crashtested
11-15-2006, 04:58 AM
HI flyers !
I felt that i would sorta blog my experiences with this heli (the walkera 22e) and lead you thru my learning process. I am new to the hobby and this is my first rc heli experience. I had never even seen one fly in person, but apon seeing that they existed in an affordable range ,(so it seemed at the time) i have now begun what i hope to be a long relationship with the rc heli world. Ill show you some of my thaughts and noobtacular responses to my introduction to these robo-engineering-micro-mechanical-works of art.
- After my first experience i ran to my computer (gen 1 dual 2g mac G5) and found HELIFREAK ...from watching google vids i think. My introduction to these forums was the best thing i could have imagined as you can see here:
http://www.helifreak.com/viewtopic.php?t=23670
OK, so here it is.
Day one: "It's alive"
Standing outside my shop here in providence RI, UPS man walks toward me with the box i had been squirming in my sleep awaiting. Immediately open the box to find my new "toy" staring me in the face.
I immediately noticed the fragile nature of the machine i would be flying.
so many little plastic pieces!
I bring it into my living room and spread out the contents of the box.
-the heli
-the controller
-the bag of -useless- spare parts (they ship outdated spare parts with it)
-spare blades "why, i bet ill need these!"
-battery charger -seemed dinky compared to my old rc car charger
-training gear -thank god they came with
-operating manual, and fight manual
ok so ...Start reading!
-safety blah blah blah... just kidding
-battery charging ...plug her in and get that baby juiced
-adjusting and tuning
so here's where the fun begins!
mode 1 ? mode 2? oh im in America...mode 2 it is.
wait... i have to wait for the bat to charge before i can even tune anything?
ok, so read on.
tune her up and get flying ...simple enough! (heh)
so i read on about how she flies and how to do certain maneuvers.
Now, if you have never had any kind of rc machine at all, (which fortunately i have ,but limited to my elec rc car...and i had an air boat once) most of the language the directions are in would be foreign to you.
"never touch spinning rotor blades or any other exposed moving parts"
THAT everyone should be able to understand.
"initially you do not need to worry about how to operate your [22E] skillfully"
IT ACTUALLY SAYS THAT !
Well what do i need to worry about?
hmm... ill just worry about everything else!
So, i had read elsewhere that one should not even attempt to fly their craft w/ out ever putting some time in on a simulator.
Well with the heli right there... and the battery charged... and no such sim for my MAC... what do you think i did?
i plugged the bat in and jumped right in!
with the manual right in front of me i slowly went thru the steps.
-turn on the transmitter...-check
-throttle stick down... "um wheres the throttle...oh...ok...DOWN" ...-check
-3d mode switch down (no where on the receiver does it say 3d switch... but the picture in the manual shows it) ...-check
-test flight controls to make sure operating properly ...ok things move when i move the sticks... im no moron... but what do i know about what properly is? ...so i assess the bade movement, direction, and with my general understanding of earthly physics and what i think a helicopter should do, i deduct that everything is AOK.
manual reads "...and will move swash plate in the direction you want to fly"
what the hell is a "swash plate"? ok it must be one of these thingies near the blades...
no where to this point has there been even a diagram of the heli...
...a nice picture with descriptions would be nice there walkera... or maybe an exploded view of the parts im going to be replacing!
so.. whatever... the "swash plate" should be moving right... it said RTF !!!
(wow)
moving on.
next step:
-"push left control stick slightly forward to increase rotor speed. The [22e] may not take off vertically; it may go forwards or backwards,left or right. Use trim sliders (you know... those things next to the sticks) to fine tune the [22e] while hovering.
"WHILE HOVERING" ! ? !!! ?????
this is where things get interesting.
so i trim the rotors down to stop. Push the throttle up...
WHAM!!!
one of the main blades disconnects, flies across my living room, and disappears out of sight.
huh...i must have done something wrong.
I find my blade (ding-1, blade-1) , and inspect the situation.
