Compass Atom 500 Build Videos

[Hulley]

Hi Bob, do you think you could try some other blades and see if the phasing issue comes into play? I'm using Mavrik G5 pro 430 blades and I noticed it pretty good. Forward flips were ok, not great, back flips were not pretty especially if attempted multiple times, rolls to the right were pretty smooth but to the left were terrible, especially when done at full tilt boogie, the tail would pretty much slide out as if on a dirtbike. I never had this problem on my Logo500 or Vibe50. Some could be pilot error and I thought it was at first but damn, what a coincidence that others are going through the same stuff. I programmed a mix but havent had a chance to try it out yet.
thanks
Steve

[Finless]

I am not running expo in my swash menu. I wanted to see raw how it flew first. Later I may turn it on.

I will try a set of Align 425's this weekend if it is not raining.... I will let you know.

Yes I used the programming card to turn on gov. Compass tells me the ESC maker Hobby Wing says that even if you turn on gov there is not gov in this ESC. Well I DID notice a difference when I turned on gov and dropped my idle up curve to 80% flat. So there must be something there in the ESC.

As far as performance, I want to try a little higher head speed so I have a 10T pinion on the way. I want to see the impact of it and flight time. Right now on Outrage 3000 packs I am getting 5 minutes (same as on my T500). I could probably get a little more like 6 minutes but I don't like pushing my packs if I dont have to and 5 minutes is good enough for me.

Bob

[simon021]

It's funny because that is exactly the opposite of the issues I'm having. My left rolls are perfect but right rolls fall off exactly like you say, especially if im moving very quickly forward. the flips are the opposite as well. I dont get it. I resetup the entire head last night, and found that in order to get 0 pitch at mid stick, i have to have one of the longer links turned in 3 turns farter than the other one. Then the tracking is way off, and to get the tracking in line, i had to turn that same link back 3 turns, and it's spot on. Funky. I'm wondering if i didnt end up with a bent blade grip or something on the one side. I also notice that i always get .5 degrees more cyclic on one side than the other for both aileron and elevator, although i cant remember off the top of my head which side was which.
I went through and made sure all the paired links are the exact same length, and they are. The flybar cage looks to squared up like it should. I'm kind of baffled on exactly why im getting this funky cyclic pitch difference as well as the issues im having with it rolling one way but not the other.

I should be able to get a flight in at lunch here to see, but it's REALLY cold out, so I will be pretty limited on what I can do.

Hey Bob, I missed your reply as I was typing mine up, but what kind of headspeed are you getting with the gov mode on and your curve set at 80%? I'm getting right around 2650 with 100% on the 9t pinion so I'm curious what you are getting at 80, especially since they are saying there is no gov mode on that esc...

[Finless]

I didnt measure the head speed sorry..... I will try to remember to do that this weekend.

Bob

[simon021]

So just got done flying it, and I dont see the issue at all any more. It flys beautifully. I'm not sure what the hell I did the first time around, or if the swash mix was causing interactions, who knows, but it flys MUCH better now than it ever has. I'm running 50% on all 3 swash % with the Radix Stabus P363s. I really really like the new paddles. It flips and rolls just as fast as the Compass 3d paddles, but feels much more stable at the same time. I cant wait to get out to the big field and try it out with some FFF to see how they do with that.

I dont see any "phasing" type issues at all anymore. continuous front and back flips are spot on without ever falling out, same with stationary aileron rolls.

For the record, I'm using the Black/Red/Yellow Blades that they gave me when I ordered the kit. The packaging says RotorTech EP Fun-Key

[Ah Clem]

I almost found out how it flew with RC-Tek blades this morning.

I took the FunKey's off and tried to instal the RC-Teks, but the root was considerbly thinner so I could not run them.

I have some spacers and will try again next week.

I am looking forwards to Bob's report on the Align blades.


Simon,

Good post!

Good information about the paddles.

I would be interesting if you could figure out what else you did that corrected yours and could post it. I suspect that some of the issues being reported are just set up.

When I built mine, the manual was not available yet, so I shortened the ball links between the blade arms and the bell/hill mixers to (in my mind) improve the geometry a bit. I can't remember if the manual says to do this or not, but it works well (I had done it, previously, to both of my Knights).

By the way, I always roll to the right, and mine rolls very flat to the right. I have not tried it to the left yet (no nerve).

