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Compass Knight 50 > Knight 3D Build Thread

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Well as promised here goes with a build thread for the all new Compass Models Knight 3D.

Upon inspection of the box you find a nicely assembled 2mm thick G10 frame complete with aluminum bearing blocks, aluminum engine mount with vibration dampening system and crank support, aluminum canopy mounts and frame spacers.

Also in the box you'll find a nicely packaged head assembly.

Pre-assembled tail.

Also nicely packaged miscellaneous items necessary to complete the kit.

The 1st step I took was too promptly dissamble the frame (not necessary but personal preference). This allowed me to verify that all screws were loctited correctly and also, so I could get a pic of the inside of the frame.

All screws were found to be correctly loctited with no issues.
While the frame was apart, I took the opportunity to replace the clunk line in the fuel tank - an absolute necessity in my book on every heli I've built.
The clunk line was the usual thin walled junky line you always find. The line was replaced and shortened slightly to 78mm total length.

Once the frame was re-assembled we can move onto Step 1 of the manual.
This involves assembling the landing skids and receiver mount.

This is very straight forward. I personally like to mount my skids the opposite way to how they show in the manual. I always find the heli always sits better with the skids facing backwards.

Note here that the manual has the pages in the wrong order and goes immediately from Step 1 to Step 4.

Step 2 details the engine install.
I had to drill the fan for the RevMax magnets first. I drilled two 4mm holes, 1mm deep at a radius of 25mm making sure I put the holes directly over the fan blades so as not to distort the fan while drilling.

I always roughen up around the holes, then epoxy the magnets in place, totally covering the magnets and surrounding plastic with epoxy. Also verify that you have the correct magnet poles facing upwards.

The hardest part of the engine install is getting the crankcase holder down over the engine crank. I cut a small chamfer on the bottom inside edge of the holder using a sharp knife, then applied a liberal amount of oil around the inside of the holder. This allowed the crankcase holder to be worked down onto the crank.

Note the orientation of the crankcase holder - the lip goes towards the fan. Also note my method of attaching the fan hub differs from how described in the manual. I do not loctite the threads on the fan assembly since I've found this can affect runout. I generally only blue loctite the engine nut. Remember the engine washer is required between the fan hub and the engine.

Once the clutch was mounted I always verify runout. This complete assembly gave 0.0005" measured at the clutch which is very good. If you find you have higher runout there is another set of bolt holes in the fan hub allowing the clutch to be indexed if necessary.

Attach the engine mounts to the engine. Then insert the engine into the frame. Push the engine up into the clutch bell as far as possible, then check the alignment of the crankcase holder with the holes in the frame. The crankcase holder will probably have to be adjusted either up or down the crank to get the holder to line up correctly with the holes in the frame and still have the clutch seated correctly all the way up inside the clutch bell.

The pic above shows that the top of the crankcase holder was about 1/32" lower than the end of the crank.

Finish the engine install by fastening the engine mounts to the frame and installing the bottom plate.

02-14-2007 Over year old.

ez2bgman
Elite Veteran
Location: N'awlins, LA

Looking great. I cannot wait to get mine. I was going to do a complete build thread of it too, but since you are doing it it does not make sense for me to do one. I will concentrate on flight reports instead. Can't wait to see the finished heli.

Keep up the good work.

Gary
RJX of USA
Magnum Fuels
SwitchGlo
>Hot Girlz in da gallery<

02-14-2007 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Okay next step is the tail.

First off I disassembled the tail blades grips to check the grease situation on the thrust bearings. I found them to be lightly oiled, so I went ahead and greased them with white lithium grease.

The three tail case nuts and bolts that hold the two halves together were not loctited.

Insert the tail belt into the boom and the tail case onto the boom. The tail case end of the boom is the end with the shorter slot cut into the boom. Attach the tail fin, then tighten down all the screws in the tail case making sure to loctite all the necessary screws.

As shown above slide the tail rod guides and tail servo mount onto the boom before mounting the boom to the frame. There is no slot alignment in the boom mount so alignment will have to be done manually.
It is not very clear in the manual but the tail belt should be rotated anti-clockwise 90° to get the tail to rotate in the right direction.
Attach the horizontal fin and support to the boom. Note here that the bottom fin clamp has an angled surface for attaching the boom supports to, so verify that this surface is facing the right direction.

This can be seen in the above pic. Also note that the M3x40 bolts are a little too long in my opinion. I replaced them with M3x35 or you can cut them down with a dremel.
At this point I would leave the horizontal fin bolts and the boom mount bolts in the frame loose till the main shaft is installed, then the correct belt tension can be set and the bolts snugged down.

Step 4 calls for installing the main shaft and main gear. This is very straightforward, just get the tail belt direction correct and snug the main shaft locking collar up against the bottom of the upper bearing mount.

