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E-Flite Helicopters Discuss the line of E-Flite mini and micro helis including the Blade CP, CP Pro, Blade CX, etc

How the ?

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Old 01-30-2008 | 10:38 AM
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Default How the ?

Hey i have an ef-sabre and i was wondering how you make them go upside down even if it has nothing to do with my type of heli i was just curious how they get it upside down !!!???!!!!
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Old 01-30-2008 | 12:16 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

Stand on your head. Ta-da! Upside down!
Old 01-30-2008 | 02:30 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

You can do a forward or backward flip or a sideways flip to get it up side down. Then you add negative pitch to keep it from falling to the ground. To get negative pitch you need to be in throttle up mode.
Old 01-30-2008 | 03:19 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

In general, lift is controlled by the pitch (angle) of the main rotor blades and the speed at which they move through the air.

On your heli, you have a limited control of the pitch just for moving left and right, forward and back (called cyclic pitch). The pitch that controls the overall lift is fixed and you just control the speed to make the heli go up and down.

On "3D" heli's that can go upside down they have what is called "collective pitch" which means that the pitch of the blades can be controlled together to make the heli go up and down, in addition to the cyclic pitch.

As long as the blades have a positive collective pitch, they hold the heli up in the upright orientation. If you invert the collective pitch, the lift from the blades also inverts and would push a heli down if the heli were upright, but flip the heli upside down and now the blade pitch is holding the heli up in the air

The way they make this work in the control is to link the throttle stick (left stick up and down) to throttle and collective pitch. This requires a computerized radio that lets you program the throttle and collective pitch functions in relation to stick position for different flight modes. In normal flight mode, when the throttle stick is at the bottom, throttle is zero and collective pitch is zero. Mid stick is middle throttle and positive pitch and full stick is full throttle and full positive pitch. In "idle up" mode, the throttle is changed so that max throttle is at both low stick and high stick, with a little dip in the middle and collective pitch goes from negative at low stick, to zero at mid stick, to max positive at high stick.

This programming is done with what is call throttle curve and pitch curve which are graphs that represent the throttle and pitch relative to stick position. The normal throttle curve is just a straight line from 0 throttle on the left to max throttle on the right and looks kind of like this: / The idle up throttle curve looks like a V. The pitch curve is a straight line similar to the normal throttle curve, but in normal mode it starts halfway up on the left side for 0 pitch and in idle up mode it starts all the way down at the bottom left for negative pitch.


That's the basics, the curves may vary a bit for more performance but that's the gist of it.
Old 01-30-2008 | 04:14 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

Good details. I am never good at explaining things.
Old 01-30-2008 | 04:52 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

In general, lift is controlled by the pitch (angle) of the main rotor blades and the speed at which they move through the air.

On your heli, you have a limited control of the pitch just for moving left and right, forward and back (called cyclic pitch). The pitch that controls the overall lift is fixed and you just control the speed to make the heli go up and down.

On "3D" heli's that can go upside down they have what is called "collective pitch" which means that the pitch of the blades can be controlled together to make the heli go up and down, in addition to the cyclic pitch.

As long as the blades have a positive collective pitch, they hold the heli up in the upright orientation. If you invert the collective pitch, the lift from the blades also inverts and would push a heli down if the heli were upright, but flip the heli upside down and now the blade pitch is holding the heli up in the air

The way they make this work in the control is to link the throttle stick (left stick up and down) to throttle and collective pitch. This requires a computerized radio that lets you program the throttle and collective pitch functions in relation to stick position for different flight modes. In normal flight mode, when the throttle stick is at the bottom, throttle is zero and collective pitch is zero. Mid stick is middle throttle and positive pitch and full stick is full throttle and full positive pitch. In "idle up" mode, the throttle is changed so that max throttle is at both low stick and high stick, with a little dip in the middle and collective pitch goes from negative at low stick, to zero at mid stick, to max positive at high stick.

This programming is done with what is call throttle curve and pitch curve which are graphs that represent the throttle and pitch relative to stick position. The normal throttle curve is just a straight line from 0 throttle on the left to max throttle on the right and looks kind of like this: / The idle up throttle curve looks like a V. The pitch curve is a straight line similar to the normal throttle curve, but in normal mode it starts halfway up on the left side for 0 pitch and in idle up mode it starts all the way down at the bottom left for negative pitch.


That's the basics, the curves may vary a bit for more performance but that's the gist of it.
WOW Good answer !

That about covers it lol
Old 01-30-2008 | 05:52 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

Lol great guys lol and evadreamer u have got a brain lol right ?

its time to use it lol not being meany lol !!
Old 01-30-2008 | 06:20 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

I only read briefly through the responses...don't your blades have to be symmetrical for inverted flight?
-D
Old 01-30-2008 | 06:27 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

Must be perfectly balanced they dont have to be symmetrical

If that were the case then "adding a bit of tape" would be fluke
Old 01-30-2008 | 06:44 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

-JOK@- u should rename ur profile "lol" cuz u say it every 3-5 words
Old 01-30-2008 | 07:37 PM
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Default RE: How the ?

ORIGINAL: damonlee

I only read briefly through the responses...don't your blades have to be symmetrical for inverted flight?
-D
I don't think they absolutely have to be symmetrical, but non-symmetrical blades probably wouldn't fly very well inverted, they'd need a lot more pitch. Symmetrical blades provide the same amount of lift at the same amount of pitch whether inverted or upright.


ORIGINAL: Coyote64

Must be perfectly balanced they dont have to be symmetrical

If that were the case then "adding a bit of tape" would be fluke
Blades have to be balanced whether or not you fly inverted. But "symmetrical blades" refers to the curved shape of the blade as you look at it end-on, not the two blades being symmetrical to each other.

Normal or "flat" blades, if you look at them end-on, are flat on the bottom and curved on top (your ordinary "airfoil curve"). Hey, that was supposed to be an end parenthesis, not a smiley... Symmetrical blades are curved on both the top and bottom so they perform the same whether they're upside down or right side up.


hehe, I googled "symmetrical wing" and apparently there's some debate regarding how wings actually work. If you think about it, a flat bottom airfoil isn't much different than an angled symmetrical airfoil [sm=idea.gif]

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