Blade SR Spinning Before Takeoff

[Kingfish3r1]

Hello everyone! I'm James. New to this forum and can't wait to get to know some enthusiasts in the hobby!

Recently, I found a blade SR collective pitch heli on Craigslist that is basically brand new. It was missing a few things like the battery and canopy so I ordered those. I also heared the stock TX was lousy so I immediately sold it and got myself a computerized radio (fly sky fs T-6). I set up the Tx and receiver to my heli and all seemed well. I took it on its maiden flight and ended up bending the tail boom and shearing a gear tooth from a rough landing. During the spool up and when the heli took air for the first time it went too high while I was giving it about 1/4 stick and I panicked, thus me crash landing it. I fixed the boom and ordered a new gear and went back to the TX to see what I did wrong. I set the throttle curve at 40% at 1/4 stick! I now have the curves set at L-0% 1-25% 2-50% 3-75% H-100% .

The 2 days later I took it out and tried to get it to fly. All the servos worked, the motor beeped like it should and the gyro initialized. But when I gave it a little throttle while on the ground it started to spin in a clockwise circle and the tail motor (although spinning) looked like it wasn't giving a constant amount of tail speed. It sounded like it would very briefly go on and off. As I begin to give the heli more throttle the spinning persisted.

(I do have some simulator experience from a mobile app called "absolute RC helicopter simulator" where i mastered a lot of basic inverted flight)

Any help would be GREAT!!! Thank you ( sorry this was so long)

[kuroguy]

My best advice: trash that piece of crap and get something that will be less frustrating amd expensive in the long run.

[tkranz]

I learned basic hovering after several hundred flights on 3 SR's. So it can be done.

But there are many far more capable entry level helis available today.

The SR will teach you a lot about repairing helis, in addition to flight training.

[mtwarych3@msn.com]

My son purchased an SR a few years ago.
You are going to need to go to the SR forum under the BLADE section and get ready to read.
The SR is difficult to maintain and fly.
From past experience I would suggest adjusting the ESC and the gyro.
As of now, slow down and learn the bird inside and out, learn how to set up the heli and adjust for zero pitch and all that stuff.

The SR will fly but it is and old system and I hate to say you are going to spend much more time and money working on the bird than you will ever be flying. That's just the way it is.

Like I said, the SR will fly for you but you really need to slow down and learn the bird first.

https://www.helifreak.com/forumdisplay.php?f=224

Good luck with your SR, read some of the SR forum and decide for yourself what and how much you are willing to do with your bird.

[Kingfish3r1]

Hello, I think my old thread didnt post

Recently I crash landed by blade SR on my maiden fight with it. Bent the tail boom and stripped a gear tooth. I believe that happened because I set my throttle curve was set to 50% at 1/4 stick... I am a novice pilot and that abrupt increase in altitude made me panic.

After the flight I set some dual rates down and and turn the throttle curves to L=0% 1=25% 2=50% 3=75% H=100%

After unbending the boom and ordering a new gear I wanted to spool it up and see if the electionics are ok. The motor armed correctly, the gyro initialized and the servos responded. But when I spooled it up slightly I noticed it was spinning slowly clockwise. The tail motor sounded like it would go on and off giving short bursts in power and shutting off. I checked all my connections, (tail boom wire) and it seems fine. If I give it more power It continues do so the same. I attempted adjusting the proportional pot on the esc with no luck... Any other advice?

Thank you!

[kwouters]

I had that helicopter, too. I was really excited about it at the time, and it flew (hovered), but it wasn't easy. I believe it is poorly designed and the tail motor is severely underpowered. As a beginner, it was really frustrating because it would "lose" the tail without me doing anything which killed my confidence. Eventually I "retired" the SR and repurposed the servos in a FliteTest foamboard airplane. I bought a heli with a belt/servo tail and it flew soooo much better that there was no comparison.

But I recall having a similar issue to yours and the solution was to flip the tail rotor. Although the "pitch" appears symmetrical, for some reason it only works one way. I think the molded tail blades have an "airfoil" that affects the thrust.

Good luck!!!

[Heli$]

The tail motors don't last long. If you have a tail issue, I would say it's the tail motor going out and you need a new one. I replaced them all the time when I flew my SR.

