Using the swashplate leveller

[Mike W]

Like Ron said ... mid stick make sure level .. go bottom stick and then readjust the end points .. then go top stick and do it again ... Might take some fiddling but you get there in the end ... DO NOT!! move the linkages .. or it will send all the work you just did setting it up at mid stick .. and it does not matter whether you do it in normal or idle or throttle hold ... as long as the radio says 0,25,50,75,100 on the pitch curve in the TX

[frazzle]

Quite right Mike..

Adjust servos to 90 and level a swash in normal mode 0 25 50 75 100 at mid stick : 50 in 50 out. then adjust travel and swash % ages afterward. Your swash % seem a bit high What radio you using?? The Finless CCPM vids are great but you may not need full swash movement in pitch to get full blade pitch ranges. (Maybe +/- 11)?

If using flight batt I use throttle hold at -10 cos connectors are so tight!

[Grant85]

Hi its the DX6i im using that came with the Blade 400 and all these settings in the travel adjust menu are as they were out of the box.They are all at 100% stock.So now i know to get the linkages all level on the swash at mid stick. And then to keep the swash level at full positive & full negative i have to keep the swash level by adjusting the TRAVEL/ADJUST menu and not by altering the linkages again as this will just undo what i have done at mid stick.Also as Boggy told me yesterday that i should go off setting of the elevator linkage to start with.I think im getting it all now.Does this sound correct?
Cheers Grant.

[maderdog_1024]

This is all you need.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1JdYzfDxA8[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS7L-bapzRQ&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzkwkUnwui0&feature=related[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI0Zoi2vFvs&feature=related[/ame]

[Grant85]

Cheers for them vids Maderdog,i have watched them before.Although they are good they only show you how to get the swashplate level at mid stick but it doesn't show you how to keep the swashplate level throughout the collective movement i.e when the throttle stick is lowered/raised.This is where i was having the problem.
My swash was all nice and level at mid-stick and it has taken some fiddling about with the linkages to do this.But as i moved my throttle stick the problem i was having was that the servos wern't moving in synch' with one another which led to my swash being unlevel at the top and bottom.So i have altered the travel adjust in the TRAVEL ADJ menu.
Here is what values i've got now compared to what i had before.

KEY= when i say up/down i mean the direction the arrows on the screen show as you move the sticks.


LEFT AILE; 100% RIGHT AILE; 88%
PITCH UP; 100% PITCH DOWN; 110%
ELEV UP; 93% ELEV DOWN; 100%



Now at all stick positions;bottom,middle and top my swashplate is level all round.So i think i may have cracked it
Thanks everyone,and if my values above seem odd could anyone alert me please.
Chers Grant.

[maderdog_1024]

Cheers for them vids Maderdog,i have watched them before.Although they are good they only show you how to get the swashplate level at mid stick but it doesn't show you how to keep the swashplate level throughout the collective movement i.e when the throttle stick is lowered/raised.This is where i was having the problem.
My swash was all nice and level at mid-stick and it has taken some fiddling about with the linkages to do this.But as i moved my throttle stick the problem i was having was that the servos wern't moving in synch' with one another which led to my swash being unlevel at the top and bottom.So i have altered the travel adjust in the TRAVEL ADJ menu.
Here is what values i've got now compared to what i had before.

KEY= when i say up/down i mean the direction the arrows on the screen show as you move the sticks.


LEFT AILE; 100% RIGHT AILE; 88%
PITCH UP; 100% PITCH DOWN; 110%
ELEV UP; 93% ELEV DOWN; 100%



Now at all stick positions;bottom,middle and top my swashplate is level all round.So i think i may have cracked it
Thanks everyone,and if my values above seem odd could anyone alert me please.
Chers Grant.

i think you may have another underlying problem if you have to use travel adjusts in such a way. ??

I have never had to do that on my blade and i have used countless servos, and had huge crashes.

[Mojogoes]

i think you may have another underlying problem if you have to use travel adjusts in such a way. ??

I have never had to do that on my blade and i have used countless servos, and had huge crashes.

I'm very inclined to agree with you on this one maderdog_1024 although i remember having an interaction via the ail servo when raising and lowering the collective/swashplate!, and i sorted it out by changing the cyclic linkages.........don't forget that its a 120 degree ccpm setup

[Grant85]

i think you may have another underlying problem if you have to use travel adjusts in such a way. ??

I have never had to do that on my blade and i have used countless servos, and had huge crashes.

