5 blade and SK360 setup question

[Techspy]

I have my 500 size 500 TOW flying pretty well now but have 2 issues I would like to work out. One is that it pitches up in forward flight. It doesn't have to be fast forward flight either. I really have to reduce the collective to keep it from really gaining altitude and then when I slow down it wasn't to drop a lot so I have to be really quick to being the collective back up. This sometimes leads to a really "jumpy" heli as when the collective finally stops it from dropping it just isn't pretty.

Right now I have my SK360 on the stock scale setting but understand that it should be able to help address this issue. Oh, and I have tried adding a lot of lead to the nose and it helped a little but not enough.

The second issue is related and might not be an issue if I get the pitching up sorted. It has to do with teh pitch curve. I have tried more and less curve but it doesn't seem to help. I don't have an issue during normal flight, but when I have to "catch" the heli from dropping, like because of the pitching up, it is like I get no reaction until I really increase the collective then it all comes in at one and the heli jerks. The swash is smooth, there is no noticeable binding on the blade grips etc. This issue may just be normal for stopping a heavy scale heli when it is sinking pretty good, and may not be an issue once I get the pitch up sorted.

2 more small issues...I get a little wag in the tail in hover. Belt it new and the right tightness. Gyro is a cheap one (Telebee) but I have used many of these same models with no issues. My next step is to swap out the gyro and see if that makes a difference.

Last issue is on how to adjust the SK360 to calm the heli down in wind. I don't fly it in strong wind but want to calm it down a bit to allow better light wind handling.

Thanks for any info or suggestions. Here is a video of it flying on a really calm day. You can see the tail wag and the pitch up, sinking when slowing.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln4Ei-yvzYY[/ame]

[fireplug1111]

First issue what 5 bladed head are you using?

[Techspy]

Its a HeliArtist head.

[helipainter]

do you know your pitch curve in degrees? Where you set your curve, what is the percent it is set to?

Did you happen to feel each of the bearings on the blade holders? I had one that was chunky and wasn't letting the pitch curve move smoothly but mine is kinda doing the same thing

You would like to see

-4, 5, 10

and pitch curve to achieve it something like 30,60,100 with appropriate swash Pitch mixing to get this

if your curve looks like 0-5-10 and your percent looks like 50,70,90 it will act like you complain about

[JackMartin]

Okay, I watched the whole video...going some for me. I did not notice pitching up, so you were doing a great job. The settling...that occured ever time you turned away from yourself, I will state from that the 'wind' was at your back. I think it was settling with power as it did not do it at higher flight speeds.

As far as settings on the Skookum. I am not the best, but if you are having ballooning issues, the elevator channel needs more gain. Be damn careful about wiggling the stick before she gets off the ground too.

Ya, I would put a better gyro in there and then worry about the tail, it looks slow, is the servo fast and strong enough?

Actually I think it did pretty good, and looks like you got a good heliartist head.

[helipainter]

Originally Posted by Techspy

I don't have an issue during normal flight, but when I have to "catch" the heli from dropping, like because of the pitching up, it is like I get no reaction until I really increase the collective then it all comes in at one and the heli jerks.

In general, this is decreasing head speed condition. Drop the pitch a hair at mid stick or raise the throttle curve at all points except 0.

You will see this on film as a head that appears to be moving the opposite direction it is spinning. once you gear for the head speed your after, fine tune the curves till it appears the disk has an advancing look on film.

Like this
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkydJdakg5I[/ame]
scroll forward to 2:40 for a close up of what i talk about. Even with my eagle tree, i use a camera to set em up and it helps confirm what i feel as far as stability in head speed. I makes a huge difference

I'll watch it come down out of elevation for increasing speed, watch punch outs for decreasing speed, etc. Governors start to sound like good stuff after you get one dialed in. The Castle Phoenix has an incredible on built in, so does the scorpion esc's

[BrokenRotor]

I don't mean to hi-jack your thread, but I have a very similar setup question. I am going to put a 5 blade Century head with the SK360 on a 50 size nitro.

Can anyone give me some starting setup values for my setup for my radio and th SK360? My radio is a JR9303.

I am using 550mm blades, a JR770 3D gyro on the tail.

Thank you.

[JackMartin]

I learned last weekend your curve needs to be linear, with mechanical adjustment to get hover at mid stick, that should get you in the vicinity of -3 to +12 or so. You also need to make sure of your full cyclic pitch range....left to right aileron, how much total pitch?

Base settings should get you out there without pitch up.