newbie getting a bit frustrated

[gazmk2]

Hey guys!

How are we all? my name is Gary and I live in Didcot. I usually fly electric fixed wing and have turned to indoor micro helis to ease the boredom of winter.

I have gone through a cew of those cheap 30 quid 3 channel coaxials and have spent a couple of months learning a fixed pitch tamco ev.04. i know this heli is still basically a 50 quid toy but figured I could learn the basics with it.

I am reasonably profficient with this heli now so took the plunge and bought a nano cpx. This is where the frustration started!

Basically, I just cant seem to fly the bloody thing! The typical 5 minute battery goes something like this;

Take off,
Hover,
Try to correct the wandering about,
Gradually over correct it into increasingly bigger and faster out of control circles,
Go too high,
Shut the throttle down or hit the floor, whichever happens first!

Rinse and repeat until the battery dies!!

What is it that i'm doing wrong? I can happily hover the fixed pitch all day long, fly it nose in/nose out and generally hoof it round my house. How is that despite the only real difference is the blades have pitch so it responds quicker (i use 70% throws and 40% expo to calm it down on my dx8) I am completly unable to maintain a steady hover?

I am very patient and persistant so I am not likely to give up easily which is a good thing! But any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

Gary.

P.s

Great site by the way! I especily like that beginners bit in the sticky! I wish i'd read that a couple of months ago!

[Steve-85]

Cp is a completely different ball game as I found out, so much more responsive an quick as well.

I had a esky hb 4ch load of crashes an no flying so Vikki one of the members here gave me her mcpx (Thankyou) an for ages I struggled but the only way I managed to hover a whole lipo was just practice practice an then some more practice, stupid answer as it seems that is the only way apparently, but has paid off as I can actually hover my 450 a little bit but it came home in one piece for once so was happy

Get your self some sort of sim if you can there are free ones available that may help a bit

[dave j]

coaxual, fixed pitch and collective pitch are all different animals coax and fp will basically fly them selves cp you needs to keep putting in small adjustments all the time to keep them in the air but as been said get a sim you will bebefit loads from it

[gazmk2]

So basically I just need to keep at it and practice! One thing that throws me is that my fixed pitch moves a little left when it initially lifts off, but the nano seems to go several feet backwards before it settles. I did read that the mcpx skids fit the nano, having broke them I can confirm the mcpx skids do fit! And they are stronger and also allow me to use the bigger battery from my ultra micro mosquito.

[helimadness]

Dont really know anything about the Nano but I have a mini cp which is a similar thing. The setting that came with it were rubbish.
What pitch and throttle curves are you using?
Try a flat throttle curve like. 0,75,75,75,75 So that way as you change pitch you are only changing pitch and not throttle at the same time. Also try different throttle amounts. It may be setup with a high head speed for 3D which maybe making it more speedy for the lounge room.

40% expo sounds like a lot. Its not too much is it? maybe as it starts to wonder you are not giving enough stick input soon enough as too much expo. Maybe totally wrong there but just a thought.

I have 2 set ups in my TX for the mini. One for indoors and one for 3D out doors.

[gazmk2]

I initially copied the dx8 settings from the manual but this meant I was flying on 100% rates with 30% expo. So I reduced the throws a bit and tried adding more expo. I can see what you are saying about too much expo now though, it does feel a bit "not enough, not enough, not enough, woah too much!" when i'm trying to fly it.

[helimadness]

maybe better to reduce the expo but also reduce the throws a bit more.
What do they recommend for the pitch and throttle curves?

[cjcj1949]

You've made life more difficult for yourself by trying to save money. I did that and so do lots of others. You now have to unlearn what you've done so far.Try either a sim or an mcx type. You must have four channel with roll and pitch on right and throttle and yaw on the left. Helis are no difficult so much as need a lot of practice because you must not think, just fly, no time to think when something goes wrong. Small helis cost less to crash and survive better. Just leave your current heli for a bit and make it easier for yourself. Phoenix is very good. Not spending with helis tends to make life more difficult.

When a single rotor heli takes off it's rotor will be horizontal and the forces will be unbalanced horizontally. The right skid will lift first. Roll right and stabilise and you will find the rotor slighltly low on the right as it balances the horizontal force from the tail rotor.

[tomatwalden]

So basically I just need to keep at it and practice! One thing that throws me is that my fixed pitch moves a little left when it initially lifts off, but the nano seems to go several feet backwards before it settles. I did read that the mcpx skids fit the nano, having broke them I can confirm the mcpx skids do fit! And they are stronger and also allow me to use the bigger battery from my ultra micro mosquito.

The left drift thing is normal for all single-rotor helicopters, fixed or collective pitch. It's the tail rotor pushing the heli that way as it trys to counteract the torque of the main rotor. Once off the ground, mild right cyclic (ie. a small lean right) corrects this, but on the ground the heli can't lean, so drifts left.

(Google "translating tendency")

The backward thing is a bit more weird! I don't have a nano, but it shouldn't drift backwards! Perhaps trim is slightly off, or the swash isn't level?

[tomatwalden]

So basically I just need to keep at it and practice! One thing that throws me is that my fixed pitch moves a little left when it initially lifts off, but the nano seems to go several feet backwards before it settles. I did read that the mcpx skids fit the nano, having broke them I can confirm the mcpx skids do fit! And they are stronger and also allow me to use the bigger battery from my ultra micro mosquito.

Practice definitely required. I remember reading once somewhere that hovering a CP heli is like trying to balance a ball on an upturned bowl. Whereas co-axials (and some fixed-pitch) are like trying to balance the ball inside the bowl!

In essence, CP helicopters require constant small corrections to maintain a stable hover. This instability is what makes them so manouevrable and fun! (not to mention challenging!). Co-ax's and FP's by contrast are inherently stable and will hover "hands-off". However, the stability comes at the price of flexibility as their ability to do more complex moves are severely limited.

Keep at it! - it'll "click" soon!

[helimadness]

roll and pitch on right and throttle and yaw on the left.

Thats if you are mode 2. Every one around here flys mode 1 so that is what I have learnt so I could get help.

[cjcj1949]

Mode 2 is more popular, but as you say it depends where you live and the local club. The main thing is to have 4 channels of control rather than 3.

[simon1]

reduce the expo to 15-20%, imo 40% even on the cpx is way too much.

[Ubi22]

Don't know much about Nano but it is flybarless, so make sure you don't use any trim as this just confuses the fbl system, or it does with most regular fbl systems....just thought i would say as simple things like this can be over looked ! oh and good luck hope you enjoy the challenge

[helijohn]

Learning to hover does take a lot of time and practice until you suddenly realise you've got it. I've always found the smaller the heli the harder it is to fly. Just persevere.