ArrowNaughtic

Heh........... Got the Blade CP delivered today, bought if from a great guy on the classifieds from here. (TY Ken!)
Looking at a couple things that may be stopping me from getting any real control over it. First off.....the blades are so tight......they are unmovable. I will find my allen wrench set, and get those loosened tonite.
Looking at the servo linkages I noticed they are at the end of the arm...........in the center slot. By end of arm I mean the farthest point away from servo body. If I was to move them either up or down at the end of the arm........would i be creating a nightmare?? Or..........if I moved them in one slot closer to servo body, would that possibly help or hinder me?
All I can say is tho.........sweet deal..........I am like a 13 yr old on his first date...... nervous and so charged up, tranquilizers wouldn't slow my heartbeat down...........heh!


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Of all the things I ever lost...................... I miss my mind the most!

bzinfinity

Moving the servo arms closer to the screws will lessen your cyclic response. (body-pitch and roll)

If you are having trouble controlling it at all, that may help.

Glad you caught the bug man, I know exactly how you feel.

crashcrash

I just hovered my first full charge down to "I wont fly anymore" tonight. What an experience! I've been edging twords this goal for about a week now, and I got it. It wasn't pretty, but it stayed in the air through the whole battery. I need to work on tightning up my hover to keep it in a 2ft square (tape on the floor thing). I was a bundle of RAW nerves through the whole flight and it seemed to take FOREVER to run the battery out. As the LI-PO did get near the end, it got VERY difficult to control. It wanted to sweep side to side, and fore to aft, but I stayed on the stick like a madman. What a RUSH!

ArrowNaughtic

Ty BZ.....thats what i thought also..but didn't want to attemp without seeing if that would create other issues.
Gotta say sweet crash.......I am so looking forward to doing that myself. I have only had time to go thru one battery so far but have been flying the lil coaxial to keep myself from jonesin too bad for the "real" thing. With that said....blades are properly adjusted and tracking right....so will finish out the other battery before calling it a night.


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Of all the things I ever lost.................. I miss my mind the most!

scottcp

.....like a 13 year old on his first date. You got that right!! I get that way on my FS One sim. LOL!! When I fly my sons CX2, I really get nervous. Mainly because he can fly it better than me! His first couple of batteries, he said his thumbs and arms were sore from being so tenes. By his third battery he had it trimmed and hovering. Now he lands it on landing pads/boxes and tables. Can't wait to try out my CP Pro. Had a bad Rx out of the box, but a call to Horizon Hobby and had new one UPS'd to me in 3 days...No charge!! GREAT customer support. A little more time on the sim and I'm trying the real thing!! All charged up and ready to go...me and the battery.

crashcrash

when I started flying .40 fixed wing trainers, even with an instructor it took a couple months before I was competent enough to put it up and bring it down by myself (how easy it is to forget how hard it was). I threw a lot of cash and work at that trainer keeping it flyable. When I was the resident expert, I gave it up because of messy fuel, weather, finding a decient place to fly that didn't shove a bunch of rules down your throat, and on, and on. I couldn't think of one good reason to continue fixed wing. I knew helicopters were what I really wanted, but the cost of nitro heli's were prohibitive. A few months ago, I bought a "flydragonfly". It goes up, it comes down...no other controls but it was cool for $30. Then, the walkera dragonfly. Fixed pitch at $100. It turned out to be exactly that...$100 worth, useless electronics and all around junk. I picked up a CP Blade off e-bay from a guy who couldn't get the hang of it. I beat that up pretty good trying to learn too. I ended up buying the bare-bones $89.00 blade CP to replace it, and transferring my electronics off my old blade. After messing with the trim and setup, I finally got something I can actually fly. This heli thing is trying, but I don't like to give up. I know in a few months, I'll be flying this like I've done it all my life. I've flown it at work and the guys say I make it look easy (I couldn't even hover through a whole charge at that time without having to put it down to avoid hitting something). All in all, it's the niche I've been looking for. I fly in my basement and in the truck garage at work for now. I've even put it up in the living room a few times. Try that with an AeroStar .40. Keep at it, I think when I'm actually flying patterns out side it'll be a real hoot.

ArrowNaughtic

Wow...........got it to hover...like a foot off the ground....for a whole second.......... then started doing the pendulum thing.............I decided not to change the servo arm placement yet..........but seems this heli always wants to go straight into forward flight,,,,,,,so..is it gyro adjustment??


