blade 400 advice.?

[helipilot]

Evening all..., i just wanted some advice on my Blade 400 in respect of setting up... I seemed to have it set up a running pretty ok for my skill level ie just started. Then whilst trying to pick a relativley calm spell today between wind i tried a bit of gentle ground work with training gear on. But this week it was pulling to the left alot and i had to alter the rudder control rod to stop the nose turning left as well.... Do you have to tweek a new heli a bit to start with whilst it settles down..? As it seemed alot better on my last outing but this weekend ive spent all my time getting it anything like...i fail to see whats changed since i last had her out..? Does wind affect this size heli alot..? I am also thinking of trying the trainer settings as found on the e flite website... Is it easy enough to bind the rx to the new model memory..? Sorry if any of the above sounds daft... Im still learning so just humour me...? Thanks guys...!

[gorber]

Tweaking the rudder rod shouldn't do much at all. The gyro manages the rudder on your behalf and will alter the rudder position to get to where it wants the helicopter to be, so tweaking the rod length will just mean that the gyro has to make more or less correction, but the outcome will be the same as far as how the heli will behave (unless the rudder does not have full range of movement).

When you provide rudder inputs on your control, you are just telling the gyro that you want it to turn.

You probably need to increase the gain on your gyro settings in the controller. That will make the tail less vague, although it is never going to be great with the stock gyro on the blade 400. But it is normal to have to put a little rudder correction in as the heli spools up, and it is also normal to have to put a little right aeleron in as the heli begins to lift off.

I wouldn't use the trainer settings if I were you. I did and it didn't help, I quickly went back to the stock settings.

Cheers,

Andrew

[helipilot]

Tweaking the rudder rod shouldn't do much at all. The gyro manages the rudder on your behalf and will alter the rudder position to get to where it wants the helicopter to be, so tweaking the rod length will just mean that the gyro has to make more or less correction, but the outcome will be the same as far as how the heli will behave (unless the rudder does not have full range of movement).

When you provide rudder inputs on your control, you are just telling the gyro that you want it to turn.

You probably need to increase the gain on your gyro settings in the controller. That will make the tail less vague, although it is never going to be great with the stock gyro on the blade 400. But it is normal to have to put a little rudder correction in as the heli spools up, and it is also normal to have to put a little right aeleron in as the heli begins to lift off.

I wouldn't use the trainer settings if I were you. I did and it didn't help, I quickly went back to the stock settings.

Cheers,

Andrew

Thanks mate.., im still learning so im not sure if the heli is doing what it should or not..? i only adjusted the rudder control rod as when the servo was sitting straight the rear blades pitch was well out... meaning the tail wanted to turn as soon as you spooled up., left unchecked it was spinning the heli round a full 380 which im sure isnt right...? Thanks for the feedback on the trainer settings, the ones i was thinking of where pretty much the same as boggy recomends which include expo on the main controls which again can be good or bad depending on your flying style i suppose...?

Thanks, Simon.

[gorber]

It definitely sounds as if there was something wrong somewhere in the gyo/rudder train from what you said. Did you buy it new or second hand? But the fact that you are able to check it points to a problem with the gyro set up.

Like I said, it is important that the rudder has a good range of movement (but you also don't want it to have too much movement so that it is pushing against the limits of physical travel).

You said it was well out at mid srvo position. Do you mean the pitch slider was well off from the middle? Or do you mean the tail blades were pitched? If it is the latter, there is some pitch at the centre to offset the torque at hover.

The other possibilities for it spinning like that could be a loose tail belt or damaged pulleys, either of which can happen really easily in a crash. But again, if you are able to check it, the gyro should be doing that for you.

The most probable problem from what you describe is the gain settings are too low and probably in rate mode also or even, from what you have described, that the gyro might be reversed, but this is unlikely since somebody would have to have changed it from the factory settings.

When you correct the rudder, which way is the heli trying to spin? And what are your movements on the stick to corect it?

[helipilot]

It definitely sounds as if there was something wrong somewhere in the gyo/rudder train from what you said. Did you buy it new or second hand? But the fact that you are able to check it points to a problem with the gyro set up.

