three Logo 500 tail setup comments

[th3tick]

There were three things I found whilst setting up the tail that I found interesting, and thought I should share, in hopes of at least learning if this is normal, or if it's something I did wrong.

Probably all obvious to non-n00bs, but hey, I know where I am ;)

1) When I epoxied the threaded servo rods into the tail control rod, I just centered them, with half in and half out. I'd originally put my S9256 with the output shaft towards the front of the heli, and adjusted the link lengths so it came out mostly right. When I re-examined the install diagram on p. 10, I realized I couldn't directly see which way they wanted it, but if you look at the step 2 diagram, for the arm to go on that side, the output shaft would have to be toward the tail of the heli. Of course, if I did that, the control rod is now a couple cm too long. I went with the output shaft towards the nose, and all seems well.

2) On that rudder servo arm (using one from Mikado), I had to chop off down to the first hole to get it to go in the space it belongs without hitting the top of that space.

3) Finding center on the servo using the V-Bar gyro is really really hard. I ended up flipping it back and forth over and over and just trying to find a point where the movement in both directions was approximately the same, and called it good. That ended up with my endpoints in the setup a little skewed - Side A 40, and Side B 70. That imbalance is probably a direct result of a non-centered output arm, I'd guess.

John

[Doug101]

.....
1) When I epoxied the threaded servo rods into the tail control rod, I just centered them, with half in and half out. I'd originally put my S9256 with the output shaft towards the front of the heli, and adjusted the link lengths so it came out mostly right. When I re-examined the install diagram on p. 10, I realized I couldn't directly see which way they wanted it, but if you look at the step 2 diagram, for the arm to go on that side, the output shaft would have to be toward the tail of the heli. Of course, if I did that, the control rod is now a couple cm too long. I went with the output shaft towards the nose, and all seems well.

A bit tricky in the instructions, I did mine towards the back, but checked before making the pushrod to get the length correct.

.....2) On that rudder servo arm (using one from Mikado), I had to chop off down to the first hole to get it to go in the space it belongs without hitting the top of that space.
That is normal. Those horns have a 20mm hole + a bit more. Just too tall for in there.
.....3) Finding center on the servo using the V-Bar gyro is really really hard. I ended up flipping it back and forth over and over and just trying to find a point where the movement in both directions was approximately the same, and called it good. That ended up with my endpoints in the setup a little skewed - Side A 40, and Side B 70. That imbalance is probably a direct result of a non-centered output arm, I'd guess.John
I had the same problem, but found that if you go to the "Servo" screen, click on the "Test Mode" button, you will find that this centers all servos. You can then use the Neutral setting in the Rudder panel.
Doug

[th3tick]

A bit tricky in the instructions, I did mine towards the back, but checked before making the pushrod to get the length correct.

I clearly should have done that as well, but got carried away whilst building the support rods, since I had all the parts there, and lots of epoxy left over.

In retrospect, I can't really see that the servo orientation makes a difference. I was worried it would bind against the front wall, but it doesn't.

John

[th3tick]

I had the same problem, but found that if you go to the "Servo" screen, click on the "Test Mode" button, you will find that this centers all servos. You can then use the Neutral setting in the Rudder panel.


Thanks for that. Now all my servos are nicely centered. Fortunately, the tail servo centered gives me just a little pitch to potentially compensate for torque, so it came out just fine without altering the control rod length further.

I think this bird is ready to fly!

:thumbup:
John

[Mercuriell]

I think this bird is ready to fly!
:thumbup:
Make sure it's caught on video - I think mine is a week away - video slows you down especially when you have to go back and redo a sequence cos you could have done it better or the video looks bad !

[th3tick]

Well, I failed on the video, but SHE FLIES!

It was a tad squirrelly at first. It really doesn't like the ground very much, but once in the air, it was scary twitchy. Which was exactly when I remembered I still needed to dial in some expo!

Took it up again, and it flies like a champ. I've still got a lot of tweaking to do on the V-Bar, and am not sure what all I need to adjust. What I first need is some space, which is for tomorrow morning.

VERY quiet bird. With the V-Bar, all I can say is "what wind?".

Setup was different, but not bad. I love how well-packed the servo wires end up. My only remaining issue is the E-Logger on it - I've found good place, but it's all wiry up there. I'm also trying to figure out how to strap the V-Bar into place - only held with Velcro underneath thusfar.

But oh, the fun we'll be having together ;)

John

[Mercuriell]

:Pics

Congratulations John & keep us posted - I hope to fly this w/e if I can get over the 'flu

[th3tick]

OK, that I can oblige. In all honesty, I'm a little embarrassed about the tangle of wires up front. I've got a couple ideas on how to clean it up some, but it's UGLY right now. The brushless sensor and its wires are a lot of the problem, but the ESC lead and BEC power leads are also a problem to be torn down and re-adjusted.

It also shows my fancy Dean's tap plug in the middle, which has leads coming off for the BEC and for the efliernz alarm in the back. The alarm wiring I've got cleaned up, but the rest needs lots of work. :oops:

One other note - the inside edges of the frame are a bit sharp. The close-up is of my AR7000 satellite antenna leads, nicely stripped of their insulation by one removal from the frame. I've got a replacement on the way, but it still range tests OK, so I'm leaving it for now. I tried putting some hot glue on there to protect it, but it came right off. NOT pretty.

John

P.S. To top it off, my sole 5000mAh FP pack is now starting to puff. FP has a replacement on the way, but :arggg:
P.P.S. Best of luck with the flu!