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Of all the things I ever lost..........I miss my mind the most!

crashcrash

Is your "elevator" stick trim set at mid point? If so, just move the trim in to you a couple clicks. This should stabilize it. Mine likes to sweep left upon liftoff. It will hover in ONE spot by it's self without input but not very long. If you have a good zero on the elevator stick, it will randomly want to move forward and backward, you just have to correct with the stick (while in hover). I've found that keeping the heli in as small an area possible (2ft x 2ft) and not going higher than 2ft up is difficult (I'm new at this), but not impossible. Note: move anything that you might run into (obstructions) before you can set it down, out of the flying area. It will get away from you and just land it as quickly and gently as you can (broke a couple tail booms by landing too hard). All your trims should be centered if you are set up right. I had a hang of a time adjusting the servo link adjustments to achieve zero on all trims.

crashcrash

Just hovered through another full charge. Kept the pattern a lot tighter tonight which meant I had quicker reaction time in correcting drift. It wasn't a 2ft x 2ft but I kept it in a 4ft x 3ft area. Major improvement, and my nerves were more settled this time. The machine seemed to handle well and was predictable and I didn't over correct too much this time. I was fighting ground effect because it was between 1" to 1ft in the air at all times. If it tried to zoom out in front of me, I pulled back on the stick immediately and brought it back. Most of the hover was 2ft in front of me and it did pendelum side to side about a ft each way. All in all...a good practice session.

ArrowNaughtic

I guess i need to do some major adjusting.........all the tx trims set at center.and i am holding back on cyclic just to keep it from zooming into the wall......... glad i started with a coaxial to learn some of the basics.
The manual doesn't give much guidance....nor does the website, Where should I look for basic setup and adjustments?


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Of all the things I ever lost....................... I miss my mind the most!

crashcrash

If you can locate it, RADDS. Covers a lot of information on learning to fly. try this: http://www.vankets.com/eco/flying-index.html

Go over each section because it will give you hints etc. As far as setup and zero, I just adjusted till I could power the heli up in my hand...let it go...and it would stay in one spot by it's self (trial and error). Got to be careful though...heli's BITE HARD when they bite you (been there/done that/ got the Tee Shirt). According to what you wrote about it zooming forward ... try turning your servo link connector on your front servo out 2 complete turns, the two rear connectors in 2 complete turns and see what you get. Mine wanted to go backwards and I had to adjust trim nearly all the way forward to hover, but I got it fixed by adjusting the servo link connectors.

ArrowNaughtic

Ahhhhhhh!! i knew i was forgetting basics!! Servo links........... (slaps forehead). Ya...i had the tx trim set all the way back.....and still holding rear stick to keep it from blasting off forward. Also have a little left movement too.......will try to adjust that as well.
Ty for the link crash....and by the way......... Awesome job crash! Hovering thru a full battery....man, I am jealous. Will have to fly the coaxial for a few mins today.....just to remind myself......... I can actually make one of them things do what i ask.


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Of all the things I ever lost....................... I miss my mind the most!

ArrowNaughtic

Heres a couple pics of the swashplate with 4 in 1 armed........LOL notice the bent servo linkage in the front!
Lots of adjusting to do i see.........and a trip to LHS for servo linkanges.


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Of all the things I ever lost...................... I miss my mind the most!

ArrowNaughtic

Ok.......did alot of adjusting and fiddling, this should look more like what i need when 4 in 1 is powered up. Haven't flown it yet, but will in a min...wanted to post pics first.
Front Servo 2 1/2 turns out ---- Right rear servo unknown ( i lost count....but originally did 9 turns in) 7 turns in? - - - Left rear servo out 1/2 turn


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Of all the things I ever lost.................... I miss my mind the most!

crashcrash

power up the tx and the heli and wait to arm. double check all controls/trims at neutral. hold heli in right hand out of rotor path. the tx in left. power up slowly and feel which way it wants to pull your hand (adjust trims if it pulls/rolls/etc. be careful when powering up that it dont roll into you. power up more till it gets very light (flying in your hand, I hold the landing gear for this). If it's not pulling/pushing/or trying to roll let it go quickly and catch it. when I release mine, it will stay in one spot, go slowly back or forward, and I grab it again. This tells me the trims are fine...time to fly. My son has a two car garage he cleared for me today. I hovered 2 full charges over his floor drain with out a problem. The last flight, I walked behind it and made basic turns and hovered it around the garage. What an awsome fly day this has been for me. I hovered my first pattern today. I kept it tight to me and the designated hover area (a 2" floor drain). One little trick I do is I over trim a tad to the left and keep constant pressure on the rudder to the right...it seems to make the tail more stable. When I turn the tail to the right, I add more right pressure on the stick. If I want left, I release pressure on the stick and it automatically swings left, reapply right pressure on the stick to hold center...works for me for now.

