I have been given the opportunity to build an E-Smart 600 for the purpose of producing a build supplement to help other who may be building theirs.
I shall go through the manual that is supplies with the kit and give guidance, with photo's page by page.
Ok, so lets start!
Firstly, What's in the box?
I was unsure of what to expect of the kit but general first impressions of the kit are very good, it strikes of a cross between the Century Swift and Trex 600.
The side frames are made of nice and strong aluminium, there seems to be plenty of room for the electrics, the upper and lower main shaft bearing blocks are metal as well as the motor mount.
There are a few very nice touches to the kit that are included such as a gyro mounting plate and a head button. Neither the Swift or the Trex 600 come with a head button as standard although the Trex does have a gyro mounting plate.
Important Note:
Always use Blue Loctite on all metal to metal threads and a drop of Superglue on metal to plastic threads.
Pages 1 to 8
These give general information regarding both the model and safety precautions that should be taken when operating the model.
One thing they fail to cover is the starting procedure, as this model uses 2 batteries, 1 for the Rx and 1 for flight, the start-up procedure is as follows:
1. Turn on Tx
2. Turn on Rx battery, wait for the gyro to initialise
3. Turn on (plug in) the flight battery
Powering down is, of course, the reverse of the above.
Page 9
This is where the build starts!
Page 9 deals with the head block. This is 99% complete with the only thing left for you to do is to mount the head button.
Using the long grub screw first screw it into the head button, there is a small hex socket in one end to enable you to tighten it up, then screw the head button onto the head block.
The rest of the head block is assembled but it is worthwhile checking all the metal to metal threads for loctite and remove all the metal to plastic joints and use a drop of superglue to secure them.
Page 10
The fly bar and seesaw are dealt with here.
As this is the first time we come across them it is worthwhile mentioning the linkages. On page 11 there is a scale drawing of all the linkages that are used. Check every linkage against the corresponding drawing as although some are the correct length out of the bag, others are not!
Take your time while setting the fly bar up, time taken here will play dividends when it comes to flying the model.
I found that the large ball links were very tight on the balls and as there is not a ball link reamer large enough I used a pair of pliers to gently squeeze the links when they were on the balls and this loosened them just enough.
Page 11
This page gives information on the length of fly bar that should be visible and the scale drawings of the links.
Page 12
Now we come to putting the head block, washout assembly and swash plate onto the main shaft.
The main shaft is asymmetrical so you need to ensure that the head goes onto the end of the shaft with the hole 8mm from the end.
After you have done this the head block is held on by the Jesus bolt, the washout guide slides on next, then the washout assembly and finally the swash plate, although it can be seen in the diagram make sure that the washout linkages are clipped onto the longer ball links as binding will occur when full collective is applied.
Page 13
The drive gear is the next item to assemble.
After you have put the circlip on the one-way bearing shaft do not put the shaft into the main gear!
If you do then you will have to remove it when you come to install the assembly in the frames.
The undercarriage is simple enough to fit together.
The only items you need to put together with regard to the frames are the canopy mounts and the anti rotation bracket. These are fitted using long grub screws.
First screw the grub screw into the canopy mounts then fit these to the anti rotation bracket.
Page 14
99% of the frames are preassembled so there are only the front canopy mounts to fit, these are simply screwed into place.
I chose not to install the undercarriage as I find it easier to work on the model without them.
The aileron and elevator arms are also fitted to the frames at this point.
Ensure that the correct spacers are used (shorter for the aileron arms, longer for the elevator arm) and also that they are mounted so that the step that is present on them is mounted towards the arms.
Page 15
There is very little to do here apart from mount the horizontal stabiliser fin. Do not worry about the distances that are given at the bottom of the page as the fin, servo mounts and pushrod guides can be moved into place later on in the build.
Page 16
All there is to do here is mount the vertical tail fin.
Page 17
All that is required here is to mount the tail rotor on the tail output shaft. There is a depression in the tail rotor shaft to allow the grub screw to locate properly.
