Building my Phoenixtech TT360, it was all going so well until...

[PeteStewardson]

So I picked up my Phoenixtech TT360 from Dave Fisher yesterday. Lovely looking bit of kit. Comes in it's own case.



And inside



And some of the bits come assembled rather than in bags



So I started building...

[3dx]

Until what,,

[PeteStewardson]

So we can't trust that everythign has been threadlocked, so it all has to be rebuilt

So the head all rebuilt, threadlocking everything. Everything is metal and really nice quality, although I freely admit I can't compare it against anything.



Frame all done too.



So last night I called it a day at this point.

[Boggy]

Rule 1.even though they are pre assembled Always strip it and reassemble using threadloc!!

[PeteStewardson]

Then today it all went pete-tong

Firstly I couldn't get the gearbox base off the tail despite removing all the screws. Then when I did I found out why.



The gear assembly on the end of the tail hadn't been pushed in all the way ( I'd pushed it home in that photo ) and because it wasn't on right, when they put the screw in at the factory it chewed into the metal tube rather than going along the cutout in it.

OK so need to contact Dave about that I thought. Only to find my next issue. When I'd tried the pitch adjustment on the tail it was pretty stiff. Used to race RC cars years ago so knew it was far too stiff for a servo to reliably move, less so for a heli. So I thought I'd crack on with rebuilding that until I could check on the tail boom issue.

Well my problems got worse.



That screw in the middle holding the control arm to the mount wasn't tight, but it wont come out either. It's free turning, but I cant remove it from the control arm bearing. The marks on the head are where I've tried to grab it with some pliers to pull it out. Annoyingly I cant remove the control arm mount because the arm blocks access to the screws.

I suspect the screw was cross threaded when inserted and now seems stuck fast, even though it turns freely. I am thinking threadlock might have got into the bearings too which is stopping them running freely which would explain why the assembly was stiff too.

So thats my weekends build halted

[PeteStewardson]

Until what,,

See my third post.

Rule 1.even though they are pre assembled Always strip it and reassemble using threadloc!!

Indeed this is what I have been doing. It's just I've found two faults during the assembly of the pre-built parts.

Annoyingly these things wouldn't be an issue if they gave you everything in parts to first build. The quality of the parts seems top notch, but the pre-manufacture seems to be pretty variable. I've had screws that weren't threadlocked, and now bits not put together with the proper care.

I'm sure it'll all get sorted, just teething issues I was hoping I wouldn't get.

[NEAGRON]

Hi Pete,sorry to hear of your problems,obviously contact "Dave Fisher",or pm Andy@ phoenixtechuk,he's on here most of the time I am sure he will sort you out,what I did with my tail pitch arm was drilled it out and put a 2mm bolt with lock nut on it.(this was not a factory fault it was my error using to much locktite) I am sure you will be back up and running shortly as Andy's service is first class.
All the Best,
Marty.

[Grant_beltcp]

I'm sure dave fishe/andy from pheonixtech will get those issues sorted for you.
All kit's sometime's have the odd issue, and almost all suffer from too much/not enough loctite somewhere! Thats why some companies such as synergy now supply all parts with no loctite at all (I dont know why they dont all follow suit!)

[PeteStewardson]

Hi Marty & Grant

I'm sure it'll get sorted, just mildly frustrating. Personally I'd prefer it if they didn't pre-build them at all, but then the cost would go up so I guess you can't have everything.

Dave is away for a few days I think so will drop him an email and get in touch when he's back. I've got a couple of weeks before I can make the trip over to get it test flown anyway so I'm in no rush. Just eager to have my first bird finished as I'm sure everyone is

Pete

[Andy from Sandy]

Is that the end of the boom? Who put that cut-out in it? It looks a bit amateurish.

[PeteStewardson]

Is that the end of the boom? Who put that cut-out in it? It looks a bit amateurish.

Yes it's the tail end. No idea on the cutout, but it was clearly done after the part was painted, unlike everything else.

[3d_willz]

sorry to hear about your troubles but all i can say is phoenix helis are made of butter and are always assembled wrong at the factory BUT they are very very good at one thing and that is you dont need to know how to fly 3d as they do it on their self when the bits fall off and fly towards you .
i would have purchased the 450 pro all day long

i do hope you get this resolved

[Gaza07]

You bought an align towel to build your clone on

[PeteStewardson]

You bought an align towel to build your clone on

Well it was supposed to be a bit of irony, but then I bought the TT360 instead of a Flasher 450.

[moyesboy]

Which heli is the tt360 supposed to be a clone of?

I see the flybar cage has a slight V shape.
I would expect it to be fitted the other way up, the same way I've seen the V on other helis), so the flybar cage doesn't hit the underside of the blade grips on full cylic (that is one of the cyclic limits on the align head).