Servo Shock

[Gsquared08]

So I hovered my 400 in the air for the first time and flew it inside one of the studios I work in. I have my throttle and pitch curves set up based on Finless Bob's noob setup but forgot to set my expo's +20 for aileron and elevation so it was super sensitive for me to control.

I have been on RealFlight for a couple years now and have recently been training with the T-Rex 450 model but as we all know, it's just scarier in real life. So needless to say, I had a few hard landings from 3-4 feet and although that's a low altitude to complain about, it was still on hard concrete.

So my question is this, until I get used to this thing, how many hard landings from a 3-5 foot drop can the stock servos take before I start stripping gears? When weather is good, I will of course practice at the local soccer field but I was just curious how much these stock parts can take.

[LockMD]

So I hovered my 400 in the air for the first time and flew it inside one of the studios I work in. I have my throttle and pitch curves set up based on Finless Bob's noob setup but forgot to set my expo's +20 for aileron and elevation so it was super sensitive for me to control.

I have been on RealFlight for a couple years now and have recently been training with the T-Rex 450 model but as we all know, it's just scarier in real life. So needless to say, I had a few hard landings from 3-4 feet and although that's a low altitude to complain about, it was still on hard concrete.

So my question is this, until I get used to this thing, how many hard landings from a 3-5 foot drop can the stock servos take before I start stripping gears? When weather is good, I will of course practice at the local soccer field but I was just curious how much these stock parts can take.



Who knows 20 for you 1 for me 5 for the next guy.

Just becareful.....have you dont radds school yet, strongly recommend. and once in the air first thing is to practice SOFT landings. just my nickle

[HeliMix]

Agreed. Radd's School of Rotary Flight is a great help. I did it on the sim and in RL. Once I started hovering a full batt, I have begun taking off, hover a min or two, then land, then rinse and repeat. 20 - 30 some flights (if you can call hovering flight). Only two crashes thus far. One all my fault trying to scratch a bug bite (:arggg:). The second, I got cocky basically and did something I should not have done under the conditions. I have only stripped servos crashing thus far.

[Gsquared08]

I'll check it out.

thanks

[mupchu]

stock servo's strip if you look at them funny, let alone land really hard. Make sure you are really inspecting them after every flight.

[Mon_t]

Here's a little tip for a soft landing every time.... when you're hovering about a foot off the ground hit the throttle hold and it will do a soft autorotation landing. Be prepared the tail will turn a little but if you've got it in a nice steady hover it will land nicely every time.
Also good practice for seeing what happens when you try autos from high up.

Oh be sure your belt is not to tight as it will sap too much energy from the blades quickly and it will tend to come down a bit faster..... but still softer than slamming off the throttle.

If I had a camera person I'd post some vid's.

[LockMD]

Here's a little tip for a soft landing every time.... when you're hovering about a foot off the ground hit the throttle hold and it will do a soft autorotation landing. Be prepared the tail will turn a little but if you've got it in a nice steady hover it will land nicely every time.
Also good practice for seeing what happens when you try autos from high up.

Oh be sure your belt is not to tight as it will sap too much energy from the blades quickly and it will tend to come down a bit faster..... but still softer than slamming off the throttle.

If I had a camera person I'd post some vid's.


I'm pretty good at soft landings, but I'm gonna try this........if it screws up you have to fix it for me......or at least finance the fix :YeaBaby:

[Mon_t]

Hey Lock I'll let you borrow mine, but you'll have to pay for my plane ticket to bring it over:thumbup:

[SeaComms]

Na, I agree with the throttle hold landings. Providing everything is set up correct (as in, belt tension and the throttle hold and normal pitch curves are the same) then you are keeping the same pitch with a decreasing head speed, a much nicer landing than accidentally slamming it to -2 degrees which equals a very hard landing!

[LockMD]

Hey Lock I'll let you borrow mine, but you'll have to pay for my plane ticket to bring it over:thumbup:


I chickened out! :mad: I'd be more willing to try new things if I had a reset button to fix her :YeaBaby:

[Mon_t]

I'll see what I can do about putting up a video before the weekend.
but if you watch finless's videos on autorotations, his bird tips over a couple of times
and he just picks it up and off he goes again......
The reason there's no damage is that the energy in the blades is very nearly exhausted by the time it hits the ground.