Step 5 is the fitting of the rotor head, swash washout and paddles.
Before installing the swash I oil the pivot ball well and manually rotate the ball working it into its seat, a little time doing this will result in a very smooth rotating pivot ball.
I also disassembled the main rotor head and greased the thrust bearings and lubed the dampers before reassembling. The spindle shaft screws were found to be loctited into the spindle shaft unlike the Sport kit.
I also went ahead and reamed the ball links on the washout unit and the a-arm. All ball links were found to be very tight and needed reaming before attaching.
The flybar and paddle install is per the manual.
I weighed the paddles before attaching and they came out at 17 grams. Compare this against the Raptor Green paddles at 20 grams. The paddles are pocketed out to reduce the weight, very similar to the T-Rex 600 paddles. Compass also put in heat shrink sleeving that needs to be shrunk to the paddles to cover the open holes.
Be careful with the heat when shrinking the sleeve over the paddles as the sleeving is pretty thin.

02-14-2007 Over year old.

ez2bgman
Elite Veteran
Location: N'awlins, LA

Some more excellant building tips tnbulldog.

What main gear ratio does the Knight 3D come with?

Gary
RJX of USA
Magnum Fuels
SwitchGlo
>Hot Girlz in da gallery<

02-14-2007 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Thanks Gary I appreciate the comments.

The main gear ratio is 8.7:1
If your interested tail ratio is 4.8:1

02-14-2007 Over year old.

kirk
Veteran
Location: Thornton, Colorado

Good Thread

Good job on the build thread!!! I just picked my 3D up tonight and should have it finished for some weekend flying...

I am really impressed with the quality of this heli!!!

Kirk

02-15-2007 Over year old.

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Step 6 mounting the servos.
Thanks to Ade Law for pointing out that the servo spacers are not required and the best way is to mount the Elevator servo behind the main frame. This will give better alignment with the control arms and the Aileron servo rod links will also clear.

I mounted the throttle servo first since it was at the bottom of the frame. I would recommend running a screw into all of the servo nut holes first to cut a thread, trust me it will make life much easier later on.
I found that installing the ball at 13.5mm out on the servo arm and mounting the ball all the way out on the carb arm worked the best in obtaining closest to +/-100% ATV's on the throttle channel.

Next I installed the Aileron servo. I found it easier to remove the gyro mount while installing this servo. On the cyclic servos I used the recommended distance of 11mm from center for mounting the balls.

Then install the Pitch followed by the Elevator and Rudder servos. Remember that the Elevator Servo is best mounted behind the main frame instead of on top.

Step 7 wire up.
The pics above detail how I installed my electronics.

Skip Step 8 Phasing Block this should be done when we have the servo setup done and the radio programmed.

02-15-2007 Over year old.

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Thanks to Ade Law for pointing out that the servo spacers are not required and the elevator servo should be mounted behind the main frame to give the necessary clearance with the Aileron servo rod links. Plus better alignment with the control arms is achieved.

02-15-2007 Over year old.

kirk
Veteran
Location: Thornton, Colorado

Thanks for taking the time to post the build

Thread looks great, and so does your 3D!!

I am sure you saw this but while I was working on mine last night, I was suprized to find alignment holes on the top of the frame by the bellcranks. It looks like if you align the belcranks with these holes there is really no way that you can get the radio setup wrong. It looks like a pretty fool proof way to center the servos and get the rods up to the swash at 90 degrees. I thought that was a nice little touch!!!

Kirk

02-15-2007 Over year old.

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

The alignment holes definitely aid in getting the setup correct.
Especially when doing the push-pull setup on the servos.
I also found the dimensions for the servo links listed in the manual were spot on. Normally I use the listed linkage lengths as guides only and have to tweak them to get the setup correct - not so with the Knight.
I did however find some of the pre-built linkages to not be the correct length, so you will definitely need to check their lengths before using.

02-15-2007 Over year old.

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Step 9 radio setting data

I am using a DX7 radio for this build so here is a listing of the radio settings used.

I would like to credit Heli_harry over on the Freak who came up with the Excel file I used to create the listing.

02-16-2007 Over year old.

Rockohaulic
Elite Veteran
Location: Valencia, CA, USA, 3rd Rock from the Sun

So how much does a fully built up Knight 3D weigh???

Doug

I got a helicopter for my girlfriend,
It was a good trade!

02-16-2007 Over year old.

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Mine weighed in at 8.4lbs with no fuel.
The manual lists 8.8lbs ready to fly which sounds about right.

