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| The following is a review of the Align CNC tail case. My thanks to www.wattsuprc.com.au for the supply of this part for review. Initially let's take a look at the tail gear case which comes pre-assembled with some instructions in the form of an exploded diagram.... |
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| As can be seen from the above photos, this is the typical Align blue CNC
aluminium as used in their other CNC upgrades. It comes supplied with a
standard tail shaft with plastic pulley. Of course the tail case has to
be taken apart in order to be fitted, so none of the screws are secured
with loctite. The case is nicely made and of the usual build quality of
other Align CNC parts, so no concerns here. The design of the case is very similar to the design used by MicroHeli in that the central tail boom clamp has two outer plates (one each side) bolted onto it forming the open gearbox. Silver aluminium bushes form the spacers to hold the gearbox at the correct distance apart with screws going right through from one side of the case to the other to clamp it together. The screws are the hex head ones used in the Align Carbon frame, which unfortunately are not good quality and if care is not taken they can easily have the heads stripped through over tightening. The clamping of the unit as a whole to the tail boom is achieved through a single screw squashing the tail case outer casing around the boom. This works well enough but isn't my favourite mechanism for achieving a good strong clamp that won't rotate in flight. One thing that struck me about this case is the abundance of screws, ten in total in the entire tail case. This is due to the unit being made up of four separate CNC pieces (clamp, two sides and the pitch slider mounting arm). Again similar to the previously reviewed MicroHeli case. I prefer some of the simpler designs with less screws holding it together, particularly as this means less things to come undone and cause problems. The ultimate in this arena being the MFIS case which is just one CNC part. Once screwed together the Align case looks plenty tough enough and feels nice and solid, so I don't envisage any performance issues. The case uses standard open case Align bearings rather than sealed units, so no upgrades here but the ones supplied are adequate quality for the task in hand. Lastly the case features a belt tensioner on the top, this is just a plain bearing with an outer smooth silver aluminium bushing. This should function fine although there is nothing to guide the belt or keep it central on this bushing, which could be problematical on loose running belts typically seen on the T-Rex. OK, diagnosis of the parts completed how do this go together in a build? In basic terms one side of the gearbox is removed the belt placed through the clamp and over the tail shaft pulley, then the side screwed back in place. In practice this is a bit of a fiddle as the aluminum bushings keep falling off and I started to feel like I needed an extra hand to hold it all together while I bolted it up. Loctite was added to all screws for safety, I used Loctite 243 as I wanted a good solid hold on these screws. The whole unit can then be offered up to a tail boom and clamped in place. Following this a suitable tail pitch slider (either standard or CNC upgrade) can be fitted and the tail pushrod snapped back into place on the pitch slider ball. Below can be seen the tail case with one side removed and some completed build pictures. I used the MicroHeli SE pitch slider and pitch arm as I happen to like this combination for a nice smooth running pitch slider.... |
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| As I always mention on tail case reviews, the tail case in itself is not
a performance item, it won't improve how the machine flies, so flight testing
only proves that the bearings work and the belt holds true on it's pulley.
The true advantages of a CNC tail case come from the mounting point for
the pitch slider, which if also CNC can improve precision on the tail pitch
change. Flight testing was performed with a CSM 420 gyro and the E-Flite S75 servo on the tail. Everything performed as expected with no excess vibration or pitch control problems. Post flight inspection revealed nothing of concern, no loosening screws or rotation of the tail case on the boom. Overall this is another functional item from Align which performs without issues. Of course it adds to the aesthetic looks of the machine but in performance terms it provides no real benefit unless coupled to a CNC pitch slider. It is no lighter than the stock plastic case but should be a good deal tougher in the event of a crash. I'm not overly keen on the abundance of screws to hold it together and would prefer a less fussy design but for the price it offers good value and functionality. Discuss this review in the forum here --> forum discussion If you have this item please provide feedback on the T-Rex Tuning rating system ...... |
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