[fenderstrat]

FINLESS BOB I have a question about the head linkage set up vid.in the vid you say a few times to NOT adjust the links from the mixer arms to the blade grip,you said to adjust the longer links from the mixer arm to the swash to get 0 deg pitch

in my manual it says to adjust the long links for 5 deg pitch of the mixer arm THEN adjust the short links from the mixer arm to the blade grip to get 0 pitch

so whats up?is your manual different?is this a tip from the factory?is there a reason do do it your way.thanks fENDER

[Finless]

Try it. The links were already closed all the way and to get 0 in the grips you would have to trim the links to the blade grips to screw them in more to get 0. I didn't want to do that. In the manual step 7, they tell you to trim those links. Well mine already were short links and I did not want to trim them shorter.
So yes I think the manual was not updated to reflect that you don't need to trim those links anymore as they supply short links. I though I covered that in another video?
With the new short links you butt them up and you have the correct length!

By the way. the reason they want 5 degrees on that arm is so the long link from the swash is 90 to the mixer arm.

Bob

[fenderstrat]

yes the links in my kit were already trimmed and turned all the way in,but with all the other links set up as per the vid/manual,the short links on my head would need to be turned out a few turns for 0 pitch,all of the other links were set as acording to the manual,the swash links I turned out 1 full turn to avoid bottoming on the bearing block,and everything else looks good

Please dont take my question the wrong way,the reason I am asking is because I know you have contacts in the hobby and are in direct contact with the distributor,so i was just curious if this was a newer, updated approach,and my manual was an older version.and if this is an updated set up method,I would re-set my head to the updated specs

[Finless]

Well also think about this. What did you measure the 5 degrees of the mixer arm with? A few turns out on the blade grips links vs a few on the long links does the same thing and comes down to how close the 5 degrees of the arm is. I did not measure my 5 degrees just eyeballed the long link to the arm so it looked 90... That caused me to adjust the long links a few turns from the manuals suggested length which gave me 0 pitch with the short links butted.

In the end I doubt very seriously how close the arm is to 5 degrees would really change anything you could feel flying....

Compass watched my videos and didn't say anything to me about this being a problem in how I showed it so I have to assume it's OK.

Please dont take my question the wrong way,the reason

Not at all man! It's worth talking about....

Bob

[TheBum]

Bob: How long of an extension cable is required for the rear 9650 in order for it to reach your receiver mounting position?

[Finless]

I used the shortest extension JR sells... I think it was a 3" ?

Bob

[TheBum]

Originally Posted by Finless

I used the shortest extension JR sells... I think it was a 3" ?

Thanks. I'll probably be using 9650s since I have a spare one that was formerly on the tail of my Diablo.

[donskills]

Have Radix blades on the first of my two Atoms an absolutely no phasing on it!! Thats why I bought a second Atom with Rototech blades cus Radix was sold out. No phasing ther either. Both my atoms are pre-prod with the knight style canopys. Why I havent experienced any interaction or funky tendencies and A few people have eludes me. I am loving mine

[Hulley]

I flew today with a "mix" programmed and my Atom flys much better. I wasnt flying well today at all, but the rolls left and right were smooth and on axis and forward and backward flips were stationary. I'm flying Mavrick G5 pro 430mm blades and I have them pretty tight. I dont know why some people had problems and some didnt, like I said before I'm not that great a pilot but I noticed a big difference after flying with a "mix" programmed. All in all, I love my Atom.

[Finless]

Here is my phasing test results with Align blades. Video is posted int he first post with the other videos but here is what I posted there for easy reference.


Added on 12/8. Flight test using Align blades and looking for any phasing issues with them.
OK so I tested the Align blades as asked. I felt NO phasing issues sorry... In fact I think I like them better than the rotor-tech blades
Oh and also after looking carefully, I found that the Trex500 also has a little phasing built int he head! I checked 3 500's and sure enough there is a little phasing in it. Not as much as the Compass but it has some for sure.
Anyway here is the video.
Video Link ->Phasing flight test with Align blades (68 Megs)


Bob

[simon021]

Awesome. Very good information. Now im jealous that you are flying in a damn T-Shirt. ITS FREEZING HERE BOB!!!!!

[mapleleafs]

+1 winter sucks.....

[trickfrog]

Question for Bob-
You said in your video that the distance between the installed flybar paddle and the flybar collar was 61 mm-

I am coming up with 74mm-

I even took the paddle insert out and slid the paddle all the way as far it would go on the flybar and could not come up with 61mm-

So my question is, could you have meant 71mm, or is my flybar that much longer than the one on your bird..?

Thanks for your help- and all your videos

[trickfrog]

ps - I have an equal 99mm of flybar on each side prior to paddle install.