General Helicopter "levelness"
- Thread starter Derek
- Start date
Slobberdog
Well-Known Member
I think you would want it level both ways inline and transverse
Derek
Well-Known Member
I agree, Kev! I'm just not sure how to be sure that my 600 is as level as possible so that my Ikon can be as level as possible. Just not sure how to double check because I'm not the one that built it.
Slobberdog
Well-Known Member
Level the surface you put the heli on, with the Align birds I think they are pretty close to the shaft being at 90 deg to the skids so you should be pretty close, you can always fine tune the axis within the ikon software after you test it initially, I have seen IslandBreeze talking about it on here before, just to get it perfect.
Derek
Well-Known Member
I was thinking the same thing, Kev! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm probably just "making a mountain out of a mole hill" but I just want to make sure that I do everything that I can so that I can have a positive experience from this heli. I'm gonna be nervous enough just from the sheer size of this thing, lol.
Lee
Well-Known Member
I lie a piece of carbon rod across the two frame halves to get a level to work off with my pitch gauge. Then in line i lay it on top of the main bearing block.
If you have a flat spot on the top were the head button normally is. try to attach a level to the top. Then turn the head if the bubble stays in the middle its level, if not, place paper under the skids until it is.
If you have a flat spot on the top were the head button normally is. try to attach a level to the top. Then turn the head if the bubble stays in the middle its level, if not, place paper under the skids until it is.
coolgabsi
Super Mod & DEAL KING!
My pitch gauge is leveled on the tail boom. And measured with blades across the frame .. Any flat spot on the frame is a good place to measure flatness or VERY close to flatness.
If you are doing this for ikon, just pick the flattest spot on the table with a bubble level and use small items under skids on either side to level the heli on it to match the zero level
All that said its gonna be close ... So you won't experice an extreme pull one way or the other when you hit SL. You might need some trimming , so keep a laptop or bluetooth device handy to trim that out ever so slightly the other direction
If you are doing this for ikon, just pick the flattest spot on the table with a bubble level and use small items under skids on either side to level the heli on it to match the zero level
All that said its gonna be close ... So you won't experice an extreme pull one way or the other when you hit SL. You might need some trimming , so keep a laptop or bluetooth device handy to trim that out ever so slightly the other direction
Tony
Staff member
It's not the frame that you need level, it's the main shaft that you need perfectly plumb. Yes, the two can correlate with each other on most helicopters, but you never know. I would check it on the main shaft with a magnetic level, or one that you can strap to the shaft. Because of the way the skids bend with weight on them, you will never set it down the exact same way every time. I would do as suggested with the plumb, then not touch the helicopter as you are doing the setup. Just make sure it never moves. This is the way I would do it anyway.
Island Breeze
Senior Rc-Help Member
One thing I noticed about the SL with my Trex 600, is even if you put the bird at a level ground and set the SL, during flight test the bird tends to fly backwards when SL is on.
+1 for Tony it should be level with the shaft. I had to give it 2 points forward on elev to stay level in the air when testing the SL. Give your settings a try in the air while in hover and hit SL, that should give you a base on where you need adjusting.
+1 for Tony it should be level with the shaft. I had to give it 2 points forward on elev to stay level in the air when testing the SL. Give your settings a try in the air while in hover and hit SL, that should give you a base on where you need adjusting.
For Ikon SL I always set level based on the top of the main rotor hub, just as I do for blade/head setup. I put the batteries in (to help weight it down so it sits on the skids) and then use objects to shim up the landing skids as needed to get a bubble level zeroed out in both the ail and ele directions (I rotate the rotor if needed, such as on the goblin without a hub cap on it). Blades do not need to be installed. In fact I normally do it with them off since I do a bench test of the feature after setting level.
Items to check on bench test (disconnect Ikon from computer, remove blades, have a clear area to move the heli around in and test in powered and unpowered states):
Assuming all goes well, power down, put the blades back on and prepare for live testing. When doing that make sure to have plenty of altitude (100 ft is not unreasonable) and get it out away from you a bit. don't go past your ability to see it and fly, obviously, but you want distance and altitude to be able to switch off SL and recover if needed. I'd run through a similar series of tests as bench testing. First get in a hover and then switch it on and make sure it doesn't jump or go flying off in some odd ball direction. While it is on, try flying forward, backward, left and right and see how SL responds while trying to fly with it active. Then switch off to normal and get it in some highish angle of attack forward or side flight. Switch SL on (being ready to turn it off and recover) and see what happens. It should level off to hover/level attitude. It may well still be flying forward or sideward since it will not correct to hover, only bring the heli level. Last test would be to try turning it on while in a loop or flying inverted. Should flip itself to upright very quickly, be ready on the collective to go positive!
Items to check on bench test (disconnect Ikon from computer, remove blades, have a clear area to move the heli around in and test in powered and unpowered states):
- TH on
- Switch to bank setting without SL and tilt heli in ele and ail axes to test normal corrections.
- Switch to bank setting with SL. If heli is shifted from bubble level, you will notice the swash tilt a bit in the direction of bubble level. Hopefully this is a small amount. If it jumps to a lot of deflection (half or more of full swash movement range) then you need to setup SL level again.
- Switch to bank setting without SL, tilt heli (prop it up or hold it), then flip to banks setting with SL, swash will move in direction of bubble level. Amount of deflection will depend on how off center you tilted the heli. Switch back to normal bank and then back to SL. Try with different tilts, make sure it is working well.
- Switch to non-SL bank setting, tilt, and then turn on SL, tilt heli back in direction of swash (toward level), swash will even out as you approach level again
- TH off (blades off and stuff around you cleared away or accounted for)
- Repeat the prior tests. If you are setup for different governed head speeds, try each of them a least on one of the tests. Checking here to see if vibrations are causing any problems for the behavior of the SL feature.
Assuming all goes well, power down, put the blades back on and prepare for live testing. When doing that make sure to have plenty of altitude (100 ft is not unreasonable) and get it out away from you a bit. don't go past your ability to see it and fly, obviously, but you want distance and altitude to be able to switch off SL and recover if needed. I'd run through a similar series of tests as bench testing. First get in a hover and then switch it on and make sure it doesn't jump or go flying off in some odd ball direction. While it is on, try flying forward, backward, left and right and see how SL responds while trying to fly with it active. Then switch off to normal and get it in some highish angle of attack forward or side flight. Switch SL on (being ready to turn it off and recover) and see what happens. It should level off to hover/level attitude. It may well still be flying forward or sideward since it will not correct to hover, only bring the heli level. Last test would be to try turning it on while in a loop or flying inverted. Should flip itself to upright very quickly, be ready on the collective to go positive!