RE: Belt CP Spinning Help!
I'm no "finless" with regards to helos but I am a basic pilot with about 15 years of Nitro planes and 3 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 (if you have one)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 FP helo. 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.
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.
You can set the main blade pitch by eye, but I picked up and inexpensive pitch gauge. -1 degrees at zero throttle and 8 Degrees at the top. You will still need to track the blades in a hover at eye level. The blade arc should be as flat as you can get it. BE VERY CAREFUL DOING THIS AS STARING AT THE ARC TOO LONG WILL CAUSE YOU TO GET DISORIENTED AND BEFORE YOU KNOW IT YOU ARE FLYING INTO YOURSELF. Keep the looks to short ones and make sure you have a background that allows you to easily see the blade tape. Only adjust one blade. Either move one up to meet the other or move the other down. I usually move the low blade up as I already statically set the mains with a pitch gauge and am in the ball park.
Adjust your radio trim center. Tail blades should be set at about 5-7 degrees right mechanically on the tail boom no matter which gyro you are using. If the rudder moves correctly with input and the helo spins once your in the air then the gyro switch is reversed. With a dual rate gyro I always set up rate first to get my tail blade angle set mechanically. 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.
If you have the “silver”, rate gyro make sure your rudder trim is at center and the servo have about 5-7 degrees right set in it. The torque of the main blades will want to pull the helo’s nose to the left. You need to compensate by putting a little right in at center trim. Loosen the tail servo mounts so it can slide on the boom and slide the servo so it has some right set into it. You need to hover the helo to find the right setting for this. Just hover the helo and see if the nose will stay somewhat pointed straight. If it moves “slightly” to one side and can be trimmed to center, then you are GTG. It all depends on how picky you are. Just remember that all gyros creep a bit during flight and will need slight trim adjustments as you fly through a battery pack.
Setting the gyro gain: I usually start with 70% and hover with that to check the sensitivity. You can either hover and bump the throttle up to see if the gyro holds(no wag) under the torque applied(my choice) or you can hover and quickly move the rudder to 45 degrees and release to see if it wags when the gyro regains control. Either way is effective. I will keep turning up the gain until I see a wag and then back off slightly and then it is set. Between the gyro set-up and rudder center adjustment can use a whole pack.