What is your pitch curve set to? Is every thing set mechanically correct? Servos centered and all links at 90 degrees etc at midstick?

It will be because your hover pitch (around 6 degrees probably) isnt at mid stick. Although you may have adjusted your curve, it doesnt sound like you have adjusted it enough.

You are going to need about 70% output at midstick (50%)

Both the Vbar and 3Gx are designed to have a symmetrical pitch curve as standard for 3D, thats why you have to change the curve in your transmitter rather than manually changing the pitch on the head as you would do on a flybarred machine.

Every thing is at 90 degrees at midstick and the pitch curves are 0,25,50,75,100

If you have 0 pitch at mid stick your blades will not be producing any lift. So you will have to adjust your pitch curve at center stick to give the required amount of positive pitch to enable the heli to generate enough lift.

well then you'll most likely have zero pitch at mid stick

how much pitch do you have at bottom stick?

a normal pitch curve for someone just wanting to fly scale would be something like for example 40-60-70-80-90... just an example, exact figures may vary. This means at bottom stick you would only have a couple of degrees negative pitch and that at mid stick you would have around enough positive for hover.

If you have that linear curve, as said, you'll have zero pitch at mid stick assuming the pitch at top (100) and bottom (0) are equal. You'll need your pitch cuve set to have about 65% at the centre assuming you're going +/- 11 degrees.

I looked at my Futaba 14SG and the pitch curves are at -100, -50, +0, +50, +100

ain't gonna lift off at 0° pitch lol... you need around +4 to 6° of pitch depending on headspeed for lift off.

So put a pitch gauge (digital ideally) on the rotor blades and program your pitch curves so that you have the following to get started with:

Top stick = +10°
3/4 stick = +7°
half stick = +5°
1/4 Stick = +2°
Bottom Stick = -4°

Try it with these settings and adjust as you feel fit, The idea is to have just enough negative pitch to bring the heli down, for it to hover around centre stick but for it not to be too sensitive or jumpy, almost like a flat spot at the point of hovering so it is easier to control. I've put +10 as max positive pitch so you can get some speed in forward flight, but if you just want to hover around you could adjust this.

As i say, the numbers arn't exact it depends on other factors too, including what you feel comfortable with.

But the point is, you need to match up what pitch the blades are at hover relative to what position the stick is in and depending on what the headspeed is.. If its faster headspeed the pitch reduces slightly.

for 3D setups you have max extents on top and bottom stick (-11° to +11°) and 0° at mid stick... this setup makes it much more jumpy for hovering but ideal for 3D. This is why we have an idle up switch, to switch between OFF, Hovering, 3D.. or you can set it up to be Hovering, Sport, 3D and use throttle hold for OFF. Thats how i like to do it.



---edit---

I forgot to mention also, you will need to readjust your throttle curves to match the needs of the new pitch curve...

Ideally you need the headspeed to stay spot on throughout the whole movement of the pitch curve.

So for example, if your increasing your pitch and at the same time the headspeed increases (due to an over rated throttle curve) this will make the heli climb a lot faster than it should do for the pitch... likewise if your reducing the pitch curve and at the same time the headspeed decreases too much, the heli will drop a lot faster than it should.

The headspeed needs to be kept constant and only the pitch that changes.



A lot of people setup their helis for hovering with the throttle curve starting at 0... If you get the throttle curve spot on then this is ok but sometimes you find that the headspeed is dropping before the heli has landed, making it drop faster as you near the ground...

I prefer to use the V-Bars governor to maintain headspeed at all times and only use adjutments in the pitch to control to hover/fly/land the heli.. it gives a more consistent control imo.

well there is your answer.

you have 0 degrees at +0 (midstick), if the 3gx and vbar are set up correctly.

the midstick needs to be more like 60 to 70, so it should read:

-50, 10, 50, 75, 100

assuming that you have +/- 12 degrees of pitch at full throws.

Its a very asymetrical layout though, I definitely wouldnt get on with it, as the sensitivity will change over the range too much for my liking.

You need to have some -ve pitch in play, so you end up with -6 to +6 (12 degrees) over the lower half of the stick, and just +6 to +12 (6 degrees) over the upper half.....

All done. Thanks for your help.

Never played with it myself, but there is another option for tweaking hover pitch on futabas on one of the other menu pages under Pitch Curve, I think you can even bring it out to control so you can tweak while (attempting) hovering.

I think the 2 volume nobs do that. I've disabled them.
My next mission will be setting up the governor.

It's not all done! I need the collective to be more sensitive as I have too much stickmovement. Is this adjustment made in the -ve pitch (whatever that is) thatjimmyhorns was talking about?

If you want it to be more "sensitive" then just increase the range of pitch you have, so yeah increase the maximum +\- pitches. Just play with the setup until your happy with it =)