Ok gang, before I begin, let me say, I'm working on getting some help!! I truly am!

SO PLEASE do not answer this message with, "Kirk, you really need to get some help there. YOU will do much better, you will progress much faster" bla, bla, bla!!!

I live in a small town in SOUTH, SOUTH, Louisiana!! NO ONE HERE fly's heli's!!

The closest is New Orleans!!! This is MY busy season (I'm a pro Photographer) and I frankly DO NOT have the time to go to New Orleans and learn, not for at least 2 more month.

But I promise!!! I will do it then!!

SOOOOOOOO, for now, here is my question:

I posted late week about my little WOBBLE problem I've been having after a MINOR WRECK!!

OK, I've done EVERYTHING YOU have suggested!! I've changed the main mast, the fly bar, the main rotor blades, I've balanced everything RELIGIOUSLY!!

NOW I take it out today, and IT WOBBLES EVEN MORE!!!!!!!!

So I take the main rotors off and look down them. YOU KNOW, kinda the way you look down a POOL QUE to see if it is straight!!

WELL, one IS STRAIGHT!! THE OTHER IS NOT!! IT HAS AN OBVIOUS BEND TO IT!!!

HOW MUCH BEND?? Good quetion!! I measured it and it bends about 1/4 of an inch!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, so is this what is causing my wobble??? and if you think it is, in your VAST EXPERIENCE, is it possible for a main rotor blade to come out of the box BENT THAT WAY?????????

I'm calling Tower Hobbies in the morning. That is where I got the NEW rotor from. I can't wait to see what they say about this!!!

Thanks so much for all of your comments!!! BELIEVE ME, without this board I would have given up a long time ago!!

But I'm determined!! I WILL LEARN THIS THING!! AND I WILL BE GOOD AT IT!!!

Thanks,

Kirk Voclain

Kirk,

You're not that far from New Iberia, and there are several very competent heli guys there.

What heli guys in New Orleans? Aside from Jeff Kent and Fritz Blackburn, I don't know of any active heli guys in New Orleans; and I think Jeff has been out of it for awhile. For sure, that club out west of Bridge City is rabidly ANTI-helicopter.

Anyway, try to make the Louisiana Heli Pilot's Get-Together here in Baton Rouge on April 6. We're looking at at least 30 guys, probably more, showing up. E-mail me for details.

And that bent blade could indeed be causing your wobble. Hey, wood warps. Which is why it is so important to carefully go over wood blades. I got one in an X-Cell kit once that looked like a divining rod...<G>

Steve

Steve,

I would love to email you, but your profile does not let me do it. SO PLEASE email ME!!

[email protected]

Kirk

Oops, sorry. I keep forgetting that this board doesn't do the automatic e-mail (while not displaying the actual address) thing like RunRyder does.

I'll bump you tonight when I get home.

Steve

Kirk,

I have some old 600mm blades that had a bow in them about 1/8" and when balanced and tracked they didn't cause a problem. Funny thing was that one was bowed one way and the other the opposite. They did track at the tips and flew ok. You did set the tracking on the blades, right?

A couple things to check.

Did you check the spindle? Thats the rod through the head that the blade grips are fastened to. If that is bent it will cause a wobble or shake.

Anouther thing is low headspeed. Low headspeed will sometimes cause the heli to wobble some.

REMEMBER, I'm just a beginner!!! So by tracking??? I'm assuming you mean the second thing you do after you balance.

1. YOU balance the blades by putting them each on one side and the other of the balanceing thing.
2. Then you take the one that you had to put tape on (the light side), and you lay it across the balancer. FIND the center, and then lay it next to the other blade (heavy one) and make a mark. Take the Heavy Blade and balance it by laying it across the balancer.
3. Then you go back and balance the 2 using the first method, but this time, you put the tape on the spot where you put the mark.

IS THAT TRACKING???

And IF you mean the FEATHER BAR (that's what Nexus calls it) YES I replaced that too!!

Kirk

Kirk,

Tracking is when you have the blades on the heli and bring the speed up to near or at hover rpm. Look straight on at the rotor disk and see if the tips of the blades are in plane. It should look like a straight line from the side. If the blades are out of track you can see the ends of the blades seperatly. This means one has a slightly different pitch than the other. I put a piece of colored tape on the tip of one blade so I can tell which one is high or low. You need to adjust the linkage to one or the other to bring them back in line.

OH YEA!! I do that!! I do that everytime!! I spend several minutes and almost a full tank of gas doing that!!

They are tracking EXACTLY the same!! So that is not the problem.

Kirk

Kirk,

There are two types of balancing, one is called 'static' and the other 'dynamic'.

Static balancing is done on the bench with the proper tools for each blade, for example, using a scale to check the weight of each blade, which must be equal and a balancer to check the center of gravity of each blade, which should be in the same place length wise along the blade. The best tool for this is a Koll Pro Balancer and a good scale able to measure to a tenth of a gram.

Next is to check that the flybar and paddles are balanced on the head. You must make sure that each paddle is the same weight with the gram scale. Balance the flybar in the seesaw of your main head first, without the paddles attached or lingages attached, so it just teeter tawters . Then mount the paddles the same distance from the seesaw on both sides and check for balance again. adding a little thick CA glue to one of the paddles will center the flybar with the paddles on.

Now remove the head from the shaft and attache the main blades to the grip holders tightly, so that the blades to not droop as you hold the head with the blades sticking out sideways. An extra main shaft works well here and can be used in a balancer, such as propeller balancer. The head with everything mounted should be equally balanced so as one side is not droping any lower than the other side. Remount the head. I should have mentioned all control lingages are removed for the above process.

That concludes static balancing.

You might and should do the same with the tail rotors.

If done properly the heli should hover quite sweetly without any wobble at all, right out of the box, so to speak.

Dynamic balance is done with the heli running and adding tape to one blade or the other and at the CG of the blade, no where else. You should check the tracking of the blades and adjust so you only see one tip in the rotor disk. If they are out of track you will see a gap and two tips as you look at the rotor disk from the side, this gap must be made to close by moving one of the ball links in or out. It is basically making the blades run at the same pitch or angle of attack.

The fan attached to the motor should be static balanced and this is easily found needing balancing if the vibration introduced into the heli while running is a high vibration. High vibrations are usually associated with the engine.

As usuall, I insert my disclaimer of not knowing everything and I could be dead wrong on a lot of things. CYA.

Paul A

I have got brand new wood blades that were twisted from TT and they replaced them with no hassle, this may be your problem. Also, if you have to track your blades everytime you fly...something is wrong or loose. It could be the warped blades. Once you track the blades, you should be set until you crash or tip over or whatever.

THANK YOU! I'm calling TH RIGHT NOW.

Kirk