RR Rated M For Mature
HOME   rrTV-PHOTO   GALLERIES   MY GALLERY   HELP-FAQ
myHOME PM pmRR MEMBERS 896 ONLINE 80 EVENTS SEARCH REGISTER  START HERE
 
5 pages [ <<    <    ( 1 )     2      3     NEXT    >> ]14561 viewsPOST REPLY
Scorpion Power System . RCHover . HeliDirect

.
.
e-Thunder Tiger Raptor E Series > E325 Mini Titan build thread
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		I am currently building a mini titan and thought you might like the details and my impressions/thoughts. Given that this heli is a direct competitor with the Align Trex I will give some comparison comments as well. I have two Trex 450Se's and I have bulit/rebuilt these many times. I purchased the Mini Titan E325 heli only kit intending to use what I have lying around for the electrics, most of which were used on the Trex's.
12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build A

It was a little wierd going back to 'all plastic' components having been used to the metal bling from the Trex. Although rather meaningless, the appearance of the plastics and mouldings is better than the plastic parts offered by Align for there original Trex versions. I doubt that the TT parts will stand up any better in a crash though !

OK on to the build. First task is the assembly of the rotor hub and seesaw/mixing levers. Nothing special or different about this assembly. Although the levers are stiff enough in their plane of operation they flex very easily horizontally (if you know what I mean ). Probably has no effect in operation but the upgrade metal mixing and flybar control levers, when available will be top of the list.

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build B

Bag 'B' see's us fitting the flybar controls, flybar and the blade grips (main rotor pitch housing as described by TT ). Flybar cage fits very nicely over the seesaw, no need for great pressure to insure slop free flybar installation.

The one piece solid paddles seem heavier than the carbon paddles supplied by Align but no additional flybar weights suppied.

The Titan blade grips use a thrust bearing, rather unique for this size of heli. The bearing is in three parts and must be installed correctly with the large ID side facing the rotor hub. It has been posted that both halves of the thrust bearing have same ID. This was not the case with mine, the larger diameter was easy to see.

The Titan uses a one piece flap damper rather than several 'O' rings used in the Trex. Installation was straight forward and blade grips are super smooth . Main shaft is pushed into the rotor head (not too tight) and fixed in place with socket screw through the rotor hub. Two nuts used to secure......wonder why they did not supply a lock nut

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build C

Bag 'C' includes the swash plate and washout assembly. No issues. The washout fits very nicely into the guide pins of the rotor hub, very minimal slop As mentioned in build part 'A' I think it will be nice to get the metal upgrade levers when available. The Titan is a little different when it comes to securing the main shaft into the frame and main gears. (more later). Anyway this requires that you fix the upper main shaft collar before installation in the frame!

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build D

This section deals with assembly and fitting of the links to the rotor head. The first thing you notice is that TT have decided to use minature ball links. This is the first dissapointment on this heli. These mini links can't be used with any standard ball link pliers or sizing tools. Really not sure why they went this route as I can't see any disadvantage in using standard sized balls as used by Align on the Trex...... one point to Align! Assembling the links I had one where the ends would just not tighten. Had to replace the rod with a spare one I had.

It was posted here that link lengths indicated in the manual are wrong. I have not found this (at least as a good starting point) and the lengths as stated give a good plus/minus 12 degree of pitch range It has also been stated that links are very stiff. This is true! Not sure how this will effect operation but certainly they feel too stiff when compared to what is expected on the Trex. Problem now is how to resize these mini links



Update - Having gone through the heli setup I found that the tight links were causing problems. I decided to change all the balls to standard size. Using the TT rods I attached Align links and fitted Align balls to all points except the washout lever connection to the swash plate. There were no problems in doing this and all links are now smooth. The whole head is now so much better ..... certainly worth the effort

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build E

Now this section made me smile. If this part takes you longer than 2 minutes your doing it wrong Super simple frame assembly, just bolt on the bottom (6 screws) then fit the landing gear ... your done. Not impressed with the appearance of the one piece landing gear although it is nice and tall which will keep your tail blades out of the grass Frame itself is pretty stiff and tough and I can imagine that it should be relatively crash proof !

