chris6414
Posts: 621
Joined: 12/23/2004
From: Warminster ,
PA, USA
Status: offline
|
Tips:
1. There is no such thing as ready to fly out of the box!
2. Check every screw and bolt on the machine for tightness when you get it
3. If you’ve never flown, find someone who has to help. If you can’t find someone, your SOL and don’t you dare fly around people or populated areas!
4. Make trainer gear, or get a second job to pay for all the parts you will need.
5. Read the directions that came with your radio so you understand what all the buttons and switches do.
6. Learn about your batteries and their care. You can easily ruin them if you don’t understand how they function. (charging and discharging).
7. While setting up the helo, (servos) disconnect the motor. Take it from me, rotors hurt when they hit you. I have the scares to prove it.
8. Ensure all the servos move smoothly and do not bind. To be safe with so-called ARFs, take off all the servo horns before you power up the helo. If they are not centered they can strip or burn out on power up from binding.
9. Center trims on radio and check that swashplate and paddles are absolutely level to each other. Make sure tail rotors are neutral and have 0 degrees pitch for Heading hold gyros. For rate gyros or heading lock you can set the pitch slightly to the right to compensate for torque during throttle up. When in doubt, READ THE DIRECTIONS THAT CAME WITH THE GYRO.
10. On the first flight, check the rudder and make sure the gyro holds the tail without wagging and the trim is straight. A helo with a tail that does not behave will not fly. Don’t try anything else until the rudder is right.
11. When learning to hover, keep the tail pointed at you and think like you are in the cockpit. IE: Left rudder stick is left nose in the helicopter, not left tail.
12. When you get into trouble, and you will, think ROTORS LEVEL. If your going to crash, that is best position to be in.
13. All crashes require a witness!
I have been pleased with my helo to date other than the occasional glitching that I had in the beginning. Cheap receiver and transmitter set-up is causing that I'm sure. Installing a Berg 7P today to hopefully rid me of this.
I'm no "finless" with regards to helos but I am a basic pilot with about 15 years of Nitro planes and 2 years of Helos to help in coping with the frustration of flying RC aircraft. Before you attempt setup, be sure your motor is unplugged and the rudder servo is unplugged. HH gyros can eat servos (I'll explain later)
1st: Helos in this size, or any size for that matter, require CONSTANT input on the sticks. In a perfectly calm condition you may be able to get "hands off" for a few seconds. Grab a mirror and marble, and hold the mirror with the marble on the glass and try to keep the marble in the center. That's the type of concentration and constant input it takes to hover, say in a 12 inch space of air. Where you are at now, I would get or make a set of trainer gear which when used properly, will let you hover and have some rough touchdowns without breaking things. I'll have you know, I used a set of "un-cool" trainer gear for 3 months before I took them off on a dragonfly #4. I only crashed once with them on.
Normal mode: Sorry no 3D experience
2nd: If this is your first Helo (rotor on top and rotor on the tail) not coax, then the mechanical set-up is critical to a decent flying (or shall we say for now) hovering machine. Luckily for me I had a chance to work on 3 Belts before mine came.
The first thing I would start with is the servos and their linkages to the swash plate. The servo arms should be as close to 90 Degrees as possible. Next, I removed the ball link from the swash and from the servo on both sides and made sure that Bell crank (servo to swash) was both snug(screw) and smooth. You can't check it hooked up. Every ARF I have seen was loose. Tighten them down and be sure they do not bind and every 10 flights or so check them. Do the same with the elevator servo. Once checked, re-attach arms to the swash. Turn on the radio and then the helo and be sure the trims are centered. Check your Swash plate and ensure it is level front to back and side to side and even at the 8 and 2 o'clock etc.
Next check the washout assy. Those screws are usually loose and can cause the "wandering fly bar" which will make "helo all over the place" even worse, much worse. I use finger tips on my screw drivers and snug them that way. If you're gripping hard, it is too much force. You can even disconnect the upper and lower linkages to check for binding.
Next I check my main blade, pitch linkages. They also have a screw that is usually loose. Snug it down. Next just go ahead and snug down every other screw you can find, from the swash to the top of the head. Check under the swash as well. They hold the swash bearing in. Even the ball links check them as well.
Next I check the fly-bar. I cycle the right stick around and get the servos moving and make sure nothing drags. Once done you can turn off the helo/radio. It's much easier if you have a block to place under the swash plate to keep it flat while you adjust the fly bar. I usually look at it from the side and check that the fly bar paddle is level with the swash plate. If the swash is not level this check can't be done right. You can check by turning the rotor gently and looking at the angle of attack. It needs to be zero all around. Also check the fly bar links and ensure they are level with the centerline of the paddle. I just look down the fly bar trailing edge and line it up with the "molded" centerline in the link. I next grab the paddles, leading edge and trailing edge, with my finger tips and gently try and twist them. They should resist. You can get them to give but we are talking a light twist and they should stay level. If you want your helo to handle better for learning, get a shorter flybar, an extra set of flybar weights and some smooth leading edge paddles that Align carries. Plastic or carbon, doesn't matter as long as the leading edge is more rounded than the Belt's. Align makes from 190MM(recommended) 200MM and a 220MM(Stock Belt CP) flybars. Aligns are slightly thicker steel so you need to drill out the flybar case. A #44 bit works well or any bit in between a 1/16 and 1/8. The extra weights slow doen the cyclic even more to it is less sensitive. Trust me, you want a slow cyclic in the beginning. You can always crank it up when your ready.
You can set the main blade pitch by eye, but I picked up and inexpensive pitch gauge. -1 degrees at zero throttle and 7-10 Degrees at the top.
Mechanically your head should be set-up. It will, most likely, need to be trimmed slightly right aileron to compensate for the tail rotor blowing right in a hover.
With the heading hold gyro, just follow the G90 instructions. I'm not sure if your Esky gyro, extra lead, can remotely control the gain from the 5th channel or just switches it back and forth from rate to heading hold. The Esky HH's I have seen respond well at about 60-80% gain on the adjustment. You really need a good hover to test the gain. The quick way is too get it into a hover, if it wags back and forth, too much gain. If it doesn't, hover and move the rudder/helo 45 degrees. When it stops, it shouldn't wag. If it does back it down some more, a little at a time. A real test is to hover and hit the throttle 30% more than hover and it shouldn't wag under load. Just do the hover check for now.
Eating the servo: HH gyros "creep" when armed. It can be made to stay centered with sub trim but also be sure the gyro has had time to compensate for the temperature. IE A/C to hot outdoors. The instructions explain all of this. The Belt's rudder, servo arm is too long and needs to be changed with one that is shorter. At full deflection it binds which will eat a servo over time. If you leave the stock arm on when the servo creeps to one side it will bind and eat the servo by overheating the servo motor. I have seen them melt the case. This is why when servicing the head or anything else with the radio on, it is best to disconnect the rudder servo with a HH gyro.
< Message edited by chris6414 -- 10/1/2007 10:58:15 AM >
|
Printable Version
All Forums >> RC Helicopters >> Electric RC Helis >> Esky Helicopters >> ........."BELT-CP THREAD"........ 
........."BELT-CP THREAD"........ - 
RE: ........."BELT-CP THREAD"........ - 
how can they send somthing like that and exspected you to learn.
