Help w/ CP Pro...

[Ben Hedrick]

I know that this is getting to be an old subject, but I have a new CP Pro and I am having the hardest time getting it to fly right... I have flown twin blade counter rotating helicopters and this is my first CP helicopter, but WOW is this thing difficult!!! :arggg: :arggg: :arggg:
I don't know anybody else that flys helicopter so hands on lesson would be tough at this time. I can get it up and then it wants to "wobble". I assume someting is out of balance, but it's got new blades, no main rotor shaft, new spindal, new just about everything since I've crash it a time or twenty... :? Any tips that anybody can tell me over this forum would be GREAT...
I have heard that the if you can fly a CP Pro you can fly just about anything and at this point, anything else is looking good...

Thanks in advance, Ben

[fllyer]

It sounds like your head speed is too low for some reason.

[HeliEddie]

Blades tracking good?

[Ben Hedrick]

I've check the blades and I just went out and bought a set of carbon blades. I can spin it up on the table and hold it down, and it seem well balanced. I will try the new blades tomorrow and see what happens. I know I'm new to helicopters, but this one CAN'T be that hard to fly... I hope...

By the way, what helicopter should I get next, that is "easier" to fly...?

[Pinecone]

Yes it can be that hard to fly.

Google Radd's Flight School and FOLLOW IT.

Bigger is easier to fly. Soa Trex 450 will be easier to fly than the Blade, a 400mm blade length ship like a Quick of Japan EP8 will be easier to fly than a Trex, a Swift or Hurricane 550 even easier, and so forth up to flying a Bergen EB gasser with 800 mm blades.

[Ben Hedrick]

Pinecone,
Thanks. I am reading Radd's leason's now. I won't give up! I really like the challenge but WOW, this is a challenge.

Thanks... Ben

[Ben Hedrick]

Also, are carbon fiber blades better or tougher? And are they harder to fly?

Ben

[Skiddz]

As you learn, stick with the woodies... Carbons won't break as easy in a crash and cold (and probably will) bend or break something in the head.. The woodies will break more easily and absorb a lot of the forces that break other parts...

Don't bother with the E-Flite woodies.. Too expensive.. Try cutting down a set of Trex450 woodies (make sure you balance 'em afterwards) or get the $8 woodies from HeliDirect.com:

http://www.helidirect.com/product_info.php?cPath=117_120&products_id=975

or

http://www.helidirect.com/product_info.php?cPath=117_120&products_id=779

The 1st link is for flat bottomed blades. Longer flight time, more lift but you can't go inverted (probably not an issue for you right now) The 2nd is for symmetrical blades. Not as much lift and you'll probably have to adjust the pitch linkages and get a different pinion for the main motor to get the head speed up. You will be able to go inverted with these.

Good luck!

[Buzzkill]

How long have you been flying the CP?

[carlo_the_wonder_frog]

If its wobbling badly while in a hover and does not exhibit this wobble while spinning up on the ground then it could be low headspeed. IT may also have a wrong setting on the radio, perhaps the hover knob is turned too far in one direction? I am assuming you are using the stock motor and pinion along with the stock 3 cell lipo.

[rudderman]

Quick question guys how do you speed up the head speed if its to low

[Pinecone]

With the stock radio the only way is the hover knob.

Also, just for grins I would check the pinion, count the teeth on the gear on the motor. With a Pro it should be 9 teeth. Pro uses 3S lipo and symmetrical blades stock.

Also could be a bad motor, the brushed motors aren't real expensive, and do go bad.

[Buzzkill]

whats a hover knob??

[Pinecone]

Page 27 of the manual.

[Ben Hedrick]

How long have you been flying the CP?

About two weeks. I am very much a "rookie"...

[Buzzkill]

Thanks Pimecone, never heard it called that before but I fly in normal mode (i'm a noob)

[Buzzkill]

Ben: You can change the pinion on the main motor to increase head speed or use "idle up". Personaly, and this is just my opinion, I'm too new for idele upmode. I like being able to drop the stick to stop the rotor in a shaky situation. I dont have enough stick time to do idle up yet.

[Raysun]

Stick with it. It takes time, took me over two months to get a comfortable hover. I can now fly it and land off my coffee table. One key is very small control inputs...pressures, not movements. You will learn to anticipate the heli's movement and correct before it gets away. Apply corrective stick pressure briefly, and recenter immediately. The wobble is probably from overcorrecting.

Stick with woodies...can repair them..just cut off broken plastic wrap, sand off the broken edges..wrap tape around ends, both blades the same...rebalance, retrack and fly. They are very much an energy and impact absorbing part. Don't buy new shafts/spindles..just straighten them out..they don't need to be perfect to fly well. Plastic blades will break your boom on a strike. Head is not stiff enough for them.

Radd's school is very good IF you follow it. Control the tail! Get a good simulator if you don't have one.

Don't give up. You will get it down. Fly, fix. Fly, fix. Fly, fly again. Fix. Fly. :bomb:

Good luck!

Ray

CX2, CPPro (three of them), HB King, HDX450SE (great heli). Eyeing a 500/600.

[Raysun]

Since I'm thinking about it, in retrospect the CPPro is a very tempting entry into collective helis..cheap and RTF out of the box. But its like the little Robinson 22 of real world helis...never ever ever intended as a trainer. Way too twitchy and hard to fly AT FIRST. But as in real life, the entry economics of the CPPro outweigh the steep learning curve, so most real flying schools operate....yup R22's. And most of us start with...yup CPPros. :arggg:

BTW the CPPro is one tough little heli. I lost one in high winds outdoors, and after its big crash, it spent three weeks laying in a railway right of way with snow and rain and freight trains all around before I found it. Only expensive part lost was the battery. Electronics, motors and servos work fine! Head was fine. It will fly again.

Once you get it down and you will, its a great flying basic little heli. Just don't spend a lot buying new parts..fix what you can and keep flying.

Ray

[djtedatlanta]

I have had some problems with my cp pro too. I think the ax cp would have been a better starter just because it is less of an acrobatic and weighs more

[eugeneo]

Quick question guys how do you speed up the head speed if its to low

Stock radio: set less pitch
otherwise set it up in the radio

[Raysun]

Just another CPPro flying note...its hardest to fly (at first, again) in a tight hover in close quarters. Once you are in the open doing circuits and FF, its very smooth and a blast to scoot around. All that twitchiness just disappears.

Good weather in the north is slowly creeping in, finally got outside yesterday for some open space circuits and FF...bit too windy..but still night and day difference from hovering in my garage. Kept saying to myself its just like the sim..its just like the sim...oh oh, its nose in now...yup, its just like the sim!

Ray

[txflyer]

so i have a question, im new here to kinda my first post.

i bought a cppro on monday and switched out the main blades for flat bottem blades. everything seems fine hell i can already hover fairly good. but do i need to change out the pinion to the same tooth count of the blade cp since im using flat bottem blades.. sorry if this astupid post but ive only been into heli's for about 5 days now, and havent learned much of the techincal stuff...t hanks

[Raysun]

Nope, CPPro pinion will work fine.

Ray

[txflyer]

thanks