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build F

Bag 'F' contains additional frame components. Battery tray, servo mounts and anti rotation guide. All bolt nicely to the frame. It was the mounting of the electrics which attracted me to the Mini Titan in the first place. Easy access to the servos. Sensible battery tray etc .....really should make working and using this heli far easier than the Trex!

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build G

Now we assemble the main gear and fit the rotor head to the frame. Obviously the main gear is going to be a focus of attention and compared with the poor quality gear that comes with the Trex. First impressions are that the gears are indeed better quality. By eye they are thicker and of a simpler design. No attempt to incorporate a fan has been made which may make for easier manufacture and hopefully a more true, round gear! Anyway it does look better .

It is also worth to note that the one way bearing is supplied pre fitted to the gear and has been well greased at the factory

Assembly of both gears is straight forward and results in a very smooth assembly. As mention earlier the main shaft fixing arrangement is different from the Rex. The gears are not used to hold the shaft between the frame. For the Titan locking collars are used on top of the upper bearing and below the lower bearing. This allows the gear to be independantly bolted to the main shaft. The result is a very true and smooth running shaft/main gear assembly. This is very impressive and so simple to put together....no need for special washers around the gears

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build H

Next the tail assembly. Firstly the rear tail box. Wow, this as good as builds itself! Compared to the fiddly Trex box this is so simple to put together, a couple of minutes and its on. Noted is that the box is keyed to the tail boom so can't rotate and is secured in place with one single screw ....nice

Whats not so nice was the play I noticed on the tail spindle. I think this is more than you would expect but no idea if it really will be significant in operation

The arrangement for the control links is great with double bearings used on the tail pitch slider. This is almost slop free I had an issue in getting it all lined up and working smoothly, had to take control linkage on and of a few times to get it smooth. It is now OK but on occassion the slider seems to grab the spindle resulting in a bit of a stutter .... I need to revisit this later.

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build I

Next buidling the tail rotor hub and attaching to the tail box. All straight forward standard stuff, no problems and nothing different from the arrangement offered by Align

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build J

Now this is where things get really nice. The small tail drive gear is attached to the tail drive set box which becomes part of the tail boom assembly. This is a really neat arrangement. It makes fitting the belt and setting belt tension a breeze. The intention is to make the boom easily and quickly removable for transportation. Just push the boom assembly into the frame and lock it in place with two bolts and that's it. I can't say how impressed I am with this idea and it makes the build so simple

The belt gear looks much bigger than that used on the Trex and of a higher quality although of course it is plastic. Everything else is fairly standard with the fitting of the boom supports, tail guides etc.

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build K

Already we are at the stage of installing the electrics. For this projects I decided to use a 450th motor which I've used well in my Trex's. The seperate motor mounting plate used on the Titan,as I expected, made installing the motor a pleasure. You would never want to fiddle with a Trex carbon frame ever again. Installing motor and adjusting gear mesh must have taken no more than three minutes. Very Very nice .

For the three rotor head servo's I had some HS55's kicking about. It was difficult to get any information on what servos should fit other than the TT Ace kit servos. As it turns out even the HS55's do not offer a perfect fit. The front two servos were really not a problem but still the rear of the servo case just hits the main frame.... a very very exact fit indeed. The rear servo was a different story. I had to make up some spacers to mount the servo much further forward on the mount. Spacers were about 4mm. The dimensions of the kit servo's must be pretty strange

The servo mounting arrangement, while the location is great, could be improved to allow a wider choice of different servos. I would guess (without checking) that very few servos would fit this frame without a bit of modification ... TT needs to rethink this a little, I think !

