Blade tracking

[heathy]

Guys,

My blade tracking is about 4-5mm out in hover. This is a result of replacing the rods after a crash, before they were perfect from the factory

I tried the old red tape trick last night and didn't get on very well, basically i was too scared to get close enough to see the tape

I'm thinking about marking a rod and adjusting 1 turn to see if it improves or worsens.

How are you guys going about this??

Cheers.........

[Ah Clem]

Heathy,

Never get close to spinning blades-ever.

Do you have a friend who can look at the blades and tell you which blade is high and which is low?

Or...

I don't track blades anymore.

I set both up on the bench with a pitch gauge and, especially with a precise machine like an Atom, they track right off the bench. Much easier, in the long run.

[ClubCRASH]

I agree set them at 0 midstick on the bench and you should be fine. If not adjust one blade and if it's worse undo more. Is this clear?

[heathy]

Richard,

I only let it get to about 6ft in front of me, that was enough

The swash is perfect on the tool, and both blades pitch are perfect too, i spent over a hour getting them that way too [ocd]

I've just checked the blades over and noticed that some balancing tape is missing [ stock 615mm] maybe this is my problem ??

If not then i will adjust a link until right

[TheBum]

I always remove the blades and use my 3mm hex driver as a guide to get 0 pitch. I've never had to interrupt a flight to adjust tracking since I've started doing that.

[ragge1]

this is the how I do it on the bench and never had issues with tracking

here the thread

[Cullen Colapietro]

Ragge, that looks hard on your servos! I'm sure it works though.

I personally am quite meticulous and use the method Richard recommends. I rarely have to worry about tracking on my Compass machines.

[myrseth]

Just a tip. Try pop one of the delrin links. If the link is not straight over the ball and has to be forced either direction to fit you got something bent. Check the bolts holding the delrin rods then the arms on the grip. If they aren't good funky tracking can be the result

Good centering and setup eliminates blade tracking if nothing is wrong

[SilentScope]

i have a huge vibration after a crash, ive replaced all the parts but especially when i rev up you see the vibration. i think its caused by the blade tracking that could be off just a bit but i have been trying to adjust this but i just keep on getting it wrong even with the blade folding method

does anybody have a good guide how to fix this?

[Larry227]

Did you check/replace the feathering shaft?

[SilentScope]

i checked it, and it looked perfectly strait rolled it on the table and it looked strait there aswell.
do you think i might have overlooked it? the crash wasnt really hard and the feathering shaft is pretty sturdy.

[kachur779]

your arms on your grips might be bent use a straight edge and compare both sides, they do bend very easy crash if there out by 1mm over 600mm that could put your blades out of track like 6mm just an example

[Ah Clem]

I agree that the blade grip arms might be bent.

On a friend's helicopter, one of the bolts that holds the yoke to the blade grip arm was bent slightly-this causes tracking error.

We caught it by using the procedure Klaus recommended, above (unsnapping the ball link at the swashplate and seeing a difference in alignment of the ball link/Delrin Drive Tube.

[SilentScope]

well one of the bolts that go in the main grip arm and holds the delrin rod fork was bent so i replaced that after the crash. i replaced it with a standard m3x30 bolt instead of a compass bolt. i left the other standard back then.
i took the head apart too see if the grips were bent but they werent and i also replaced the other compass bolt for a m3x30.
the main blades have survived 3 minor crashes and apart from a few small paint flaws the blades look perfect. maybe its the blades? i could replace em and see what happens. i hope i can find this stupid problem

[alexmit]

Originally Posted by SilentScope

well one of the bolts that go in the main grip arm and holds the delrin rod fork was bent so i replaced that after the crash. i replaced it with a standard m3x30 bolt instead of a compass bolt. i left the other standard back then.
i took the head apart too see if the grips were bent but they werent and i also replaced the other compass bolt for a m3x30.
the main blades have survived 3 minor crashes and apart from a few small paint flaws the blades look perfect. maybe its the blades? i could replace em and see what happens. i hope i can find this stupid problem

I replace those bolts after every crash. If the blades hit the ground those bolts have been stressed. If the grip arms are bent, those bolts MUST be replaced as you can rest assured they are bent. As Myrseth says... if they don't line up when popped off the balls on the swash, something is bent.

[heliglenn71]

Originally Posted by myrseth

Just a tip. Try pop one of the delrin links. If the link is not straight over the ball and has to be forced either direction to fit you got something bent. Check the bolts holding the delrin rods then the arms on the grip. If they aren't good funky tracking can be the result

Good centering and setup eliminates blade tracking if nothing is wrong

That is very true. Both of my rod were leaning to the side. I replaced the screws for the derlin rods, now the links line up perfect.