MimsK

Yup, I did it! Got my Shuttle off the groud today and even managed a very brief hover. I guess I'd have to say that it was series of bunny hops, but I did manage to keep it in a very tight box. I do have a few problems though.

1) My High pitch seems to be too much for the little Enya. When I give it full throttle it just settles back to the ground or wont take off at all. At lower collective settings, the rpm's come up and it will take off as I add collective, but it is a short lived event. Should I correct this with push/rod adjustments or can I just reduce my pitch curves in the transmitter to not reflect full pitch?

2) Initialy I had my throttle setup to kill the motor when the stick was back w/full back trim. But after setting my throttle curve 17-40-50-60-100 I can no longer get the engine to quit. Can I use 0 instead of 17?

3) The look on my wifes face was priceless when she saw my $1000.00 toy bouncing along in the backyard

Thanks

Kelvin

rusirius

Congrads... That first hover is a great feeling isn't it? As for your questions. You don't mention what engine/heli you have, but to begin with you hover should be around half stick. Generally it's about 5 or 6 degrees positive pitch for most birds (around 1650 RPM). Lets make sure you have the bird set up correctly first... First off, when you get in trouble do you find yourself slamming the throttle/collective stick shut real quick? If so, then you probably want the bottom of your pitch curve to start at 0... Otherwise, -2 or -4 would be dandy... On the high side you want around +9. In the middle you want probably about +5. So, since you mention a 5 point throttle curve I'll assume your using a computer radio. So, on the pitch curve (always set it first), do something like -2, +2, 5, 7, 9 (basically you want a pretty linear pitch curve no matter what, otherwise it just won't ever feel right in the air). Now, once you have the pitch curve down, Go do the same thing to your throttle curve... First off, FORGET about trying to shut the engine of with the trim. You've got a computer radio... It almost certainly has a throttle-cut feature... That will allow you to shut the engine off without having to worry about trims or whatever... Start the heli and hold on to the head. Go to the low point on your throttle curve and start bumping it up until just after you start to feel the clutch engage. With the trim centered and the stick all the way down you want it just past the point of engaging. Now go to your high point (shut the heli off first ) and set it for 100 right now... Might not need it, but put it there anyway... Now make the rest of the curve liner... For example, if your low point on the throttle curve is say 20, then make your curve 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. Now, some people will tell you they don't recommend strapping the heli down to something... No point in trying to learn to fly a bird that isn't set up right, and you won't be able to adjust the engine correctly without putting it in the air unless you strap her down. I like to take two poles (I use a couple of chimney cleaning fiberglass rods myself) and run over the skids sideways... Then anchor those things down any way you can. Just remember your heli CAN generate a tremendous amount of lift... Just make sure it's not going ANYWHERE. Also, run a couple of tie straps around the skids and poles.. This will keep it from walking one way or the other. Now... All buckled in? Good... Now you need to either BUY or BORROW a tach from someone... You can get one for about $80, or borrow one from another heli guy for free... [8D] Start the heli and run it up to full throttle. Check the head speed... Your shooting for about 1800 RPM... Now this is the tricky part... Hit the throttle hold and wait till it spins down. If you were under 1800, lean out the high speed needle a few clicks. Assuming your engine is powerful enough for the heli, eventually it will hit 1800 RPM but you will still be running fairly rich... If your running a small or low power engine for whatever heli it is, you may need to back the pitch down a bit... Try +8 on the high side instead. Now... Got it tuned in and running 1800 with full throttle? GOOD.... Now spool it up again but start backing the top of your throttle curve down... You want to keep bringing it down until you get the head down to about 1650 RPM. Now bring it down to 3/4 stick.... Check it again... Start adjusting that point on the throttle curve till you've got 1650 also... Same for half stick.... Now, whatever you have at half stick on the curve, subtract your low number from it, divide by half, and add back to your low number... For example, let's say your low number was 21... You mid stick came out to be 53... 53-21=32/2=16+21=37. So set the 1/4 stick setting to 37. This will give you a nice easy transition up to hover. Now let it idle and see how it seems to be running... Let it idle a minute or so, make sure it's got plenty of smoke and is running rich... Try giving it some throttle after it's idled for a minute. If it dies or bogs down, try leaning it out just a tad. (with the LOW SPEED NEEDLE!) Just make sure you always have plenty of smoke and it's not running too lean. Now you've got a perfectly tuned engine and pitch / throttle curves to match... Next you need to go to the setting on your radio for the throttle hold... Set it so that throttle hold idles the engine but just below the point where the clutch engages... Then lastly, go to the throttle-cut setting. The easy way to set this one is to pull the link from the carb off the servo... Close the carborator all the way shut and then adjust the throttle-cut setting till the servo matches up with the link. This will give you a switch to turn the engine off whenever you need to without ever using trim and not effecting your throttle curve. Ohh, and if you want, you can do the same thing for your idle up curves... You want probably -9 on the low end, 0 in the middle, and +9 on the top for the pitch... For Throttle, you'll have 100% at the top (the 1800 RPM the engine is tuned for), and 100% at the bottom. Adjust your other points to hold around 1800RPM throughout all stick positions. Hope this info helps, and good luck with your future flights!

