Raptor 60 Upgrades and Mods

Metal Headblock & O Ring Dampener Upgrade

A metal headblock made of CNC aluminum is available to replace the plastic main center piece. It has provisions for the O Ring dampeners build in. This headblock does away with the potential offcenter drilling of the mainshaft hole in the plastic block. The O ring upgrade replaces the two rubber dampeners in the headblock with four O rings as found in XCell, Robbe and JR helicopters. Different hardness rings are available to tune the responsiveness of the dampening.

Carbon Fibre tail servo mount and boom suports

Mr. Carbon makes a very nice CF tail servo boom mounting kit with CF tail control rod. This gets rid of the friction and binding of the boom guides, the potential failure of the rod coupler and makes it easier to remove the boom. The CF boom supports are lighter and will enable a slightly higher gyro gain. Plus both items add to the coolness factor.

Gear Ratio Change

Several different size pinion and maingears are available to change the gear ratio from the stock 9.3 : 1
Main gears available are 95, 94 and 93 (stock)
Pinion Gears in size 10 (stock), 11 and 12.
Max / Min gear ratios are 7.75 to 9.5 :1. Tail gear ratio stays the same in all configurations.
If you wanted to install a OS91SXH for instance you would have to change to a 8.5:1 or 7.75 ratio to keep the rpm in the engine's powerband. So a 93 maingear with a 11 tooth pinion would give a 8.45:1 ratio. For running a slower headspeed for say a scale machine, use a 10 tooth pinion and the 95 tooth maingear for a 9.5:1 ratio.

Now this sounds real easy, just drop in the different size gears right? Wrong, the more teeth on the gear the bigger the diameter. So installing a 95 tooth gear for a scaler will require some modifications to the frame. First the startshaft/clutch has to be moved forward 1mm for proper main to pinion gear mesh. Loosen all the bolts and push/pull the startshaft, bearings and pinion gear as far forward as necessary. If this adjustment is not enough, the mainshaft/maingears have to move back. Drill out the top and bottom holes for the mainshaftbearing holders and slide the mainger back. This messes up the big red taildrive to small white taildrive gear mesh. So take out all the screws that hold the big black boom holder in the frames and drill out those holes. Slide the boomholder back and adjust mesh as appropriate. It's similar when using other pinion / maingear sizes. It's a good idea to figure out your desired gear ratio before building the frames as it is a lot easier to elongate the holes then.

Engine Choices

The R60 accepts the std range of 60 size engines. The fan and clutch setup is made for the OS61, TT70 or Webra 65/70 crankshafts. These fit without modifications. The YS61 and YS80 use a different crankshaft thread (8mm) so the fan must be tapped with the correct die. Also the YS engines sit a mm lower so the holes in the side frames may have to be elongated vertically for proper alignment.
Oversize engines: The OS91SXH is a drop in fit but requires a lower gear ratio (see above). The YS80 needs the fan mod but can be run with the std gear ratio of 9.3:1. The Webra75 fits also but may require the lower gears. All the bigger engines require a 90 size muffler that is bigger than the 60. The canopy needs some trimming for clearance. The bigger engines also stress the frames so the framebrace and/or carbon fibre frames should be considered.

Bottom Frame Brace

Looking at the frame configuration it's easy to see that there is a lot of flex and little support along the bottom where the landing gear installs. A metal frame brace (U$10) will give some much needed support and may prevent the front frame from breaking in a crash. Also, in the back the brace allows the tail boom supports to be mounted lower. Without the brace the boomsupports would have nothing rigid to support them at the lower location. Bad things about the brace is the added weight and the engine cannot be removed without the removing the brace first. Good things are; it's cheap , it uses 3mm bolts instead of selfthreading screws for the landing gear and it works well.

Aftermarket Main and Tail Blades

The R60 ships stock with 660mm wood blades. The stock woodies hover ok but require balancing and may have some warpage. In forward flight they make the heli pitch sensitive. Good carbon or fiberglass blades will greatly enhance the flight characteristics.
Max size for Mainblades is 680mm with stock tailblades. 700mm blades will definity interfere with the tailblades. With 680s, max tailblades should be 105mm.
The R60 uses the new 5mm bolt / 16mm bladegrip spacing that is popular in Japan. Unfortunatly that means here in the US and Europa mainblades that configuration are hard to find. JR makes a 4mm bolt and spacer kit that works very well. That will give you 4mm bolt and 12mm root. Alternatively get some blades that fit the stock grips. There are several available, all of very high quality with sizes from 660 to 680mm.
Tailblades are common size and any of the aftermarket ones will fit with exception of the MinAir Xcell thick root blades.

Carbon Fibre Upgrades

General Carbon Fibre Upgrades and Money Eaters:
Mr. Carbon Frame Set. Very nice and makes the R60 even lighter. Good price vs. TTs own CF frames. Recommended for serious 3d and when using the bigass engines.

Mr. Carbo H and V fins. Helps if the heli is a bit tailheavy and for flips and backwards flight.

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