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Ace Hobby . Esprit Model . Thunder Power RC

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e-Century Hummingbird - Swift > Finished my Swift 16 Kit
 
 
rjhpilot91
Senior Heliman
Location: Mays Landing, NJ USA

Well I finished building my kit with the exception of the electronics. Everything went well for the most part and I am very happy with the quality so far except fo a couple of things. First the flybar flat spots to put the set screws in were off about 25 degrees so that the flybar arms would not align properly. I called century directly and the sent me out a brand new one immediately and I got it in 2 days. Very good customer support in my opinion.

The second issue was the tail transmission box at the front of the boom. The 4 screws on each side of the gearbox are horribly weak and I broke 5 of them off inside trying to set the gear mesh. If you didn't go tight enough, the boom would pull out from the main gear and to tighten it properly all of the screws broke off in there. Several are in too deep to recover and now I'll have to buy a new one. It seems like there could be a better way to attach that so for now I plan on using aftermarket strong #6 metal screws. They seem to hold the tension pretty well.

I'm also not a big fan of the back of the canopy so I'll be cutting about 5 inches off the back on both sides so it doesn't protrude much behind the main shaft. Hopefully that will make it easier to put on as well.

Overall I am happy with the kit. The parts quality and design is not quite as good as my 450 rex, but for the reduced price of the kit and other equipment, I can deal with a few construction flaws. I'm sure I'll be very pleased with this heli for years to come.
05-01-2008 02:33 AM
 
 
laughingstill
Key Veteran
Location: Gainesville, Fl, USA

I would think twice about cutting the canopy. It provides a nice shield for the gyro if you decide to put it there.....Ron

3DMP-E, Logo 6003D, Logo103D Carbon and Trex 450se Flyin Firefighter
05-01-2008 02:36 AM
 
 
centuryman
Veteran
Location: deerriver,mn usa

The new tail transmission box will come with 3 mm allen head screws to solve the problem of the screws snapping.my last swift 16 did the same thing.Fortantley i had a new transmission box in my box of spares. and low behold it had allens instead of screws it works awesome now.
I have 2 swift 16's and i just finished my new 620se .You'll be very happy with the swift.I have a fleet of 12 nitro helis and 7 eletrics, and my swift 16's get a t least 75% of my flying time.Nothing ever goes wrong with them,except for a very occasional belt adjustment they are pretty much maintence free.and with 6 or 8s they are rockets .
05-01-2008 03:24 AM
 
 
rjhpilot91
Senior Heliman
Location: Mays Landing, NJ USA

centuryman,
This was a new kit bought direct from century 2 weeks ago. Are you saying that I buy that by itself it comes with allen heads?
05-01-2008 11:38 AM
 
 
centuryman
Veteran
Location: deerriver,mn usa

Yes.
05-01-2008 12:48 PM
 
 
Pistol_Pete
Elite Veteran
Location: Tampa Bay non-Buccaneer

Quote 
If you didn't go tight enough, the boom would pull out from the main gear and to tighten it properly all of the screws broke off in there.

electric tape over boom prior to inserting will definitely help from shifting.

I've never had a screw break on me while assembling but sure have in a crash

<><>...the lunatic is in my head...<><>
05-01-2008 01:32 PM
HOMEPAGE  
 
 
rjhpilot91
Senior Heliman
Location: Mays Landing, NJ USA

pistol pete,

I think the screws I got were just defective. They wouldn't take any torque before snapping at the head. The #6 metal screws I'm using now are more than enough to hold it secure. Thanks for the tips though.
05-01-2008 04:54 PM
 
 
twinblade
Heliman
Location: Hartsville, SC

I just finished by kit and the screws broke off also! The boom would not hold tight. When I backed out the screws, 4 of them broke off. Now I need to get a new block.
05-02-2008 01:55 AM
 
 
centuryman
Veteran
Location: deerriver,mn usa

My first swift i got a year ago had no problems .my second swift that i got 3 weeks ago did the same thing as twinblade's.I second the deffective screw theroy.
05-02-2008 05:10 AM
 
 
rjhpilot91
Senior Heliman
Location: Mays Landing, NJ USA

we should be making some phone calls to century!
05-02-2008 11:41 AM
 
 
jamesppp
Senior Heliman
Location: carrollton georgia usa

I think that part of the problem is the untapped holes in the gearcase have been made a tiny bit smaller, maybe in anticipation of using socket head cap screws instead of the phillips tapping screws. Probably a few bad tapping screws too. And, since the plastic there is thick, oiling the holes and pretapping them solves the problem. They should tell us to lube the holes first. A lot of heat is instantly generated when you force a screw into a tight hole. Just shooting deck screws in pressure treated lumber with a drill raises to screw temp to 200+ degrees

Good luck flying your Swift. So far, Im just hovering around with mine. Im itching to just go for it...at this stage in learning to fly heli's, the outcome would probably not be pretty.lol
JImmy
05-02-2008 02:43 PM
 
 
SkyWarp
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth

What battery is everybody running? Right now I have the 12C hydride and I tell ya.. it sucks!!


