Align Carbon Frame

The following is a review of the Heliworkz v3 ccpm T-Rex frame by Jeff Quayle.
Here's what you get right out of the box...

As you can see, the frame comes pre-assembled. One of the unique features of this frame is that is eliminates the secondary gear and tail gear assembly. This is replaced with a delrin gear that fits on top of the main gear and feeds directly to the tail. A longer belt is required for this, and is included with the kit. Also provided is a nice collection of spare screws, nuts and an allen wrench for the mono-mount. (more on the mono-mount later) The carbon looks to be of high-quality and is very well cut. All the Aluminum is 7075 aircraft quality . The servo tower is pre-fit with bearings and nicely polished and smooth on the edges. This frame requires Hitec HS-56 servos, which is not unlike several other high end frames. Just keep this in mind if you are trying to determine a budget for the upgrade. Any regular T-Rex swash will with with this kit. Although there is often little mention of it, some frames require a universal swash plate which can add a considerable expense to the upgrade. (such as the Heliup frame) The design and layout is very straight-forward. This is also one of only 3 frames I know of that have a true 120° servo geometry setup. All three servos are mounted in the same orientation and are 60° apart from each other. This layout will provide uniform movement from all 3 servos throughout the pitch range. Setups with different length linkage rods will always have a degree of variation in movement especially as the ends of travel. The boom clamp has 4 screws that run all the way thru it and are secured with nylon insert lock nuts (like the ones used for the blades). This setup provides a strong hold and no worrying about stripped plastic.

The frame is constructed of 1.6 mm carbon fiber and everything feels incredibly strong and rigid. It's a bit heavier then the Align CF Frame, but you can easily guess which would hold up better in a hard crash. The frame weighs 117g which is about 26g heavier then a stock plastic frame, and 22g heavier then the Align CF frame. However it's not a direct comparision as the elimination of the tail gear assembly and secondary gear will both reduce the final weight when built.

The first step in the build is to install the servos. You will need cut down the servo arms for clearance. We will be using the 3rd hole out, so trim and round off the arms just past the 3rd hole. Installing the servos is easier if you remove the sub-plate. There are 4 screws that hold the sub-plate to the side frames. All three servos are installed exactly the same way. The servo wire should face down and the servo arm should point left when view from the back of the servo. You'll need to install the servo arms prior to installing the servos. Servo screws are provided and are already in the frame. Remember to use loctite when installing. Then reinstall back into the side frames. Again, loctite should be used.

Next is the most unusual part of the build. Since the new gear for the tail sits above the main gear, you need to shave down the one way shaft so that it's about .01-.02" taller then the way way bearing. I used a regular belt sander and just took off a bit at a time until I had it right. taller then the way way bearing.

After you replace the stock belt with the new longer version, install the tail and leave plenty of slack for the gear installation. Install black belt drive gear with the flange away from the frame. This acts as a guide and keeps it from rubbing against the main gear. Now drop on the main gear and install the lower main shaft screw. You'll need to lower the shaft to tighten the grub screw on the belt drive gear. Make sure it's flush again the main gear. Then push it up against the frame and tighten the grub screw on the main shaft lock ring.

In order to have your servo linkage rods aligned correctly, you must use clevis connectors instead of the normal ball links. The connectors recommended by Heliworkz are the Great Planes Solder Clevis 2-56. (http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXK082&P=7) These are $1.09 for a set of 2 from Tower Hobbies and 2 sets are required. I recommended to Dave that he include these with the kits, even if he has to increase the cost a few dollars, just to avoid customers having to make a trip to the LHS or purchase them online. The linkages need to be 1.5" center to center. Put a ball link on one end and tighten it down about 2/3 of the way so you can make adjustments if needed. Lay that along the clevis connector and measure to determine where you will need to cut your linkage. It's a bit tricky, but try to get the rods as straight as possible when you solder them in the connectors. Verify your measurements after you have them soldered and adjust as needed. I recommend you go ahead and make a 4th linkage with your extra clevis connector. Should one of these break in the field you might as well have one all ready to go.

The spacing for the landing gear on my unit was too wide. This would require drilling new holes in the skids or frame - neither of which I was thrilled about. I advised Heliworkz of this and Dave is going to resolve this for all future kits.

Installing the boom braces also required a bit of extra work. The screws used in the frame are much thicker the the normal screws and require you to drill or bore out the hole before mounting. The boom brace also doesn't sit flush against the frame so I used a spare aluminum spacer (from the T-Rex Head) to offset it. The screw you remove from the frame will be too short for all this, but Heliworkz includes longer screws just for this purpose.

I chose to install an AON 3500 for this project. This turned out to be a lot trickier then I had anticipated. After finally getting it wiggled around correctly I dropped in the motor screws only to discover that because of the thickness of the motor mounting plate, the stock screws don't even poke thru the bottom. I had a longer set leftover from my car days, but I'm going to speak to Dave about including some in the kit. With this particular setup I was not able to use washers for the motor screws as they rubbed against the 13T pinion because of the way the pinion had to be attached to the motor. This shouldn't really pose a problem, but I normally prefer to install the motor with washers.
NOTE: Dave has informed me that his new bottom plates have larger cut outs and are designed to allow easy installation of the new line of NEU motors.

