Century CNC Horizontal Clamp

 

 

Overview

This is a short review of the CNC horizontal clamp available to replace the plastic equivalent supplied with the stock Swift. Included in the packet is the horizontal clamp (anodised purple) plus the necessary nuts and bolts required to fit the clamp to the boom. In order to fit this upgrade the tail boom needs to be removed from the main frames and the old clamp slid off of the boom and the new one slid into place. The design of the CNC upgrade is very similar to the plastic part that it is replacing. Obviously now that the various screws are metal to metal rather than metal to plastic loctite is required to make sure that nothing will come undone in flight. The quality of the parts is of a good standard and everything fits together quickly without any issues.

 

OK, so having fitted the horizontal clamp what's the point / difference?

The CNC horizontal clamp does a much better job of clamping onto the tail boom. Once all of the screws have been tightened the whole unit is absolutely rigid and does a far better job than the stock plastic part. This is actually quite important as the horizontal boom clamp has the tail boom supports bolted to it. If the clamp is more rigid then the tail boom supports can do a much better job of reducing vibration on the tail boom and generally making the helicopter more rigid.

Conclusion

The replacement part is well made and nicely finished. Having looked at several of the upgrades available for the Swift whilst they all are very nicely finished several of the ones I have looked at have not added anything but good looks to the Swift. This upgrade is not in that category and is one of the upgrades that I would definitely recommend as it stiffens up the tail boom and the rigidity of the helicopter as a whole. I am very satisfied with this upgrade part and would not go back to the stock plastic part. Therefore this upgrade comes highly recommended.