Lowenzahn

Ok one more. I've been reading all the manuals and been trying to figure out how to start the engine once I'm ready to balance the blades etc. From what I understand you attach the battery to the glow plug, remove it once it starts to glow, then insert the starter and give it a crank with the throttle all the way open. Is this accurate? There is a way to disengage the engine from the drive system correct? Like being in neutral? How can I be absolutely sure that the engine is disengaged? Its the switch on the right front of the controller that controls this as far as I can tell from the simulator. Thanks for any help!

Dan

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Fuel her up. Set the main needle to what the factory reccomends plus another 1/2 turn open.

Set the throttle to idle. This is important.........visually ENSURE that at low stick the throttle is at idle. (carb barrel almost closed)

Put the glow driver (battery) on the glow plug.

Grasp the rotor head firmly.

Crank the engine with the starter.

Once it starts remove the glow driver.

There's a centrifigual clutch that when properly installed will not engage the blades at idle unless there is a problem with the clutch or the idle is too high. If the helicopter doesnt try to spin in your hand, and the motor idles, the clutch is working. While your breaking the motor in and until the clutch and liner have a chance to seat the mains may drag a bit and start to spin slowly at idle, thats fine, if the motor wont run unless you let go of the blades then there's a problem.

Lowenzahn

Wohoo! I'm done! Well, almost. Good news though! I found that nut I lost, it fell in my pocket and somehow stayed there (weird). All that is left is the throttle control rod, I have to wait now till I get another one of those control rod screws in the mail since I broke one off while tightening (like one of the hawk pro posts said), and of course I need help trimming it. I think everything looks in order as far as rough trim, and by that I mean its connected correctly and roughly spins in the correct directions.
Whats the best way to look at the carb after the helicopter is complete? I mean as far as your last post says to visually check it...
Thanks for the help again cuda!

Dan

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Well its kind of a pain once its up under the shroud. I look at which way the barrel is going and mark the low throttle point with a marker before I put it together. Then after the rods installed, lower the stick and make sure thats where the arm is, if its opposite you need to reverse the throttle channel. Trust me, bad bad things happen if it starts at full throttle and the stick is at idle and your holding on for dear life trying to pull the fuel line while you smell the clutch burning away. A new liner and clutch later you don't do that again.

wisdom-seeker

Regarding the engine. If the engine is new, you're going to want to run it on a rich fuel mixture for at least the first gallon of fuel. This is necessary to supply the extra lubrication needed for engine break-in. It sounds to me like you have never run a glow engine before. If not, then you should very carefully read the manual that came with the engine. Tuning an engine on a heli is more difficult than on a plane. On a plane, you can tune the engine by sound alone. On a heli, you need to watch several things including, sound, smoke, and temperature. The fastest way to ruin an engine is to run it on too lean a fuel mixture. The usual way to tell is to stop the engine and touch the engine backplate. You should be able to hold your finger there for a few seconds without screaming OUCH!. If this is not the case, then the engine is running too lean. Ditto if there is little or no smoke from the exhaust. Good luck.

Lowenzahn

I'm definitely going to need to find someone to help me out before I start it for the first time. Also I think my on/off switch is broken.
In the off position everything is on heh. Same if it is turned on...weird.

Dan

Lowenzahn

Hey, I just read up on the co pilot auto stabilization system. Would you recommend it? It sounds like the best way to start out till I'm good, rather than crashin the bitz. I'm doing the sim thing and practicing on a hummingbird but I still think this would be a good idea for the sake of crashing my 700 dollar machine. The cost seems reasonable too at 100 bucks. What do you think?

Dan

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

There's people that swear by them and people that hate them.

What you need to be successful is....
Persistence and practice
Training Sticks of some sort
A good simulator
Fuel

wisdom-seeker

Sounds like you plugged the charging jack into the receiver. The charging jack connects to the battery when the switch is in the off position. The solution to your problem is the swap the other female connector into the receiver. The one that was in the receiver is where you connect your charger.

Lowenzahn

Yeah wisdom, I think you were right, it has an on/off function now, though its on when its on the off side and vice versa. I dont think its just the cover either but I'd have to take it apart to be sure. I wanna get the new $200 copilot but I want to make sure it works for my system first. I have the 7 channel futaba radio that came with the kit. The only spare input I have is for the 7th channel, is that where I'd plug in the copilot? Also what freq am I on? I'm guessing its the big 55 right above the 72.8 freq sticker. Is that correct?
Thanks!

Dan

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Yes thats correct channel 55.

If you bought that in the us and are using it over seas be careful. The freq's they use in other parts of the world are different and you may have nothing over there on our channels or you may have any number of other users that may or may not knock your heli out of the air.

Lowenzahn

Yeah I'm in germany but I doubt the freq or channel are going to be a problem. I have relatives that live in places that have mostly cows, so I think I'll be alright hehe. Cant wait to try her out after I get that screw in the mail!

