Compare Tail blade bites

[Cralis]

Hi guys.

I'm battling to get my tail to hold in non heading-hold mode. :arggg: So, can we maybe compare our tails? Fold the top tail blade forward, get it parallel to the boom, and look down. I have no pitch when my rudder is at neutral... Can you compare this with yours if your tail is holding in non-HH mode?

With my tail like this, it's flying off to the right (Nose spins left...). How do I fix?

[lightbulbjim]

Don't worry about it - just adjust the length of the tail control rod (or you can move the servo on the boom if you use the boom mount) until it holds with no rudder input.

I added Raptor links onto the end of my tail control rod to get the right amount of adjustment (frame mounted tail servo).

[Cralis]

Thanks.
I'm just wonder what angle everyone who has a stable tails blade point. Should the turned-down blade point towards the boom, and by how much?

[Cralis]

Yeah baby! I crashed while tresting a hover! hehe
Not that funny, but I have to see the bright side... I learnt something, the hard way.
With all the testing over the servos, and trying to get the tail right, I forgot to charge the RX pack. Spun up, and the heli took off by it's self nearly, banked left while 1 foot off the ground, tail came around a bit, and .. it met a wall. The wall won. It was busy spooling down while it was doing this, so didn't go far or anything. All happened in the space of 2 seconds, and a few squared meters, but damn...
Damage?
The edges of my CF blades look damaged...
Everything else seems to have survived. It actually was busy landing on it's skids when the blades skimmed the wall...
I forgot to check the pack voltage... and with all the testing, I didn't realise I would be nailing it.
On the changer, and it came up with 'Low fuel level restore'... so it was the pack!
DAMN!
FOOLISH error... but it's happened... Need to invest in new blades..
Maybe this is good...
Are there such blades that give more lift? I don't do 3D, so is there such a blade? Shaped more like a wing? (Flat underneith, curved on top) that might help with flight durations?

Also, any reason to stick with CF, or is wood ok?

[Mikej]

Cralis,

Sorry to hear that - I'm very happy with the way that mine flies on the standard woods.

Mike.

[Cralis]

As I'm only in South Africa for a few more days, I can't really order new blades... Will take too long to get here. Do you think these blades are still flyable?

Also, I see the paddle gets mighty close to the boom, with the extended (Trex600 400mm) flybar. Should be OK eh?

[Pinecone]

To set the tail to hover in Rate mode, you need about 8 degrees of tail pitch.

Adjust the rod length or, if you have the servo boom mounted, you can adjust the servo position. The fine tune as needed.

[mjdee14]

Crailis...

Sorry to hear about the mishap....Ive done "Dumb" things myself....that I hate to admit to....my last one was ruining two 3300 lipos by overcharging them......$200 out the window...Oh well move on with life...I say.

Here is a picture of my tail.....just so you can get an idea of the pitch in non heading hold. Loks like you almost have neagative pitch in comparison to mine.

each heli is obviously going to different, but it does take quite a bit of adjustment on both ends of the rod to get it right, and I used and ECO8 link on the servo end. Iam going to change to the tail mounted servo sometime in the future..."Much" easier to adjust...just move the whole servo...

Good luck on the move to "down under" or Over...

Mike D

[Cralis]

Thanks Mike, exactly what I was looking for. And the thing is, mine now looks like that. It was the test flight with that sort of setup where things went slightly wrong. Ah well.

Do you think my blades are still flyable (As they are in the photos above)?

[mjdee14]

Cralis..

hard to tell on the blades......inspect them very carefully ALL over for any stress cracks. The last thing you need is a blades leting go in the air on a tight turn.

if there were no other damage I might use some CA to seal the fibers...then use baking soda or a like powder to fill in the holes and hit with thin ca...then sand back to shape....

try just hovering for a while to see if it works ok...

you could also use a little body filler to get the shape back and cover tips with iron on covering.....you just don't want the filler flinging out at 2000 rpms causing a BIG imbalance...

in the meantime save up for another set of blades or buy some woodies...only $15.00

[istandalone]

check out readyheli's site, they have a crash kit that comes with blades, boom, and some other stuff. the blades are woodies, but you can email them and they will trade the woodies for the rcpII 500's or 515's and adjust the price. they were at one time doing buy one get one free on the rcp's too, but i'm not sure if they still are. then again, woodies are pretty cheap too.

