Compass-USA Sponsored Warp 360 Build Thread

[dunkonu23]

Hi guys,

Shortly after IRCHA 2012, Dave Ketelhut approached me with the idea of doing a build thread for the Compass Warp 360. After getting permission from ALeeS RC's Charley Stephens to do so, I'm proud to be doing this. Thank you so much, Charley and ALeeS! It is quite an honor to be approached by someone of Dave's stature in the hobby to do a build thread. It's also a great honor that the build is sponsored by Compass-USA! Special thanks go out to Mike of Nankin Hobby! Mike is tireless. His pursuit of perfect customer service is endless--and he exceeds expectations every time! Thanks, Mike

I'll likely be starting the build in full this weekend, so look for a lot of pictures along with explanations of each step taken during the build. I hope this thread helps you get the best out of your new helicopter! If you have suggestions or if I make a mistake, please let me know. Also, this thread is not designed to take the place of any video builds that are being done.

I'm super excited about doing this!. So, Saturday, we'll get rolling... my kit should be at my door when I get home today!!

Stay tuned!

Scott

[Bob O]

You did a great job on the Rush build, Scott. The Warp build will be just as good I'm sure.

Sent from my phone

[Mojappa]

Can't wait, I'm sure it'll be very useful to those of us who can't get this bird quite yet.

[DominicD]

Originally Posted by dunkonu23

It is quite an honor to be approached by someone of Dave's stature in the hobby to do a build thread.

Too easy


Looking forward to the build, not sure I'll have my this week.

[dunkonu23]

Well, it's here! I'm so stoked! This is going to be one big hit with the fun stick!

Thanks guys!

A special thanks to Mike Jankowski of Nankin Hobbies.
The man is tireless in his pursuit of customer service excellence. I can't say enough about him! Thanks, Mike!

Scott

[dunkonu23]

Here are some pictures showing the contents of the box. The kit is very well packaged. I particularly like the way the boom and the blades are stored!



Very cool looking box! It's just a little wider than your standard 450 sized box, but it looks much better!



The top panel of the box holds the boom and the blades. I really like this as it's a space saver!



You first notice your canopy when you open the box. It's wrapped in bubble foam. To the right of the canopy is the parts box. I couldn't resist, so I opened it.



Inside the parts box. You can see the motor(s). Looks like Mike sent me the full kit. I ordered the bare bones kit. I had him throw in a motor for the build. Now, I have two motors! I'll call Mike in the AM to straighten this out. Inside the parts box is most of the hardware and the manual on a USB Flash drive. Electronic manuals are cool. They seem to be the hot thing! Load the manual on your laptop or desktop, then transfer it to your pad device.



The floor of the box. Frame sides, tail push rod, blade holder, canopy mounts and more are found here. I like the new blade holder!



I just had to unwrap the canopy! Mine came in perfect shape. For those out there who worry about canopy fit, the canopy comes pre-reamed (drilled) for the mounts. I chose this color scheme because I like contrasts in the sky. Also, I think it's sharp as all get out!



A side view of the canopy. I think this canopy is going to be really visible against trees!



The pretty underbelly! The front canopy mounts are pre-drilled, too. This will save some headaches when positioning the front mount.

That's about it for tonight. I'm super-psyched to get started!

Scott

[dunkonu23]

For the record this will be my setup:

Stock Compass Motor
Castle ICE 50 ESC
MKS DS92+ cyclic servos
MKS DS95i tail servo
Likely an AR7200BX FBL controller with no satellites.
Stock Compass blades, but I have a set of Edge 353's I can use.

Scott

[OICU812]

By looks of things a few build threads which is cool, maybe a mod could put them all into one sticky for us?

[Steemo]

Originally Posted by dunkonu23

For the record this will be my setup:

Stock Compass Motor
Castle ICE 50 ESC
MKS DS92+ cyclic servos
MKS DS95i tail servo
Likely an AR7200BX FBL controller with no satellites.
Stock Compass blades, but I have a set of Edge 353's I can use.

Scott

I've got the exact same setup planned except for DS95 on cyclic, DS520 on the tail and an external BEC.

I look forward to seeing how you shoehorn the Ice 50 in, I personally look forward to the challenge

[DominicD]

Not going to merge threads unless the OPs ask for it.

[Bob O]

A Super Sticky possibly if there ends up being a bunch of build threads that can be linked in one sticky for convenience and ease of reference. But this one of Scott's should remain it's own for obvious reasons.

