450 Live Build ALZRC Devil 450 Pro V2

[Tony]

We are going live at 6:30PM Central time (4 hours from this post) and we will be building, live on the air, the ALZRC Devil 450 Pro V2!

We have done a build like this before with the Align 450 Pro V2 build series as well as a clone build like this with How To Build A Clone Properly. I had this kit sent to me because I wanted to see the quality of the parts and if it is worth the price for a first CCPM kit. I have not opened any packages and I have not put anything together yet so you will find out when I find out!

If you have any questions, post them in the chat. This is going to be an interactive build for the world to see! Click the link below for the live stream!

 

[vyrnguy]

very nice.

 

[Tony]

Starting in 5 minutes!

 

[Smoggie]

I hope the builds started well Tony. The time differences are a pain because it worked out the early hours of the morning over here.

If the quality of the kit is as good as the ALZRC Devil 420 you should enjoy the build. The blades were the only thing i had any quality concern about as the root of one was a bit thicker than the other which made it impossible to get even tension. I tried tape on the thin one but that came off so I'm now trying some metal shim material, which seems to be working. Other than that though it was all top notch quality.

 

[Tony]

This one has its issues. The front horizontal torque tube bearings have some surface rust on them, the auto gear to tail drive gear mesh is way too tight and the linkage rods for the head and tail are a little short IMO. But the quality of the aluminum is that of align or better, same with the carbon fiber. I have not rebuilt the head yet or the tail but I will be doing that probably today or tomorrow.

I have replaced the link in the first post with the video. We worked on it for about 4 hours last night and the only reason it took that long was because I was trying to keep up with the chat while building. That was a bad idea, these people were killing the chat lol.

 

[Tony]

So we just had our first setback on the AlZRC Devil 450 Pro V2. The servo to swash linkages are perfect, but the swash to blade grip linkages are 32mm and they need to be 39mm long. Center to center on the link ends needs to be 55mm and I can't get anywhere near there. This is unfortunate because this halts this build right in its tracks. I was really looking forward to getting this bird in the air in a day or so, but it doesn't appear that is going to happen for a while.

If anyone has a set of Tarot 39mm turnbuckles, please let me know. I can order them but would rather help out a member here. Or, if you have a tarot DFC head (don't want to go DFC, but will if it gets the bird in the air!) again let me know. I want to get this bird in the air!

 

[Tony]

I think this build is going to take a little bit of a turn. Stay tuned for the live stream to know what turn this helicopter is going to get.... It's not what I wanted to do, that is for sure!!!

 

[Geena]

I just dug through all the links I have, and I have nothing for a 450. Everything I have is for 500 and up.

 

[Tony]

Well, I have a solution that I'm working on cleaning up right now. It is hella dirty and I absolutely do NOT want it on my Align helicopter. But for a clone, I think it will be okay lol. Thanks for looking though!

 

[Jimbo]

Great video. I picked up a bunch from it and when comparing things to my Assault 450 it looks like I did it correctly. I had the exact opposite problem with mine. Those sme push rods were a tad too long.

Jim

 

[Tony]

There was one point in there where I showed the tail servo being mounted and the ball on top. This means on the metal mount it is raised higher than the plastic mount for some odd reason. Glad it helped you out.

As for the linkages, it sucks that they were 7mm too short, but is what it is. I have contacted my vendor and requested a new head but until then I have another plan lol. I will try to get a video out soon on it.

 

[Tony]

So I was sitting here and I just had a thought. I have a FBL head like this (Align Pro V2 FBL Head) that was on an HK kit that I did the video on for How To Properly Build A Clone. It was sitting in a box because I pulled it off due to issues with slop and it has sat in a box in my closet for years. But I decided to pull it out and compare. My other option was to pull off the head from my Align 450, but didn't wnat to do that.

I held the two heads up side by side, and immediately I noticed an issue. With the feathering shaft hole equal, there is about a 1cm difference in the two heads where the bolt holds the head to the shaft goes through. The ALZRC is HIGHER! This is the reason it will not fit with the linkages they sent.

I am going to pull my Align down and compare that head and if it is the same, look for a video on how to modify the head to lower it on the main shaft. You not only have to drill a new hole, but you also have to drill out where the shaft goes. Not fun, but has to be done.

This is disappointing because this is a VERY GOOD kit! This little issue could make it to where people dont' want it. I will also be doing a full 'regular' video on my thoughts about the kit and the pro's and cons of it as well.

 

[Geena]

That`s a pretty big issue. Especially if it were to be a person`s first build. It could definitely sour a new pilot on doing future builds. I wonder why they didn`t catch that before they released the kit.

 

[Tony]

I'm not sure. I just did the live stream on how to fix it, but in all honesty, I don't think just anyone can do what I did. Not everyone is going to have either a 5mm or a .199" drill bit with sizes stepping up to that size. Not everyone is going to have a 2mm bit or .078" I believe for the bolt hole and not everyone is going to be able to get a drill bit centered so everything fits correctly and is not off center.

All in all, I lowered the head down 8mm which now is within reach of the 32mm linkages that should have been 39mm. It just doesn't make any sense to me. I'm hoping I just received a weird one off kit otherwise the geometry is going to be way off when people try to 'make it work'. I have extra parts, new guys don't....

Once I was done with that, I realized I could have just used a DFC main shaft since that hole is almost exactly 8mm lower on the shaft vs the FBL shaft lol. So I'm thinking about just putting a DFC shaft on it with the FBL head and seeing if I can make the linkages work. To my knowledge you can't buy a head like Goblin uses for Align. All align has that I have seen (have not really looked though) is the DFC head to get the disk down lower.

But yes, this is a huge issue and when I do the final video, I will be going over all of this and putting it out there so everyone knows. I still recommend this kit because of the quality, but I want everyone to know what they could be walking into...

 

[Geena]

Yeah, we`re kinda lucky in the fact that we do have parts, and the tools to do major mods like that. I have actually made my own spindle shafts, and main shafts before. Due to parts being out of stock,and me wanting to fly. But not everyone has access to a machine shop though.

 

[Tony]

That is exactly right. But the more I play with this thing, I think just getting a DFC shaft will cure the issue. But you shouldn't have to do this.

 

[Smoggie]

With the shorter DFC shaft is there still enough room for the swash to travel up and down? The DFC shafts can be shorter because you don't need room for the radius arms. With a conventional head (with radius arms mounted on the bottom) you usually need the longer shaft.... But I guess you have this well covered.

 

[Tony]

I have 'eyeballed' the pitch (have not even installed the head yet) and it appears we are getting about 16º of collective pitch. I'm waiting on the gyro to get here so that I can set it up before making my final determination as to if this will actually work or not. But yes, that did cross my mind. There is some little lips on the swash driver that I can shave off and get about another 3-4 mm of travel. Might have to, might not. We will see though.