Awesome way to adjust tracking.

[mkovalcson]

A local experienced Heli guy, Matt Conser gave me this tip, which just makes a whole lot of sense.

I thought I had eyeballed my tracking pretty accurately with a pitch gauge, but I ended up losening one of my links by 2.5 turns to get the ends of the blades this close to level at 0.0 collective according to the SK-720 monitor. They were over a 1 cm apart vertically when I started or I needed 5% collective input ( not blade pitch) to get them level when I started.

The longer the blades the more accurate this would let you get them set up.

Thoughts? The servos do hum a bit holding the blades in place, but I can't imagine this is any worse than the stresses they have in flight.

[skysynergy]

Was the tracking right on when you flew it?

[AndrewAZ]

Eh, this is an ok way to do it. Here is how I have done it and never had a helicopter that needed ANY tracking. take off the blades and bolts and head stopper. Power it on and get level with the blade grips, you can tell when the pitch is zero and equal on both because they plane with each other on top. Works every time.

[mkovalcson]

I haven't flown it since my last big crash.

BTW it dawned on me that one link was under compression and the other tension.

So I reversed the blades 180 degrees.

Once again the left blade was a smidge higher and the right blade was a smidge lower.

I think it is within a 1/4 link turn of perfection

[horigan]

If there's any slop in the links or swash, and there usually is, they won't necessarily be the same once extended. Other folks (Finless) drop an allen key in each blade grip bolt hole and check that it is vertical and parallel to the main shaft at center stick.

I do use that method for centering my tail blades to set my tail servo center position.

[mkovalcson]

I accounted for the slop by rotating the head 180 degrees and measuring again with all the slop reversed.

The side under tension is then under compression and the side under compression would then be under tension.

Since I ended up with the left blade slightly higher ( almost an identical amount) they should be pretty darn close.

The merit to this approach is that any tracking difference is multiplied by the length of the blade.

When I eyeballed this at the head, I didn't get it this accurate.

[mkovalcson]

I'm going to check it out on my flight test rig as soon as my new tail umbrellas come in.

I should be able to take a picture from a tripod of the blades at 0 collective at the exact level of the blades to see how narrow the blade footprint is.

I'm also going to try out my optical rpm gun to verify my head speed at a couple throttle gain settings.

Once I get it perfect, I'll be ready to fly! And this time no showing off too low to the ground

[byHISgrace]

I have to give credit where credit is due: http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=259188

Matt

Originally Posted by mkovalcson

A local experienced Heli guy, Matt Conser gave me this tip, which just makes a whole lot of sense.

I thought I had eyeballed my tracking pretty accurately with a pitch gauge, but I ended up losening one of my links by 2.5 turns to get the ends of the blades this close to level at 0.0 collective according to the SK-720 monitor. They were over a 1 cm apart vertically when I started or I needed 5% collective input ( not blade pitch) to get them level when I started.

The longer the blades the more accurate this would let you get them set up.

Thoughts? The servos do hum a bit holding the blades in place, but I can't imagine this is any worse than the stresses they have in flight.

[Nko15]

Not accurate as you will preload the links on there balls.. what i mean is that you can wiggle the end of the blade up and down about an inch..

[mkovalcson]

If you measure this twice with the head rotated 180 degrees, the tension and compression are reversed and if the blades line up both ways it would see like the end result would be pretty accurate.

Although that link Matt referenced mentioned positioning the heli so that the blades were hanging vertically, which is interesting,

I'm going to test the results on my flight bed shortly, with tape or marker on the ends of the blades to see how close this got me.

Results to follow as soon as my rear umbrella gears get here.

I realize that using a turnbuckle and looking at the blades in flight is the best way to see how close things are, but it will be interesting to see how close this gets things.

[deegs]

Hi mkovalcson,

Just giving my $0.02 and saying I really don't think this will give you an accurate representation of your blade tracking in-flight.

I agree with Nko15 (again). There's too many variables at play for this to be accurate.

The "allen key" solution that horigan suggests is pretty solid logic. The main thing I worry about is what the heli is doing in flight. If the blades look like they're tracking, then they're tracking, and I'm happy.

Just my opinion of course!

[mkovalcson]

The proof is in the pudding.

I'll test this out with tracking tape and get some good pictures of the results that I will post here.

Even if the blades line up perfectly, I realize a sample size of one doesn't completely verify that this procedure will always work.

Eyeballing an allen key wrench doesn't seem like it would be terribly accurate either.

There are flat plates that people bolt to the tops of their blade holders as well.
I assume that you would put your links on and slowly tighten these plates until you hit resistance and then adjust a turnbuckle until you can tighten the plate perfectly flat.

Does anyone use that method ?

[supa koopa]

The proof is in Mikado. They tell you to do this way when setting up a VBar. I now do this on all my helis and never need to go near them for tracking unless the blades are out. Not had to yet.

[mkovalcson]

Mikado suggests putting your blades at 90 degrees to the head and adjusting your blade linkages to make the ends of the blades level ?

That would actually be pretty good validation, given Mikado's engineering staff.

[Nko15]

What the (@))#^!_ is wrong with metal bar on top(thats in the kits) and a old style pitch gauge.....

[deegs]

Originally Posted by Nko15

What the (@))#^!_ is wrong with metal bar on top(thats in the kits) and a old style pitch gauge.....

+1

[markleyland]

Watch this video on Vbar setup from 2:37 into the video

YouTube

YouTube

I have a Vbar now and chose to do it the old fashioned way with a guage. Personally I can't be arsed to use the little bar and regular pitch guage as I end up with a bad neck and it takes 1/2 hour for my eys to come out of the top of my head. Now I use a digital pitch gauge, much easier

Of course the question wasn't about setting up the head but about tracking which can only be done and seen during flight as already said especially for FB helis.

[mkovalcson]

It looks like he was using this to level the swash, which I had already done with one of these. Maybe I got what he was doing wrong.

Wow! My heli doesn't look at all like this anymore.

[markleyland]

Yea a swash leveling tool is a good idea, I always start with one. With the Vbar you can set for level a top and bottom also. Just make sure you get 0 at centre and an equal pitch range, blades balanced and your tracking should be fine. I've had no trouble with tracking on FBL but FB is a different story.