Blade Tracking 101

[DebianDog]

You do know how to track your blade correctly... right?

[wilesrevo]

im like everone else in the world i dont know what im doing and i dotn really have no one to help me i managed to crash my mx400 before it got off the ground the blades are not tracking and i dont no how to fix it

[DebianDog]

You should be able to look at your helicopter in a hover and see one blade. How does you heli compare to the one in the video?

[ClayK]

I think it's hard for a first time pilot to track blades up in the air. Hovering can be difficult at first and trying to hold it in place while trying to track it can be daunting. I suggest either having someone hover the helicopter for you or having someone watch the blade track while you hold it in a hover, at least until you are comfortable.

[halfassastronaught]

no kidding, but i have my wife hold my heli down on the bar while i throttle up and eye ball them against a white wall......hey, shes insured.

[istandalone]

before i could hover steadily i just did it on the ground. spooled it up to just before it gets light on the skids, and then look. so far, doing it like that hasn't caused problems, but now that i've nailed tail in hovering i do it the "right" way.

[Rick Rotorhead]

For my lil' T450 I take the less technical approach. Hover it, if the tracking is out, land and do one turn on ONE of the the short links to the blade grips, noting which one I've turned. Hover again if its ok, then fine, if its twice as bad then land and wind the same short link two turns the other way and do a test hover again. That normally fixes it.

[mattkreps]

I just put it under the pitch gage and get it perfect before i ever take it off

[Rick Rotorhead]

With the T450, just getting the blades staticly perfect in pitch doesn't guarrantee perfect tracking I'm afraid. you have to see 'em in flight really.

[steffgiguere]

You know what I use my pitch gauge and set them as straight as possible at mid stick to 0 pitch and most of the time tracking is perfect.

[Derrell]

Hi Everyone,

Newbie here...I got a strange situation....after watching Bob Whites Vid on blade balancing I went to try it, Both of my blades (woodies for a HBK2) weigh the same but when I go to balance them I have to add 1g of tape to get it to balance. What do I need to do? Is the different weighted balancing tape?The clear tape was wrapped almost four times around the blade and IMO that seems way to much. Any help would be great.

[Seledtsov]

Hi, Derrell!

4 times are not so much for HBK2 woodies really.

[69daytona]

Has anyone used Golf Lead Tape instead of 2-8 wraps of Vinyl tape? I have about a 50 foot by 1/2 inch roll someplace around. If used, where would it be placed, 1 in. from end, middle, top, bottom or leading edge of the blade? Use to use it to help balance the wheels on my 1/4 and 1/5 scale RC cars.

[mattkreps]

Originally Posted by Derrell

Hi Everyone,

Newbie here...I got a strange situation....after watching Bob Whites Vid on blade balancing I went to try it, Both of my blades (woodies for a HBK2) weigh the same but when I go to balance them I have to add 1g of tape to get it to balance. What do I need to do? Is the different weighted balancing tape?The clear tape was wrapped almost four times around the blade and IMO that seems way to much. Any help would be great.

that just means the cg on the blades is off. on a 450 this dose not need to be perfect

[RappyChappy]

Originally Posted by Derrell

Hi Everyone,

Newbie here...I got a strange situation....after watching Bob Whites Vid on blade balancing I went to try it, Both of my blades (woodies for a HBK2) weigh the same but when I go to balance them I have to add 1g of tape to get it to balance. What do I need to do? Is the different weighted balancing tape?The clear tape was wrapped almost four times around the blade and IMO that seems way to much. Any help would be great.

I had blades that were way out of balance that came with my Raptor kit. I took the blades back to the shop and told the guy. He checked them over and said they were so bad, they were unsafe and changed them for me.

[stormtrooper]

I'm rather confused...

I setup the pitch on both blades at 0 degrees mid-stick. Spooled the heli and tracking is bad. So, I turn the pitch control of the higher blade to make it go down. Test, then turn again until it tracks or almost tracks. However, when it does track, it turns out the pitch angle of the blade I adjusted is off about -2 degrees already or so at mid-stick!

To me, it would mean that both blades aren't angled the same and would affect flight, right?

[Pinecone]

It would, IF both blades were EXACTLY the same. Might be a difference in the airfoil shape, leading edge shape, one blade might have a twist in it, it might be warped to add camber. Lots of reasons that the measured pitch would not be equal to get them to track.

But when they are tracking properly, you are at equal EFFECTIVE pitch, which is what we really want.

BTW, what blades? If they are the yellow/black Align "Carbon" blades, you will find the tracking changes from day to day and flight to flight. Do yourself a favor and toss them out.

[squirrel4207]

what exactly is tracking, how do you do it and why?

[Rollin_3z]

Tracks as in railroad tracks, you want de train to follow de tracks..no?

[mtnbike101]

Originally Posted by Pinecone

...

BTW, what blades? If they are the yellow/black Align "Carbon" blades, you will find the tracking changes from day to day and flight to flight. Do yourself a favor and toss them out.

For a beginner, could you recommend a couple of good brands\models of blades...maybe both a wood and carbon suggestion? I had initially put the aforementioned blades on my list due to them being "carbon" and the low price, but your input has changed my mind. FYI, they will be going on a Furion 450 if that makes a difference.

Thanks,



Jeff