Like I said, it is important that the rudder has a good range of movement (but you also don't want it to have too much movement so that it is pushing against the limits of physical travel).

You said it was well out at mid srvo position. Do you mean the pitch slider was well off from the middle? Or do you mean the tail blades were pitched? If it is the latter, there is some pitch at the centre to offset the torque at hover.

The other possibilities for it spinning like that could be a loose tail belt or damaged pulleys, either of which can happen really easily in a crash. But again, if you are able to check it, the gyro should be doing that for you.

The most probable problem from what you describe is the gain settings are too low and probably in rate mode also or even, from what you have described, that the gyro might be reversed, but this is unlikely since somebody would have to have changed it from the factory settings.

When you correct the rudder, which way is the heli trying to spin? And what are your movements on the stick to corect it?

Hello..,

The heli its self is only a few weeks old, i bought it brand new. You may have to bear in mind that im not at the stage of a stable hover yet so all this is happening quit eclose to the ground so there could be some ground effect coming into this. a fellow heliaddict has set it up initially and i know he commented on the gyro and set up on the tx to 75% gain. The tail servo had a habit of creeping (towards the front of the heli) once it had been centered which was what led me to think that wasthe shaft itself. its not had a crash as yet so its not as if its been knocked or anything. The tx settings are all still quite alien to me so i may well either pop it back to shop and let them have a play or my local heliaddict might have a go with it for me. The bit i cant understand is iy was flying really well ( the gyro was very locked in ) last weekend, its has a week sat in its box then this weekend its a complete handful..? the only other variable is wind. it was a little windy yesterday but surley the gyro should be able to compensate for that...? Why does it tend to drift left on take off...?

[heli-c]

hi Helipilot,

The stock 110 gyro on the B400 can be made to work really well but you must be prepared to spend a little time setting it up in rate mode. I found the following explanations very useful:

"To stop drift:

Move the linkage ball to the middle hole on the servo arm.
Set the heli up in Rate mode (approx. 25% gain) so there is as little drift as possible. Make all adjustments mechanically by adjusting the linkage length of the tail pushrod. While in rate mode also make sure the servo arm is centered and square with the pushrod.
Then switch to HH and hover. Use rudder subtrim to "trim out" any drift while flying. Don't worry about what the servo/slider/gyro does while on the bench.
Go back to Rate mode and check your hold, if needed make further mechanical adjustments. Go back to HH and tweak subtrim settings again.

Using this method I usually need 1-2 clicks of regular trim to start every flight. This varies depending on temperature, battery and mood of the gyro. Once I set the regular trim I don't touch it for the entire flight. I get a solid hold with no drift.

Also, make sure you let the heli acclimate to the ambient temp you are flying in.
And, I found that turning the physical gyro gain pot to full CW helped, others have found full CCW to be better. Experiment to see what works for you.
Make sure the pushrod has a straight shot between the servo arm to the tail.

Setting things up the way I described takes a lot of back and forth between HH and Rate but if you stay with it and try different combos you can get this gyro servo combo to work pretty darn good. The main rule is to use mechanical adjustments in Rate mode and subtrim adjustments in HH mode for no drift."

There really is no need to use the gyro gain pot on the gyro itself - everything can be done from your Tx (assuming you're using a DX6i) - leve the gain pot centred. The 110 is also quite sensitive to temperature, so let it acclimatize before each flying session for a good 10 - 15 mins.

I learned all this from the following link :

http://www.slyster.com/heli/b400bible.html#eleven everything you'll ever need regarding B400 setup is here. Good luck and let us know how it goes

cheers

ps - you shouldn't need more that 10-15 clicks of subtrim ever for the 110, provided you've adjusted the tail pushrod/ servo arm correctly. PM me if you're having issues afrer going through the suggestions from the B400 Bible.

[gorber]

hi Helipilot,

There really is no need to use the gyro gain pot on the gyro itself - everything can be done from your Tx (assuming you're using a DX6i)

Sorry, I forgot to say this in my mesage. It should be done from the gyro settings in the dx6.