Century Swift-
When in doubt, pull out. And that applies to everything.
05-02-2008 03:24 PM
 
 
jamesppp
Senior Heliman
Location: carrollton georgia usa

I have a Z Power 1100 kv motor and 5S packs from 3700-5000mah
05-02-2008 03:28 PM
 
 
SkyWarp
Senior Heliman
Location: Planet Earth

Great!! I'll look into that. I'm open to anything at this point because im sure an alternative setup is much better than what I'm running right now.


Century Swift-
When in doubt, pull out. And that applies to everything.
05-02-2008 06:45 PM
 
 
Optech
Key Veteran
Location: Vista/Oceanside, CA.

Welcome to Runryder Skywarp.

Where in CA are you located. I'm always on the lookout for more Swift flyers in my area?

Mike

Viva La Airtronics!
05-02-2008 07:48 PM
 
 
centuryman
Veteran
Location: deerriver,mn usa

I run flight power 6s batteries I have a 4250 evo light witch has good power and run times and 2 of the 3200 30c 6s packs witch have awesome power and flight times are still ok if being nice or about 3.5 minutes flying the way i do.
05-03-2008 01:02 AM
 
 
rjhpilot91
Senior Heliman
Location: Mays Landing, NJ USA

Tail Transmission

I got the new tail transmission in today and sure enough it had the allen head screws. These appear to be rather sturdy and shouldn't pose a problem. Century should definitely be adressing this problem as my brother just got a swift 16 kit and it also had the crap screws. Luckily my screw up saved him a transmission case.

I should be airborne by the beginning of June as I have a deployment coming up and I need to save up for a new receiver and battery.
05-09-2008 09:05 PM
 
 
centuryman
Veteran
Location: deerriver,mn usa

Cool . I'm glad it worked out for you
My original swift has screws . And never brocken a single one.
I think it is the screws,when compareing them the new screws look whimpier.
05-10-2008 02:17 AM
 
 
twinblade
Heliman
Location: Hartsville, SC

I sent pictures to Century and they are getting me out a new block. Very nice! In the mean time I drilled out holes next to the broken screws for a test flight. This does not leave room for adjustment though. When I spooled it up the head vibration was awful. It seemed to be a bent main shaft or feathering spindle. I took it apart and both were straight. I knew there were problems due to an enlarged mid section of the spindle when the Swifts first came out, but this was not the case with mine. After a very close inspection I noticed one of the blade grips was pretty tight on the spindle. The threaded smaller diameter portion of the feathering spindle was not centered! It had a small ding where the transition went down to the smaller diameter. I thought that this was the problem at first but the uncentered portion of the spindle was the culprit. Make sure you check this piece before installing! You can see how far mine was off just by spinning it inside the blade grip, it was so bad that I didn't even need to use a dial indicator.
05-11-2008 02:50 PM
 
 
rjhpilot91
Senior Heliman
Location: Mays Landing, NJ USA

Another kit with defects

So, my brother also ordered a swift 16 kit the same time as me. We built most of it on sunday and came across a few issues. First one of the blade grips was super tight on the spindle, even after 3 hours of testing and refitting sanding it down. It seems like a faulty spindle in my opinion. Second, the same as my kit, the flybar flat spots for the flybar control arms are off also about 15 degrees or so. I told my brother to call century and get these re sent out since they were defective.

So with his call to century, they immediately sent him the new spindle but said that the flybar was supposed to be like that. He called me after getting off the phone with them and I threw the BS flag. I had the same problem and the new one they sent me was perfectly lined up. Yet they say this is a normal to be offset. So he called them back with my info and the manager of tech support said that this was something new and that it is supposed to be that way, although they are sending him a new spindle now also.

When I seated my original flybar with the flybar control arms, the two arms were not the same angle. They were off by quite a noticeable bit and would have caused a horrible vibration with no paddle alignment at all. My new flybar was perfect though. My brother isnt super knowledgeable about helis yet so I dont know if they were trying to pull one over on him or if he wasnt explaining it right. Any other opinions or anyone else have the same problems?
05-13-2008 12:36 AM
 
 
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e-Century Hummingbird - Swift > Finished my Swift 16 Kit
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