Ec145 Flys

fran11784

Goblin 380 Supporter
This morning we got to maiden the Nightingale EC145. Not bad over all. You'l hear us keep mentioning the shaking in the vertical stabs. After the flight we talked and I think Im going to add a carbon fiber stiffener to each of them. They are so flimsy I dont think the shaking in them was any fault of the heli. Just not stiff enough. Just a few small things to work out...

 

Tony

Staff member
That helicopter looks absolutely fantastic! Great job on the build.

As for how you track a 4 blade head, Let's talk about that.

First, you need to put the helicopter down on a hard smooth surface where it can't rock. Find what orientation is is most stable in (roll or pitch, or if you prefer X or Y axis respectively). Once you find what orientation has the least movement, calibrate your pitch gauge to your main shaft. You should have a side on the pitch gauge that is smooth where you can get a pretty accurate reading. Or you could hold it sideways (the pitch gauge) and just read from 90º (where 90º or -90º is your 0º pitch). Once you have your pitch gauge calibrated, and you have the helicopter in the most stable position, point a blade towards you and read the pitch at mid stick. It should be 0º. If it is not, adjust it. Once you get the first blade at 0º, spin the head and point the next blade at you without moving the helicopter physically. Check that blade adn set it to 0º at mid stick. Rinse and repeat for the remaining two blades and they will track perfectly with each other.

If your blades are not perfectly straight, then getting them to track is pretty much impossible. Look down the leading and trailing edges and if you see a warp of any kind, you know that blade is going to cause issues. Also, look at the shape of the blade. Any kind of differences will also cause tracking issues such as the airfoil not being perfect on all 4 blades.

Keep the videos of this thing coming! Again, awesome helicopter.
 

fran11784

Goblin 380 Supporter
Hey Tony, I took a look at the blades and they look good, I can't see any differences. They are Spin blades from Germany and they are usually pretty good. I use a bevel box when I do my set ups but without the blades on. I have a jig I made to bolt to each grip. Each grip was at 0. Worked perfectly in the past but maybe on this head I'll have to try it with the box on the blades instead. Like I said, they were much closer then the first flight. I think the main reason was the ball links on those grip arms had slop. I replaced them all with SAB parts and now its slop free. Anyway, who knows when I'll fly it again....lol
 
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