Now first lets go over the throttle trim lever.
The throttle trim lever adjusts the rotor head speed with little to no changes in collective(pitch) on the blades.

This is important because when flying in idle up mode, you want to be able to increase or decrease rotor head speed without changing your collective(pitch).

While in idle up mode, and hovering, you want a lower head speed so that the collective is not so sensitive around neutral.

As you change into doing aerobatics, you want a higher head speed so that the collective is more sensitive around neutral. This way you dont have to put in lots of collective control during pitch changes like during rapid flips or rolls.

That's why we have a throttle trim lever.

Now you may not be at the skill level to where you need this, but its still important to set the heli up correctly so that this works.

The first thing we need to do in trimming is to set-up the swashplate correctly. Its much easier to do this with the head removed from the heli.

To remove the head from the heli.

1. Undo the paddle control frame pushrods from the swashplate.
2. Pull out the shear pin from the rotor head
3. Pull the rotor head off the main shaft.

Next, turn the pushrods from the servos, in or out to get the swashplate so that it is EXACTLY 1/2" from the top of the main shaft as shown in the picture. Try to keep the swashplate as level as possible.

Next, turn the pushrods from the servos, in or out to get the swashplate EXACTLY level. You can use a small leveling bubble for this. The easiest way I've found to do this is by using a drafting triangle. Place the edge of the triangle on the rotor shaft and align the swashplate with the bottom edge.

It is important for the swashplate to be level not only from the side of the helicopter, but also from the front and rear of the helicopter.

Remember to maintain the 1/2" distance from the top of the shaft while leveling the swashplate.

The better, and more precise you get this step, the better the heli will fly.

Now reinstall the rotor head.

1. Push the rotor head back onto the main shaft.
2. Insert the shear pin back into the rotor head.
3. Reattach the paddle control frame pushrods to the swashplate.

Now we move into setting up the rotor head

The first thing to do is to balance a set of blades.
It is important to do this as precisely as possible.

Attach the blades to the balancer.
If you dont have a balancer, you can make one.
Take a long screw that will fit through the holes in the blades. Put a nut onto the screw, then insert the screw through both blades, and then put another nut on the end and tighten so that both blades sit as shown. You can then balance them between to books or whatever you like.

If the blades are out of balance, you can add tape to the underside of the light blade to make them balance. It shouldnt take much maybe a strip or two.

Next install the blades.

There is alot of talk about how much to torque down the blade grip screws. Some people say leave them loose. Some people say make them tight.

I recommend tightening them so that the blades will stay in place, and will move about 2" if you sharply tap the blade tip with your finger while holding the rotor head.

Its time to adjust the pitch on the blades.

ARE YOUR SERVOS CENTERED?

Make sure all the servos are centered before proceeding.

1. Level the flybar.
2. Adjust the linkages from the blade grips to the rotor head frame so that the blades are level and have "0" pitch as shown.

Next we adjust the flybar paddles.

1. Slightly loosen the screws that hold the paddles on.
2. Twist the paddles until they are at "0" pitch.
3. Retighten the retaining screws.
4. Re-check pitch.

Tracking the Blades

Tracking is VITAL to keeping vibration down, and making the helicopter maintain stability.

When tracking the blades, NEVER remove pitch to lower the high blade.
Always increase pitch on the low blade.

The reason for this is simple. If you lower pitch on the high blade you will be setting that blade to negative pitch. This will cause unwanted roll during high speed forward flight maneuvers, and the heli will also want to roll out of inverted maneuvers. It will also cause ground vibrations if you land while in idle-up mode.

Increase pitch on the low blade by adjusting the linkage from the rotor head frame to the blade grips.

It is easiest to do this if the blades have a stripe of different colors on each blade. The blades come with a red and black tape stripe on the blades. Simply look for which color is low while the blades are spinning.

The pictures below show properly tracking blades, and improperly tracked blades.

NO, its not ready to fly yet. There's still more to trimming and tracking the head.

Ive got to shoot some more pictures. So bear with me for a while. We still have a little more to do.

This is a good stopping point though.

Does anyone have any questions so far?

Great forum, keep up the good work. One question. To increase the blade pitch do you make the linkage longer or shorter?

Well, guys....

In my haste to try to get everything up here....I missed a step.
Cut me a little slack. Its hard to keep everything in order...


Anyway here is the missed step. Insert it right after the "balancing the blades" section.

Centering the flybar.

This should be self explanatory.

1. First loosen the the two allen screws shown
2. Measure and center the flybar so that it is EXACTLY the same distance on both sides of the flybar.

Some people even go so far as to balance the flybar. You can do this if you like, but in my opinion its not really necessary. If later you find that you have some vibration problems, You can check this as a possible cause. As long as the flybar is centered, it shouldnt be an issue.

HeliNate, you would lengthen the linkage to increase pitch.

Shortening it would remove pitch.

If your really interested in truely tweaking the tracking DEAD on perfect, heres a little tip.
This is kinda advanced as you have to be very careful to check to make sure you dont end up with negative pitch in one of the blades.

Instead of adding pitch to the low blade....

Add one half turn pitch to the low blade, and remove one half turn pitch on the high blade. Keep going until they match up. Once youve got them tracking perfectly, make sure to check both blades carefully to make sure that there is NO negative pitch in either blade.

This isnt recommended for most folks because its easy to get negative pitch. But if you want perfect tracking, this is the way to do it.

yeah, thank you BDAVISON! you did a nice work that we all appreciate.

bu I got still my heli vibrating.. and the problem is the tracking, the blades doesnt match.

when I try to increase the pitch of the low one then I have no place left for screwing!

hope you understand.