Dan

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Just be careful, I've heard that the cows there are equipped with wireless milk capacity reporting devices, that may be close enough to 72mhz to interfere.

Lowenzahn

Another quick one. I've got everything installed now except for that I've ignored the gyro. It has 3 wires which are 2 male ends and one female. One of the male ends is red. I have 2 slots open on my receiver, one is for the gyro which I'm assuming is the black male end. Where the heck am I to plug in the other two connectors? I also have other good news! I found someone that is willing to help me set up my helicopter in my area! Also hes gonna sell me fuel, which is easier said than done in Germany apparently... Not an american, but luckily I'm fluent in german!
I'm gonna go meet him this Saturday so I'll keep you posted!

Dan

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Plug the rudder servo into the gyro female. Plug the 3 wire male into the rx channel 4. Plug the single wire male into the Rx channel 5, thats your remote gain or heading hold on/off.

What gyro are you using?

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Lowenzahn

PG2000...the one that came with the kit...
By rudder servo you mean the tail servo?

Dan

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

That would be the one. Many of us use the airplane terms for simplicity, aileron, elevator for cyclic and rudder for tail pitch.

Lowenzahn

Ok cool I got everything plugged in correctly, now just wait till next saturday to get her set up! I've been flying the hell outta my hummingbird and I'm getting really good at the hover. I tried to do a slow 360 and almost lost it in my living room. I find it weird that I can do all that stuff np and even fly around a bit on the Realflight sim and it looks like I know what I'm doing, but the hummingbird is kicking my ass

What is it exactly that the gyro does? I know what a traditional gyro is like the ones that steer missiles and I understand gyroscopic recession and all that, but these gyros dont have any internal moving parts, which baffles me. I'm guessing it acts as a gyro by making all the calculations internally, and then passing the directions on to the actual moving parts?

Thanks!

Dan

Lowenzahn

I also just went ahead and ordered the co pilot for ****s and giggles. For 200 bucks I hope it delivers!

Dan

tippy

I'm not the brightest person but I don't think you can plug a jack into a receiver. A typical on/off switch has three leads ... two with jacks, and one with a plug. The plug is the only one that will fit into the receiver. The other two are battery and charger leads. If you plug the battery into the charger jack ... you will have OFF all the time at the receiver (no ON in any position) unless the switch is broken.

Some switches have removable face plates. When installing these you have to make sure that the ON position is oriented correctly in relation to the switch position. This is the only way, that I can see, to have power ON at the receiver with the switch in the OFF position ... and OFF when the switch is on.

Good Luck,
d.tipton

Lowenzahn

Yeah about the switch, its funny really but when you take the faceplate off it has an on and off on the switch itself as well, and I had it correct but the off and on were reversed. So today I said screw it and turned the face plate around so now off is off and on is on

wisdom-seeker

That may be a description of your switch rig, but mine has two male connectors and one female. The female connector is where the battery plugs in, the other two plugs are for the receiver and charging. My charger has a female connector that you can plug the battery into. Therefore it's easy to confuse which plug lead from the switch will plug into the receiver, and which is for the charger. The only difference is which one connects to the battery is whatever switch position.

tippy

Well, I'm not one to hold back if I'm wrong.

I'm wrong!

You are right, the charge plug has to be able to plug into the same place a battery would plug into (ie the charger) and if a battery has a plug then ergo the charging lead would also need a plug. My bad.

Please disregard what I posted earlier ... it was poo poo. (except for the face plate post ... that was OK ... I think)

d.tipton

Lowenzahn

Whaddup all! I have yet another question. I'm trying to do the final set-up part of my Hawk Pro and I'm noticed that my throttle is reversed. The way I understand it, when the carb barrel is open, that is you can look inside the hole, your at full throttle, and when the barrel is closed, your at idle or off. Now, when I throttle up, the barrel is closing, and vice versa, which means I have to reverse the servo right? How do I know if my collective pitch servo needs reversing also? The angle of attack should be at a steeper angle pointing down when I throttle up correct? And more parallel to the ground when I throttle down? I can see myself cranking this baby up and being all messed up, which I'm trying to avoid. I still have to set up the controller and percentages and all, but I think I need to figure this out first. Also I just got my co-pilot in the mail, but thats the last thing I'm going to worry about.
Thanks ahead of time!

Dan

wisdom-seeker

Yes, open throttle means that you can see the crankshaft by looking down the throat of the carb. Closed throttle means literally that, the throat of the carb should be closed. You should be able to reverse the throttle channel in the transmitter. Regarding pitch, the leading edge of the rotor blades should move up as you move the collective stick towards the top of the transmitter. Yours is a clockwise (as viewed from the top) rotor. The leading edge of the rotor blade should be pointed to the left on the rotor blade closest to you.