EZ zero pitch setup

[Imzzaudae]

New V2 MCPX DX6i.
As MCPX comes from the factory with way to much negative pitch set up. It is important to do a proper pitch setup on the helicopter if it is to fly correctly.

Remove canopy.
Pop all 3 servo pushrod links off swash one at a time and turn them each 3 full turns counter clockwise.
Snap link back on ball.
As the links have a large hole and a small hole, large hole towards ball!






Once the radio is programed as in your MCPX manual. See page 6 DX6i settings.

Go back into pitch curve menu. Make sure your throttle hold switch, pitch curve is set. 0,25,50,75,100



Remove the blades and gently push round wooden toothpicks into blade grips, see picture.
They only need to be snug don't overdo it.

Turn on radio, plug in heli and let them bind.
Check all switches in 0 position!
Turn on the throttle hold switch.
In the next step. You will be asked to move the throttle leaver up.

If you set the throttle hold switch 0 in the throttle curve menu when programing your DX6i the helicopter will not spool up!
Only the pitch on the blades will change!


Set the radio down on table beside your MCPX.

Move the throttle stick up and down a little to see which way you need to adjust links. Turn all 3 links full turns clockwise or counter clockwise one turn at a time and re check as needed to line up tooth picks.

When you have the graduation marks lined up at mid stick graduation marks and the toothpicks are even with each other. Remove toothpicks, install your blades and canopy.


Take a look at the blades. They should be flat. No pitch at all at mid stick on radio!

Thats it zero pitch on your blades at mid stick.

Please go back into pitch curve menu.
Set Hold switch pitch curve 50,50,50,50,50 so blades move to zero pitch when hold switch is activated!

Make sure you return throttle to minimum position before turning off hold switch or heli will power up!

The helicopter itself is now correctly set up and you can program your DX6i with whatever settings you prefer.
If you are an experienced MCPX pilot your heli and radio are ready to fly..

If you are new to MCPX the above radio settings are full on 3D settings, please fallow the link provided, it will take you to my beginners DX6i Radio settings for MCPX and give you a much calmer helicopter to begin flying https://www.helifreak.com/showthread...58#post3854858

[USArmy211]

Originally Posted by Imzzaudae

Once the radio is programed as in your MCPX manual page 6 DX6i settings.
Make sure your throttle hold switch pitch curve is set. 0,25,50,75,100

Before flying,
Reset Hold switch pitch curve 50,50,50,50,50 so blades move to zero pitch when hold switch.

hey, since I am really new to this bird (just got her and haven't flown her yet) I'm having troubles understanding what these two things mean. Could you explain a little, please?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

-USArmy211

[Imzzaudae]

No problem, I should have explained it better. Hope this helps you understand what's going on!
If you open the MCPX manual to page 6 you will see DX6i settings.
Just program these settings into the radio first.

Bind the helicopter to the radio.

This gets almost everything in the radio that needs to be in there!

In order to set the pitch up on the helicopter without the motor running we need to program the hold switch so that the pitch works when the motor is shut off and you move the throttle stick up and down.

On a CP helicopter the pitch curve works like this!
0 is maximum negative pitch
25% is 1/2 negative pitch
50% is zero pitch
75% is 1/2 positive pitch
100% is full positive pitch

In the pitch curve menu of your DX6i you will see.

Norm is normal mode pitch curve < this is the mode you will be flying in.
Stunt is idle up mode pitch curve
Hold is the hold switch pitch curve << this is the one I mean.

After Doing your zero pitch setup on the helicopter. Please change the hold switch pitch curve to all 50,50,50,50 50 So if you get into trouble and you hit the hold switch the motor stops and the blades go flat.
This helps keep the blades and other parts from breaking!

[CaptHal8HS]

Why is that you have us pop off the three servo push rod links and extend them all by 3 full turns?

[Imzzaudae]

MCPX comes from the factory with way to much negative pitch set up. It is important to do a proper pitch setup on the helicopter if it is to fly correctly.

The standard setup from the factory is about 3 turns short on the pushrods.
Turning them out 3 turns right off the bat gets them within a turn
of where they need to be! And keeps the swash lift equal on all 3 ball links.
Hope this helps you.
Ron

[hemp]

Originally Posted by Imzzaudae

MCPX comes from the factory with way to much negative pitch set up. It is important to do a proper pitch setup on the helicopter if it is to fly correctly.

