No More Crunchy Bearings - KDE Direct Thrusted Bearing Blocks

[busterboy]

Originally Posted by kegerator

Absolutely, you can purchase through one of our online vendors (Fast Lad Performance is our UK vendor) or direct through the website.

I purchased this product last week from Fastlad Performance UK and can really give them my 100% vote.

I have 2x T-rex 700's and I can say my second heli will be getting the same fitted very soon.

Excellent product.

[busterboy]

Originally Posted by busterboy

I purchased this product last week from Fastlad Performance UK and can really give them my 100% vote.

I have 2x T-rex 700's and I can say my second heli will be getting the same fitted very soon.

Excellent product.

Wish I had never said that now.

Had a crash on Sunday and both these bearing housings broke completly in two.

I know things break in crashes but these have turned out like cheese to be honest.

[KDE Direct]

Originally Posted by busterboy

Wish I had never said that now.

Had a crash on Sunday and both these bearing housings broke completly in two.

I know things break in crashes but these have turned out like cheese to be honest.

Sorry to hear about the crash, it must have been a hard one. I've seen numerous pilots break the stock Align ones as well, so it's not uncommon with the high forces imparted by a 90-size Nitro. Finite-element analysis was used to create a design that can withstand 250lbs of force before yielding, so the forces are quite high to bend and break these with the high-grade AL 6061-T6 materials.

Finless may have more information on this, but I spoke with him earlier this week and his friend Kevin crashed three-times before finally breaking the blocks in a HARD inverted crash. Unfortunately, with limitations to weight and flight performance, there is always a trade-off between crash-proofness and 3D flying characteristics.

[Finless]

Yep..... I had Kevin test these for the 700. Before if he crashed hard on the head he would almost always bend the stock 700 top bearing block. Here is an example.



Kevin got the KDE blocks and had 3 hard crashes right on the head almost all 3 in one weekend!. The last one last weekend I swear went in on the head at 40G's. Well I guess you cant make something indestructable but these certainly were tougher than the stock bearing blocks.
Also I may add that the top bearing was not damaged even though the block was!!! Shows the trust bearings are helping.

[bloftin]

Originally Posted by busterboy

Wish I had never said that now.

Had a crash on Sunday and both these bearing housings broke completly in two.

I know things break in crashes but these have turned out like cheese to be honest.

Yea I don't think anybody can produce "crash-proof" heli parts. You stick a heli in hard, stuff is going to break.

[cbdane]

Originally Posted by Finless

Yep..... I had Kevin test these for the 700. Before if he crashed hard on the head he would almost always bend the stock 700 top bearing block. Here is an example.

Is that Miro's Mod1.0 maingear?

[Finless]

Yes which as I understand will be out in a week!

Bob

[busterboy]

Originally Posted by kegerator

Sorry to hear about the crash, it must have been a hard one. I've seen numerous pilots break the stock Align ones as well, so it's not uncommon with the high forces imparted by a 90-size Nitro.

Hello and thanks for your reply.

As I quoted I was very happy with the KDE bearings and "YES" the heli did go in heavy on the head so there was never a question something had to break.

In fact both side frames broke along with endless other parts and was probably asking too much hoping the bearing housings was going to withstand a heavy crash like this.:o

The fact remains yes the stock bearings do bend and break too in a heavy crash but at half the price of the KDE product which do we as a user choose.

At the time of writing my post above I was probably asking too much hoping the bearings would survive and do like the product but they arnt cheap so the question remains....... Would I buy another set.

I have re-fitted the original Align bearings back in the heli to keep costs down.

The jury is still out for me.

[HeliSmith]

Yeah that is the rub. You might even be at the level you actually need all the upgrade parts available, but in the end it comes down to cost so if you are going to be the one slamming your heli into the ground you probably should get cheap servos and the cheapest parts you can buy.

[KDE Direct]

Finless just finished a great (and rather hilarious) review of the T700N and T600N Aluminum Thrusted Bearing Blocks in his Tech Room at:

https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=146290


Check it out, it's definitely worth the entertainment.

[QYT001]

Originally Posted by kegerator

Sorry to hear about the crash, it must have been a hard one. I've seen numerous pilots break the stock Align ones as well, so it's not uncommon with the high forces imparted by a 90-size Nitro. Finite-element analysis was used to create a design that can withstand 250lbs of force before yielding, so the forces are quite high to bend and break these with the high-grade AL 6061-T6 materials.

Finless may have more information on this, but I spoke with him earlier this week and his friend Kevin crashed three-times before finally breaking the blocks in a HARD inverted crash. Unfortunately, with limitations to weight and flight performance, there is always a trade-off between crash-proofness and 3D flying characteristics.

"there is always a trade-off between crash-proofness and 3D flying characteristics" - I believe it should be designed two versions: for crash-proofness and for 3D flying characteristics, and everyone will deside which one meets their requirements.

[HeliSmith]

Yeah I guess seeing the bearing blocks bent after a crash would make it all that much worse. The thing is though that crash mechanics are just weird. I am not sure anything can be crash proof but these blocks look about as heavy duty as I would want to run. Added weight is never a good thing.

[rubbersoul]

I got mine over the weekend. To my surprise, after at least 10 gallons, the stock align main shaft bearings feel smooth and new. I was expecting to experience the same complaint I read in the forums about the bearings going bad prematurely, the reason why to upgrade to the thrusted main bearing blocks. I actually debated on whether to install the upgrade or not. I did, just because I had it in my hands. I had to replace the main shaft washer because after installation I had a noticeable vertical play.

Will test fly today.

[slickporsche]

Originally Posted by Helirob

The stock radial bearings in the TREX 700 don't last very long, even when you don't crash.

Hard 3D flying brinnels the bearings from all the axial loads we put on them from all the collective pumping we do these days. Finally, we can beat our 700's to death and not worry about destroying our radial bearings since the thrust bearings will take all the axial loads.

Thanks KDE Direct for coming out with another important upgrade for our heli's

Oh, and by the way, your frame braces saved my my TREX 500 again this week. I have not broken my carbon fiber frames since I put on your lower frame brace and battery mount.

So then is all about beating the heli into submission, and not the air. Now I understand.