I bought a Blade CP that was used. First I tried hovering. With the tailpointing towards me, I started the hover, it went up then slid to the right, compensated for it...it goes forward, I compensate for that, it goes left. So....looking at it from a distance, I am acually oscilating in a circle just trying to hover.

I took a good look at the head and spindle. It seems as if the spindle (the shaft holding the blade grips) is actually too long. The rubber gromets are basicly falling out of the head because of the slop. Could it be from another heli? I need to order some parts, but let me tell you what I did first. I am a machinist....so I took the spindle and I cut it down Like maybe 2 mm. This took up a lot of the slop and while I was at it....I straightned it nice. Took it home and installed it. Went to the basement and it was steady in hovering. I took it outside and I was hovering in the front yard and a big gust of wind took it and I lost control and smacked it in the ground and broke the head.

Now....my question to you all: How much tilt should be in the rotors? When you grab the rotor tip, how much play or how much travel should there be moving the tip up and down?

Dave

PS...I broke the head anyway in the crash![:@]

Dave,

There really should not be whole lot of play in it.

I'm assuming you broke the center spindle, when you buy a new one it will come with a new feathering shaft and O rings, you may want to pick up some shims while your at it as they help take up the slop.

I put a little Synthetic grease with Teflon on it all as I reassemble and a bit of blue thread lock on the threads.

Once you have it all straight is should hover hands off (for a few seconds).

PS: I'm an amateur machinist

i like my damping (aka o-rings) to be on the tighter side, but the heli can be more forgiving with softer damping. trimming the shaft is an acceptable way of stiffening the damping, or like Heli_Harry said you can also use shims to get similar results. adjusting your damping is not an exact science with cp's, but here's how i do it. i'd say 5-8 degrees of total play for fast flying, and up to 20 degrees of total slop for training/hovering. by "total play" i mean: forcing a blade tip up and down until you feel the wood barely starting to bend.

Thanks guys. Also....the grips would slide in and our of the head allowing one of the o ring to fall out. Not sure what the heack all that was about....but i will have new parts soon.

Dave

Got my replacement parts...I will give a report later...

Dave