[Kingfish3r1]

Thank you for the input guys,
Yeah I picked the heli up for $30 and spent about another 30 on parts... I didn't lose too much, but I've been hearing time and time again that this heli is on the low caliber of the CP market. A little upsetting, but at least I got a programable TX, which I also have set up for my CX2. I ordered a new motor and if it still fails to work, this heli is gonna wind up back on Craigslist... What are some good helis that I can find that will be enjoyable? I like the 450 3D, and maybe I can find one for cheap. Anything worthwhile in the $100-150 range? I'm 15 and don't got much to spend. I don't care for brand names, I'm ok with an unbranded chopper.
Any suggestions?

[nbells]

Since your new, take small steps at a time...

I'm offshore working just now and doing this from memory so nighttrain should be able to correct / add to some of what I'm about to suggest ...

First of all .... if setup correctly the SR is a great flyer and I've never had a problem with mine .... Its not as forgiving as a Flybarless heli so you'll have to learn to fly the rudder constantly. But it will make you a better pilot

As already said ... the SR can be a b$tch to fly but it will teach you alot about maintenance and setup !!!!!

If you don't have the Blade manual ... then down load it and read it thoroughly, it will show you basic setup and how to reset the pot. It will also tell you what the Gyro setting should be.

If you have adjusted the pot on the ESC .. put it back to factory setting.

Set a linear pitch curve in your TX L - 0% 2 25% 3 50% 4 75% 5 100%

Set your basic throttle curve to something like ... L - 0% 2 40% 3 75% 4 80% 5 80%

Ensure you have a gyro gain of approx 60%

The above settings will give you almost a steady head speed for Hovering and fault finding purposes which should make things a lot easier ... but later on you'll use another mode ( called Idle up) to fly about with... but more on that another time...

You have to make sure that the heli is setup correctly and all servos / swashplate act like they should. If you dont know how to .. ask and you'll get the help you need.. If all ok .. move on...

Next you need to ensure that the tail is working correctly
Ensure that the tail rotor is on and facing the correct way. Next ... if you give it full rudder ... it will should go full blast crazy ... if you move to opposite rudder it should stop.

Once it has stopped ....If you move the tail quickly the opposite way, the tail should go crazy again .. if you move the tail back quickly.. it should stop .... This indicates that the gyro is working and that the tail is doing as it should.

It should be known that the tail hold on the SR is "not very good" hence the reason I said earlier. you need to learn to fly with constant rudder corrections.

Training gear can be your friend here .. so don't be afraid to put them on ... if you have a smooth flat surface then there are training exercises you can do before going for a complete lift off !

Get the above done, then shout back .. if you don't know how to get the correct setup or you're struggling .... shout .. don't be a hero as it will end in tears !...... Just ask me how I know !

[nighttrain06]

Hi kingfish3r1, Nigel is the man to get your SR flying decent, and everything he said is correct, but there are other heli's that fly much better....but if you do not have any heli set up correctly, you'll trash it too!
Heck any heli set up correctly, you can still trash it, because on average heli's are very difficult to fly due to getting used to flight controls and orientations.
Since you don't have deep pockets, I'd suggest you get a fixed pitch heli first even a coax heli to start off with. WLtoys makes some pretty decent heli's for people to start out with. Any CP heli will involve crashes I can promise you this if you are not used to real world flight of an RC heli.
Unfortunately that SR is a very difficult bird to fly, even set up correctly!
Because as Nigel says you gotta be on top of that tail when flying! You have to have your orientations down really well also.
The good thing about the SR is if you can afford it, is it will teach you very much about proper setups and problems/issues you can have with better flying heli's. As Nigel once said before "if you can fly an SR, you can fly anything"!
I still have 2 SR's and fly them every now and then just to keep me tuned, and quick on the sticks. After flying those, my FBL heli's are like flying Cadillacs!
Maybe try something like a WLtoys 911 heli or something like that first. As you get more skilled with setup's and such then try messing with that SR.
Also I'd suggest getting a more mainstream radio like a DX6i if you do decide to keep that SR, they seem to fly much better with that radio for some reason.

[wattflyer]

On that tail blade, the shinny side of the tail blade should be to the outside.

[nighttrain06]

.....or the curved part of the tops of the tail blade going in a clockwise movement.
Also one other thing to check, I ran into this problem one time where the tail blade was not being pinched in the grip good enough. It seemed tight but when I bumped the throttle up enough to get the motor to turn I put my finger into the blade as it was spooling down, and you could feel the blade spinning on the blade shaft. Had to replace the blade before I could get it to hold good enough.

