Blade 700X build pics

[tomatwalden]

Some build pics and observations of my Blade 700x build

Box with green dot indicating combo comes with updated spindle washers. Also green sticker on head assembly packet.



Checking it's the new 2mm washers.


Some pics of the canopy. Very nice quality and thick fibreglass.




Head assembly. All Metal block and grips. Again, nice quality and for me, the star of the show ... A swash driver :-)

Note also that there are two Jesus bolts! Not really sure why, but two sounds better than one!








Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

[tomatwalden]

Both frames are exactly the same and can be right or left.


Servo mounting blocks and skids attached. The infamous one piece skids .. Love or hate them, they make assembly easy! I noticed recently that the new Protos 700 also has one piece skids! :-)


Mounting the servos with the mounting blocks detached from the frame. Notice that the servos don't have any wires! These are the new Spektrum HV servos that come with click-on/click-off detachable servo wires. Very neat system! The wires come pre-protected too with a protective sleeve.


Frames with head and servos


The motor mount with pinion support for the helical gear.




Swash links pre-attached to servo horns which complete capture the link. No way these can pop off!


Front torque tube gears. The assembly is a two piece plastic holder. Very simple to assemble.


Getting there!

[tomatwalden]

Tail case is all aluminium and one piece. Again, makes "assembly" trivial.


In fact, all you need to do is assemble and pin the torque tube gears to complete the main part. The O ring stops the tail slider from having too much throw against the tail case.




The actual torque tube is hollow aluminium. That surprised me as I'm used to carbon fibre tubes. Not sure what difference it makes, but it's very light!



Boom attached!







Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

[tomatwalden]

The boom is pinned at both ends.



Little size comparison against my Trex 500 EFL pro!


With blades on. Almost complete, just the wiring and configuration left ...



More pics to follow soon! :-)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

[jimmyhorns]

looking good tom

going better than my 450DFC build :/

[Rob O]

Nice little build thread Tom , looking forward to seeing this one up close . My X50 fbl has 2 jesus bolts as well I guess its just a bit of extra security . Really like the idea of plug in servo cables as well mate .

Sent from my GT-I9505 now Free

[heathy]

Just get on with it....I've built and flown 2 helis in less time....YAwwwnnnn












maiden this weekend???

[tomatwalden]

maiden this weekend???

Saturday probably. The Vortex is all configured and the CC120HV installed. Just need to setup the ESC for governor mode and it's done.

[r4nd0m]

Mounting the servos with the mounting blocks detached from the frame. Notice that the servos don't have any wires! These are the new Spektrum HV servos that come with click-on/click-off detachable servo wires. Very neat system! The wires come pre-protected too with a protective sleeve.
[ATTACH]66711[/ATTACH]

cheers for the build thread, one question regarding the servos, I tried to have a look at them on the horizon page, seems like its a round hole, with 3 pins but how does the cable lock in place Tom?

[tomatwalden]

Sev - yes indeed! The cables clip and lock in place to the servos. You need to squeeze them a bit to release them. It's a nice system and the servos are very well spec'ed.

[r4nd0m]

Sev - yes indeed! The cables clip and lock in place to the servos. You need to squeeze them a bit to release them. It's a nice system and the servos are very well spec'ed.

well dont know, I think they retail around £90 so kinda pricey for an unproven servo, I probably would go for an another brand in that price range ...

[tomatwalden]

They look pricey I guess because they're HV servos. Compared to non-HV servos they definitely look expensive. Looking at Align-Trex.co.uk, the Align BL700H (HV) servo is £95. Its specification is :

●Motion speed:0.085sec/60°(6.0V)
0.065sec/60°(7.4V)

Compared to the Spektrum H6200 - £80.99 from Midland, with the following specs :
Speed:0.08 sec/60 deg @ 6.0V; 0.06 sec/60 deg @ 7.4V

so, £15 cheaper than Align, and slightly faster. I guess the question is, do you need HV servos? If not, then I would go for non-HV and save a fair bit of cash. But for what they are, I think the Spektrum servos represent good value. The plugin cable is nice and being HV allows me to use a discrete 2S LIPO directly without any voltage regulator or BEC.

[tomatwalden]

Ok final few pics.

Firstly, I'm using a vortex rather than the supplied ar7200bx. You can see the shielding on the servo cables in this shot.


Since this is an HV setup, I'm using a 2S lipo to power the flight electronics.


Castle Ice 2 120hv from rctintin. Thanks Rob for the soldering! :-)


Quick release battery tray



Very thick helical main gear.


115mm revolution tail blades.


Inside the frame with lipos removed. No bottom tray! The entire assembly is held together by the aluminium skid mounts and battery supports. This concerned me at first, but it feels very rigid once built!


Main frame with electronics


The finished heli, sans canopy!


And all done! I've got the vortex all setup. Just need to configure the ESC and we're ready for the maiden - hopefully this Saturday. This really is a very simple build, and a lovely heli once done. The quality of component manufacture is as good as my other helis. Sure, it's no Goblin in terms of engineering design, but the parts are solid. No stripped screws. All parts fitted pretty much perfectly. All in all, no problems whatsoever. The actual airframe took me two evenings to complete ... It was almost too easy, and over too quickly.

[Nick B]

Looking good Tom

[tomatwalden]

One more

Will hopefully post vid of maiden soon!




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free