field, never was, never will be.

Get off this soap box as it has no place here.

Mike

And yes, I shortened helicopter to heli.

[hidaven]

Thanks to everyone who was just as insulted as me that us poor Americans don't measure up to this foreigners english expectations........ Funny that someone leaves his or her own country to come to the promised land than bites the hand that feeds him or her.

To think that some poor American lost his job to this down........I meant clown : (