I have set up my heli to within a hair on the swash plate all round!.. when I get it off the ground ( im only hovering at the mo.) it wants to go left all the time. adjusting the trim on the front panel makes NO USE at all. in fact if you were to look at the swash plate it has a serious lean on it so the heli so go way way right!. when its about 2 feet off the ground I can get it to go right but with a lot of cyclic. I am using stabilizers and have checked that they are ok , and also checked that the heli is level all ways round with battery in the the right position each time so its not balance.... im stumped. could it be a main shaft problem?? or pitch? im on 5 deg at mid stick and im only hovering for now.
General Why does my heli go left left left. driving me nuts!
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Dirk
Member
As Lee said, all (well, most )helis will lean left. It is known as "Tail rotor drift". Affects full size as well as models. Try hovering a little higher if you can. Two feet above the ground you're playing in your own rotor down wash.
I don't see it as a main shaft problem though. Do you have any idea what your headspeed is? It sounds to me as if 5 degrees of pitch at midstick may possibly be a bit too much? I hover at around 4.5 to 5 degrees but at about 65-75 percent throttle. Low headspeed will make your controls very sloppy.
Any ideas from you other guys?
I don't see it as a main shaft problem though. Do you have any idea what your headspeed is? It sounds to me as if 5 degrees of pitch at midstick may possibly be a bit too much? I hover at around 4.5 to 5 degrees but at about 65-75 percent throttle. Low headspeed will make your controls very sloppy.
Any ideas from you other guys?
yep.... thanks guys first of all......... believe it or not it was the main shaft , well about 80% of the problem anyway. when I got it out it was maybe 1mm out of straight. but I have found that even in the slightest of knocks a heli will want to go left with the tail going anti clockwise. It has been wobbling and shaking and vibrating and hopping , Im only learning but I recon ive done well getting it to hover at all. New main shaft in now and she is as steady as a rock. I changed the stabilizers as I kept breaking the legs, I got some 4mm carbon rod and bound it with fine string and thin super glue. This stops the vibration when hovering. after 3 months of sim I am off the ground and hovering at last !
I now use 3 old drill bits of slightly different sizes to hammer down the boom to straighten out the kinks when I have a crash. I tapered the square end slightly and with a few drops of oil just send them down the boom, use the smallest first and work up, saved me a packet and does the job. Its near enough while learning tho. Also broken carbon boom braces are ideal for strong legs on stabilizers.
I had a problem with a broken antenna on a orange DSM2 you can get replacements that just clip onto the gold antenna port inside the receiver. cost me a dollar from hobby King
All I need to do is practice not pushing up the throttle when I go right or left on rudder,
Thanx again guys
I now use 3 old drill bits of slightly different sizes to hammer down the boom to straighten out the kinks when I have a crash. I tapered the square end slightly and with a few drops of oil just send them down the boom, use the smallest first and work up, saved me a packet and does the job. Its near enough while learning tho. Also broken carbon boom braces are ideal for strong legs on stabilizers.
I had a problem with a broken antenna on a orange DSM2 you can get replacements that just clip onto the gold antenna port inside the receiver. cost me a dollar from hobby King
All I need to do is practice not pushing up the throttle when I go right or left on rudder,
Thanx again guys
ive been told several conflicting stories about hovering..... some say to set 5 deg mid stick and 65% throttle if practicing hover only. others say never do that and pitch should be zero. they say that it will be difficult when doing 3D later, ?
I also have a new 450 sport. Its great for crashes as the belt etc is very forgiving, but the heli is all plastic and not what I would call a quality machine at all. the boom tends to rotate and also the tail. I am forever twisting it back into line. I have put a tiny screw through the boom and tail holder just to keep it solid there. The head is a nightmare! I have replaced the 2 recessed bearings and screws in the flybar holder twice now , they are a right pain so ive swapped the Sport head for my Pro one and now with the new main shaft the Heli is the best its been !!!!
I also have a new 450 sport. Its great for crashes as the belt etc is very forgiving, but the heli is all plastic and not what I would call a quality machine at all. the boom tends to rotate and also the tail. I am forever twisting it back into line. I have put a tiny screw through the boom and tail holder just to keep it solid there. The head is a nightmare! I have replaced the 2 recessed bearings and screws in the flybar holder twice now , they are a right pain so ive swapped the Sport head for my Pro one and now with the new main shaft the Heli is the best its been !!!!
Westy
LEGEND
It is definately a point of contention .....
I set up my learner pilots helis with +5 at hover and +7-+8 at top and +2-+3 at bottom stick ...... This is for hovering and orientation and .... very very slow side to side circuits.
I will tell you the reason.... Learning to fly helis is like learning to drive anything .... cars are more forgiving as you ad only travelling forward and the occasional corner..... even though we all know how easy it is to drive a car.... still learners struggle with ALWAYS overcorrecting..... whether it be accellerating, braking or cornering (Understerring and oversteering)
Well Helis are the same .... the new pilot always ..... always .... over compensates on the controls. For this reason, I set them up on the +3 to +8 Pitch curve.
