paulg71

hi all i have been flying my raptor for a few months now, and decided to get a another raptor wich was flying well until yesterday, when i was hovering and suddenly the tail was very unstable , i landed and had alookto see if anything was loose but all was well, again i started up and as i increaed the power the heli started to want to drift like a snake and i then decided ok must be the gyro, i have csm headlock gyro wich i decided to change today , this had no effect, so changed another gyro again no change still the same,changed to a new servo, again still no change , made sure belt was ok , again no change , so now over to u guys !! as everytime now as soon as i power up the tail snakes i drop the throttle and the heli trys to do a 360 on the floor , totally confused you info would be a great help many tks paul

snobelt

Missing a bit of info here Paul. Is this an electric or a nitro burner? Does the tail rotor spin when you lift off? You seem to have eliminated the gyro and servo. If the tail mechanics are all good then you are down to the electronics. A single channel failure could produce that fault - in either the transmitter or the receiver. Try disconnecting the drive motor (if your heli is electric) and test each channel to see what servo response you get. You should have servo response for each channel.

Rafael23cc

My Feedback: (6)

snobelt, I commend you for trying to help, but please get a little more experience with helicopters before attemting to give suggestions. A Raptor 30 is a nitro powered helicopter. The tail rotor has to spin before lift off because is driven by a belt from the main shaft.
Your suggestion about eliminating the problem one control at a time is a perfect troubleshooting suggestion. You nailed it there...

paulg71, Since you replaced the servo and gyro already, that also _could_ eliminate an improperly tuned engine. An improperly tuned engine, can show up as a wagging tail but that is not what you are describing here. I cannot figure out what "drifting like a snake" means so you will have to help me there. Raptors have a tendency of lossing a pin that holds the tail pulley in place. If the pin backs out, it could be part of your problem. Open the tail case, and look at the pin holding the red pulley at the back of the tail boom. Have you checked for the smooth operation of the tail control rod, and the tail pitch slider? Are you absolutely sure that the tail is rotating in the correct direction and that you do not have the belt twisted in the wrong direction? Are you sure that your tail blades are installed the correct way around?

Rafael

snobelt

Sorry Rafael - I thought Raptor made an electric as well as the nitro version. Could a reversed gyro also cause that problem?

Rafael23cc

My Feedback: (6)

Don't apologize to me, we are all here to learn.

Since i don't know what "drifting like a snake" means, I am waiting for that. A reversed gyro would send the heli in a spin (pirouette) and would be impossible to hover.

Rafael