[ukgroucho]

No the buy one get one free on the RCPs has gone sadly (I raised the flag on that deal a while back...). Just ordered another set of RCP 500s for my rig.

The Go Quick 515s will probably generate a bit more lift. They are still symetrical but have a wider chord (front to back of the 'wing'). You should adjust headspeed down a little if you use these .. maybe even drop a tooth on the motor pinion if you want hover duration.

I use K&B 'stiffie' tail blades - Raptor 30/50 size. They are longer than the stock Gaui tail blades but JUST short enough so the stock tail fin is long enough to keep 'em out of the dirt. Tough as nails and the flouro colours look great. The landing pad picture shows how they look - this was a DULL day as you can see in the second picture.

[istandalone]

hey man, a dull day of flying is better then a bright day of work! ;)

[Cralis]

Thanks guys.
The coloured tail looks pretty good! Might get some bigger blades for the tail, while I am getting the rest. I'm thinking of just getting the white woods for now. Parts here in Africa aren't as cheap as overseas, so might get woods now, and go CF, with more lift later.

What would you say is the downside of woods, compared the the stock CF blades I got from Gaui?

ALSO... here's a question. I see there is some play on the head. I can move the flybar a bit, but the servos stay still. It's because of the plastic, I guess, allowing for the movement.

I don't want to go the full monty and get the while upgraded head.. But to stop that play, I was thinking of getting these:

http://www.electricheli.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productID=GAUI+005
CNC Mixing Lever Set 204632

and these:
http://www.electricheli.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?productID=GAUI+006
CNC Pitch & Roll Arm Set

It looks like they are the main culprits for the play. Would anyone agree or disagree? I mean, that would be a while R300 upgrade (In SA Rands, that's not the end of the world) and I think it would stop the play on my head?

[mjdee14]

I think there is a lot of little places where there is some play...and all of it adds up.

you can't go wrong replacing the parts you show....anything that gets rid of play is good.

just make sure it isn't the servos gear lash....

[jockstrap]

Cralis - here is my way of getting the right pitch for rate mode...

Set the pitch of the tail blades initially to something about 5 degrees (ie: like the position of number 1 on a clock face) - it's going to be close on most helis - but either a little too much or too less..

Make sure the pitch pushes air to the right of the tail...

Now slowly attempt a basic hover - keeping in mind you are going to expect the heli to spin a little..
As the heli lifts off you should compensate with left or right rudder/yaw.... take a little note of how much.. and land.. maybe all you needed was to hover a few inches to do this..

now - seeing you are simply trying to find the right angle - either add or subtract a few clicks of trim (depending on which way it spun)

take off for a hover again - hopefully will spin less now so you may even be able to adjust the trim whilst hovering..... do this till it basically hovers in one spot... now land..

now you can measure or take note of how much angle you need...

you could now reset the trim to zero and set the angle mechanically if that's your aim, etc...

I think if you can hover ok, then setting it about 5 degrees initially will mean you should be able to compensate on the rudder first hover and slowly adjust the trim in flight till it's not spinning any more..

Hope this helps...

[istandalone]

i use the "finger thickness" method. enough pitch so that my forefinger can fit between the tail blades when they are both flipped up. this seems to work great, both times i've done it i only needed one turn on the link to perfect it.

[worldofmaya]

I was testing Trex600 New Tail Blade Holder and plastic blades. Tail is really extreme with those blades. Was too much for me so I just use the tail holder and use light-weight Gaui tail blades. But I'll repalace them with SAB CF blades soon. See following thread for pics -> http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=64744
About setting it up, I set it up in Normal mode. Let your stick at neutral point and at pitch by changing it directly at your tail 'til the tail doesn't turn away. Than try AVCS / heading hold and you will have a good set-up.
-klaus