UKHELI.COM T-REX 600
Modifications from Align
Blade Grips
My thanks to Symon for finding the information
July 27, 2006
Dear customer,
We have discovered a critical safety issue on the T-Rex 600 and hereby issue this safety bulletin.
Abnormal fracture line has been discovered on T-Rex 600 main blade grips during post-flight
inspection.
With the T-Rex 600 mass produced and readily available, more variation in setups and power combinations are
attempted by pilots in real life situations. We have unexpectedly discovered some abnormal fracture lines on
blade grips in certain instances. Upon further investigation at microscopic level, our technical department has
found the blade grip's structure integrity to decrease dramatically with the presence of these fracture lines.
Flying with these fractures at high headspeed with 11T pinion may lead to breakage of blade grip. This problem
was not detected during our long-term longevity and stress tests since the tests were done with stock power
setups.
We suspect the cause of these fracture lines may be due to over tightening the M4 blade bolt, or stress around
the bolt's hole from crash impact. Flying high power setup with these fracture is extremely dangerous, at worse
case could result in midair detachment of blade grips.
To improve on structural integrity of these grips, we have developed and tested a new design with thicker area.
The new grips greatly increase the overall rigidity and safety of the head. We are sending these New grips to
you (2 new main grips, 2 M4x27 blade bolts per kit) and please return all the parts H60003 to replace.
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
The original holder is on the left side of below photo. New thicker holder is on the right side of the photo.
We sincerely apologize not catching this issue during product testing, and the inconvenience this may have
caused our fellow flyers. Your understanding and continued support is greatly appreciated.
We recommend that all T-Rex 600 be grounded regardless of the power system being used. For safety reasons
do not fly the helicopter until the blade grips have been replaced with new design.
Best regards,
Wendy Huang
Overseas Sales Team/Align RC World
Tail Pitch Assembly and Ball Links
My thanks to Steven L. Mintz for this information
1) Tail Pitch Assembly - Screwing in the "Linkage Ball A1" into thepitch assembly, without drilling out the hole to provide more clearance
for the ball, will result in the plastic at the bottom of the hole being
pushed into the aluminum spacer causing the whole assembly to jam on the
tail rotor shaft. Unfortunately, I assembled the unit as instructed and was forced to take it completely apart and clear the excess plastic.
2) Plastic Ball Links - The provided links are a disaster just
waiting to happen as they are much too brittle and will split if removed
for adjustment several times.
During construction, I have had five links
fail when put on and taken off using my ball link tool.
Reply from Align to Steven
Thanks for your mail, please see the following reply.
Q1: We have reduced the outer diameter of Aluminum spacer to avoid to contact with the plastic.
Q2: We changed the material of the plastic ball link for more strength and modified the mold to averagely control cooling temperature of the forming parts.
We will send some upgraded parts to you by EMS.
Thank you and have a nice day!
Best regards,
Maggie Liu, Overseas Sales Team/Align RC World