Response is spongy (Like a cushion) but still teaches them where to put the collective for hovering..... and .... best of all it is more forgiving if the new pilot dumps the collective in a mad attempt to reduce height when they have lost control and gone too high.
Then later when the learner (usually a couple of months later = some a couple of weeks) has mastered the motor/eye, hand, brain skills..... and learn to apprecieat the balance between power and cyclic management ..... then...
I change them to the normal -2 to 0º to +10/+11 pitch curve and -10/-10 to 0º to +10/+11º curves.
hope that makes sense.....
I set up my learner pilots helis with +5 at hover and +7-+8 at top and +2-+3 at bottom stick ...... This is for hovering and orientation and .... very very slow side to side circuits.
I will tell you the reason.... Learning to fly helis is like learning to drive anything .... cars are more forgiving as you ad only travelling forward and the occasional corner..... even though we all know how easy it is to drive a car.... still learners struggle with ALWAYS overcorrecting..... whether it be accellerating, braking or cornering (Understerring and oversteering)
Well Helis are the same .... the new pilot always ..... always .... over compensates on the controls. For this reason, I set them up on the +3 to +8 Pitch curve.
Response is spongy (Like a cushion) but still teaches them where to put the collective for hovering..... and .... best of all it is more forgiving if the new pilot dumps the collective in a mad attempt to reduce height when they have lost control and gone too high.
Then later when the learner (usually a couple of months later = some a couple of weeks) has mastered the motor/eye, hand, brain skills..... and learn to apprecieat the balance between power and cyclic management ..... then...
I change them to the normal -2 to 0º to +10/+11 pitch curve and -10/-10 to 0º to +10/+11º curves.
hope that makes sense.....
DAL2855
Banned
Yeah definitely makes sense Westy! What I did was just setup everything the correct way, then used D/R and Expo to soften up the responsiveness of the heli. But yeah I need to start little by little getting rid of the D/R maybe a couple or three points at a time getting used to the heli and new responsiveness each time for several flights before moving on to the next level! I did change the gyro settings the other day from beginner to Extreme 3D for all the agility and gain settings and wow what a difference it made!
hi Westy!
Yeah me heli was jumping left and goin anti clockwise, tail drifting right. ... I have set it up to within a hair on the servo/cyclic/swash etc. but still goin way left, and I mean way left. I kept adjusting the cyclic to push the swash right, ...nope . when you look at the swash its got a real angle to the left( when you look from the front) when I adjust the front panel it does NOT make a blind bit of difference to the way it moves I just couldnt get it to go right without hard right cyclic. It must have been the mainshaft (bent) and the play in the fly bar/ bearings. As i say its pretty much ok, but will know more tomorrow when I got more time. cheers mate
Yeah me heli was jumping left and goin anti clockwise, tail drifting right. ... I have set it up to within a hair on the servo/cyclic/swash etc. but still goin way left, and I mean way left. I kept adjusting the cyclic to push the swash right, ...nope . when you look at the swash its got a real angle to the left( when you look from the front) when I adjust the front panel it does NOT make a blind bit of difference to the way it moves I just couldnt get it to go right without hard right cyclic. It must have been the mainshaft (bent) and the play in the fly bar/ bearings. As i say its pretty much ok, but will know more tomorrow when I got more time. cheers mate
Westy
LEGEND
take the main blades off and tail blades of and spool it up ... see if you can see the head wobbling...... but if the swash is not level ... at mid stick ... with 0 trim ..... you need the go back to the basics and re level it up at ZERO PITHC ... MID STICK! ... then check it is level at top and bottom. I am assuming you are using a Flybarred heli"?
As for your tail .... take any trim you have on the heli on tail (well on everything) off!!!! and start again with heli in rate mode .... or .... put your servo (For the set up ) direct into the Rudder Channel on your Rx (CH4) and power up ... make sure your tail blades are at nuetral ..... (or a little of positive angle toward the nose right side (input a bit of nose right on you rudder to see which way that is ) the tail slider should move tward the tail boom if yo uare setting it up the right way!
As for your tail .... take any trim you have on the heli on tail (well on everything) off!!!! and start again with heli in rate mode .... or .... put your servo (For the set up ) direct into the Rudder Channel on your Rx (CH4) and power up ... make sure your tail blades are at nuetral ..... (or a little of positive angle toward the nose right side (input a bit of nose right on you rudder to see which way that is ) the tail slider should move tward the tail boom if yo uare setting it up the right way!
mmmm thinking....... in my hovers why does my heli move up and down vertically without me touching or inputting anymore throttle. Ive taken my thumb off the stick and the heli rises and drops on its own ...why?is it because im inputting cyclic and it drops as it moves back and forward and side to side etc.. interesting ive learned as it drops now not to input too much throttle to comp. as this was making it yo-yo even more. The more confident ive become in the last 2 weeks has really made a big impact into me being more easy on the controls.
