XAircraft X650 - Not impressed with the screw quality!

[Totality]

I have been putting the X650 and the poor quality of the M2.5x6 screws around the engine mounts has meant a load of them stripping and I can't complete the build. I have replaced some of them with the screws that come with the DJI F450 kit but need to wait for a few days for more screws to arrive.

Pretty disspointed with the poor quality considering the price of the kit vs the F450 I built. The F450 was vastly cheaper but came with much better quality screws! What did others do for the engine mount screws? I need to remove the stripped ones which are half way in

 

[Totality]

ARGH!!! This just gets worse! I ordered a spare set of screws when I bought the kit and suprisingly the spare set of screws appear to be better quality. I fitted all 23 screws out of 24 without a problem and was getting excited until I came to fit the last screw. Lo and behold the actual metal insert appears to be crap and no matter what screw I try they will not go further than half way in. This means I need to order a spare motor mount arm Really wished I had stayed with the DJI kit or bought the QAV500 as it was between the QAV500 or XAircraft but these arms and motor mounts have proven a complete arse to get working straight out of the box.

View attachment 5911

 

[Kilby]

That's because you are using the wrong screws. You want the smaller ones for the motor mounts. Read the manual very carefully. They look almost the same, but just slightly different. It looks like you are putting the 2mm hex head screws into the 1.5mm hex holes.

I've taken mine apart and reassembled it no less than a dozen times, and never had a problem.

 

[Bowley]

On the plus side you can get a hardware kit for fairly cheap, I did the same as you, I did use the right screws but I did overtighten them, easy to do if you are using an Allen key rather than a screwdriver with a hex bit. When it came to taking them off for any reason at least 2 out of 3 would round off. I dont think the XA screws are any diferent to, say DJI ones I just got overeager when tightening them and used loctite, just dont tighten too much and make sure to use medium loctite when you fit the correct ones.

PS for anyone using the XA Gimbal, xaircraft.co.uk now have full parts inventory available....bonus.

 

[Totality]

That's because you are using the wrong screws. You want the smaller ones for the motor mounts. Read the manual very carefully. They look almost the same, but just slightly different. It looks like you are putting the 2mm hex head screws into the 1.5mm hex holes.

I've taken mine apart and reassembled it no less than a dozen times, and never had a problem.

The screws are the correct ones. One thing the kit does well is document and label all packets very well. The ones I used were the correct ones as I installed 23 of them and the 24th one wouldn't go in (albeit a lot of them rounded off). I have managed to remove all the ones that came with the kit and used the screws that came with the X650 "spares" pack I bought with the kit. The spares pack appears to have screws that are different material (matte in colour rather than shiny) and this material seems a lot better.

All 23 screws are now installed again without a single one rounding off. They are definitely softer than the DJI screws, but at least the original screws are now all replaced. I am just waiting on a motor mount arm to replace the one that has a kinked metal screw part. It appears to be in at an angle and the screw doesnt like going in further than halg way.

 

[Search49]

The screws are cheap, I either have to use a hex or allen key to remove them sometimes. Then I find they are slightly to rounded within the hole. So I got tried of it and used my dremel to cut a slot across the center and converted them so I could use my flat head screwdriver. I found this works better, I can tighten the screws and us screw them with ease. Just my two cents!!

 

[jes1111]

@Totality and @Search49 - don't know where you are in the world but, wherever that is, you're be able to but these screws independently - the sizes are all standard. My recommendation would be to buy stainless steel Torx-headed screws. Hex (allen) heads are really not a good idea down at these small sizes. Unless the screw and your tool are both of good quality material and "to spec", there is a tendency for the hex cavity to "round out". Torx heads give a much better, more positive drive.

It's also possible that the brass inserts are the culprit for this "tightness", particularly if they were press-fitted rather than heat-fitted. The only recourse there would be to use a tap to "clear the thread". An M2.5 screw going into a good hole shouldn't be difficult to turn at all.

