Collective stick tension on TX?

[mark lane]

How smooth is the collective stick on your TX's guys? Mine (DX7) is very loose and smooth following having the back off the tx months ago and adjusting the friction plate.

We were debating this at the field the other evening. Stu smith offered me a flight on his 700 to try some torsion blades and i had to put the machine down before i got into the flight as his was SO stiff and notchy it felt aweful and i just thought i was going to deck it!!! LOL. Obviously this is what he is used too and he said he knew no different.. definately does not seem to cause his flying any probs either!

Just wondering if people have adjusted tensions and like it smoother or stiffer for feel?

[Mike W]

i turned my ratchet the other way round on mine FF7 and theres no notchiness and its nice and smooth but not loose as it will stay where ya put it ... It's all down to the pilot and everyone is different

[sacko]

Mines smooth and relatively loose

[Dannyyy]

loose but really smooth


That's what she said

[SRH990]

I prefer pretty loose & smooth on collective but springs as tight as possible on everything else these days. I used to run the spring tension so loose and sticks so long that I barely new where the centre point was but this was in the days when servos didn't centre worth a damn and digital servos were but a dream

[Tosh]

Mine`s smooth but l have put a bump at mid stick.

[GravityKills]

I prefer soft springs.
My simulator Tx is pretty beaten up, the sticks don't return by their own will anymore.
The flying looks a bit funny at times. Blame it on the Tx Probably you get used to anything.

[moonmanflyer]

Well after having also a go on stu's 700 to try these blades the same eve just couldn't believe how stiff it was, each to there own but i have tried to get mine to have a similar tension to the other stick and with no notcy parts

[BaRoN30s]

i could do with doing mine on my dx7 as i keep on getting the bunny rabbit affect its either going up or down due to it being stiff.

is it easy enough to do.? as i dont like the sound of stripping near on 300 quids worth of radio down..

[Tim Procter]

I prefer pretty loose & smooth on collective but springs as tight as possible on everything else these days.

Just the same here Steve.

I spend hours getting my TX to my liking and believe it can help a lot.

Trouble with having big "Ham Fisted" hands I tend to easily dial in un-necessaray commands in when not needed.

Stiffer sticks eliminate that.

[Adrian]

i could do with doing mine on my dx7 as i keep on getting the bunny rabbit affect its either going up or down due to it being stiff.

is it easy enough to do.? as i dont like the sound of stripping near on 300 quids worth of radio down..

just take the back off,then loosen of 1 screw holding the tension plate to relive the preasure.

[mark lane]

Interesting!... some for smooth.... some for a stiffer feel.

The only thing that makes me wonder about the slick movement on my DX7 is that i may not be holding the collective steady where its needed and losing track of the midpoint.

Sometimes feels like im holding a slippery fish which can be hairy if you know what i mean.

Gonna play with this and see if it helps me keep a more controlled line.... just hope i'm not to used to the super slick feel it has now and it throws me off.

[Smoothound]

I fly stiff

[Holst]

I had a go with Matt from Midland helis MCR and I noticed that his stick was very hard.
It seemed odd to be flying such a tiny heli with such a stiff stick...
Each to his own I suppose

[moyesboy]

It is intersting to hear that tosh put a notch at mid collective stick. I considered that a while back and put a post on here asking about it - and got rather flamed really...
I find it had to hit mid stick when I do a rolling tail slide or something like that - but what I was told is I shouldn't be looking for mid stick but should be controlling the collective to allow for wind so the rolling tail slide is vertical despite the wind...
(I'll settle for vrttical in calm air for now).

I still feel a knowledge of where zero degrees is with a feelable notch would be useful.

Rudder spring is stiff. cyclic stick has stiff springs for me. collective has quite a lot of friction but without notches.
now I have some capability to keep the sticks moving in the right directions i might back off on the spings because strong spings make the manoevres that mix the different functions more difficult, but the manoevres tha keep the different function separate easier.ie aileron tick tock, elevator tick tock strong spings are good - 45 degree tock tock more difficult (piro flips and chaos need lighter springs it seems).