The only drawback today...he has no heat in the garage and I liked to freeze my hiney off (Michigan).

ArrowNaughtic

ya crash............ yer such a showoff! I hovered mine today too..in the front room ...........all funrniture cleared........is about a 10' x 12' space. Took it outside.and got it about 4 ft in the air..but wind kept pushing it around, so brought it back in and had to leave to do a quick job 20 miles away..just got home......... having my preflight beer, then its....hover time!!
Glad to hear yer progressing so quickly crash. I think maybe we need to have a lil contest......to see who can get photos of heli in flight that are clear and obviously of heli in flight with operator in the background.



what an additictive hobby! All I do when working is think about any flights I made before leaving.and how can I improve.......or fix any human errors........lol As far as heat goes........I live in a nice moderate climate ( if yer a duck and like lots of water) that would be Sunny Seattle.....we got just a trace of liquid sunshine today and supposed to have a quick storm pass thru tomorrow. so will be low hovering in the front room till Monday, then can go outside and give it a try with it up in the air a little more.

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Of all the things I ever lost..................... I miss my mind the most!

crashcrash

Last time I was in your neck of the woods was 1977 (I'm not old). I'll one you upon the photos...I've got video from the second time I hovered a full battery, and I've got a micro mini-cam I'm thinking about hooking to the front end of this to get pilots eye view (might get motion sickness from watching that vid though) LOL. We're holding mid 40's here dropping to the 30's by mid-week. These birds don't like cold...things break in the rotorhead because of the plastic it's made of. I got lucky today...I brought it home in one piece, and hovered 2 more charges in the basement later on. Now I've got to work in the morning but I'll be back at it Mon & Tues. Hopefully I'll get one good day for outside with ZERO wind/mid 40's to practice walk arounds and get a little more ALT in the hover. Wind is BAD when you're learning. WE ARE HAVING FUN NOW!

crashcrash

[:@]Good thing I had a new tail boom in the parts drawer. Hard landing took it out, I was back in the air in 30min. I guess that's what they mean when they say "a helicoper can crash into it's self". I did some clearing in the basement. Now I've got a 30ft x 20ft practice area with an 8ft over head (watch out for the house support POLES). Mine likes to hover at 2" (pretty stable), I've been pushing it to 3ft hover practice. Need to work on my TX on how I hold it. Need to find the comfort and controlability zone. I'll be ready for a new tail motor and main rotor blades before long. I like the plastic symmetrical main rotor blades but they are hard on the spindle and tail boom if you land hard or have a strike. Weather took a dump, I won't be outside anytime soon either.

ArrowNaughtic

Oh cripes crash.......... At least you had parts on hand.....and didn't have to go to LHS.....and buy more than what ya need. I always walk out of there.......limping, torn, bleeding, and broke.......lol.
I have noticed my tail boom was epoxied back on. Not from anything I have done....but was that way when i bought it. Got mine to hover last nite for a few seconds....then TX was shutting off...........luckily the 4 in 1 kept disarming when TX lost power. Turns out.....don't buy AA's from a the dollar store! They are smaller diameter and slop around inside TX case. Losing contact at critical times is not a good thing. Have some other batteries that should work luckily........am balancing the blades right now. Will also lube the bearings on main shaft since i already have most of the stuff out of the way. I noticed a wobble in the top if the main shaft while powering up last nite. So am trying to get that fixed.and also adjusted servo links again. still getting a lil forward left slide on power up.
Found the cables for hooking up camcorder to puter...so will try to get some video of my antics. I can't let ya one up me on photos and video too. I looked for your video...but didn't see it. I am assuming you haven't posted it up yet. If ya got it uploaded somewhere....how about a link.....i want to see how yers hovers and whatnot......see if mine is even close to adjusted right.