In the USA/Canada I know that Google turns up some specialist metric suppliers. In Europe these are are much easier to find. I buy all my Torx screws from www.distrelec.com and all my tools from www.wiha.com - top quality tools are a must for these small sizes - makes the whole job easier. Wiha tools are great quality and not expensive. Facom is another top-of-the-line brand. In the US, I'd guess that Snap-On and the like will have these tools in their catalogue (for mechanics that have to deal with "imports" ).

 

[Bowley]

Good info Jes, I find the tiny grub screws of any brand to be the worst. you need em good and tight as there are generally key securing points but if the allen key is not a precise fit they tend to round off. I get through heaps of em.

 

[ChrisViperM]

....just checkt the recommendet site from jes1111 (www.wiha.com) and found this:

NO MORE STRIPPED PLASTIC THREADS....I ordered already, was looking for ages for something like this.

Chris

 

[kloner]

when i got back into the hobby 6 years ago i came in with a full box of snapon tools coming from working in a aircraft paint shop. i always thought they were it till i started turning all these little allen screws with the tools and they just stripped screw after screw after screw. Very soon after i bought a full set of wiha drivers and i tell you want, as long as the screw is new and you don't over rev on it you'll never strip or for that matter have the tool slip again. Wiha drivers are amazing, german metal, hard as hell

 

[jes1111]

Yep - Wiha are definitely "the mutt's nuts" for hand tools. Life is just so much more enjoyable when you're not stripping threads and rounding out hex heads

 

[kloner]

one other thing i'd add, if your buying these for something other than a 650, stop at 2.5 mm and go onto something else above that unless your just tightening main blades on a 600 or 700 with the 3mm. to actually tighten a 3mm bolt takes something more than a 1/2" thick handle. mine is chewed from sticking pliers on em in a pinch...............

 

[Totality]

All built now! Just need a gimble so going to make a new thread for gimble recommendations. Still feel I should have gone for the QAV500 because my god were those arms annoying to thread things through and get fitted! Not looking forward to a first crash and having to replace an arm haha. I'll just have to buy both! I already have a F450 and now a X650. Why not make it a hat trick...

 

[boxhead]

I've been having a mental problem with screw driving tools for a couple of years now, I have a granger cat, I didn't see them before as somthing to try, but I wil, I help out at a as seen on tv store, doing 3chie Heli demos (soon ladybird sized quads) and repair of Helis. So maybe I can get some big sets of wahi tools as part of our grand reopening ( we moved to very large space, after 4 years)
I was using kobalt and craftsman, and just hated to go swap tools, I remember tools wearing out, but not after one or two uses...
The xair x650, I liked the screws so much I cleaned out cnc hobby of xair screws one time to have a bunch useful sized screws.

 

[kloner]

this is the cheap good ones. after about 2.5mm the handles are too small to be usefull

http://www.wihatools.com/200seri/263pico.htm

theres another one that's like 4 times the price of those, but i'd only look that way if you need to really crank down 1.5mm or smaller. The wiha taking the size into consideration are really strong, just don't overtighten. these things round out the bolt if it gives, not the driver.

you can find there stuff at online retailers, that place if i remember right charges an arm and a leg to ship

 

[boxhead]

I did get the jr tool box set...nice long rebuildable bits, but they are on the soft side...
In the 80's I worked at Hughes space and comm, structural test, high and low temp, test to failure, proof test, blah blah blah...
Very rarlely did I find a driver or wrench or socket break down with use... Later on in a car repair shop, almost every day a tool
would fail....now ( 3 years) into Rc sized stuff, I started out getting dollar store screw drivers because they were cheep, easy to get...

I'm starting the rebuild of my x650, to batfire's specs, which is how I got back to this forum, and this thread for knowing all I can
know. I was actually looking for ubec ideas and changing the 3wire connector to just signal and ground to tidy up.

I see you got a TBS discovery, how do you like it?, I'm also looking for a winter build project, but it's not like we get winter here in Chico California. So it's more of a project to have at " work in process" in the new store, I get a Hugh area to work on 3chie Helis, and store repairs, I'm not really an employee paid by Helis parts and out of warranty repairs on stuff from store.