Flybarless without a Flybar

[Roy Ratcliffe]

I'm conducting an experiment.

I have an Align T-Rex 250 with a flybarless rotor head, a conversion kit by Mikado. However, I'm leaving out a flybarless controller for the time being! Done some hovering. Hypersensitive cyclic.

I haven't yet flown circuits or attempted and aerobatics. Before I do, I wanted to ask: Am I a complete fool? Has anyone else done this and suffered the consequences?

I'm expecting some pitch up during forward flight, some instability under crosswinds.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=54.046653,-2.808543

[GravityKills]

it's very tiring to fly as one needs to continuously watch it.
Here's my 450... listen to the audio track, those roll rates are quite amazing.
450 RC heli, flybarless, unstabilized - YouTube

[Andy from Sandy]

Flybarless without a Flybar

It would be hard to think of any other way to make it flybarless!

electricsceadu might chime in as he has flown a true flybarless model.

[Mslater]

Richard Fry has done this but with a much larger heli - the way he flys you can't tell there's no electronics on there.

[nitros]

I'm conducting an experiment.

I have an Align T-Rex 250 with a flybarless rotor head, a conversion kit by Mikado. However, I'm leaving out a flybarless controller for the time being! Done some hovering. Hypersensitive cyclic.

I haven't yet flown circuits or attempted and aerobatics. Before I do, I wanted to ask: Am I a complete fool? Has anyone else done this and suffered the consequences?

I'm expecting some pitch up during forward flight, some instability under crosswinds.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=54.046653,-2.808543

I believe I called no bar style. I read it somewhere

[pchristy]

Heavier blades will help enormously. Thats how the full-size do it.

Its also the way we've ben doing it since the 70's......

Flybar-less Lark - YouTube

As others have implied, you do need quick reactions, and you can't take your eyes off it for a moment!

[electricsceadu]

It would be hard to think of any other way to make it flybarless!

electricsceadu might chime in as he has flown a true flybarless model.

famous at last

to fly with no stabilisation reduce the amout of cyclic pitch
a good starting point is 4-6 deg on both aileron and elevator and then adjust the amount to suit how you wish the model to fly
also use expo to calm the controls down

make sure all the control balls/bell cranks etc are free to move with zero binding
and try to get the c of g perfectly under the mainshaft, if the model pitchs up/down in forward flight move the c of g to correct it but make sure it doesn't effect inverted flight (if you fly inverted)

i have flown flybarless without stabilisation in gusting 35mph winds and threw a few auto's in as i was told by the stabilised fbl guy's you couldn't auto stabilised fbl in high winds

the main thing is to get used to flying the heli fbl unstabilised and the only way is stick time

[electricsceadu]

and a flybarless control system with a fixed bell bar
the bell bar has no function apart from making the head look more scale for a scale heli project

[chris jones2.4]

i have flown a trex 250 without stabilisation, done a few flipsbut they are a bit strange, i turned the cyclic down to make it feel better for circuits, defo better with staby

[pchristy]

A few years back there was a craze for converting Hornets (and similar) to flybarless, using Shuttle tail rotor parts for the rotor head. Again, weighted blades are essential for it to work. And IIRC Ian (Coolice) turned up at Charmouth with one that had been modified to a 3-bladed head which flew well once the head speed had been turned up a bit!