MimsK

Wow, those two questions promted some serious work for me! My radio is a JRXP8103DT and my heli is a Shuttle Challenge/Enya.35. I do find myself wanting to chop the power at times so I think your advice here is spot on. I was kind of proud of myself for geting it setup and lifting off thus far. I had no idea I needed a tach..hmm ok makes sense to me other wise how on earth would I know what the head speed is. So if I understand what you're saying, then it's the +pitch setting that controls RPM?

Also I don't suppose you or anyone else can tell me how to program a throttle-kill into a XP8103? I've allready figured out that it should be a throttle-throttle mix but I'm not sure about how to finish it up.

Thanks for your time!

Kelvin
Tracy CA

Flaps2012

Congrats on getting yur heli into the air! I am doing the final setup stuff on my Ergo 60. A few more hours and I should be ready to fire it up! I like this idea of using a mixing function as a throttle cutoff. I just got a JR 9303 and am still learning all the bells and whistles on it. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a mix specifically for throttle cutoff. I also have an XP8103 that I have been using with my Ergo 30 and Hornet. I will have to see if I can program a cutoff in that radio as well. I'll tinker around with it and see if we cant get us a throttle cutoff.

LATERZ!

Charlie

No, you use your throttle curves to control the head speed (RPM). You don't change your pitch, you use your throttle curves to set the head speed to what ever you want to fly at. For a beginner, you want around 1550 to 1650 (RPM), once you advance with your flying you mite wont to bump it up to around 1900 (for a 30 size heli).

P.S
You strap your heli down and take it to full throttle with full positive pitch, your asking for trouble, that puts to much stress on the head. You mite get away with it once or twice, but sooner or later something is going to let go, and trust me, it wont be pretty. That's a very dangerous way to try and setup your heli. Regardless what people think, these are not toy's, they can and will kill you (or someone else) if not use properly.

rusirius

Yes, if you tend to chop, then definately set the low end of the pitch curve to 0. That way even if you chop the heli won't slam into the ground from an average height. The Shuttle / Enya shouldn't have a problem with +9 on the top end, but you might start with +8 anyway just to be sure. I'm really not sure on the JR's. I use a futaba and it has the function built in. However if I were to take a guess you'd probably need to set up a custom mix. Something that when the switch is thrown it will either SET the throttle to a specific point, or "subtract" a certain amount of throttle (adjust it from the idle point). I don't know if it has it, but another nice feature would be to set up a mix inhibitor.. The futaba will allow you to specify "conditions" for a mix... So for example, my throttle cut will ONLY work if the switch is MOVED from OFF to ON WHEN the stick is in the idle position. If it was left on, it won't suddenly kill the engine if I move it to idle... likewise, if I hit the kill switch while I'm in a hover, it won't have any effect either.

To address Charlie's post, I agree strapping it down is a dangerous thing. Hell, hovering 10 feet away from yourself is a dangerous thing for that matter. You DEFINATELY want to check the head before hand and make ABSOLUTE sure there are no loose links, no cracks in it anywhere, etc... Also, I thought the Shuttle's had a full metal head? Anyway, even with a standard head, as LONG AS ITS IN GOOD SHAPE, the forces being applied should not be anything to worry about. You don't want to be standing over top of it 4 inches away, but as long as you are safe about it there shouldn't be much to worry about. I do agree however that this should not be used as your "NORMAL" means of setting up the engine and tuning it. Once you have it tuned it shouldn't need any adjustment for a while anyway, and once you are proficient at flying you can adjust it by using full power climb-outs, which is definately much safer. Once you can fly that is.

MimsK

Ok, totally went through my setup yesterday and fixed a few things. I found at my low pitch setting, I had one blade - and the other + "doh" [:@] So I raced back to the LHS and bought the Robart gauge. It should be a crime to sell those cheap plastic pitch gauges, I spent hours eyeballing that thing only to find I was way off[:@].

Anyhow, to make a long story short, " I think I know why they called it SHUTTLE" [&:] It's lifting/hovering rock solid at 1/2 stick, mission accomplish thanks guys! Now I'm off to the RC field to meet with an instructor.

KM

rusirius

Congrads! Good to hear it.. Yeah, one positive and one negative would definatly cause a bit of a tracking issue.. LOL... Enjoy the ride! Your in for a good one!!!