The standard setup from the factory is about 3 turns short on the pushrods.
Turning them out 3 turns right off the bat gets them within a turn
of where they need to be! And keeps the swash lift equal on all 3 ball links.
Hope this helps you.
Ron

You sort of just assume that's what everyone should/would want. But if that's so, why does it not come factory that way (or close to it at least?)

I'm just curious, as a complete newb to CPs (outside of a sim) why negative pitch at mid-stick is undesirable and if so, why Blade would ship it that way?

Second question, does V2 ship that way also? If so, that pretty much confirms it was intentional, right?

Thanks for tolerating our newbie questions and for this awesome primer!

[TowPilot]

Hi,

It is possible that the assembly is an unintentional error.

Errors can and do occur in manufacturing, even in full size aircraft.

One of my friends is employed by a small airline, his full time job is to correct the errors and omissions found in the aircraft parts manual.

If errors in manufacturing can occur in multi-million dollar projects, probably can happen with an mCP X

My V1 and V2 came that way. Likely a template the assembler's use to quickly put them together.

Setting up the pitch correctly is thankfully pretty easy.

It is a valid question. Never stop asking questions.

Cheers,
Mike

[everydayflyer]

I believe the key points are that a person new to CP does not need much ,if any negative pitch. If you have zero pitch at mid stick the heli will come down more gently and any negative pitch will just slam it into the ground faster / harder if yo panic and go to low stick on throttle collective. A very small amount of negative pitch in Normal mode will help when flying in gusty wind after you are very comfortable hovering at more than a few feet from the ground.

Having pitch set at zero with throttle hold prevents main blades from hitting tail boom. With no tail rotor at throttle hold you can not really do much leveling or slowing the decent anyway and as a beginner hitting throttle hold and automaticly having zero pitch without having to remember to also go to mid stick is so much simplier.

Why so much negative from the factory? My guess is to limit the amount of positive so heli requires 60% or more throttle / collective stick in Normal / beginner mode to even get off the ground. This makes the pitch a lot less sensitive.

[Trimble1]

Awesome write-up Imzzaudae. Thanks

[hemp]

Originally Posted by everydayflyer

I believe the key points are that a person new to CP does not need much ,if any negative pitch. If you have zero pitch at mid stick the heli will come down more gently and any negative pitch will just slam it into the ground faster / harder if yo panic and go to low stick on throttle collective.

Thanks for your thoughts!

All of your points make sense to me. Although I sort of take issue with encouraging new CP pilots to slam full negative in an emergency. That's sort of like telling a new driver to grab the e-brake when they need to stop quickly. The preferred emergency response would be throttle hold, not neg collective - especially if you're in idle up; new pilots are far more likely to forget they're in idle up and grab full-neg as a trained response.

Is your argument for the benefit outdoors in having a little negative pitch at mid-stick to counteract the lift created by wind gusts? I assume so, just trying to make sure I understand.

Personally, I prefer to hover in idle-up with full throttle across the whole range. Just feels like I have more control at higher RPMs. However, I assume I can save some battery by setting mid-stick to 50% throttle? Sorry, that's a tangent, my point was that since I hover in idle-up, even as a new CP pilot, negative pitch at mid-stick seems like a non-issue for me, I just give it a fraction more forward stick and it's stable.

[Imzzaudae]

In a round about way you are right. Doing a zero pitch setup is about having the blades at
zero pitch when the stick is lined up with the centre stick position on the radio.

I't's a standard starting alinement, otherwise we do not know where your blade pitch is set.
After we have our standard startup alinement
All positive and negative pitch is controlled by the pitch curve setup in the Transmitter.

[hemp]

Originally Posted by Imzzaudae

After we have our standard startup alinement
All positive and negative pitch is controlled by the pitch curve setup in the Transmitter.

I'd say that right there is a solid winning argument. Thanks!

[Imzzaudae]

I agree with you 100%! And this is the reason I made the effort to create and post the documents in my links that will help MCPX Newbies sticky.
Please see link below.
https://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=407020

Please take another look at what I am doing here. This is only a zero pitch setup!
All that it is used for is making the blades flat at mid stick on the transmitter.
Thats all.

It's only a basic setup of the helicopter itself, So that once we apply pitch curves to the radio the helicopter and the radio are in sink.

