Pretty embarassed to ask but.....radio controls

[MicroMan]

Im pretty sure that the throttle on a radio controls the headspeed I think. My other questions are below. If there are any pictorial resources please feel free to post em. Please explain this in as noobish terms as you can, thanks.

1)Does the the rudder stick control the rotor.

2)The elevator stick controls the up/down of the swashplate, which control the pitch of the blades, correct.

3)What does the Aileron stick control.

[Hotwings]

Don't be embarrassed to ask questions,

The right stick in mode 2 controls the ailerons (left-right) and the elevator (up=forward-down=backward). the left stick controls the pitch (up-down) throttle (up=high-down=low) and rudder (left-right) left rudder moves the nose of the heli to the left, vice versa for right rudder. the mix of throttle and pitch is one of the reasons you need a heli radio.
hope this helps, also your radio manual should show this in it's instructions, RTFM.
Ron

[MicroMan]

Don't be embarrassed to ask questions,

The right stick in mode 2 controls the ailerons (left-right) and the elevator (up=forward-down=backward). the left stick controls the pitch (up-down) throttle (up=high-down=low) and rudder (left-right) left rudder moves the nose of the heli to the left, vice versa for right rudder. the mix of throttle and pitch is one of the reasons you need a heli radio.
hope this helps, also your radio manual should show this in it's instructions, RTFM.
Ron

Thanks for the great info but I dont have a radio yet Im still putting my T-Rex together. Ive already downloaded the manual for several radios like the DX-7.

[HeliDan]

RTFM? I have an idea but am afraid to ask the meaning. Might you volunteer?

[spork]

RTFM? I have an idea but am afraid to ask the meaning. Might you volunteer?

It's what you think... "read the manual"

[HeliDan]

RTFM? I have an idea but am afraid to ask the meaning. Might you volunteer?

It's what you think... "read the manual"

:lolol

[spork]

Just a few clarifications:

Im pretty sure that the throttle on a radio controls the headspeed I think.

The throttle/collective stick (left stick fore-aft movement) doesn't typically control head speed. We typically strive to keep the head speed constant in helis regardless of collective pitch position. So the left stick controls collective, and mixes in enough throttle to keep the head speed constant. This is usually a curve that we simply program in, but can also be done with a governer.

1)Does the the rudder stick control the rotor.

The rudder stick typically controls the pitch of the tail rotor blades. They too are intended to spin at a constant speed. There are some exceptions to this (typically on the less expensive electric helis).

2)The elevator stick controls the up/down of the swashplate, which control the pitch of the blades, correct.

Nope, the up/down of the swash-plate is the "collective pitch". It is controlled by the throttle/collective stick (left stick the way most folks fly). The elevator stick controls the fore-aft cyclic. In other words it makes the swash-plate tilt forward or backward.


3)What does the Aileron stick control.

This controls the left-right cyclic. It makes the swash-plate tilt to the left or right. In forward flight this acts exactly like ailerons on a plane.

[MicroMan]

That's a GREAT explanation spork, thank you. From what Ive read on Helifreak Governer mode rarley keeps the headspeed constant, therefore you're better off using curves and disabling the governer mode on most esc's. Ive seen Bobs vids on setting up pitch curves and think your explanation goes well with it.


Guys lets not let this thread digress into whats better cCCPM or mCCPM just what the controls do thanks.

[spork]

From what Ive read on Helifreak Governer mode rarley keeps the headspeed constant, therefore you're better off using curves and disabling the governer mode on most esc's.

I'm not an expert on gov. mode, but that's consistent with what I've read. Certainly there are folks that have found the right combination, but I don't think it's common practice.

I realized that my above explanation talks about collective and cyclic without any description of what they are. So here's a brief explanation for the newbies.

As most of us know, we can change the pitch of the main rotor blades to increase or decrease the lift (or even produce "negative" lift when we set them to negative pitch). When we want the heli to climb, we increase the "collective" pitch. This causes both blades to increase pitch by the same amount, and stay at that increased pitch throughout the rotation.

When we want the heli to tilt (left/right or fore/aft), we can increase the blade-pitch on one side while decreasing the blade pitch on the other side. This "cyclic" pitch input causes assymetric lift, and causes the heli to roll and/or pitch. But, as you can imagine, this means that as a blade goes one full circle, it has to go through the range of low pitch and higher pitch. It does this each time around. This is why it's called "cyclic" pitch.

If you look at the swashplate (the circular disk that moves around on the main shaft below the blades) you can easily see how these two control modes are affected. The swash moves up and down to create a "collective" input, and it tilts (both fore-aft and side-to-side) to affect a cyclic input. You can put in a cycic input (for example) and then slowly rotate the blades by hand and see them go through this range of pitch - pretty nifty actually.

As a brief tangent, one might expect that we'd increase the blade pitch on the right side of the disk, and decrease it on the left side, if we want to roll left. Interestingly, this is not the case. Because of gyroscopic precession of the head, this will cause a fore-aft pitch (depending on direction of head rotation). But this is not something the pilot needs to think about as the control linkages take this into acct. Nor is this important to the definition of "cyclic" and "collective" pitch. Just a brief tangent for accuracy.

[MicroMan]

Thanks spork :mrgreen: