Lost skills Tuning fly bars

[mike557]

Hi every one to much wind to fly, So!
During the maintance of my Align 600 mind started to wander to times gone by when the ability to tune the bar to give the required feeling, was another skill.
With the relentless march towards FBL domination, is this a skill many of us retain.
Just for interest I'm going to play with my bar to see if I can get the head to be stable on lift off withresponsiveness in idle up.

So guys and gals what's your opinion

Regards

[KevDavies]

Ive helped a few guys get into helis in recent times. One thing I do tell them is get a fly barred model for your first heli and fully understand it before moving to fbl. As it will give them a better understanding of what does what in regards to flight characteristics

[trillian]

Yeah, just a few of us in the SFF (save the flybar foundation)

What I used to do to tune the flybar is start by setting the flybar ratio as close to one-to-one as possible (if the ratio is adjustable). Then find the right paddles so that when hovering in the wind it does not try to veer significantly either into or away from the direction of the wind. Too light and it will try to tilt into the wind, too heavy and it will tilt away from the wind.

Then it's a matter of seeing if you have fast enough cyclics. If not then go with harder dampers (and I will have already setup the swash for absolute max throws and max tilt of the paddles).

I have a few flybarred helis I still fly and they're pretty well dialed-in, it's not really a massive shock compared to FBL and still fun.

[helijohn]

Another SFFer here too!!.

I don't want to go to FBL and I don't see it happening in my lifetime anyway. I have tuned FBs in the past but now for my needs I am happy just to assemble it correctly and go fly. I will say that I notice the flybars are a bit on the small side on some of the later helis which may be fine for stick benders but not for me and I have found going up a size to be very useful.

[flynth]

I love my flybar, littlebit oldschool but its ok for me SFF FTW

[gazmk2]

Hey I've just changed the standard paddles to super light carbon paddles on my 450! Sharpened the old girl right up!

[trillian]

Hey I've just changed the standard paddles to super light carbon paddles on my 450! Sharpened the old girl right up!

The other trick I used to do on my Trex 450SE was to use a pair of weights but then use the really aggressive KBDD paddles, so it was still quite stable in a hover but really quick on the cyclics when you need it.

[gazmk2]

I have moved the weights out a bit to regain some stability in the hover. It feels very sharp in response to the cyclics and yet sits almost hands off in the hover! I am away of keeping things real, I even swapped a fairly modern flybarless electric for an all plastic hear, flybarred raptor 30 and I totally love it!

[electricsceadu]

welcome to
save the flybar foundation

try a longer bar

[jimmyhorns]

I think its a very small market.

I can still fly a flybarred machine, but much prefer FBL. Its more stable, its easier to set up, its easier to be sure that you are good to go after a crash...

Im not really sure I ever got to the stage of 'tuning' a flybar, just setting it up was difficult enough.

Just as I can work my way though setting up points and ignition timing if I really need to, im much happier with my electronic ignition in the car. Fewer moving parts, more efficient and easier to fix when it all goes wrong. Its just the same with flybars for me IMO.

[electricsceadu]

you can carry on driving with a set of points playing up
many a time my old cortina popped and banged on the way home
but an electronic ignition normaly either works or it doesn't
although my vintage car has a new eectronic ignition system ready to be fitted

a flybared head isn't hard to tune
getting it right to how you want the model to fly is the hard part

[helijohn]

you can carry on driving with a set of points playing up
many a time my old cortina popped and banged on the way home
but an electronic ignition normaly either works or it doesn't
although my vintage car has a new eectronic ignition system ready to be fitted

a flybared head isn't hard to tune
getting it right to how you want the model to fly is the hard part

Ain't that the truth.

[mike557]

After some research I found a good article on this very forum by Mark Christy which is most informative. Also a couple of good post on rcgroups with a touch of theory to help understand . Really going to play with this. I don't understand the easier point of view of FBL. Where's the challenge and the pleasure.

[helijohn]

I don't understand the easier point of view of FBL. Where's the challenge and the pleasure.

I suppose some of it is about fewer parts count. Some of it is about the fact that more and more things are electronic. Some of it is about reaching the stage where the heli is flying itself. I suppose it depends what you want from your flying.

[electricsceadu]

with fbl there is a perfomance gain
due to less drag on the head and thus more usable power
the fbl unit can be tuned to give a stable yet very responsive control on the head at the same time
the flybar is a compromise between being stable and responsive
my turbulence has one of the best flybar heads produced, it is stable in the hover, well mannered, has quick and powerful cyclic control

we have pro's and con's of both systems
after owning and flying a flybared trex600 (sold a long time ago)
and a fbl trex 600dfc, fbl is the better option on the 600