If you take a few minutes and read through the documents at the link above you will find
that it is my intention to eliminate reverse pitch and tame the MCPX down for pilots new to CP and MCPX so they are not slamming there helicopter needlessly. .

I am currently working on a new document.

Newbie pitch curve for I/U mode

I will be posting and adding to the above link in the very near future.

Hope this helps everyone understand this document and what zero pitch setup is uses for.
Ron

[Talesin]

Er... some misleading information in here.

1) Some, but not all mCPXes come with too much pitch in either direction (very few come with too much negative, usually there's too much positive leading to Fun(tm) when trying to invert for the first time). The three-turns thing worked on yours, but everyone's is different, and will require adjustment based on the individual heli.

2) Toothpicks work OK. Taking off one blade, flipping it over wrong-side-up and screwing it back in, then folding both back over the tail boom and looking from the side works better, and is more precise (no possibility of putting a toothpick in at a bit of an angle, for one!). Also handy as it doesn't require toothpicks for those of us who don't have them.

3) Zero-pitch at mid stick is desired, as it's how CP helis are flown (to allow for inverted flight in idle-up, or to compensate for wind/TLE when flying outdoors). Setting NO negative pitch is a bad idea. Use throttle hold instead of slapping the collective down, like you can do with FP helis. Make it a lifelong habit. Some go for the flat-50, some do a linear curve (which can still allow you to soften a crash, even with the heli spinning madly when the TH switch is hit in the air, and the tail cuts out).

4) It's just as important to level your swash (get all three servo ball arms precisely vertically even, using the main shaft as your plumb line), which should be done before setting zero pitch at mid-stick. Can be done via the zip-tie method, measurement-to-ground, or with a swash levelling tool (which are pretty cheap, but require you to remove the head to use them... but none of the other methods will be as precise). Can also do a modified zero-pitch method (rotating the head so one blade linkage is directly radially aligned with a given servo's swash arm, and seeing if it needs to come up or down to get the blades parallel, then keep going around in a circle until they stay parallel on all three servos, or as close as possible. This one's harder to do as it requires you to hold the main shaft perfectly vertical.)

[toys2cars2toys]

I have 2, 1 was good out of the box the other was wrong
I suspect they either have 1 bad set up jig or an operator building them badly

I like the toothpick idea, would prefer something without a taper
The reason that I think that this is better than the flipped blade method, is that the blades sag and put a load on the linkages which affects the results

My method would be
Set TH pitch curve to 50:50:50:50:50
Check with toothpicks
Adjust if needed
Now test again, turn the rotor head slowly by hand, if it goes away from 0 pitch at any point - then the swash isn't level, adjust links individually and retest

I leave my TH pitch curve to 50:50:50:50:50 on this heli only as it appears to protect the pitch links in a crash

[Papa Tom]

I am a noob and I assume, yes I know what that makes me, that when you have to change servo links – due to damage, swash plate, or other maintenance you need to check for zero pitah and adjust as necessary.

To save time and reduce the chance of error if you have a programmable radio, such as a DX6i, and an open model slot you can setup a model for zeroing in your pitch. Then all you have to do is bind to the setup model check and adjust the zero pitch and then rebind to you normal settings. This way you do not have to change your flying settings and then change back.

Tom

[Imzzaudae]

Yes.
Just save a copy of MCPX setup from the manual for this purpose.

I saved it MCPX Service

Do your pitch setup then rebind to your flying setup.

[Talesin]

Originally Posted by toys2cars2toys

The reason that I think that this is better than the flipped blade method, is that the blades sag and put a load on the linkages which affects the results

The thing is, with the inverted blade the sag is equal, and takes up the slop in the servo/swash/linkages, providing a more precise 'real' zero as well. If you want to confirm it's zeroed on both sides, just flip both blades over, rotate the head 180 degrees and fold back again.

[Imzzaudae]

Anyone that has been flying MCPX for a while is well aware how to reverse one blade and do a zero pitch setup !

I did it this way with step by step instructions so new guys that have no idea what zero pitch at mid stick even means had a simple reliable way to set up there helicopter.

Give it a rest,
We don't need to continually debate the issue!

[Zelon]

Little clarification needed should I program the tx to the factory settings ,bind then go back and reprogram to the tamer ones you listed?