[kla912000]

Hey Kingfish, like Nighttrain and Nigel said, the SR is a very difficult heli to start out on. If you don't have much experience with CP helicopters you will get very frustrated with the SR. Nighttrain probably gave you the best advice, try a Fixed Pitch helicopter like the WL V911 which is more or less a indoor helicopter, or if you wanna fly outside try the WL V912. It is the same as the V911 but it is big enough to fly outside. If you are set on trying to get the SR in the air, then send me a PM( private message) and I, and a few others will do our best to help you. I have an SR I also use a Flysky Transmitter, so hopefully I can help you out.

Just know that most people hate the SR and will tell you that it is junk and not to even try to fly it. But it can be done if you have a little patience.

[kla912000]

Hey, to help you out a bit, there is a guy who posted a thread here that has extra SR parts and is giving them away. Don't know if he still has them, but send him a PM to see. If he does, he will send them to you for free, or maybe just the shipping cost.

[nighttrain06]

I think he is done with the SR, Keith, he hasn't posted in a few days now...

[kla912000]

Yeah maybe. Just thought I'd try to help him out a bit. You know how tough the SR can be, but like you, I got my start on CP's with the SR. Also thought that since he was only 15 that he could probably use those parts that guy was giving away. Oh well, we tried.

[Kingfish3r1]

Hello guys, and my apologies for leaving you guys hanging over this SR thread. I was having issues with heli freak on my iPhone and I was out a laptop. I bought it a new tail motor, no luck, esc/gyro pot adjusting attempts , no luck.. Checking tail prop to be in correct side no luck... I was and still am quite upset that nothing worked for this SR... It's still spinning in the same clockwise way whatever I try to do...

But I didn't really let it get the best of me and I got myself a GOOD beginners CP, the Dynam E-Razor 450. With a belt drive tail. I ordered it also used via eBay but it's still coming through the mail. I heard good things about the Dynam and the guy said it is gently used and not damaged. Hopefully it will be better.

But sadly my SR is still not working, if it's an esc issue I will not replace it, but instead strip the heli for parts. During this time like you guys said i will end up learning how to dismantle and rebuild this thing; and by now I know its mechanics inside out lol.

Any more suggestions?
Once again I appreciate that you guys took the time to assist me with the heli to try to get it up and running!
Thank You. James

[Kingfish3r1]

Also I had a question about how do you know your posting/reply has reached the thread? When I a post send it takes a while to come to the thread and I thought I had to re-write my entire post over again haha.

[nighttrain06]

Hi James, have you tried reversing the rudder in the radio?

[kla912000]

The

Originally Posted by Kingfish3r1

Also I had a question about how do you know your posting/reply has reached the thread? When I a post send it takes a while to come to the thread and I thought I had to re-write my entire post over again haha.

Hey James, first of all, when you are a new member on Helifreak your posts don't post immediately. They have to go through the moderator first til they are sure it is a legitimate post. After a certain number of posts they will start to post immediately. Don't know how long it takes but just be patient and everything will be fine.

As far as adjusting the pot on the bottom of the ESC, every time you adjust it you have to unplug the battery and restart the initialization process for the adjustment to be effective. Just adjust the pot, unplug the battery, then plug the battery back in and wait for the ESC and gyro to initialize, then check to see if it works correctly. If it needs more adjustment then repeat those steps again.

Also, are you sure the tail motor is spinning in the correct direction? If you are looking at it from the right side, I believe the prop should spin clockwise, but Nigel or Nighttrain will be able to tell you for sure.

If you are interested in some free parts, there are 2 members that are willing to donate some parts to help you out if you are willing to cover the shipping costs. Let me know and I'll put you in contact with them.

Now, the Dynam E-Razor 450 is an ok helicopter but not really a beginner heli. It's a 450 size with a flybar and very powerful and can be quite intimidating. It will be more stable and better overall than the SR but you still need some experience to set it up correctly. You should have went for a 4 channel fixed pitch heli like the WL V912. Would have been much easier to learn orientations on and plenty capable of flying outside. If you are set on a CP heli, you should try a micro like WL V977, Blade NanoCPS or Blade mCPX. Or if you want something a bit larger, the Blade 230S is an awesome beginner CP helicopter. I have a 230S and absolutely love it.