glowfuel

Have an Aresti 40 and currently run a JR-631, saito 72 up front.

Would this plane benefit from some percentage of expo? If so, what percentages on what channels?

Typically fly sport/pattern with this plane.

Thanks if advance.

R/C Foolish

My Feedback: (6)

You need to learn about expo. Every plane can benefit from expo. I use it on my ailerons, elevator to make them less sensitive to movement around the middle of the stick. Make sure you make it a negative value, start around -25 and increase where needed.

R/C Foolish

exeter_acres

My Feedback: (2)

bzzzzz... wrong answer (unless that specific model is different)

Jr uses Positive numbers for expo to soften the controls, while Futaba uses negative.....


depends on the plane....

on 3D planes I use quite a bit of expo...

a good starting place for expo is half the value of your travel.... ie: if your endpoits are at 100, set expo to 50.. if you are at 150 set it at 75, etc. etc.

I like expo, some don't... test it out and have fun

R/C Foolish

My Feedback: (6)

Sorry, I didn't know that about JR, you are right I use Futaba and expo is negative for me. I agree with everything said though.

R/C Foolish

Cyclic Hardover

My Feedback: (3)

Dial in 10 percent to start with. You wont see a whole lot of difference and if your happy with it or want more and go maybe 10% at a time. You put to much in all at once and the plane is going to feel very sloppy. It feels like you want to turn the plane but it won't go and your sticks are way over to one side before the plane turns. Some guys actually have them set up this way. Nothing wrong with it and to each-his own.

carrellh

The one pattern pilot I know uses expo on all flying surfaces and says he started at 50% and adjusted from there. If I remember correctly he said he ended up with less than 50 on the elevator and around 70 on rudder and ailerons (all on his pattern plane). On his sport planes, he uses expo on some and not on others. When he was my instructor, he recommended expo for me and helped me get it set up. I don't have my transmitter handy but mine is in the 75% range on rudder and ailerons and less than that on the elevator. I've never tried it on the throttle, and Bill said he never tried that either.

My brother tried expo on some of his planes and hated it.

So, you're the only one who can answer the question. When Bill was helping me we did one channel at a time and started at 50%. It took quite a few flights and adjustments to get it the way we wanted it.

smokingcrater

at least for 3d, you get to a certain amount of control throw where the plane will be almost unflyable without expo. my ucd36 has an obscene amount of elevator travel, and without 50-60 expo it is very, very tough to fly. the slightest movement sends it off 90 degrees to where it was a second ago.

CP140

My first adventures with expo came on the maiden flight of Ultrastick 40. Towards the end of the manual, after the section listing throws for low and high rates, is a whole big section on programming different radios.

As the instructions in that section only dealt with JR and Futaba radios, I skipped it because I have an Airtronics radio. Hidden in the programming instructions for those radios was the recommendation on how much expo to use... this info was not included where I would have expected it... in the section on throws. [:@]

Let me tell you... that first flight even on low rates was pretty ugly. I was all over the place! I eventually got it back on the ground and once I'd stopped shaking, went back to the manual... put in some expo and HEY! WHAT A DIFFERENCE!

There is no harm in trying it. Add small amounts gradually, fly it and decide if you want more or less. A word of caution though. Don't add too much expo or your sticks won't do very much for the first part of their movement and have all their effect at the end of their travel.

JoeAirPort

My Feedback: (41)

I fly very aggressively and mostly 3D. I still don't use expo but this summer I'd like to try it out. I'm just used to flying high rates without expo. It's time to experiment a little.

J Lachowski

My Feedback: (46)

40% ailerons
30% elevator
60% rudder

then adjust from there.

captinjohn

Come on guys...lets have some more data on your planes. Thanks Capt,n

carrellh

My plane is an Astro Hog with OS 70. It is a very docile plane and many would say "Expo on a Hog????????" but it helps me be with the basic aerobatics that I know how to do.

XJet

I use a snot-load of expo in my 3D ships because I hate flipping (rate) switches when I'm flying.

This works great -- making for very easy flying, even when the tank is nearly empty and the plane becomes negatively stable in pitch due to a rearward CG.

On some other models however, expo can actually make things like landing harder -- effectively removing the linear response of controls such as elevator. I had a plane that was a dog to land with expo on the elevators -- I'd end up bouncing it every time. Took the expo off and it because real easy to land.

Runway

glowfuel
As you'll have understood from the various posts above, expo is really for the pilot's benefit and not the model's. Different pilots will use different expo levels [or no expo] on the same model. Try small amounts to start with ... and experiment from there until you finally feel comfortable.

Best of luck

Runway

Ed_Moorman

My Feedback: (1)

The use of expo depends on how you fly and how much control you put in your planes. If you are using 45 degrees of travel on ailerons, for example, you'll need expo or you'll have to flip the dual rate switch a lot. Expo is like having low rate when the stick is near the center, but switching to high rate near full travel. The percentage is where the transition takes place and a higher percentage moves the transition point further out nearer to full travel.

I normally set my ailerons on all my new planes for 45 degrees of travel or as close as I can get. I then start with 50% expo. On some 3D planes, I use 70% or better. My low rate is linear, but I rarely ever use it. You can set in 30-45 deg rudder travel and zig-zag on take off. Plug in 50% expo and it will smooth out.

I think the problem with people trying expo is they are afraid of putting in the amount of travel that will need expo and if they do put in a lot of control travel, they use too small an expo percentage. It sort of works in reverse. A large expo percentage gives you a large area of "low rate" near the center. If you set in large aileron movements, then use 10%, you'll hate it because you are barely getting any reduction in sensitivity around middle.

Many of the scale acro planes, Extras, etc. need expo on elevator. On landing, they'll want to porpoise and some expo, 20%, can help here. What you need to understand is every plane is going to be different. A plane with a rearward CG might need a good bit of expo in elevator to calm it down, whereas the same plane balanced forward may not need any.

If you have something like a Stick, set the low rate to where you normally like to fly. Then set high rate for as far as you can get the ailerons to move and set in 70% expo. Take off on low rate and get to a safe altitude, then switch to high rate. You should notice the planes flies fine with this much expo. Hit full aileron and you'll get some roll rate, but ease off and you can control where you stop the roll.