DX7 Programming Mayhem Continues

Thanks for the feedback guys - I think you are realizing now what a strange control problem I have been dealing with.

I got some more stick time this morning. Pre-flight check pass. I double checked the Balance - its dead on for both axes.

Ok, fine. I unplugged the mains and again stared at the swashplate. Dang - it seems perfect! Right Cyclic input should give a pure Right reponse through the rotor disc. Foward Left Back all look fine when looking at the static model and servos.

BUT when hovering and slow maneuvering - I cannot get a decent true slide. I have to give a LOT of back elevator to slide straight right. Otherwise, she shoots forward way too much.

I increased the Mix to 60% then to 80% - it helps!!! I can now get a nice almost true slide to the right with only a little back elevator needed to keep her straight.

Ok fine. The problem also affects Forward Cyclic input - she slides to the Left way to much when all I want to do is nose forward a bit.

So, I added Mix #2, and set that to 45% Right AILE for Forward stick and 45% Left AILE for Back stick.

I ran out of time but she is maneuvering much better now. By the end of the session I could slide hard Right, keep her straight and pointing forward (the tail is rock solid and smooth), and flare to a hover, then slide hard left, keep her straight, and flare to a hover again. Rinse, repeat.

Not too shabby, but I must still compensate for these illogical forces acting on this bird. Its almost like my right stick is somehow mechanically rotated about 45 degrees to the left - BUT you can't see it on the servos or swashplate. [&:]

Strange. A few more packs and tweaking these mixes, and I just might have it though.

I took another close look at the Control Block, See-Saw, and Control Hub. They all look perfect - they keep the flybar at 90 degrees to the rotor blades, very little play. Hover is smooth and I can't notice much vibration - I don't think the blades are too far out of balance, if at all. Tracking is within a half-blade thickness.

The See-Saw and flybar can swing freely - just a little bit of friction from the O-rings, but still a smooth swing. So, the Head is as good as its gonna get. Its all new parts again. I even put in a new Main Shaft.

HINT: Here is a great tip for installing a new Main Shaft. Before you install it, polish it a little with 600 or 800 grit sandpaper. Make the aluminum shiny then you'll find it will slide all the way down to the Main Gear with little difficulty.

Thanks for the Stick Position at Hover tip. I will tweak up the Normal Mode Pitch and Throttle curves so the stick is about 3/4 up at Hover. Blade Pitch at Hover looks to be about 7 degrees. I will adjust the headspeed to get that.

More later. Must... Fly... Again...