esky king 2 rotates on take off.

[simon_uk]

Hi All.
I have a second hand esky king2. It looks to have not been set up very well, I have adjusted the belt tension, tail rotor, swash plate and blade tracking (by eye until my pitch gauge arrives).
My problem is that when I spin the motor up and try to lift off I get lots of spin, once its started its impossible to correct.
The tail rotor is spinning correctly, I have tried reversing the gyro and spent ages reading all the stuff I can on the net to try and find an answer. I have read that larger tail blades help but I am sure it must be possible to fly this with the stock size blades?
I have tried running it on the ground and gently steering the tail from side to side which I can do (most of the time) but if it start to spin even on the ground its impossible to correct.
Would a heading hold gyro help with this or is it just a matter of perserverance and practice or poor set up?
Thanks...

[waveydavey]

Where is the tail pitch slider with the stick in the middle, can you trim the tx to stop the spinning?

[simon_uk]

Hi Waveydavey.
Thanks for the reply. At centre stick my tail slider is between 1/3 to half way across, closer to the left. When running up on the ground I have to give a lot of right rudder to keep the nose pointing ahead. If I centre the stick it just spins on the ground.

[waveydavey]

can you give me numbers off the gyro so i can have a look at the spec. The slider isn't in the right place to start with, a couple of schols of thought might help. Most modern models expect the use of head lock so the instructions are normally with the servo centered and everything at 90 degrees then adjust the control rod to put the slider in the centre of the travel on the output shaft. The other is to add a little bit of right rudder as with a normal clockwise rotation as viewed from the top the natural torque reaction for the heli is to spin nose left. Adding a little right helps to counteract this. A third to halfway doesn't sound right

[simon_uk]

The gyro is a esky EKT-0704. I looked it up and its not a head lock gyro so I thought about replacing it with one that is, if this will help me.

[waveydavey]

It will defo help Simon. However, you should be able to get the mechanical setup such that the drift is minimal and easy enough to handle. You need to set the linkage up with nose right rudder assuming that from above the main blades rotate clockwise. Easiest way to work out which way is to put the tail blades vertical and then bend the bottom one out so it's parallel with the floor. You should be able to work out that right rudder makes the tip of the bottom blade to your right and vice versa. Add enough right to stop the constant spinning, you need to aim for around 5 or so degrees to stop the natural spin

[simon_uk]

I have checked the tail rotor assembly. Even if I set it up so that on full right rudder it is hard against the end stop on the tail slider I still have to use full right rudder to reduce the spin but it wont stop completely. I even tried revering the tail rotor blades and belt (to make the tailrotor spin the oposite way) this just made it worse but confirmed that it had at least been put together correctly! I noticed that the previous owner had fitted slightly larger tail rotor blades, I put the standard blades back on but this has also made little difference.
Any other ideas?
Thanks for your help so far.

[waveydavey]

I have checked the tail rotor assembly. Even if I set it up so that on full right rudder it is hard against the end stop on the tail slider I still have to use full right rudder to reduce the spin but it wont stop completely. I even tried revering the tail rotor blades and belt (to make the tailrotor spin the oposite way) this just made it worse but confirmed that it had at least been put together correctly! I noticed that the previous owner had fitted slightly larger tail rotor blades, I put the standard blades back on but this has also made little difference.
Any other ideas?
Thanks for your help so far.

Any chance you can take a pic of the slider cntered and the tail box from the side too. Which way do the tail blades rotate as you look at it from the side, CW or ACW

Just looked at the manual and it's a standard CCW rotating tail, make sure that the leading edge of the tailblades have their leading edge in the direction of rotation.

[dillwhacker]

Is it possible the belt is slipping, and there just isnt enough tail RPM to correct the torque?

[simon_uk]

DSC_0507.jpgDSC_0509.JPG
Some pics attached, not sure if they will work, I have never done pics before!
Yes, it rotates CCw. Blades look correct. I see that an option for this heli is a larger main gear to make the tail rotor spin faster, this sounds like a good mod but again, I am sure it must be possible to fly this as it is out of the box!

[simon_uk]

Hi Dillwhacker. When I first got it the belt was a little slack but I have adjusted this and I dont think its slipping now. I notice a larger main belt drive pully is availbe to speed up the tail rotor, this sounds like a good idea although I am sure it must be possible to fly it without this mod?DSC_0508.JPG

[waveydavey]

The blades are on the correct way. Can you confirm that they spin ACW Simon. If so I don't know what else to suggest apart from whereabouts are you? I'm sure there is someone on the forum close enough to take a look for you. It shoudl fly out of the box though, mine did. Although not very well admittedly, but it did fly well enough for me to hold a decent hover

[simon_uk]

Yes, the tail blades rotate ccw when viewd from the tail blade side of the boom. As an experiment I removed the main rotors and powered it up. When I spin the motor up I can move left and right by using the rudder control as it should. I also noticed that when doing this it was biased slightly to spin the nose to the right, I would expect this as it is not trying to counteract the mass of the blades spinning. On the subject of blades I have a set of Xtreme performance blades made of metal and plastic. I assume these would be heavier than wooden blades, this could affect the rotating mass I supose? I have some wooden blades on order.
I am near Winchester in Hampshire so if anyone feels like lending a hand I would be very grateful.
I dream of a decent hover! Once I can achieve this I can progress. Thanks for all your help. I am sure with perseverance I will get this heli off the ground :-)

[Mslater]

Can you take a picture of the Gyro - I think you may have it mounted on its side.

[Mslater]

Also, can you add a more specific location on your profile, it may be that there is someone near you that can help.