Exi 500 CF build (Overdue!)

[akent]

Well, sorry everyone for the delay on this build. It has been a while since I've had this heli running.

I do apologize for not taking pics during the build, but I have a few closeups that show how things were mounted.

My overall thoughts on this heli is that it is an incredible deal. I bought this one at the $179 price. Right now (07/2009) they are $139! I don't know how they can do that. That's less than just a head from Align!

There is virtually no plastic on the whole heli. The frame, tail servo holder and both fins are carbon fiber. The head is all CNC metal, the tail is CNC as well.
The battery mount, rear equipment mount, tail boom mount, servo screw backing parts, main bearing housings, and motor mount are all CNC aluminum. The tail servo rod guides are also CNC and actually clamp to the boom! These aren't going anywhere!
The canopy is a very nice quality fiberglass.

I guess I should list the plastic parts!
The base plate, landing gear, and anti-rotation bracket are plastic. These are also plastic on the Align.

The bad parts:
1. The autorotation gear came pre-warped. I bought a replacement Exi gear and it was also warped. An Align part fixed it.

Here's the parts list for the build:
1. AR7000 receiver. ($100 from LHS)
2. Scorpion HK3026-1600KV ($75)
www.innov8tivedesigns.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_25_65&products_id=313
3. Hobbywing Platinum 80 amp ESC with switching BEC. ($98.50)
www.helidirect.com/hobbywing-platinum-80a-esc-p-10272.hdx
4. 3 x Align DS510 servos for the cyclic. ($75)
Our own Mckrackin!
5. Futaba S9257 tail servo. ($60)
www.helidirect.com/futaba-s9257-heli-digital-rudder-servo-p-4881.hdx
6. Sparton DS760 gyro. ($170)
www.helidirect.com/spartan-ds760-smm-avcs-gyro-p-6272.hdx
7. Turnigy 2650ma 6S 20-30C battery ($35)
www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=9181
8. Align CF main blades ($50)
www.helidirect.com/align-425mm-carbon-fiber-blades-h50069-p-7069.hdx
9. The Exi 500 CF helicopter kit. ($179 - of course on sale now for $139! That's a bargain!)
www.xheli.com/exi500.html

Grand total: $842.50
I wanted to build up a nice helicopter, and this ended up being everything I had hoped for, and more!

All in all, this is an awesome and incredibly smooth heli.

It is also REALLY POWERFUL! It has a MUCH higher power to weight ratio than my Exi 450 which also has a Scorpion motor!!

Enjoy!
Kent

[akent]

This is not my box, but is exactly identical to it. The CopterX 500 exactly equals the Exi 500!!! I was in too big a hurry to unpack and build it to take a picture of mine.



The canopy is mounted to the carbon fiber frame, which is already assembled with the bearing blocks, motor mount, tail boom holder, and a few other parts.
The bags on the right contain the head, tail, and other parts in a few bags. The boom and other long parts are in a long bag towards the top of the box.
The box is amazingly small for what's in there!

IMPORTANT!!!!!
Right here is where you MUST take EVERY SCREW OUT and make sure it is locktited. The screws that go into plastic don't need loctite, but there are only a very few of those!
Even check all of the head and tail screws, including the feathering screws. ALL OF THEM! Mine had most without loctite. Most but NOT ALL of the head and tail screws on mine had loctite.

[akent]

Well, fast forward.
Here are pictures of the cyclic servos. These are the Align DS510's that I was lucky enough to buy from Mckrackin! Thanks again!

You can see in some of these photos the awesome CNC backplates and hex screws that Exi provides for mounting the servos.
The rubber grommets on the servo mounts are from some 20+ year old Futaba servos that I still had in my 'old carp pile'. They worked beautifully here. These dampen vibrations some without adding any slop.

Here is the backside of the elevator servo mounted from the inside, and the side of the pitch servo, also mounted from the inside.


Another view of the elevator servo.


And an inside view of the elevator servo. And YES, that tail boom holder is 100% CNC metal!! The belt works extremely well on this heli. I have no desire to even try anything else at this point.

[akent]

In this picture, you can see that the head is very nicely built. I now have an Align 500 all CNC head that cost 10 bucks more than this entire heli's new price! It is nicer feeling, but not 'that' much nicer! This Exi head still flies JUST FINE. I'm saving the Align head!


Here is a top view of the head. This head now sports Align main and feathering shafts (Exi shafts are carp), along with the black Align head dampers. The dampers made a huge difference, but they replaced really worn out original parts. The original dampers only lasted maybe 15 flights and none of those were very hard flying! I think they were assembled dry, which is why they wore out so quickly. I slathered grease on the new ones.


This view is just a good one for seeing all of the head, along with the CNC main bearing holder.

[akent]

The tail is all CNC and is a very nice unit.
These tail blades are Align plastic which are a little longer and work a little better than the Exi, plus they are more visible in the air.




Here's a view towards the tail. The servo rod here is held by two holders that actually are CNC and CLAMP to the boom! This rod is going nowhere! Very nice design.


Here's the Futaba S9257 tail servo. It is a great tail servo. Just be careful with voltage. These don't like higher than 5v.


Here's a view of the other side of the servo. You can see the angle it was mounted to.

[akent]

Here is a shot of the gyro. These gyro's ROCK!


You can see here that I removed the center shelf bracket. It is CNC. I removed it as I didn't see a need for it and I love all the extra open space here. You can see how I used velcro with the receiver.


Here's a view from the other side. You can see where I mounted the receiver remote antenna. The gyro is also visible here with it's vibration stopping mount. That is a piece of thin foam double sided tape, a chunk of metal, and then another thicker piece of double sided tape.


I guess I need to apologize for my ugly wiring job. I used to spend a lot of time on the wiring, but it's all moot as after a crash you have to redo it anyway. So, sadly, I'm pretty sloppy these days, but there aren't any loose wires at least!

[akent]

Here is where I ended up mounting the Hobbywing Platinum ESC. I had it originally under the battery tray, but it was tight under there after I lowered the tray. You can see where I lowered the tray to accept larger batteries. This is the smaller of the batteries that I run.
There are three holes on the bottom plate that are perfect for each of the motor wires, when it's mounted like this.
You can also see where I made a Deans extension cable whose connection is tie wrapped to the frame. This is so I can have both wires (batt and ESC) dangle below the canopy cutout so I don't have to remove the canopy to connect up the battery.

[akent]

And here is the motor.
Unless something comes out way better, I'll be running a Scorpion in all of my helis from now on! They are powerful, smooth, very efficient, and cool running.




With the 1600KV Scorpion, you can run a 12t pinion at 100% throttle and run around 2,700rpm headspeed. That's what I'm running. That is about the max that they recommend with the Trex 500.
I like it a little higher, though, so I am about to reinstall the 13t pinion. You can just back off the throttle curve if it gets too high! When I had the 13t on here, I was running right at 3,000 rpm at 100%.

[akent]

Here's the Turnigy 2600 battery installed and where I had to place it for correct CG.


And here's the Zippy 3300. It's pushed all the way against the servos which provides perfect CG.

[akent]

Here is a link where I list the radio setup that I'm running along with a list of parts.

www.rchelitalk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=yourhelissetup&action=display&thread=1794

[akent]

[akent]

This is a video from a little while back.
The parts differences here:
No Sparton gyro yet and different main blades.

[Gabe]

Hey Kent,

What does LHS stand for? I can't find the store online.

Thanks bro.

[19000rpm]

LHS means "Local Hobby Shop".

Happy landings

[Gabe]

Ahhhhh...thanks.