Flew without Training gear today OMG! - almost dug the dirt!

[Rick Rotorhead]

What a difference without that training gear! On the plus side she has even more zing, like give a second of full pitch and she goes straight up 30 feet - awesome! The flight time has predictably increased too, I had 8 1/2 mins and put back just 1350mAh, so pushing the pack just a little (85%), 12 minutes of ff and circuit stuff is quite feasible - not that I need all that. However, the down side: much less upright stability, far more neutral (a good thing once I can handle it). During turns I was using too much cyclic and not enough tail, as you can imagine she was trying to do the sideslip of death. Not once, but about 4 times during that one flight I almost stacked her even though I was trying not to get cocky (honest), thank God for that super collective response, a quick burst pinged her up enough to allow me to get the cyclic sorted in time. Last Wednesday I was so pumped at how easy I suddenly found her to fly, today, without that weight under her, she was a different animal - ******* Scary! I really had the shakes by the time I got her down. BTW actually landing without that gear was no biggie, I'm cool with that. Next problem is I still can't get this tail thing sorted properly. She's definitely wagging a bit at 70 gain, yet less gain and the tail steps out a couple of inches when I pitch up quick (collective). Reckon I got a bit of vibration there too, I thought it was only present on the ground at first, but now I can see its still there in the hover. Thats another thing I noticed, without the heavy gear on, she's more sensitive to CG change - I had my small pack TP prolite 2100 on, its a few grammes less than the big 2200 Extremes and she was drifting back at me a little in hover - hmmm. I'll have to weight the pack a bit. Anyhow, she's still in one piece, but my nerves are shredded. :lol:

[Rogan]

Umbilical cord cut! Well done. :D

Maybe the screws that hold your tail grips on are too tight and compressing the bearings? That tends to cause wag.

[Rick Rotorhead]

Thanks Rogan. I think the grips are fine, rotate really loose. However, due to setting her up for rate/normal mode (in addition to HH of course) the pitch slider is offset towards the tail case and that means I had to drop the Gyro limit to 80. In Trex Tuning's site its suggested that with a low limit, the ball on the taiol servo needs moving in towards the splines so the Limit can be re-set ot nearer 100. But, couls a low Gyro limit(80) induce wag or poor tail hold under load?

[Rogan]

Hmm from your photos it looks like you're quite far out on your 9650 servo wheel.

Many people drill a new hole nearer to the hub. I might even be a little too close. :s

[Rick Rotorhead]

I'm on the closest hole to the centre that you can get on the servo wheel in your pic. I think thats 8mm for the centre screw. But I'll do a new one 1mm closer in.
But do you think it will help with the hold issue?
Cheers Rick

[rdlohr]

Great news that you now unleashed the beast. Now you get to tame it!

As far as the wag goes, Is your rudder rod binding in the guide? I snipped my guide off.

Rick

[Rogan]

If you have to reduce your maximum travel you're losing resolution, so yes it could cause wag. If your mechanics are spot on it's about the only thing it could be.

I have teh travel limits maxed right out on the 401's pot, and my pitch slider is centered when the servo is centered it has equal travel.

[Rick Rotorhead]

Cheers Rogan.
Rick, I don't use guides either, I have a single 3mm cf tube with threaded rod at either end. The tail end link is wound deep onto the threads and the metal rod is epoxied into the cf tube with the shoulders of the link touching the end of the cf tube. the servo end has some metal rod and its thread showing so the link can be wound in or out a couple of turns for trimming. The ball links have been 'sized' with a reamer to reduce binding (its nice n' free). Pitch slider gets a tad sticky only right over upto the tail case, so not an issue under normal tail control movements.
Can't see any mechanical reason for poor hold during pitch pump - unless like I say the headspeed is lower than what I expect, but you can hear it in my vid......I think I'm ok with HS. So its got to be a gyro/servo setting thing hasn't it?

[Gary JP4]

Nice Rick,

I saw the title and knew that had to be you.

[theglennster]

Nice one Rick the bird is cut loose at last ! :noteworthy this will really open your eyes on the performance. To be honest I dont know why people use training gear??? just start off with a bit of sim practice and away you go.

Your gyro problem sound like vibration or friction in the pushrod to me I've had wags a few times and always traced it to a bent something or sticking pushrod. Also check that your tail rotor hubs are not unscrewing this happened to me and caused enough vibration to induce wag. Also still ball joints, I put a drop of oil on em and the wag went away. :D

The slightest bit of friction on that pushrod will cause a certain degree in wag due to the slop in the system. I have the new wire pushrod setup based on the 600 design and to be honest I think its utter PANTZ and a backward step the old system with the carbon pushrod is far superior you just have to lose the guide so basically nothing its in contact with the rod a direct link to the tail no friction. :glasses2:


Laters
Glenn

[lhortizuela]

i tried out the new v2 pushrod and didn't like them at all. it didn't line up with the servo arm. i went back to the old carbon rod. the old setup also made changing the tail boom a lot easier.