Titan X50B new build w/ factory FBL conversion and MICROBEAST

[Bob O]

Built a bit more this morning and then again this afternoon. The FBL head came preassembled, but I took it apart to check for loctite. The only things on the head assembly without thread lock were the control balls on the blade grips.

When I took the blade grips off, the inboard radial bearing fell out of the grips. The outboard bearings came out with barely a tap. So I resintalled those with some bearing retainer. The other issue I found were that the thrust bearings were backwards. Not the races but the actual bearing. Doesn't matter a whole lot as the grease is going to come out regardless of the position of the cage, but I turned them around anyway.

I jumped ahead in the manual and installed the servos. I still need to install the throttle servo, but I haven't stripped it out of the Velocity yet. I'm going to have to take a break from building, as I go back to work tomorrow. I'm also waiting on the 140* CCPM upgrade to arrive.

Here's a pic of the bird so far. You gotta love it when you get to the point in a build when a box full of parts starts to resemble a heli.



One other possible issue for anyone who has already built one of these birds. Here's a pic of the main gear. If you take a look at the arrow, there's a gap between the top of the main gear and the top (flange) of the OWB sleeve. This gap allows the main gear to move up and down a little bit. I would estimate the gap is 1mm, no more than 2mm for sure. It's almost like there should be a thin washer in there, but the manual didn't show one, and there wasn't one in the bag that the main gear came in, other than the one that goes between the two gears, which is definitely in there.

Would someone be so kind and check your X50 to see if the main gear moves up and down? I would appreciate it. It doesn't look like much in the pic, but the gap is significant enough that I don't believe it was designed to be that way.

[rcflier1]

ouch, i never looked at that close, but ,yea, i want to say 1/16". with 1 up and the other down,i can get that much between the 2 gears

[johnbs8]

mine has the same slop. a full summer of flying it hard and no effect on the machine or flight. I think this was discussed a lil while back. some people shimmed it.

[rcflier1]

i guess it will be fine. all the gears mesh properly

[Bob O]

Originally Posted by rcflier1

i guess it will be fine. all the gears mesh properly

My main gear/pinion mesh is perfect.

I'll do some research tomorrow on adding a shim. I've never been a fan of slop even if it had no ill effects.

[Bob O]

Ordered a bunch of stuff from Tower and HeliDirect today.

It's nice that the main gear shim is available separately instead of having to buy an assembly of some kind. Also ordered the metal tail unit with the rest of the metal tail bits. I was going to build the heli with the stock tail and upgrade later, but I decided to do it all now.

Also ordered Matt Botos Rail main and tail blades for this heli. Figured I'd try something new this year. I haven't heard anything negative about their performance. I used Edge 603mm last year, they were excellent blades. If I end up not liking the Rail 606mm for some reason, I'll go right back to Edge.

[rcflier1]

i,m not going to worry about a little play there

[johnbs8]

if ya end up not liking the rail blades you can sell them to me

[Bob O]

I'll post some pics later, but the heli is fully built minus the throttle and tail servo linkages.

I ended up shimming the slop out of the main gear. I'm a lot happier with that now.

The canopy fits like a dream, no clearance issues with the battery, servo horns, etc. Although I did have to use the spacer with my muffler to get it away from the canopy. It was nearly touching the canopy without the spacer.

The part of the heli I'm least impressed with is the tail boom supports. I didn't get a chance to mod the carbon rods from my Velocity, so I have the stock aluminum tubes on there for now. It's not so much the tubes as it is how they bolt up at the boom clamp. The bottom of the clamp is angled so the tube ends fit flush, but the screws that fasten them to the clamp go in at 90 degrees as if there was no offset angle to deal with. I would have used the clamp from the Velocity but the boom diameter was not the same.

Anyway, the build was relatively easy and without major issues. Pics probably won't go up until after every last detail is done.

[Bikersurgeon]

Originally Posted by Bob O

Pics probably won't go up until after every last detail is done.

Oh come on! That's teasing! Just curious: where are you ordering your metal upgrades from?

[Bob O]

I got all of the upgrades from Tower Hobbies.

They have decent prices on most stuff and once you factor in the coupon discounts and free shipping, they're hard to beat.