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Of all the things I ever lost........................ I miss my mind the most!

crashcrash

Tried to post video...it wouldn't let me (format?) I converted my TX to Ni-Cad from an old futaba TX so I don't have battery probs. Remove and replace if they go bad and hard wired in. Got some hovering in last night and accomplished turning in the basement. It's a little tight 20ft x 30ft, but better than before I cleaned it up to gain room. Almost lost it today though. Took off twords a metal object but I reacted in time and brought it back (close one). If all I do is hover in one spot...that's pretty boring for me now. Now I have to make some turns and "try" to hover a pattern. My son's garage really boosted my confidence. Let's keep moving forwrd!
BTW, training wheels...they save your butt. Out side though, I've had them stick in sod and make things worse ( harsh speed/angle ). Just went through another hover/turn thing here in the basement and I'm considering a couple shots at tail out (see RADDS). The only difference would be roll left/right because I can fly it backward and forward with no problem.

Did you get the trim thing straightened out? Zero trim is the essence of a stable and controllable flight. I noticed a few things in the last couple days of hovering. 1. As you continue to hover and the battery drains, it likes to start to pendelum about 3min near the end of the battery and corrections are almost continous at this point to hold solid hover. 2. Within 1 min of the battery draining competely, alt will start to decrease in increments (loosing power) and you can compensate by giving more throttle, and giving you time to position your landing to a precise location. 3. If you have a crappy take off and things are not going smooth...land and start the flight over (it actually works and I don't have a clue as to why). Good luck. Since I'm new, I learn this stuff as I go along. I know I'm going to schmuck this heli again, it's just a matter of time. When it comes to R/C aviation there are two classes of people, those who are gonna crash and those who have crashed.

crashcrash

Tail out: I'm soooooo not ready. Just had a reality check. I didn't crash but it was a terrible flight and I had to start the flight over twice. Back to lesson ONE till I get better.

ArrowNaughtic

LOL crash.............. I just can't even imagine anything but hover for me for a couple weeks. I am still all over the place when trying to hover...and yes, I have the training gear on and it has most probably kept me from flopping over at takeoff. I got about a 1 min hover today before it started to pendulum on me........ I am still way to hard on the sticks. I can move it around and keep it fairly steady with one ball on the ground, but as soon as it is completly airborne.......she gets squirrly on me. If its anything like my lil Venom Ocean Rescue it needs a couple of feet to get rid of rotor wash. So far...have only been going about a ft off the ground........so as not to have any tail strikes or blade strikes. I am on the side of slow and easy wins the race........ although, I do jones for the complete battery hover. Gimme a week...heh
Also am testing the vid cam on the lil coaxial. Will see if I am able to upload anything tonite or not.


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Of all the things I ever lost............................ I miss my mind the most!

crashcrash

I smoked my Li-Po last night so I'm done till the weekend. I also ordered a set of woodie symm and a new spindle. Since I messed with the setting last night trying to get a 9.6v to work, I'll have to set it up all over again (should have just left it alone and ordered the battery). Note on Li-Po...When it shows it's starting to get weak (slightest loss of power), shut it down and re-charge. That's a $40.00 lesson. The Li-Po's are sooooooo much more powerful and last a longgggg time in flight. I can't see buying a 9.6 even though they're half the price of Li-Po's Send me a PM with your E-Mail address, I'll send you video and my address.

ArrowNaughtic

Crash....try www.commonsenserc.com Excellent prices on lipos
I am still flying with NiMH on mineun till i can get it to hover decently..and can fly it outside.....then will go to LiPo's and a new setup.
I did get video of mine last nite.....but seems camcorder is shot.....( 23 yrs old) It recorded.......but was very shakey.......need to clean the heads.and not sure if I can pick up a 8mm cleaning tape anymore.....will look around for one....hopefully be posting video by the end of the week.


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Of all the things I ever lost.......................... I miss my mind the most!

crashcrash

Li-Po as soon as you can swing it. They make ALL the difference in the world. I'll never go back to Ni-Mh after the pleasure of Li-Po. I've already got a battery inbound. I should be up and flying by Sat. I just checked your link...about $10 less. Should have waited for you but it's too late now. I will be getting another in a month or so though. Having two batteries is awsome because it cuts down on waiting time. It takes 40 minutes to charge a pack. That's 40 minutes of pure he!! waiting.