Quick question....when Ilevel the swashplate....do Imake sure it is 90 degrees from the main shaft? If Ilevel it by say a small level....wouldn't it be "off" if the heli itself is not level or it's sitting on a surface that is not level? Thanks

One method I've seen is taping an allen key to the main shaft real snug and pressing it down against the plate, since its a 90 degree bend in the key.

That is the correct technique, but not because the key is at 90 degrees. The important part is that the swashplate is at the same distance at all locations from the key. The angle of the key is non-critical. Just spin the mainshaft/key combination while observing the distance between the key and the swashplate.

Yes, you have to level the helicopter fisrt if you are using a bubble level. I typically place the bubble at the bottom of the main shaft just over the top bearing at the top of the frames.

Rafael

or you could use one of these
http://www.amainhobbies.com/advanced...eler&x=10&y=11

Thanks Guys.....it all makes sense now....the theory behind it is what I am trying to understand. Iam doing my first build and Ihave learned ALOT about how everything goes together...the how and why's.
You have helped me in the past Rafael...Thanks again to all.

Hi
Question: Leveling the swash plate in reference to the main shaft which is 90* to the top main bearing and even to the top of the side frames, is this a correct?

Yes.

If you use the allen wrench method, or the leveler that slips down over the main shaft then it doesn't matter if the helicopter is level or not as you're leveling in relation to the main shaft.

If you're using the double bubble leveler, then the frames of the helicopter need to be bubble level as well.

The swash leveler tools linked to by midntpumkin are the most practical to use. Keep in mind that leveling the swash is important throughout the pitch range. You'll find that leveling the swash at zero pitch doesn't necessarily give you leveled swash at full negative or full positive pitch. You'll have to use servo travel adjust (or end points) to make the swash level through out the pitch range. This way you'll prevent unnecessary drift as you apply more pitch/throttle whether in normal or inverted flight.

Yup. Friend was over last night with a Vibe 50 that just wouldn't fly right. Since I found this hard to believe (those things are like flying a Lexus) I had him pull the head and we started setup over with a swashplate leveler attached.

Turned out one of his roll servos was bad or had a dead spot, you could get it dead on level but as you added pitch one servo would wait then catch up after a small bit. I stuck my thumb on it and moved the stick and it was very easy to get it to stick.

Realizing that something wasn't right, and taking steps to address it right away probably saved his helicopter.

brand new to flying helis so i heres my newb question:

so is leveling the swash plate just the base setting? i was trying to setup my mcx after i replaced it with some bling parts and it hovers nice and flies great now but the swash doesn't look leveled.