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build L

For the tail I decided to try the new Futaba S3154 servo. The mounting of this was made difficult due to the crazy poor mounting lugs Futaba have decideed to incorporate into the case. Very flimsy... why why why Guaranteed broken on first crash!) Anyway once fitted the linkage was easy to setup. The tail control rod is a very thin metal rod. While it seems to work well enough I think it would be nice to upgrade this to a plastic or carbon tube in the future to prevent flexing.



I went with a Hitec Electron 6 for the receiver. It has a bad rep as a glitch magnet in the Trex! I did not have too bad experience although I did switch to PCM. Anyway lets see how it works in the Mini Thye receiver fits well enough between the rear frames. A bracket is provided for mounting the receiver on the outside of the frame but to me this makes the wiring all to obvious and looks messy. Actually the space between the frame is big enough to take a Futaba gyro so there is an alternative mounting if you don't fancy the intended spot up on top!



Mounting of the gyro in the conventional spot, up top behind the main shaft. It is exposed here but you do have the option to mount the gyro between the frames if you move the receiver to the side of the frame.



Mounting of battery and ESC is very nice, up front away from the electronics. The battery can easily be changed and secured in place with a rubber band. So much nicer than the Align Trex

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Build M

The last part of the build is the body. The quality is much better than the Trex... much thicker plastic. The Canopy requires a significant number of cutouts which takes a bit of time and is a bit of a pain . The carbon effect canopy is intended to be fitted over the body cutout, held in place with 3 screws. I decided not to bother with the cutout and just stuck the canopy over the body ....... same effect right and much easier to do Two keys on the body fit over the landing skid bracket. When the mounting posts are pushed through the gromets the canopy is fixed securely even without the battery in place. Once the jobs done I think it looks not too bad

12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
toto
Senior Heliman
Location: Argentina

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Hello Gazzer,

Thank you for share your pictures.
What motor, batteries, esc you will use???

Best regards,

TOTO
(sorry for my english)
12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE   HOMEPAGE   GALLERY
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		I'm going to use the bits I have lying around from my Trex's. Motor is a 450th, ESC will be an Align 35A. Batteries are Dualsky Lipo's - 2250ma 3S. I'm trying to use HS55 servo's, still checking if they will fit properly!
12-23-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Tail Pitch Slider Control Problem?

Hi Guys,
Anybody already with the E325 had any issues with the tail pitch slider. During the build I had to rework the tail box controls several times to get things smooth. Still not perfect as the slider seems to grab the spindle occasionaly causing a bit of a stutter. Almost like there's too much play between slider and the spindle. Maybe from the pictures above somebody can spot something obvious or have any suggestions ?
12-24-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
dhollein
Key Veteran
Location: Las Vegas, NV

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Great write up for this model... Can't wait to hear how she flies
12-25-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE   HOMEPAGE   GALLERY
 
 
JeepCJ
Key Veteran
Location: Pennellville NY (Syracuse Heli Group)

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		Can we swap out the Titan balls/links for some other kit, like from
a Trex?


Bob
12-25-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE   HOMEPAGE   GALLERY
 
 
Gazzer
Veteran
Location: Hope Valley, UK

My Posts This: Topic  Forum		I can't see why that would not work. It's a real pain in the ass to do though, why did they have to use such small links

I'm going to have a go at resizing the links first, see how that goes
12-26-2006 Over year old.
PROFILE   PM   EMAIL   POSTS   BUDDY   IGNORE  
 
 
5 pages [ <<    <    ( 1 )     2      3     NEXT    >> ]14561 viewsPOST REPLY
EDGE Rotorblades . ReadyHeli . Power Helis

.
.
e-Thunder Tiger Raptor E Series > E325 Mini Titan build thread
 Print TOPIC Advertisers 

Subscribe to This Topic

Sunday, March 21 - 9:59 pm - Copyright © 2000 - 2010 runryder.com | email | link to rr | START HERE | NF