General Cyclic pitch help needed for a newbie.

[Icehunter]

Quite a few years back I picked up a Blade 400 with DX6i. I swapped out the servos to HS65MG as well as the tail to Hi-tec and a 401. So now pulling it out and playing with it again..I hit a snag. I releveled the swash plate,arms all line up,flybar cage is lined up,I am hitting +10 and -10 with a pitch gauge. Now trying to remember how to get the cyclic set correctly at 6 degrees. I watched a video online but it was made in the UK and the fella had his elev and ail switched on his radio and it totally screwed me up. So with my setup I did this....a linear line on throttle and pitch settings..0-25-50-75-100. The DR/expo was all set at 100/INH. Throttle hold on,radio in IU1. Throttle set at midstick.

I took the heli and faced it head on. Took a main blade and ran it also head on to me so that the other blade was over the tail boom. I locked the flybar to the table with a home made riggen all nice and horizontal. Then I put my pitch gauge on the front blade and it read about 2 degrees. I went in the swash mix menu and adjusted elevator numbers in there till it was a 6 degrees positive. I made sure that the right stick was full ahead while I did this. Then I did the same with the ail stick. Full stick ( I think it was left,but been a few days now) Pitch was low on it so adjusted the swash mix number again till I had 6 degrees.

Does this sound right? I have forgot everything I learned years back and trying to get my brain back in motion with all this again. Once I get one heli set proper I can attack the other 3 I have sitting here also. Even a link to a good clear video would help me out.

So in short terms....HELP !!!

 

[Tony]

The way I do that is just as you said. I lock the flybar in place with the blades parallel with the tail boom. I put a pitch gauge on the blade in front of the helicopter and set it to 6-8 degrees of cyclic pitch. This is done on the aileron with the blade in front of the helicopter. I do NOT move the blades. The, I take the number from the aileron pitch settings and just copy them over to the elevator.

from there, I fly it and see if that is enough cyclic pitch. If it's not flipping fast enough or not reacting fast enough, then I add about 5 points to each, ail and ele. Hope this helps.

 

[Icehunter]

Glad that I did it right then. So one other question popped into my cranium today. The pitch setting in the radio under swash mix...is that only used to fine tune the collective pitch? I have never used it. All my settings for collective were done mechanically. Would it also make a difference if the collective is set with the rotor at a 90 degree to the heli and the cyclic set with the rotor set parallel to the heli? Or should all the setting be done with the rotor in the same position? An I just grabbed the radio and checked the ail and elev numbers. One is +81 and the other is+91. So that must mean that somewhere the swash isn't exactly equal. But using this heli just to hover it shouldn't make that big of a deal should it?

 

[trainrider06]

Swash mix usually is around 60 + or minus however you have it set up.
On one of my 400's I had to bump up pitch to 74 I think, 90's seems high, but if your getting +10/-10
I guess it's ok. Just make sure nothing in the FB cage is hitting anywhere when you cycle through the sticks. If there is. You'll get big problems of binding.

 

[Tony]

Under Swash Mix, I always set the Ail and Ele to the exact same number. When you are setting up the helicopter, you don't want to move the helicopter because nothing is perfectly level and if you are using a digital pitch gauge, it will show different numbers. I always set the helicopter with the blade sticking out in front straight at me (parallel with the boom) and I measure that blade. I will rotate the head and measure the other blade just to verify the links are the same. But I never measure anywhere else other than the front of the helicopter. And make sure you are calibrating your pitch gauge every time on either the top of the frame, or the top of the motor depending on what frame you have.

And yes, PIT is to adjust the collective numbers. If you have too much collective, lower this number. If you have too little, raise this number. Just remember, the farther you are away from 0 (you can go positive and negative), the more pitch you will have.

Hope this helps.

 

[Icehunter]

K guys I need to verify a couple of things

1...when setting the cyclic pitch using the aileron stick. So my flybar is all locked in cozy and level at 0 degrees at mid stick. Now I give it full right aileron( right stick on radio at full right position) and I set the swash mix so that I get 5 degrees of +pitch ( on the main rotor)at full right aileron. So in theory or what ever you call it..I have +15 degrees in total of positive pitch at left stick full forward and right stick full right at the same time. Is this correct?

Dummy question #2......Still leaving the heli all locked in the same way,when I give it full elevator I want to set the pitch on the flybar ( not the main rotor) so that it gets 5 degrees of positive pitch? So I end up with 15 degrees of positive on the rotors and +5 on the flybar. Is this correct?

#3 cause my brain is freezing!!...Something has been bugging about my setup. Didn't look right for some reason. Finally figured out that on my servo control arms from left to right side,that the ball is set one hole farther back on one side then the other. So therefore this is not putting the adj. rod at the same position on both sides. IE..one side has more of a slope to it then the other. Would this be the reason that my numbers in my swash mix are all wonky and spaced so far apart? Should I start from scratch and readjust everything again?


By the way...any one want to fly up here today in the 12 inches of wet snow we have had since last sunday???

 

[Tony]

right aileron on the blade sticking out of the front of the helicopter should result in negative pitch on the blade. And don't worry about doing any measuring on the flybar. Just copy over the numbers from your aileron and you will be fine. Your third question is going to need some pictures attached with it to explain. Not feeling all that great today so it could just be me lol.

And you cna keep your snow and I will keep my 85ºF weather lmao.

 

[Icehunter]

What about the 2nd question? So should I be getting negative on the flybar with full elevator? Right now I am getting positive on both the main rotor and flybar with full stick ( independatly tested of course) . Should both be negative?

An snow is good for ya,builds a healthy immune system if you can handle 6 months of it at one time!!

 

[Tony]

It depends on what side you are looking at. A video would help us out a lot in getting you setup. But like I posted before, just make sure your flybar paddles are even with the cage and don't worry about setting anything on the flybar. Only set the blades.

 

[Icehunter]

Here are the pcs of the swash and servo control arms from both sides. One has the ball mounted ahead with a hole visible behind it. Other side is reversed with the hole in front of it.So therefore me thinks that the links wont be even, resulting in a slightly different setting from left to right side.

 

[Tony]

Ah, yes. Those need to be in the same hole. The bottom picture is going to have more swash travel than the first picture. I always try to set it to the inside hole to start with, and if I don't have enough throw (you will, but just in case), then move it to the outside hole. Make sure the elevator is moving the same distance as well.

 

[Icehunter]

Thanks Tony. I finally got it all sorted out and now I just have to store them for winter. I might get a chance to try hovering in the shop if its empty. An some night just reset all the things in my radio..thr curve,pitch,DR/expo ETC. Should be fairly good to go me thinks.