02-16-2007 Over year old.

houstonrevo
Senior Heliman
Location: Houston, TX

tnbulldog,

Great thread!! I dial my clutch in today and it was within 0.5/1000" as well. I was suprise that the Knight weight as much as it did but again with the Mavrick header tank's metal holder and the 611 gyros and battery packs. It's about right. I was thinking that the Airskipper is heavy but I guess the 3D is about the same. I have not finished mine yet but so far I am happy with the quality of the parts. I wonder how much will it weight bone stock without hdr tank and 401 and a fiber glass canopy. It could be under 8 lbs?

Anyway, keep up the good work, your thread is tons better than the manual.

02-16-2007 Over year old.

Chariot
Heliman
Location: hong kong

weight

There must be something wrong with the weight.
My knight 3D wight 7.6 pounds with FK blade Gy401 & Funtech 50 3D piple.
the manual said something like 3.5kg which is 7.7pounds. I think they must make the exchange rate wrong.

02-17-2007 Over year old.

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

I'm using a 3000mAh JR C-Cell pack as my battery which is very heavy - It's all I had lying around at the time.
This will account for alot of the weight.

02-17-2007 Over year old.

ez2bgman
Elite Veteran
Location: N'awlins, LA

I should have my Knight 3D by Tues/Wed. I stripped all the gear out of my beloved Raptor 50 and sold it to a good friend of mine. I am going to use all my gear from the Raptor in the Knight 3D.

This is how she will be equipped:

OS 50 Hyper (of course)
Hatori SB-1 muffler (an older 60 size pipe that fits perfectly and has the same power as my old MP2 but with a wider power band)
Radix 600 mm main blades
NHP 95 mm tail blades (the newer closed end design)
3 x 9252's for the cyclic
TJ Revmax and a 9254 for the throttle
CSM 720 gyro w/ a 9254
Arizona Regulator with a 2400 mah 7.4v Relion battery
Jr R2000 synthesized rx
and the awesome Jr 9303 to control it all...

This should be one sweet setup. Can't wait to get her together and in the air.

Gary
RJX of USA
Magnum Fuels
SwitchGlo
>Hot Girlz in da gallery<

02-17-2007 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

Toad
Senior Heliman
Location: Hurricane, Utah

Where are you guys finding this 3d version? I have looked everywhere I can think of, I cant find a kit. How much are they anyway?

*****

02-18-2007 Over year old.

HOMEPAGE

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

Step 10 Set Up

I did all the links on the head first. I personally find it easier to setup the servo links when I have a complete head assembled.

All the ball links will need to be reamed before using.
Double check the actual length of the pre-assembled links against the lengths listed in the manual. I found the linkage lengths listed in the manual to be very accurate.
Note that the manual lists the linkage lengths from the inside of one ball link hole to the inside of the other ball link hole. Even though this is usual, it is very nice feature since it allows the easy use of a set of calipers.

The manual here does a pretty good job of detailing how to setup the servo links , servo arms and the position of all the arms at 0 degrees pitch.
I managed to get all my servo arms at the correct angle without the use of sub-trim by simply indexing the servo arms around until the correct angle was found.

The above pics show the setup of the servo arms and rod links.

For the tail servo I put placed the ball at 16.5mm away from the center of the servo arm. When the gyro is placed in Normal mode I set the tail servo linkages so that the tail blades had the correct angle to maintain a steady tail heading during a hover as shown below.
This will have to be fine tuned during the initial test flight

Remember to set the gyro limits to stop any possible binding.

Phase adjustment can now be done with all the srvos setup.
I found that the phasing block is best placed up against the bottom of the head block.
Rotate the head so the main grips line up exactly with the tail boom, i.e. exactly facing forwards to back and the flybar is exactly 90° to the tail boom. Then rotate the phasing block so the washout base arms down to the swash are also facing forwards to backwards (the front washout base arm should line up with the front swash ball. Once set snug the phasing block scres down.
Now move the aileron gimble of the radio full left and right while lightly holding the paddle between you're fingers. If the phasing is correct the paddle while not tilt forwards or back.
Rotate the head so the flybar is directly inline with the center of the tailboom. Repeat but move the elevator gimble of the radio full forward and back and feel for paddle tilt.
If everything feels good loctite the phasing block screws down.

02-18-2007 Over year old.

tnbulldog
Senior Heliman
Location: Cookeville, TN

The next thing to finish up is to clean up the wiring, install a header tank, fuel tubing and install the muffler.

Here's how I did mine.

Finally the canopy. I messed around with the stock decals to make something a little different.

Overall, I very impressed with the kit and can't wait to get it in the air. For the price you get a 3D kit with the features of much more expensive heli.
I think Compass have hit a home run with this helicopter as currently there is nothing in the same price range that offers the same list of features.

02-18-2007 Over year old.

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Compass Knight 50 > Knight 3D Build Thread

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