IT WASN'T SCREWED ON TO THE ROTOR HEAD!!!!!
no joke... the screw was just chillin ! ...
THESE ARE RTF ! (so it says on the box)
i didnt feel as tho i was supposed to inspect every aspect of the construction.
"dont panic...it will be fine...shit happens"
now my experience with taking every electrical thing i could get my hands on, and the fact that i have a complete cabinet building/woodwork shop, is the separation between me and some poor kid that gets this RTF heli. I have tools.
So i dive into the fixit part of the game, before i ever even get the blades at full speed.
inspection of the head leads to an amazing discovery.
a- the screw to blade 1 was not tightened at all
b- the screw for blade 2 is stripped to round...
no problem for now... at least its on there!
so , screw it on there and proceed.
-power up, trim the throttle...
up throttle
up throttle
up throttle
..ok it's "light"
and twitching, sliding to one side
trim
trim
trim
trim
trim
up throttle
trim... oh crap... move sticks erratically..
SMASH
into the wall
(blade 1-ding2,3,4 blade2-ding 1,2)
im not going to keep counting dings.... just blades.. just insight on my thought process
-inspect... shits broke...
-google "replacement parts for 22e"
-grab the super glue
-google "rc heli crashes"
-"oooh"... laugh my ass off
-feel better that mine was a gift
-find HELIFREAK site
-
END OF DAY ONE
One might ask... "why would you continue?"
well... i love to fix, make, tinker.
There is potential here...
if it flew out of the box... around the room, and landed, i might have been bored with it. This is a complex machine, that all parts are there in front of me, ready to fix, replace,improve...and purchase. Im no millionare (yet), but ive dreamed of such a machine from childhood. If learning the hard way is what ive been dealt. The hard way it is. Maybe it will just make the evolution of my experience that much more enjoyable. (nor do i have the extra grand to buy the into the big boys)
Thanks fer reading!
More to come... prob by the week not day, but i know there are plenty of ppl that will get a kick out of this, if at least make them feel better about their first days.
-andy
I felt that i would sorta blog my experiences with this heli (the walkera 22e) and lead you thru my learning process. I am new to the hobby and this is my first rc heli experience. I had never even seen one fly in person, but apon seeing that they existed in an affordable range ,(so it seemed at the time) i have now begun what i hope to be a long relationship with the rc heli world. Ill show you some of my thaughts and noobtacular responses to my introduction to these robo-engineering-micro-mechanical-works of art.
- After my first experience i ran to my computer (gen 1 dual 2g mac G5) and found HELIFREAK ...from watching google vids i think. My introduction to these forums was the best thing i could have imagined as you can see here:
http://www.helifreak.com/viewtopic.php?t=23670
OK, so here it is.
Day one: "It's alive"
Standing outside my shop here in providence RI, UPS man walks toward me with the box i had been squirming in my sleep awaiting. Immediately open the box to find my new "toy" staring me in the face.
I immediately noticed the fragile nature of the machine i would be flying.
so many little plastic pieces!
I bring it into my living room and spread out the contents of the box.
-the heli
-the controller
-the bag of -useless- spare parts (they ship outdated spare parts with it)
-spare blades "why, i bet ill need these!"
-battery charger -seemed dinky compared to my old rc car charger
-training gear -thank god they came with
-operating manual, and fight manual
ok so ...Start reading!
-safety blah blah blah... just kidding
-battery charging ...plug her in and get that baby juiced
-adjusting and tuning
so here's where the fun begins!
mode 1 ? mode 2? oh im in America...mode 2 it is.
wait... i have to wait for the bat to charge before i can even tune anything?
ok, so read on.
tune her up and get flying ...simple enough! (heh)
so i read on about how she flies and how to do certain maneuvers.
Now, if you have never had any kind of rc machine at all, (which fortunately i have ,but limited to my elec rc car...and i had an air boat once) most of the language the directions are in would be foreign to you.