Thanx

bdavison - excellent posts. I have been following your recommendations for a couple of months (since before I actually had a Blade). I had no trouble getting the little heli in the air after first making the modifications and adjustments I read about.

I have two suggestions -

1) you describe that the swashplate should be made level. I recommend that you instead refer to it as making it perpendicular to the main shaft - your drawings and recommendation to use a triangle suggest this. The problem with using a bubble level is that it assumes that the main shaft is perfectly perpendicular to gravity, which it probably isn't unless the work table, skids, etc have all been checked.

2) I have had good success balancing the blades while mounted in the rotor head, with the rotor head removed, and using the flybar as the pivot. Care must be taken to make sure all head parts are centered. The end result is that the entire head/blade assembly is then balanced.

Best Regards

I sure hope this thread aint dead...really good info here.

yes I agree, bdavision did a Fantastic job on the walkthrough..

Hello Everyone, I am new to this hobby but have been following this forum for about a month or so. I am LOVIN it. I just want to send a big thanks out to bdavison and everyone else for all the time, knowledge, and detail info. here. I am a noob to any type of RC flyin and I purchased my Blade about a month ago. I absolutly love it. My LHS tried to discourage me from buying it a little (i think) by telling me how hard it was going to be and everything. Yeah, so here I am, LOVING EVERY DANG MINUTE of it. This has got to be one of the best hobbies I could have ever gotten into (just barely surpasses HALO 2 live!).. It is always a constant changing challeng and I am barely at the tip of the ice burg. I am hovering and getting doing forward flights pretty well, (Don't worry-PLENTY of crashes) but the crashes just push me more to perfection. I am thrilled. Anyway, bdavison's thread has very much inspired me to not just learn how to fly the heli but to learn how it works and how to fix it myself, so I stripped my beautiful Blade down and step by step put it back together. (It is pretty kewl learning how the Heli's work and everything) It still flies fine, (no i did not ruin it) but before and even after I had done this I have notice a little vibration developing. I have been trying to hunt it down and even resorting to replacing some parts to no avail. But anyway, not bad enough to really worry about at this point. I did notice something that does not sound right though. When I am in normal mode (motors unplugged) I can move the throttle lever up and down and the servos are quiet, but when i go to Idle up mode I move the throttle lever from mid stick down (-pitch) and when I am almost at the bottom the aileron and or pitch/collective servos start making a jittering sound. As I go back up they get quiet again. I can move the throttle lever all the way up (+pitch) and back down to mid stick and the servos are fine, no noises. It almost sounds like the servos are not being able to move their entire cycle just on the down side. But like I said when I am in normal mode and all the throttle lever is all the way down (0 throttle/0 pitch) they do not make that sound. I have checked the best I could to see if the swashplate was binding or hitting the Main Shaft Retaining Collar, but it looks like it has plenty of clearance. I am not for sure if it is supposed to be that way or not but I am kind of afraid to fly in Idle up mode at a -pitch for fear of ruining the servos. (I know that I am a noob and you are probably thinking, whet the heck, 1 month and he thinks he can go inverted or something, trust me NO WAY, that is not the case with me, I just think I might have a problem and whether I am going to actually use it now or not I like to have EVERYTHING working correctly.) So in advanced, thank you all for your help and it is great being part of such a wonderful hobby/sport. Happy flyin to you all!!!

I would first suggest trying the same test with the servo linkages snapped off the swashplate ball links to make sure that the servo's are not trying to pull down farther than the rotor head will allow it against the center hub. If they dont jitter then lengthen the servo arms equally 1/2 turn at a time until the jittering stops. This in turn will change your pitch so this must be checked afterwards.

Human Enigma, Thanks for the quick response, unfortunatly I am stuck at work at the moment but when I get home I WILL be checking that. I never gave the head a thought. I greatly appreciate the feed back. One other question though. When setting up the swashplate by bdavison's method. The servos should be at the lowest point with the Tx in normal mode and the throttle lever all the way down when measuring the 1/2" from the top of the main shaft to the top of the swashplate, right? Thanks again for everything. Lovin this Heli stuff!!!!!

oh, and I was backwards on what to check, with the stick down, the servo's would push up, so in turn check to see if the head is not topping out and shorten accordingly, Sorry about that And, personally i have never used his methods per say I have skimmed through it and its written very well. Though I adjust my pushrods so that they do not bind on the center hub top or bottom. Though I measured mine and it's roughly 1/4 inch from the shear pin, and that is 1/4 inch from the top of the shaft so yes.

Man you are quick!!! Thanks for the reply, no need to appologize. I just thank you for the help and the suggestions. I am getting ready to get off work now. I imagine the wife is going to be a little mad at me cause this will be another night straight to the heli from work. Can't figure out why she gets upset, I am out of her hair and I usually find out she went shopping online while I am messin with the Heli (paybacks I guess...) LOL , just given her crap... Anyway thanks again for everything!

well one benefit with heli's VS. fixed wing is ya really dont need a whole lotta space to mess with them. If you can get her to buy into the fact that your not leaving the yard.. Bonus.. '_;

Human Enigma - sorry it took so long to get back to you, but I just wanted to say thanks. You were absolutely right. The swashplate was hitting the bottom of the rotor cap and stopping it from going up all the way. I got the servo pushrods adjusted to lower the swashplate and everything is working great now. I do still have a slight vibration but nothing really major. Thanks for all of your help! Talk at ya later!

Are we ever gonna see more in this thread...man I hope so. Keep up the awsum work.