I see what you mean on the hovering thing, I was on 30% repo but now I feel its a bit too soft, im ready for a change.
I see what you mean on the hovering thing, I was on 30% repo but now I feel its a bit too soft, im ready for a change.
yep...... did that a hundred times..... and a hundred more, all trim off, start swash plate level always. done that. Tail is fine now, It was recommended to go positive, so that the angle between the tail "rod" and the tail lever should be 90 deg. tipping up the heli and looking from underneath the boom.
Its taken ages but I had this idea of taking the head off my pro and putting it on this sport. It seems to have worked.! The heli is tracking brill. I had a slight prob with the tail blade it had stuck and locked when over extended somewhat in the travel. It seemed to have snapped into a locked position. I just twisted the blade and it snapped back open again, Is this a common fault? seems ok now tho. It was the wish bone it had over extended slightly.
Its taken ages but I had this idea of taking the head off my pro and putting it on this sport. It seems to have worked.! The heli is tracking brill. I had a slight prob with the tail blade it had stuck and locked when over extended somewhat in the travel. It seemed to have snapped into a locked position. I just twisted the blade and it snapped back open again, Is this a common fault? seems ok now tho. It was the wish bone it had over extended slightly.
interesting article on balancing the blades... Tony did a video on it and said to throw the blade balancing tool in the bin. I did. I now weigh the blades and then find their centre of balance where i now put on some tape to equal them up. works every time.
The vibration I found was caused by the "newbie" stabilizers I has on. I found that by whipping a fine string around the legs stopped any vibrations. I made up my own balancing under carriage that is way stronger and is able to absorb impact from 3 ft drop without any damage. I ought to patent this! I had a few crashes up to a couple of days ago but now this has saved me no end in serious crashes.
Just needed a new mainshaft, a boom brace and one blade in the last 2 weeks, and thats flying everyday as a novice. ( £5.80 ) especially now im straightening out my bent booms with mu homemade tool.
The vibration I found was caused by the "newbie" stabilizers I has on. I found that by whipping a fine string around the legs stopped any vibrations. I made up my own balancing under carriage that is way stronger and is able to absorb impact from 3 ft drop without any damage. I ought to patent this! I had a few crashes up to a couple of days ago but now this has saved me no end in serious crashes.
Just needed a new mainshaft, a boom brace and one blade in the last 2 weeks, and thats flying everyday as a novice. ( £5.80 ) especially now im straightening out my bent booms with mu homemade tool.
Lee
Well-Known Member
As for the bobbing up and down. Think of the heli as sitting on a cushion of air. Its bouncing up and down on it. Squashing the air as it falls, so it rises again until it looses the power, then falls again. It will do this until you counter act it and stabilise it into a steady hover. Also if the linkages in the head are sloppy it won't help this either.
ive spent hours and hours over the last few months rebuilding my Pro etc so ive learned a lot. Now that ive had some major hovering issues and i am getting over that it sure is a good way of learning. In the deep end. !!!! My garden is on a 45 deg slope and I can easily lift off from it into a hover so its been good to know how not to panic when things go wrong..... its all about confidence.
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Tony did an interesting thing with 4 coins taped on one blade near the inside and one coin right near the tip. Both blades balanced up on the balancer which is incredible, I threw mine away after that. Its more important that the blades weigh the exact same. any adjustments need to be over the centre of gravity and on the leading edge. very interesting video.
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Thanks Lee
I guess my stabilizers dont help either. When you touch the ground on a corner of the heli it sends it bobbing around like a drunken duck. I guess when the day comes to get rid of them , it will be easier to handle from that point of view. The wind really affects them too. cheers.
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Ive had a problem too with the tail servo. It works fine right stick but on left it only moves about 4mm on the bar, ive tried adjusting everything on travel but cant get enough travel. Am I missing something? It is set up dead 90 is there anything else I could look at?
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Tony did an interesting thing with 4 coins taped on one blade near the inside and one coin right near the tip. Both blades balanced up on the balancer which is incredible, I threw mine away after that. Its more important that the blades weigh the exact same. any adjustments need to be over the centre of gravity and on the leading edge. very interesting video.
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Thanks Lee
I guess my stabilizers dont help either. When you touch the ground on a corner of the heli it sends it bobbing around like a drunken duck. I guess when the day comes to get rid of them , it will be easier to handle from that point of view. The wind really affects them too. cheers.
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Ive had a problem too with the tail servo. It works fine right stick but on left it only moves about 4mm on the bar, ive tried adjusting everything on travel but cant get enough travel. Am I missing something? It is set up dead 90 is there anything else I could look at?