DT Helicopters in the Future

[Smoggie]

Originally Posted by Only Fine Helis

Well, unfortunately, it looks like Grumpy Old Man was right.

On this occasion i'm really sorry to be right

[Smoggie]

Originally Posted by corywrx

I'm going to school for mechanical and electrical drafting and design. It's a shame I won't be done for two years or so, otherwise I could "reverse engineer" a DT helicopter and send Shannon all of the CAD files.

Maybe if there is still interest once I'm skilled enough to do it, it could be fun side project for me..

Surely if I made an extremely small change somewhere, we could avoid patent issues?

Patents aren't generally an issue if you reverse engineer from parts (that's the good news). The bad news is the reason they usually turn a legal blind eye to this practice is that it's so expensive that it rarely cost effective for anyone to do it, with the exception maybe of the Chinese 'cloning factories' that make a business out of it.

I'm a mechanical designer/draftsman by trade, time served. With modern laser scanning techniques, producing 3D CAD drawings would be reasonably straightforward and not horrendously costly. But tooling up for manufacture is very expensive and would need considerable up front investment.For small volume niche production cost per part to ever stand a chance of covering those costs would be through the roof, several times what you pay for parts right now.

Sorry to put a dampener on it but that's the reality.

[Atomic Skull]

Would be cool if someone like Gartt bought the designs, I was pretty impressed with the quality of the Trex 700 clone blade grips I bought for a project from their ebay store a while back. The only difference I could see was a bit more chipping along sharp edges than on the real Align part that you need a loupe to see anyway and I've seen worse in more expensive brands (Alees/Evolution parts have more chipping and so did the KDE FBL hub I bought last year). Tolerance in the bearing seats was perfect, just enough for the outer bearing to go in and seat against the thrust bearing without slop. They could probably be successful with a non-cloned design if they decided to get away from cloning at the absolute minimum price and go a little upmarket.

I was impressed enough with the Gartt blade grips that I might be using Gartt bearing blocks and blade grips in a gasser build next year (tail will be Align because I want to use a 24mm 800 size boom and tail unit and a three blade tail and the hub and grip arms will be some OMG Revolution upgrade parts I have laying around)

[corywrx]

Originally Posted by Grumpy_Old_Man

Patents aren't generally an issue if you reverse engineer from parts (that's the good news). The bad news is the reason they usually turn a legal blind eye to this practice is that it's so expensive that it rarely cost effective for anyone to do it, with the exception maybe of the Chinese 'cloning factories' that make a business out of it.

I'm a mechanical designer/draftsman by trade, time served. With modern laser scanning techniques, producing 3D CAD drawings would be reasonably straightforward and not horrendously costly. But tooling up for manufacture is very expensive and would need considerable up front investment.For small volume niche production cost per part to ever stand a chance of covering those costs would be through the roof, several times what you pay for parts right now.

Sorry to put a dampener on it but that's the reality.

Well I think it's well known that the cost would be very high. I think some people who rarely crash and really love their DT's would pay a premium just to keep their helicopter in the air.

Sometimes money isn't as important as the feeling they get when they fly it

[Devil Fish]

Well this blows! I hadn't heard DT was dead. I'm working my way though old RC Today podcasts, and have heard great things about the DT line. Really a shame to hear this. I hope those who have them, will fly them to death!

[Michaelinpr]

Yes it sucks but they are gone like many others. Fly the hell out of yours. Shannon still has many parts. If they do not show in stock send him an email. www.onlyfinehelis.com

It is a shame. There was potential. But the pie is small and companies are not always willing to go the extra mile so they fold.

[TheBum]

There is still no worthy successor to the DT520 out there, so I'll be flying mine until I can't get parts anymore. It's even more awesome since I adapted a JR three-bladed tail rotor to work on it.

I looked at the Gaui X5 V2 at IRCHA and came away less than impressed.

[corywrx]

Originally Posted by TheBum

There is still no worthy successor to the DT520 out there, so I'll be flying mine until I can't get parts anymore. It's even more awesome since I adapted a JR three-bladed tail rotor to work on it.

I looked at the Gaui X5 V2 at IRCHA and came away less than impressed.

Nice.

I've never seen the X5 V2 in person. Can you elaborate on what you didn't like about it?

[TheBum]

The torque tube, for one. Also, the main gear looks rather wimpy.

[corywrx]

Originally Posted by TheBum

The torque tube, for one. Also, the main gear looks rather wimpy.

I see. I've thought about the X5 V2 as a possible 500 size for me in the future, but I really don't want the TT.

[rspiegel]

Its hard IMO the new compass evo will be the closest to the 520. Cost is more but power to weight is about the same. Got to see it at IRCHA and it was very impressive.. also shannon will be supporting them.

http://onlyfinehelis.com/helicopters...er-green-exog1

[TheBum]

I'm afraid they'll be porky on 6S 5000s. I'm also concerned about the vertical CG being too low.

[dunkonu23]

I'm going to run a 3300mah battery in mine. My pre-order is for red.

Scott

[TheBum]

I don't want another battery size. I'm still trying to standardize on 6S 5000s.


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[JWeber]

MSH I think is our best hope right now. The EXO is also in a different price class as the 520. $690 for kit, blades and motor. It also doesn't seem like it's ever going to ship.

The Logo 550SX is pretty good too. Although it's an older design. It's $565 for kit + blades. Gives you $155 for the motor between it's price and the EXO.

For me it's all moot. I have a load of 520 parts and flew it just yesterday and have no plans on changing. Great model.

[dunkonu23]

I can guarantee you the eXo is going to ship. Everything must be right.

Scott

[flyswatter40]

removed my comment.

[Michael64]

Hey guys if any of you are interested in a DT520V2 i have 2 one is mint condition never crashed has XNova it and Brain V1 MKS tail servo. The other one is almost complete no landing gear on it but have new set got 2 new canopies and alot of parts as well if interested pm me.

[Cullen Colapietro]

I'm also trying to sell my dt520s I have three for sale on the fs boards.

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[Eury]

I've turned mine into a loaner heli to give to people who are interested in helis. The Kingmax servos, DT motor, and YEP esc aren't worth anything, and I've got an Ikon left over after upgrading another heli to an Ikon2. I buddy box them until they can hover on their own and then hand it over. If it gets killed or not given back, oh well, it's not worth a thing aside from the Ikon, and even that can barely pull $75 in the classifieds. The rescue and self level give noobs confidence.

Pay it forward guys, maybe you can get more guys into helis around you.