Century Swift CNC Flybar Control Arms
Written by Ashley Davis Monday, 26 June 2006 00:00
Flybar ArmsOverview
This is a short review of the CNC Flybar Control Arms available to replace the plastic equivalent on the Swift rotor head.
The stock parts include the plastic control arm and a plastic bush that presses up against the flybar hub bearing. The CNC kit includes the CNC flybar control arm and a CNC bush to go with it. Swapping them over is a simple operation that doesn't require any disassembly of the rotor head other than removing the paddles and the old arm and bushing. All the CNC parts are well made, robust and very cleanly finished in the familiar Century purple.
Before fitting the arms need to be assembled which is a simple case of bolting the few parts together and applying a little loctite to make sure they stay put. The above pictures show the before and after photos of the assembly.
OK, so having fitted the flybar control arms what's the point / difference?
Well the original arms are slightly longer as can be seen below but the stock design is such that the plastic arm is fused with a metal hub and grub screw. So the stock arms are just as good in terms of their ability to grip onto the flybar itself (ie. the grub screw isn't mounted in plastic). The CNC arm has no flex in it but I would probably make the same statement for the original plastic item. Both parts offer the same amount of flybar movement. The plastic bushing did offer some small amount of resistance to the flybar moving which is not apparent with the CNC replacement.
Aside from these fairly cosmetic items there is no further performance element to the CNC upgrade and no difference would be noticeable in flight.
Conclusion
The replacement part is well made and does function better than the stock part, albeit just slightly better and friction free movement against the flybar hub bearing. Realistically it won't be felt in flight but should be more robust in a crash. It isn't a performance upgrade nor is it meant to be. This is just one of several parts that can be replaced to get towards a full CNC rotor head.
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