[dunkonu23]

In the box contents post, I mentioned moving the manual file(s) from the USB flash drive to a pad/tablet device. I don't know how this works on an Android tablet, but for an iPad, this is how I did it.

1. I copied the contents of the USB Flash to a directory on my laptop.
2. I created an E-mail on my personal E-mail account addressed to my "me.com" (or icloud.com) address.
3. To that E-mail I attached both the manual and parts list files.
4. I mailed them, essentially to myself.

That's about it. Tap on the file in the E-mail message to open it. I did take another step by using PDF Reader Pro to reopen then move the file to my Helicopter Manuals storage directory in iCloud.

I'm sure there are other ways to do this, but since I've been around in the computer industry since the days of "sneaker-net" this way came to my mind, first.

We'll start the build later on today. Y'all have good nights!

Scott

[dunkonu23]

Here we go, folks!



When I start a build, I lay out the items I'm going to need to get started. First, the manual on my iPad, three small bowls, and of course, 99 percent isopropyl alcohol and my favorite dirty-ass towel!



The alcohol is very important. When threads are cut in screws, NON-nyloc nuts, and bolts, oil is used. Oil and thread locker do not mix well.



I thought having "Compass" etched on the protector of the USB stick was a cool, nice touch!



Bag 1 contains the grip parts.



Here are the grip parts. Count the screws. There should be sixteen screws.



I always measure the screws so I know I install the fasteners required for each build step.



I soak the screws in alcohol for a few minutes, then using the appropriate hex-driver, turn them dry in a paper towel. I'll show you the paper towel I'm using after the build. Please don't forget this important step.



The metal part of the grip comes with the thrust bearings installed between two radial bearings. We need to get the thrust bearings out to make sure they're greased properly. In order to remove the thrust bearing parts you need to remove an outer radial bearing, first. To make sure I didn't damage the bearing sets, I temporarily installed the grip plates to the metal grip piece.



Next, I put the grip upright. Using a small flat head screw driver, I found a small space between the outer radial and thrust bearings. I then lightly tapped on the screw driver until I felt the radial bearing slide out.



The bearing is out! At this point, I removed the grip plates from the metal part of the grips. Then using the same small screw driver I used earlier, I pushed the radial bearing completely out.



Here's the bearings. Note the inner race of the thrust bearing set didn't come out. That's okay as long as the smaller inner diameter race portion of the thrust bearing is installed on the outside. You can test this by getting the head hub and seeing if the race that comes out will wobble. If it wobbles just a little on the shaft of the hub you're good to go. If it wobbles a lot, you need to get the other race out of the grip so the smaller inner diameter race is on the outside of the grip, facing the root of the blades.



Both my thrust bearings were not greased well.



So, I just regreased the bearings, No biggie. It's normal for kits.



This shows the reassembly order. I prefer to put the open side of the thrust bearing toward the inner bearing race. Doing it this way can help grease stay in the bearing longer. So, the order for reinstalling the parts is:

Thrust bearing, outer race (small ID), and then the thrust washer.



As best you can, try to line up the hole in the thrust washer with the holes of the other bearings. It will likely slip, so the first time you install the main grip hub, do it slowly and wiggle it as you push it in. We'll cover this again, shortly.



Next, I pressed in the radial bearing. It wasn't difficult. I chose not to use green bearing retainer at this time. The bearings seem tight enough. I made that choice because I will likely have to remove the thrust bearings many times throughout the life of my helicopter for maintenance or replacement. Using green bearing retainer coupled with the smallness of the grip may make it very difficult to remove the outer radial bearing without heat. Using heat will be difficult because of each of the radial bearings fit flush in the metal portion of the grip. Over time, we'll see how it goes.



You install the 2mm carbon fiber grip plates with the provided button head screws in a crossing pattern. I just made them snug, then tightened them down in a crossing patttern--not too tight, though-- let the blue thread locker do its job.



The finished grips. Since this is a rigid head design, the only damping is provided by the blades and the carbon fiber plates themselves. This is not an issue as there is video proof that super low head speeds can be achieved with no wobble or loss of control. Sebastian did his homework well!



Bag two has the parts to finish the swash plate assembly.