Maybe its because im using the swash levelling tool and its easier to tell if its not level,as its more accurate,because if i was just doing it by eye i would have never noticed it being off so i wouldn't have then gone on to adjust the travels on the servos.
Im confused now that you say it could be another underlying fault
Can anyone help then cos it appears that i thought i had solved it but obviously not.
I have watched Finless Bob's videos and it seems i have ccpm interaction as all my servos aren't travelling the same amount of distance.In his videos he shows adjusting the end points on the servos so why is it wrong what im doing when im just doing as Finless does.
Cheers Grant.

[maderdog_1024]

i have never seen anyone else using the travel adjusts in such a way on a blade 400. Are all the servos the same on the heli ?

Does sound more like a servo / linkage problem.

[Grant85]

i have never seen anyone else using the travel adjusts in such a way on a blade 400. Are all the servos the same on the heli ?

Does sound more like a servo / linkage problem.

Yeah all 3 of my servos are the same on the head,they are the standard ones.maybe the problem is that the stock servos are sh*t. they seem to be working the same as when i got the heli new so i cant see how anyone of them may be damaged.Could it be the gears? i had a blade strike but the only damage i could see was the blades,feathering shaft,main shaft.Could any of the gears have been damaged in this,how would i tell? they seem to sound ok and move ok.
Cheers Grant.

[Huskyboy]

Yeah all 3 of my servos are the same on the head,they are the standard ones.maybe the problem is that the stock servos are sh*t. they seem to be working the same as when i got the heli new so i cant see how anyone of them may be damaged.Could it be the gears? i had a blade strike but the only damage i could see was the blades,feathering shaft,main shaft.Could any of the gears have been damaged in this,how would i tell? they seem to sound ok and move ok.
Cheers Grant.

Hiya mate,

I'm a newbie with a Blade400 and I've had 2 head-related incidents, one crash and one with the blades coming off and bending control rods. On BOTH occasions the servo gears got stripped (first time 1 servo, 2nd time 2) and needed replacing, with the main drive gear which was easy to spot, and the 2nd gear which was less obvious because there was still some servo arm movement... but the gears were pretty shot.

TBH mate I'd check the servos themselves, replace any gears necessary, then level the swashplate by eye and check full swashplate movement. You can then 'fine tune' it with the tool and do some test spin-ups outside to see how it's going.

Reset all your transmitter stuff to standard too, coz after 2 rebuilds when I've replaced the servo gears I haven't had to adjust anything apart from a couple of twists of the connecting rods.

The servo gears are easy to change - just line the gears up in order when you take them out so you know what order to put them back!

[Mojogoes]

Yes it could be the gears if 1 or a certain amount of teeth have been damaged/brocken off........this would mean that the damaged servo would be notchy and have less travel movement for a given input than the other side cyclic servo it being ok.

I would think that it would show up in the swashplate having a tilt/slant towards which ever side had the faulty gear/s.......imo like i have said i've gotten around swashplate interaction by altering the linkages to suite.

Grant does the instructions for the swashplate leveling device say it is supposed to sit on top or as close to the mainshaft collar and then the thickness of the device then govens that the swashplate which then sits on top of the leveling device.......or does it have some other dimentions to follow.........so basicly you would set all your pitch curves linerly 0-25-50-75-100 then i would have mounted the leveling device on but with the links still attached to the servos but not to the swashplate , this is after you have already established that at half stick with said settings above that your servo arms were/are at 90 degree's......then with half stick established again offer the links up to the balls on the swashplate , if they fit great but if they don't which i would think is the case then simply adjust them to do so.

[Grant85]

http://www.fast-lad.co.uk/store/inde...page=3&sort=1a

This is the swashplate levelling tool i am using.It sits on top of the linkages that come from the servo arms up to the swashplate.

[Huskyboy]

I found that after a gear change it's not always possible to get the servo arm to exactly 90 degrees, but I haven't seen that have a significant effect as long as the connecter lengths are adjusted so swashplate sits level at at mid-stick.

[Boggy]

????????
slowly move the servo arms in both directions Grant (dont force them) there should be no clicks or jumps,just the whirr of the motor.
swap the small gears around as many times as you want they will end up in the same place, and if you cant get your servo arm centered then the large driven gear has not being refitted correctly.its the only one that has a flat for the shaft and stops for the potentiometer.
leveling your swash by eye is never going to be as acurate as using a leveling tool. and i suspect this is how you found your "problem" Grant. the servo's are cheapy's and i would be amazed if there was no interaction and that they were perfect. if all is working now you have adjusted your settings fly it and see.(ill admit now,i do mine by eye and have never had a problem. so your tool may be making you feel a bit more concerned than you need to)

give it a good check and fly it mate chances are it wont feel any different. but then again you may have the best setup stablest 400 on the forum let us know