Page 18
Now we slide the main gear into place, you will see now why we didn’t install the one-way bearing shaft!, then slide the main shaft with the head assembly fitted through the bearings and using the second Jesus bolt secure the bottom of the main shaft to the main gear.
To achieve the correct tension on the top locking ring lift the model by the head and then tighten the grubs screws.
Fitting the tail boom assembly to the main frames takes only 4 bolts, the gear mesh should be set by using a strip of paper between the main gear and the tail gear, then tighten the bolts.
To assemble the boom support struts I used 2 CD cases.
First slip one of the ends onto the rod and put a drop of superglue in the hole and twist to get a good coverage in the socket.
Next using the CD cases as a bridge put the other end onto the rod and use a drop of superglue to secure it. When that has dried turn the rod over and use a drop of superglue in the other hole.
Then secure to the main frame and horizontal stabiliser, and fit the tail servo.
Page 19
Now we are starting to fit the electronics so I will leave things at this point and discuss some of the problems I have encountered!
Problems Encountered
Page 12
It is not clear which way round the main shaft should be placed, trail and error is possible (that is the way I had to do it!) but for information the hole that is approx 8mm from the end should be inserted into the head block.
Page 14
When fitting the aileron and elevator arms I found that there was some binding, a small thin washer (unfortunately not in the kit) soon sorted this problem out.
Page 18
The tail rotor control rod is too long to allow for setting the tail rotor pitch at 6-8 degrees. The servo cannot be moved forward enough to allow this.
I was lucky to have a spare tail control rod for my Century Swift and used this.
It is worthwhile getting one of these (Century Part No CNE534) as it will cut down the amount of work your tail servo has to do and therefore lead to a longer life and less chance of failing midair.
Electronics Installation
Only the motor is supplied in the kit so to complete the build I used the following:
JR RS77S Receiver
Align RCE-BL 75G Electronic Speed Controller
Align RCE-B6X 6v Regulator
Align 5.1v Step Down Voltage Regulator
Robbe 7.4v (2s) 2200 Mah Lipo for the Receiver
CSM 420e Gyro
Futaba S3001 Cyclic Servos
Futaba S9254 Tail Servo
Fitting the cyclic servos is straight forward although fiddly, a pair of long nose pliers is a big help when trying to get into those “hard to reach†places.
The tail servo, again, is simple to fit as is the tail servo.
E-Sky recommend mounting the receiver at the front of the heli just in front of the motor on what they call the “Receiver Plate.†This is a bad idea as you ideally want the receiver as far away as possible from any noisy items such as the motor and speed controller. I mounted mine between the frames towards the rear of the heli.
Due to the battery placement I mounted the speed controller on the “receiver plate†with strong sticky pads (I have found that “Sellotape Outdoor Sticky Fixers†are good for this job) and ran the wire to the receiver down the outside of the frames to the receiver.
The cyclic servo wiring was taken inside the lower frames, held together with servos braiding and held in place with tie wraps.
The gyro was mounted on the “gyro plate†and again the wires were routed down the inside of the lower frames.
The receiver was mounted between the lower frames and held in place with “Sellotape Heavy Duty Velcro†as was the receiver lipo.
The only part I struggled with was the mounting of the 6v regulator. To be honest this had me scratching my head for nearly 2 hours! I finally came up with the idea of making a stand off so that I could mount it to the side frames.
The receiver antenna was then run out on the opposite side to all the wiring to prevent the possibilities of glitching.
A note about the main blades
The wooden blades that are supplied with the kit should be balanced before use.
I found the set supplied were out of balance so work was required to correct this.
Also I have a mistrust of large wooden blades (it’s just a thing I have!) so having a set of 553mm Maniac blades I opted to use these for flying with.
Should anyone require any further information then please start a new post on the subject and I will do my level best to answer your questions.
And a final word of thanks must go to Joel (Mr Heliguy) for giving me the opportunity to build this helicopter.
_________________
Mark
T6E MF
JR Vibe 50 3D
Lepton EX