Because of the way the servo block sits above the rest of the frame, there is no place to use the normal canopy mounts. Heliworkz has designed an alternate approach be supplying a "mono-mount" that attaches to the bottom of the anti-rotation guide. The mounting pin can be raised or lower with a grub screw in the end of the shaft. Obviously you'll need to drill a new hole in your canopy for this.

FINAL PRODUCT

Having now built 7 different frames, I would have to say this is among my favorite. However the total cost of building this frame is half of my first choice, given that it the Heliup frame also required the purchase of a universal swash. Build time was longer then most builds partially because of my documenting everything along the way, but mostly because of the several additional modifications that were needed.

OVERALL CONCLUSIONS OF THE BUILD:

Positives:

pre-assmebled
Incredibly rugged frame
1.6 mm carbon
simple and well laid out frame
low part count
upper and lower battery tray
perfect servo geometry
solid boom clamp setup
eliminates secondary gear and tail drive gear assembly
does not require universal swash plate
excellent customer service, warranty and price
available in black or silver carbon fiber

Negatives:

requires several additional modifications to setup (canopy, boom struts, one way bearing shaft, linkage arms)
requires additional hardware not included in kit (clevis connectors, longer motor screws)
non-standard belt. replacements must be made from Heliworkz
mono-mount requires drilling hole for canopy
requires HS-56 servos (can be a cost consideration)
heavier then most CF frames

FLIGHT TESTING:

For this heli I decided to fit it with 315 mm Align wood blades, Align CF boom, AON 3500kv motor with a 11T pinion, ThunderPower 2100 3G lipo, Hyperion Titan 30A ESC running in non-gov mode, Futaba GY401 gyro and a HDS-877 tail servo. Aside from the motor and ESC this is the same setup I run in my Heliup T-Rex and given the same servo layout I was expecting the to handle very similarly. During my pre-flight I noticed that the tail belt seemed to be catching somewhere inside the boom and resulted in clicks occasionally when I turned the blades by hand. Adjusting the belt tension is very easy with with clamping system and in fact it was a bit too loose. Since I already had a radio setup for a T-Rex with this motor/esc setup, no adjustments were needed to obtain a proper head speed. After a few point of trim adjustment I had the heli hovering nicely. I experienced what I thought was a radio glitch which caused the heli to drop about 1 foot and then recover fully. This happened 2 more times and I set it back down to investigate. As it turns out the belt was still a bit too loose and every few seconds would touch and cause all three cyclic servos to jerk down for just an instant. With this belt drive system you must tighten the belt more then you would with the stock align setup. If I had the belt so I has able to put it about 3/4 of the way towards the other side these glitches occur. After getting that sorted out I spooled it back up and took her up again. No problems this time. The controls were quick and precise which is not a surprise given the servos and mounting arrangement. The heli had a good CG and felt very similar in flight to my other ship. One thing right away is that it sounds different then most T-Rexs because of the belt drive system. It's a bit quieter, but also just a different pitch then I'm used to. Having run about 3 packs thru it now [will put more after this weekend when danny flys it]

UPDATE:

Heliworkz has made a few changes to the frame since I received mine and future frames will now include the clevis connectors and longer motor screws required during assembly. Not only has the spacing for the landing gear been fixed, but the opening under the motor is now large enough to allow installation from bottom. Previously you needed to feed the motor in from the front and attempt to rotate it within the frame. The Delrin secondary gear has also been replaced by a new aluminum version. The kit if also now available with a driven or un-driven tail for auto-rotations. I have not had a chance to try the un-driven tail personally. Also the rear of the bottom plate had previously been a single large oval cutout, which prevented mounting either the receiver or gyro in that location. This has been modified to 2 circular cutouts which should provide enough support to mount either item in that location if desired. The following pictures were provided to me directly from heliworkz.

OVERALL CONCLUSION:

Hubdave made a name for himself designing a belt drive conversion for the shogun. He's now taken a similar approach to the TRex frame and paired that with probably the most rugged frame I've seen for a T-Rex. This kit does not have the glamor and finish of frames like MicroHeli, but simplicity has it's own elegance. The belt drive system also reduces the overall part count on the TRex and removes the tail drive gear assembly which is a common point of failure. Dave has created a great product at a very respectable price point. I'd recommend anyone thinking about a CF frame upgrade to strongly consider the Heliworkz before deciding on a frame.
The only real downside to this frame is it's sense of prepriatary parts. All the screws, linkages, belt, belt gear, one way bearing shaft, mono-mount are all unique to this frame. Parts like the canopy and boom braces will always require additional modification when replaced. Others like the one way bearing shaft should never need to be replaced once modified. Granted these are very minor points, but it's not a 'just bold it all together' setup like most frames. I'm not crazy about the mono-mount either even though it does work well. Although having sat down and studied the layout, I wasn't able to think of a better solution.
Overall I think this is an excellent kit at a great price. It has the precision in the servo setup that equals the best of the best, and the durability that most of us will appreciate for the unavoidable crash. This is a rare mix of performance and ruggedness which is an excellent fit for the T-Rex. Dave does tend to under estimate his wait times. I was told there was a 10 day backlog when I ordered mine and it took 5 weeks. Others have been waiting 10 weeks for theirs to arrive. This is a newly designed frame and interest has been very high. I'm sure wait times will come down drastically after the initial surge has passed.

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Performance

Number of ratings: 30

Rating: 3.13