[WessCo]

One question...well maybe 2:

#1. Why the 140 degree arms? Just wondering on that one.


#2. You're Furion 450 is now flybarless....not really a question, but a statement.

[Bob O]

Originally Posted by WessCo

One question...well maybe 2:

#1. Why the 140 degree arms? Just wondering on that one.


#2. You're Furion 450 is now flybarless....not really a question, but a statement.

LOL!!! Awesome!!!


I started doing the 140 degree option with the Velocity 50. Less if any CCPM interaction between the elevator servo and the two aileron/pitch servos.

On a 120 degree swash setup, I believe the elevator servo travels twice as far as the other two during elevator inputs. With a 140 degree setup (1:1 on the Velocity and Titan), all three servos travel the same distance during elevator inputs.

I've read where the 140 degree setup is not advantageous for certain maneuvers, but I don't have pro skills so I haven't been able to tell. Either way, my transmitter and FBL unit both have specific support for 140 degree setups.

For most, including me, it probably doesn't matter which way it's set up.

I'm going to try and finish the build today and post some pics.

[WessCo]

Just wondered. Thanks for sharing your answer. I've got an X50, soon to be converted to FBL.

[Bob O]

As of this morning, the heli is completely done. Finished all the wiring; two satellite receivers, back plate sensor, Pushglo, and MB setup this morning.

I pulled the clunks from both tanks and replaced the stock lines with Hayes neoprene clunk line. I was going to use the OS Bubbleless clunk from my previous bird, but it would not fit into the tank, so I'm using the stock clunks for now. I'm also using the stock fuel tubing for the external lines for now. It's definitely stiffer than Dubro and other silicone tubing I've tried. We'll see if it softens up over use.

Looking to the tail setup, I found that 90 degrees on the tail pitch arm provided a decent amount of right rudder compensation, but the slider was not centered. In setting up the limits in the MB, I found irregular behavior from the MB, presumably caused by different lengths of travel of the servo.

I ended up centering the slider and redoing the tail limits setup in the MB. Centering of the slider resulted in the slightest bit of right rudder compensation, nearly zero degrees of pitch. Doing the limits this way so there was equal travel of the rudder servo in both directions, took the irregular behavior out of the MB. Only difference being that the tail pitch arm/lever was not 90ed anymore. It wasn't off-angle enough IMO to cause any problems.

I can hardly wait to get this bird into the air!

[Bladecpnitro]

Have you flown it yet Bob? I hope you take a vid of it. I'm anxious to see it fly.

I haven't been able to get a single piece of my X50 yet. I keep thinking things are gonna get better around here and they get worse and worse with the money tree and all. I think its dying. LOL!

[Bob O]

Sorry, I haven't flown it yet. It's still winter here, 28*F out now with snow. More snow is in the forcast, 10+ inches expected starting Tuesday night through Wednesday. 40*F is forcasted for next Monday, but I'm not that thrilled about flying helis in less than 45*F temps with light winds.

I'll catch video for sure. My buddy and I plan on doing more video this year than we have in the last three years.

[Bob O]

Someone asked at some point in a thread, not sure if it was this one, what I used to secure a servo extension. Here's a pic of my elevator servo where it connects to the extension. I have this clip lock on there, and it's stuck to the frame with double sided foam tape (3M 411) and then zip-tied.



Also, on the back of each servo arm where there's a control ball, I have a nut that I made out of the ends of spare or scrap servo horns. Basically to add a little bit of stiffness and security for the control ball. Being that these balls had self-tapping threads and they were pretty long, I figured why waste the threads? These little nuts really let you snug up the ball to the servo horn with a lot less chance of stripping it.

[Bikersurgeon]

awesome...I gotta get some of those clips....outstanding tip on the "ball locknut"

[KouDy]

Hmmm looks all very good. I am also waiting for photos of your X50... While i flooded my build topic with about 80 photos from the build (tho yea, it was meant as guidance topic so that's why) i am also in line with others to see your master piece Bob

I always wondered why people go for 140° conversion kits. So it's to save lifetime on the elevator servo (if i got it right). Good to know. I was thinking of trying because it's not that common to have 140° setup... Maybe in future... Or perhaps after i crash it... Time will tell...