The swash plate, balls and fastening screws. At this point, I did a little test. I pulled out the main shaft from its bag, inserted it into the swash ball. Very smooth action. Part two of the test, find a swash plate leveler. Well, I don't have one. Since the main shaft is 6mm, a T-Rex 450pro leveler won't work. It's cool. There are other ways to level a swash plate.



Note the inner ball positioning. Balls are attached using blue thread locker.



The finished swash plate. Note the orientation of the inner balls. They should bisect the center of the swash.

That's it for these steps. Next up... swash driver links and we'll finish the head assembly.

Scott

[Luigi_tuga]

Looking good
That swash is so cool

[sarpilot]

Subscribed!

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

[dunkonu23]

In this next post, we'll be finishing up the head.



Bag 3 has the parts necessary to build the swash driver arms. Note the two links in the second bag. I used these here since page 56 of the manual shows no links and there are only two links to be used in this step.



Here are the parts in bag 3 arranged in their installation positions. Note the thicker of the two brass spacers goes on the inside of the swash driver, per the manual.



I think this is where some folks are having problems with broken links. Rob43, a rep for Compass has been sending me his finding on this issue for the last couple of days. Rob found that drilling out the link with a 7/64th drill bit would lower the chance of splitting a grip. He also said thoroughly cleaning the bolt with alcohol in lieu of drilling reduced the chance of splitting links. I cleaned the bolts and skipped drilling. I was very deliberate using a high quality 1.5mm hex-driver to install the bolt into the link. It worked fine.



Next step is to install the nut on the bolt for the swash driver. I installed it as shown and it was almost dead on 39mm in length!



39mm total assembly length. Please note there is some parallax in this picture, so it looks longer than it actually is.



Next you use a 5.5mm open ended wrench to tighten the nut against the top of the swash driver assembly. Note too that I also used blue thread locker on the nut and the bolt as this area gets a lot of stress in flight and I don't want it coming apart.



This is how I tightened the nut. I held the top in one hand and used the wrench to tighten the nut against the top of the swash driver assembly.



Completed swash drivers. Note the different color of the nuts. One nut I had did not fit on the bolt, so I had to use one from my spares. I'll make sure Mike knows as this nut is slightly thicker and may cause an imbalance at speed.



Bag 4. Bag 4 has the parts necessary to complete the head assembly.



Parts in bag 4. Not shown are the spacers for the blades. I'll show those later.



If you only clean one part during your build, be absolutely certain its the head hub. I soaked mine in alcohol for about 20 minutes, then rolled, soaked and threaded a paper towel into the threads. This is SAFETY requirement! Thread locker will not hold well at all when threads are coated with oil.



While there wasn't much oil in my hub, that doesn't mean yours won't have an abundance of oil. Be on the safe side, please!



I applied blue thread locker with a toothpick to the inside of the hub. To make sure it got to the bottom, I blew into the threaded hole. I wiped off any excess thread locker.



I found the best way to install the bolt holding the grip to the hub is to first insert the washer--the grips are too narrow for the washer to simply slide in with the bolt--then insert the bolt through the washer and tighten it down.



Completed grips on the hub. As the two blue thread locker blobs indicate, things can get sloppy if you're me!



As a side note, this is the amount of oil I got of the bolt that are used to attach the grips to the hub. Clean those well, too!



Attaching the swash drivers to the grips was pretty straight forward on my build. To avoid cross threading, I laid the parts flat on the towel, applied a small amount of thread locker to to the threaded holes on the pitch arms, then finger tightened the bolts until they were snug. Then I lightly tightened them the rest of the way with a hex driver.



The completed head/swash driver assembly.



For the purpose of this build thread, I'm showing the main shaft attached to the head hub. Note that the main shaft has holes at different distances from each end. The head side uses the hole that is furthest from the end.

At this point I did a test fit of the head to the swash, but because I will have to remove the head from the main shaft and swash to perform setup, I will leave the permanent installation until I complete leveling the swash during electronics setup.

That's it for this post. I hope you're finding it useful. I'm under the weather today, so please forgive me--I'm stopping for the night. I want to hit the ground running in the morning so if I press on tonight, I'm going to mess up two days instead of one. Again, my apologies.

Scott

[heathy]

Excellent work as usual

[Coco66]

Wow! Very good work... this will help me when I'll finally order mine (prolly right after Xmas...).

[Dflyer]

Great review, can't wait to see the rest of your build. Keep up the good work !

Grtz,
Dirk

[sarpilot]

Originally Posted by heathy

Excellent work as usual

Absolutely

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