General Flybar blades vs flybarless blades

[Derek]

I've heard that there is a difference between main blades for a flybarred helicopter and main blades for a flybarless helicopter.

What's the difference?

 

[Tony]

Flybar blades have the CoG closer to the root and more in the center of the chord. Flybarless blades have a CoG more towards the tip of the blades and closer to the leading edge.

There are a lot of people that like FB blades better on a FBL heli because they are more snappy. The farther out the CoG, the more energy it takes to swing them. But, with the CoG close in to the root like that on a FB blade, your auto rotation speeds will suffer as there is not as much weight to keep the blades spinning.

 

[Derek]

ok. I didn't realize there was that much of a difference. Thanks for the explanation!

 

[Tony]

also, I just read this, if the CoG is ahead of the pivot point, it's like holding a sheet of cardboard into the wind. You (the servos) will have to work hard to keep it in the place you tell it to stay. On the flip side of that, if the CoG is behind the pivot point, it's like holding the cardboard with teh wind. Again, you are going to have to use a lot of force to keep it where you tell it to go. If it's right along the pivot point, your servos will not have to work anywhere near as hard to keep the blades where they should be. Like holding the cardboard in the center (equal amount on leading and trailing edge) so that the wind is providing the same force to each side (leading and trailing) and it's almost effortless to hold it.

But yes, there is quite a bit of difference between the two. The blades that I just ordered for the Pro V2 clone are 3G (FBL) blades. Hoping it will help the heli out a bit over the cheap $3 blades. $15 more so it better work better lmao.

 

[pvolcko]

I've been wondering if the "FBL" blades will start moving COGs closer to FB blade setups now that the FBL controllers are so much better than they were, coupled with the high reactivity and force of modern DFC and direct-to-swash setups.

 

[PaulRC]

I've heard that there is a difference between main blades for a flybarred helicopter and main blades for a flybarless helicopter.

What's the difference?

It all depends on your flying style. for aerobatics and precision flying use FBL blades.
For smack/sport flying use FB blades. They both auto fine. I prefer fb blades, because they are cheap and much more snappy which suites my flying style.

It doesn't matter which one you choose for your fbl heli, just make sure you choose the one that is appropriate for your flying style. Also I noticed even expensive blades need to be balanced sometimes, so always check that they are balance prior to installation. And that they are tracking nicely.