My shuttle plus has a tail vibration that I can't seem to figure out. The vibration seems to be up and down, not a side to side tail wag. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

join the club! i have two shuttles and both have a vibration in the tail in the same fashion as you describe.i managed to reduce the vibration in one of them by making sure that the feathering spindle was centered in the head, as this was off by a large amount from new{artf}this reduced it by a large margin.as for the other one,i believe that it is a result of the clutch not spinning true,and this i can do nothing about!you may notice that the tail vibrates worse in the wind,i have noticed this

alvin1

When you mention feathering spindle, what do you mean exactly. My shuttle is an ARTF too. I noticed a small improvement in the vibration when I increased the headspeed. Unfortunately I have no way of measuring headspeed.

Dave

the feathering spindle is the shaft that goes through the head block that the blade grips fit onto,it has a spacer on it that seperates the grips from the head block dampers.you need to measure the distance from each end of the blade grip to the center of the head block,then do the same for the other side,make sure you measure accurately and both sides should be the same,if they are not,then you need to carefully file down one of the spacers slightly to make the distance equal.the spacer to file will be one of the small ones seperating the grip from the head,not the ones inside the blade grips.you will be able to tell if this is what is causing your vibration by spinning the main blades as fast as you can by hand and then looking at the tail,if the spindle centering is off,then you will see the tail jerk as each blade slowly goes round past the tail.the problem with the shaft centering is caused by the damper not fitting properly into one of the sides of the head due to inaccurate molding,so it is likely that more than one shuttle will be affected.

alvin1,

Thankyou for the reply. I did not see how the measurement could be off due to each blade grip being bolted on until it bottomed out. I suppose that if the spacers were not the same size, or if the blade grips were not exact how this could be a problem. Mine however are exactly 70.5mm from the center of the head to the center of the blade grip mounting screw. I have not been able to fly since I last raised the headspeed, but I will raise it some more next time out and let you know if it helps. I only wish I had a way to measure headspeed. without spending alot of $ for a heli tach.

Hi,

I noticed this with my plus as well, I managed to get rid of most of it by spending an age finely balancing the blades....

Cheers

John

[:@]I have flown my two shuttles with that tail vib for years. Hurts nothing that I can tell.

Guys, there is no way you can center the feathering spindle because is free to move to one side or to the other.
The feathering spindle on the Shuttle adjust by itself by CENTRIFUGAL FORCE.

Is a good idea and recomended to put some grease on the feathering spindle rubbers. This way the feathering spindle will adjust easy to the correct position. EAVEN that Hirobo does not mention this on the manual instrucction PUT some greasse there.

The set up on the shuttle is very easy but most of the vibration can trace it to balance the HEAD, BLADES, Flybar & Flybar paddles.

Try to look for somebody to help you balance your heli but usually you can hide all the Shuttle vibration leaning the engine

if you have up/down tail vibration in abbut 2 to 4 in a second you must incrise head speed by moving the th curve up
arie

the feathering spindle CAN be centered,i have done it as described.if the dampers stick out furthar on one side then assuming all spacers are the same,which they are, if you put the blade grip on to that side and tighten all the nut's then measure,you will see that the blade grip on the side where the damper sticks out,is furthar from the centre of the head than the other blade grip,causing a vibration in the head.think about it,the spindle does not centre it'self,it simply has an equal amount atatched to both ends of it.that way it cannot move either left or right when tightened because the spacers will stop it.if you want to see this for yourself then remove one of the spacers on your heli and replace it with a slightly larger one,then reassemble it and fly it,you will now find that the heli has an annoying vibration in the tail and if you measure the blade grip distance,you will see that one grip is slightly furthar away from the centre than the other.this procedure is outlined also in rays helicopter manual

A slight vertical bobbing movement of the tail is low frequency vibration, hence it is coming from the main rotor system. There are several ways to check and correct this.

1. Insure the main rotor shaft is straight and running true. You may be surprised how many shafts are not straight.

2. Make sure the main rotor blade grips are tightened equally. Both blades must be free to lead/lag, though snug, with equal tension. If applying only more head speed solves the shake, then this is your problem.

3. Static balance of M/R blades may be accurate but dynamic balance may be off (that is why tire shops spin balance tires). A simple test is to tightly snap a #44 or so rubber band around the center (chordwise) of one blade. Lift off and if there is improvement, start moving the band inward or out and note difference. If not, move it to the other blade. If nothing improves using this method, the blade balance is okay. If moving the band smoothes out the shake, begin adding strips of sticky blade covering (vinyl, monokote, etc.) the bands location after removing it. Add more to achieve balance.

4. Be sure the flybar is straight, any bend causing lead or lag will contribute to the shake. Remove the flybar paddles and add several wheel collars to each side, moving them close to the hub. Start sliding one collar out about half way and lift off. If improvement, continue making fine adjustments to that side. If none, go to the other side. If no improvement on either, the flybar is dynamically balanced.

Years ago, blade balancing accuracy was performed by first finding the individual blade's center of gravity length wise and adding little pieces of covering to match the blades. Then they were covered and balanced as a unit on a balancer or on the rotor head (less accurate). Today's precovered/balanced(?) blades are matched by weight only, however their CG mass may not be in identical locations.

Try these steps. There is no reason to fly any heli with a shake. It will eventually lead to a mechanical failure.

Alvin, I have more than 8 year flying all types of Shuttles. I have teach tons of people to fly helis using and recomending to them the Shuttle. I know how to arm and disarm the shuttle with my eyes close and there is NO WAY you can center the shuttle feathering spindle because is free to move to one side or to the other by centrifugal force.

Why, one of your rubber damper stick out????? This mean you has no pushed correctly all the way in!!!! Put some silicone grease to the rubber so it can SLIP easy inside.

Then put some grease to the spindle so it can enter very easy. This also help the spindle to center himself by the centrifugal force each blade made when the head is turning at hi speed-

If you still have some tail vibration is because you head or blades are NOT balanced.

Also please give me the Rays manual page number were you say you read that................

http://www.runryder.com/gallery/00288/Mvc-011s.jpg
http://www.runryder.com/gallery/00288/Mvc-012s.jpg

ok right,i feel there is no point argueing with you on this,i have made this modification and it does work if that is your problem.your asking me for the page numbers of the modification as described in rays helicopter manual so here they are:they are page numbers 122 and 123 of chapter 20 look at photos 1,2,3,4 this is the modification and the measuring method that i am describing.is it possible that you are mistaking this procedure for somthing else?

Alvin, I dont have nothing agains you. But honestly what you are saying is not logic. MAYBE is work for you bacause as you say one of your rubber dampers stick out from the yoke.

As I toll you on my last post, maybe you has not pushed all the way the rubber damper inside the joke, BELIVE ME, before you introduce the rubber inside the joke put some silicone grease to the rubber so it can SLIP easy full the way in inside.

Then put some grease to the spindle so it can center very easy. This also help the spindle to center himself by the centrifugal force each blade made when the head is turning at hi speed

I dont find the info. Maybe is because I have the old version of the RAY Helicopter Manual. Do thats is on the newer version??? The newer version has a JR 10x program tips on the las pages.

Isaac