"never touch spinning rotor blades or any other exposed moving parts"
THAT everyone should be able to understand.
"initially you do not need to worry about how to operate your [22E] skillfully"
IT ACTUALLY SAYS THAT !
Well what do i need to worry about?
hmm... ill just worry about everything else!
So, i had read elsewhere that one should not even attempt to fly their craft w/ out ever putting some time in on a simulator.
Well with the heli right there... and the battery charged... and no such sim for my MAC... what do you think i did?
i plugged the bat in and jumped right in!
with the manual right in front of me i slowly went thru the steps.
-turn on the transmitter...-check
-throttle stick down... "um wheres the throttle...oh...ok...DOWN" ...-check
-3d mode switch down (no where on the receiver does it say 3d switch... but the picture in the manual shows it) ...-check
-test flight controls to make sure operating properly ...ok things move when i move the sticks... im no moron... but what do i know about what properly is? ...so i assess the bade movement, direction, and with my general understanding of earthly physics and what i think a helicopter should do, i deduct that everything is AOK.
manual reads "...and will move swash plate in the direction you want to fly"
what the hell is a "swash plate"? ok it must be one of these thingies near the blades...
no where to this point has there been even a diagram of the heli...
...a nice picture with descriptions would be nice there walkera... or maybe an exploded view of the parts im going to be replacing!
so.. whatever... the "swash plate" should be moving right... it said RTF !!!
(wow)
moving on.
next step:
-"push left control stick slightly forward to increase rotor speed. The [22e] may not take off vertically; it may go forwards or backwards,left or right. Use trim sliders (you know... those things next to the sticks) to fine tune the [22e] while hovering.
"WHILE HOVERING" ! ? !!! ?????
this is where things get interesting.
so i trim the rotors down to stop. Push the throttle up...
WHAM!!!
one of the main blades disconnects, flies across my living room, and disappears out of sight.
huh...i must have done something wrong.
I find my blade (ding-1, blade-1) , and inspect the situation.
IT WASN'T SCREWED ON TO THE ROTOR HEAD!!!!!
no joke... the screw was just chillin ! ...
THESE ARE RTF ! (so it says on the box)
i didnt feel as tho i was supposed to inspect every aspect of the construction.
"dont panic...it will be fine...shit happens"
now my experience with taking every electrical thing i could get my hands on, and the fact that i have a complete cabinet building/woodwork shop, is the separation between me and some poor kid that gets this RTF heli. I have tools.
So i dive into the fixit part of the game, before i ever even get the blades at full speed.
inspection of the head leads to an amazing discovery.
a- the screw to blade 1 was not tightened at all
b- the screw for blade 2 is stripped to round...
no problem for now... at least its on there!
so , screw it on there and proceed.
-power up, trim the throttle...
up throttle
up throttle
up throttle
..ok it's "light"
and twitching, sliding to one side
trim
trim
trim
trim
trim
up throttle
trim... oh crap... move sticks erratically..
SMASH
into the wall
(blade 1-ding2,3,4 blade2-ding 1,2)
im not going to keep counting dings.... just blades.. just insight on my thought process
-inspect... shits broke...
-google "replacement parts for 22e"
-grab the super glue
-google "rc heli crashes"
-"oooh"... laugh my ass off
-feel better that mine was a gift
-find HELIFREAK site
-
END OF DAY ONE
One might ask... "why would you continue?"
well... i love to fix, make, tinker.
There is potential here...
if it flew out of the box... around the room, and landed, i might have been bored with it. This is a complex machine, that all parts are there in front of me, ready to fix, replace,improve...and purchase. Im no millionare (yet), but ive dreamed of such a machine from childhood. If learning the hard way is what ive been dealt. The hard way it is. Maybe it will just make the evolution of my experience that much more enjoyable. (nor do i have the extra grand to buy the into the big boys)
Thanks fer reading!
More to come... prob by the week not day, but i know there are plenty of ppl that will get a kick out of this, if at least make them feel better about their first days.
-andy