Bad tracking issue on Protos...

[OICU812]

Normally I do not post same thread on two forums or so, but this one is really ticking me off......

Well overall the Protos flies ok, if I could get the darn tracking to stay.....

Pop her up and tracking is dead on, fly for abit on some aggressive 3D and hear a bad vibration, bring her to eye level and the tracking is out a quarter to half inch. Pitch pump the heck out of it and I can get the tracking back in.

Originally thought the dampers, changed em all out same issue. Changed (2) different "pre rolled on glass" spindles, issue still exists. Getting frustrated I order all new main blade grips, new bearings for grips as well as new thrusts. Guess what issue still exists... well then I am scratching head and think about blades. So I throw on a new set of RT 430mm I have here, issue "STILL" exists.

In inspecting the main blade grips I have I can see the thrust bearings have "TONS" of room to move, maybe I have some bad molded grips? Thing is the ones in stock box as well as replacement ones are all the same and have this room to move, I am talking about .5 to 1.0mm cleareance in whole around the outer race of the thrust bearings/washers. Stock grips and replacement grips () of them all have this room to move washer/bearings, the back radials however all are very snug tight fit....

I have also looked at the top mixers no apparent slop, all linkages do not show any play either. Really furstrating,,,Tried all different headpeeds as well, it will constantly go in and out of track 3-6 times in a 4 minute flight and when the vibration sets in and the tracking goes out you feel it is going to self detonate, lol.

Anyone else experiencing tracking issues like this on Protos? I have a ton of building experience and what not and this is more than abit boggling at the moment so I thought what the heck post it, see if anyone else is in this boat to....

[HALO 3]

Im having the same issue anybody have ANSWERS :arggg:

[mr K]

hi,

i have 4set's of blades laying around here for the same reason , never found the problem (i have 2 protos's)it's on both heli's with all blades.

looked at the manual over and over for building error's , never found the reason....

i put a mini-v on 1 protos and it's perfectly tracked.....

blades have something to do with it that's for sure , 1 set i couldn't get tracking ever, 1 hardly , (needed to rotate the ball link half a turn) and other 2 set's tracked till i pull of some manuevre's(like you describe.

if you find the answer share it please , i kind a gave up and the other protos is waiting on a fbl system but i don't know when i will spend the money on it.

alway's tought i was the only one with this problem...

all my blades are other's then sab's do you tryd them?

[Mentalic]

Back when I ran a fly-bar I often had the paddles turn in flight which would mess the tracking up. Its hard to miss though when you land, because a paddle would obviously be out of alignment.
Never had the issue with FBL though at 2800-2900rpm. There seems to be almost no visible movement in my grips on the heli by hand.
Another thing is there were several changes made to the grips and thrusts since the Protos came out. Early thrusts had small balls, and the bearing placement in the grips were changed at one point as well. I have recieved old style parts from shops many months after the design changes too... At this point I would not think any old stock would still be on shelf.

[HALO 3]

The thing is, it use to track perfect.But one of my flybar paddles came off during flight.I replace it and decide to take off the main blade grips and bearings and what not,never been the same :arggg:

[tcprogrammer]

Normally I do not post same thread on two forums or so, but this one is really ticking me off......

Well overall the Protos flies ok, if I could get the darn tracking to stay.....


What blades are you using? I noticed that with the original stock blades tracking was dead on and would stay put. Since I still crash more than I should, I went with cheaper 3DPRO blades, and the tracking isn't nearly as good. I've ordered some of the original stock SAB blades ... going to try those again and see if it solves the problem.

[JustPlaneChris]

Check the bolts that hold in the see-saw. They had a tendency to loosen up on mine, and the tracking would go out.

It's been so long since I flew mine with a flybar, I've forgotten all that pain. ;)

[HALO 3]

i use the sab blades ...I ll try takin all apart tomorrow AGAIN :arggg:

[Thunder Fighter]

Im having the same issue anybody have ANSWERS :arggg:

The post you have attached to was finally tracked to a manufacturing/material issue when the Protos was first released. The original alloy main shaft was able to move in the headlock when the heli was flown very aggressively. MSH moved to a steel shaft and that fixed the issue. This would only be an issue for you if you have a very old kit or replaced the main shaft with an old stock shaft from somewhere which would be unlikely. Just to check the old main shafts were a brown color and very lightweight.

This same issue could possibly occur with the stress on the headblock from throwing a paddle, if it caused the hole in the headblock to deform and allows the headblock to move very slightly on the shaft. If you can't find any other cause it may be worth checking this.

//Dennis.

[Mentalic]

It's been so long since I flew mine with a flybar, I've forgotten all that pain. ;)

+:thumbup:

[Rob Cherry]

That is odd. I've received old grips, new grips, tried at least 10 different blade brands (probably 30 sets of blades total), even gone flybarless and back- all without a problem locking in tracking. Though, I have noticed that the small screws holding the mixer arms can bend easily under stress causing the tracking to change during later flights. I'm sure you've also looked at the spindle, but I've had ones that looked dead perfect yet replacing it with another new one would solve a tracking problem, same with grips too. Manufacturing errors can happen from time to time.

Let us know what you find.

[HALO 3]

Tried AGAIN (fly that is) I replaced the flybar carrier and the flybar.I tore apart the main blade grips, bearings and thrust bearings (everything).I decide to switch out blades from the sabs that came with it to align blades.The align blades track perfect even aggressive 3d. But when the sab blades were on there they wouldnt even track and worst when you fly 3d.The sabs blades were tracking before one of paddles sheared right off in flight.I went back to balanced the sab blades.Still no tracking they are OFF :arggg:

[HALO 3]

OK FINALLY I figured that the ball link holders were smooth as butter maybe toooo buttery so I replaced them with new ones and found that one of the long links was bent so I straighted it ,and replaced the short and long blade tracking ball link holders to solve the problem THANKS GUYS :YeaBaby:

[OICU812]

Good to hear, yes Corrado resolved this issue long ago indeed. :)