First Runs

[tug29]

Hi,

Just Ran my raptor 30 for first time today and it worked .

After first tank of fuel it was dripping alot of fluid out of the exhaust, is this normal? I've put 3 tanks through it so far and gently varied the power from just idling upto getting it almost in to a hover ( glad i brought a sim first). By the end of the third tank the dripping fluid was virtually non existant.

Will try the helpfull kuwaitis??????????? to try and get it checked and trimmed properly, i did notice that as power was increased the tail became alot more twitchy trying to push to the left as viewed from behind.

once i have worked out how to post pictures i will put some on.

thanks for helpfull tips so far (pete)

gareth.

[Raptorite]

Hi Gareth,

Im glad to hear your raptor 30 ran well

Dont worry about the dripping fuel out of the muffler that much, it just means that the engine is running rich, which is what you want for a new engine.

After you have done about 6 or so tanks ( I like to do 10), you can start leaning out the main needle a click or 2 each tank until the dripping stops completely but the engine runs nice and smooth with a consistent trail of smoke at all throttle positions.

It is also a good idea to do what is called a "Pinch Test" at this point too, this basically checks that the idle needle (screw inside the throttle barrel) is set correctly and is done in the following way;

1. Start the engine and allow it to warm up on tick over for about 30 seconds.

2. Using either a fuel shut off clamp, or your fingers, stop the flow of fuel to the carb by squeezing the fuel pipe closed. If the engine runs for any more than 2 seconds before it speeds up and dies then the idle needle is set slightly too rich. If it speeds up and dies straight away it is slightly too lean.

3. Using the results in step 2 above adjust the idle needle in very small amounts either clockwise to lean it, or anti clockwise to richen it.

4. Do step 2 again until the engine ticks over for 2 seconds normally before speeding up and dieing.

Your idle needle is now set perfectly, so as long as you have a nice consistent run and plenty of smoke, youre fine

Cheers,

Pete.

[tug29]

cheers for reply pete

hopefully will get a chance to do pinch test tomorrow. will keep you updated

thanks again. you go any helpful tips for trimming it as i reckon i'll not get much joy out the locals.............

gareth

[Raptorite]

Gareth,

Trimming is not really difficult if you do it a step at a time, what you need to remember is that the trim of the cyclics particularly will probably change slightly each time you fly, as they are very much dependant on weather conditions, wind especially will affect the way the heli hovers.

The normal process of trimming a heli starts with the tail, this depends on the sort of gyro you have as to how its done, but regardless of gyro the tail needs to hold straight without drifting or wagging.

The basic tail trimming is as follows;

1. Make sure if you have a heading lock gyro you always switch the receiver on with the headling lock function activated on the TX (switched on)

2. Bring the heli up to the hover in normal mode, (heading hold switched off if you have it), if the nose of the heli starts turning to the right, move the trim slider on the tx to the left until it hold still, and vie verca if the nose turns to the left, add right trim on the tx.

3. Once you are happy that the tail is trimmed out so it remains straight in the hover, land the heli, shut it down and take it back to the pits.

4. Mark some how the position of either the tail pitch slider or the position of the pushrod with the trim as it is so you know where centre is.

5. Disconnect the pushrod from the servo making sure you dont disturb its position.

6. With the pushrod disconnected, reset the trim slider on the tx back to the centre and see what happens to the servo arm, you will find that it will have moved slightly one way or the other.

7. Adjust the lenght of the pushrod so without moving its position the link will fit over the ball on the servo arm.

8. Hover it again to see if it holds nice and straight with the trim slider in the centre. If it does and you have a heading hold gyro, you now need to initalise the heading hold function so it takes the new neutral or centre position. Depending on your gyro, this can be done in a number of ways, futaba for example ask that you flick it in and out of heading hold quickly 3 times in 2 or so seconds, others work in different ways, check the manual for yours and it will tell you.

Youre done

Now for the cyclics

Before we start trying to trim the cyclics we need to make sure that the basic setup is correct, so with the heli on the bench, do the following;

1. Disconnect the pushrods from the cyclic servo's.

2. Make sure that with the trim sliders in the centre that the servo arms are perpendicular to the frame, in other words that the aileron servo arm is straight from left to right and the elevator servo arm is straight up and down.

3. If either of these are not in the centre and you cant get it right by taking the arm off and moving it round by a spline then you need to use the sub trim function in the tx. Adjust this until the arms are absolutely straight on both servos.

4. With the servo arms straight, make sure that the swash plate is absolutely level on the main shaft, then hold the pushrods to see if they meet the servo arms or not. Either lengthen or shorten the pushrods as required to be able to fit them on the servo arms without disturbing the position of the swash plate.

Right thats the basics out of the way, now we need to take the model to the flying field for this next bit

Bring the model up to the hover and see which way it wants to drift, forward, backwards, left or right and adjust the trim sliders on the tx in the opposite direction to compensate, and thats it youre done

You should find now that you can briefly take your fingers off the sticks and the heli will stay in a "hands off" hover for a few seconds before starting to drift slightly one way or the other, thats as good as the trim will get so the rest is up to you

You might need to adjust the trim sliders slightly each time you go flying, as trim does sometimes change.

Let me know how you get on.

Cheers,

Pete.

[Stuart]

Pleased to see your getting there, Pete I think I gonna have to appoint you as the RcHeliAddict Guru ....

[Raptorite]

Hey Stuart,

I dont suppose you've got sky digital tv have you?

If you have, have you seen a program called Broken House Chronicles on Discovery Home and Leisure?

It is about a couple of Canadian lads who undertake DIY renovation projects on their house, their motto is "We're not professionals, we're just having fun" - well the same applies here

Cheers,

Pete.

[Stuart]

I've got Sky, must have missed that one.....I was hoping to take my Milli out for its first flight tomorrow after spending 3hrs getting the last remaining setups done.

The most bizzar thing I've found is with the 9X, they way the servo's are setup in the Milli the 9X can't cope with it. Its all back to front positive pitch = negative on the blades, ailerons and elevator go in the wrong direction.

You can't alter the swash direction in the TX, so after much messing around I got the aileron and elevator working right but the pitch was still running in the wrong direction, so I've had to setup my pitch curve backwards. 8O

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem with a 9X.

[Raptorite]

I had a similar problem once setting up a ccpm caliber 30 for someone on a futaba 9CHP tx.

After about 3 1/2 hours of playing with it I found that by reversing one or more of the channels in the tx it worked, that and changing the ratio in the ccpm mixing from positive to negative to reverse the movement.

I think from memory in that case I reversed the aileron servo and changed the pitch ratio from positive to negative.

Have you tried these sorts of combinations?

Cheers,

Pete.

[Stuart]

Hi Pete,

I tried all the combinations I could think of. Its wierd for example you'd think that if all was running right bar pitch then by reversing the pitch servo in the TX, under CCPM it would understand that I don't actually need just that one servo (ch 6) reversing but all for pitch inputs only.

Its wierd but I'll live with it, maybe that's what you get for buying abroad.

[Raptorite]

Hi Stuart,

Have you tried the ccpm ratio settings? The screen that you set the ccpm swash type will have 3 ratios, aileron, elevator and pitch have you tried changing the sign of these?

Maybe set it so everything is right bar the pitch movement and then change its ratio from + to - or vice versa.

You should be able to get it to operate in the right sense.

If you get stuck, you could try contacting Simon Brown at Central Models, he posted a bit on the millie 3 here and has built and flown one himself.

Cheers,

Pete.