fireboat

Helicopter 3b :E-sky CP Belt - setting up

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Having messed around with the heli for a bit, changed the radio for a Spektrum DX6i, substituted the gyro for a head holding one and replaced some parts after the blades struck the boom, it had become un-flyable and very unstable. So having the scoured the internet, I came across some clues for setting it up properly. If the heli is not set up properly, it will not only crash, but be potentially very dangerous as well. All metal to metal contact (screws and nuts without plastic inserts) must be secured with loctite, or they will shake loose. The following steps are what I did. I cannot be held responsible for the results of anyone else using this. It worked for me and I now have the thing working properly (in the hover) and understand a little more how it works.

1. Assuming that the servos are all mounted and the gyro stuck down as in the pictures, connect the servos as follows to the AR6200 receiver (the two part one that comes with the transmitter):
a. Bind slot – leave empty for now
b. Throttle – the ESC (don’t forget to make sure that the battery AND the three wires to the engine are unplugged)
c. Elevator – the front servo on the swash plate
d. Auxiliary – (from behind) left rear servo to the swash plate
e. Rudder – goes to the gyro, the tail servo plugs into the gyro
f. Gear – the single wire plug from the gyro – controls the gain & heading hold
2. Turn on the transmitter. Select a new model (or just stick with model 1, if the tranny is new). Turn the tranny off. Plug the bind plug in to the receiver. MAKE SURE THAT THE MOTOR IS STILL DISCONNECTED. Turn on the receiver; both receivers will blink, holding the training switch on the tranny towards you, turn the tranny on. It will say BIND. When the tranny is bound to the receiver, the receiver lights will stay on constantly. Unplug the model battery for now.
3. The next steps are to set up the radio. The pictures below illustrate the selections. The selections are made by rolling or clicking the roller on the tranny. Use the manual to work out all of the navigation. The order is as follows:
a. Model type : heli
b. Model name : what ever you want to call it
c. Set up the pitch curves – Normal, Stunt (F-mode is the switch) and Hold. Because I only want to hover, I used the following:
i. Normal 50 : 50 : 70 : 87 : 100. This gives me zero pitch for the first 40% of travel, then about 4½ degrees at centre stick. The effect is to soften landings and prevent repeat boom strikes.
ii. Stunt / F-mode 0 : 25 : 50 : 75 : 100
iii. Throttle Hold 0 : 25 : 50 : 75 : 100
d. Then the throttle curves. Note, this is programmed for safety rather than being able to fly upside down:
i. Normal 0: 30: 60 : 80 : 100
ii. Stunt / F-mode 0 : 0 : 0 : 0 :0
iii. Throttle hold 0 : 0 : 0 : 0 : 0
e. Get the servos working the right way round, using the REVERSE function. On mine I only had to reverse the aileron and the rudder.
f. Swash type : CCPM 120 degree
4. Next the linkages. This is REALLY important if you want it to work properly & for you to be in control.
a. MAKE SURE THAT THE MOTOR IS STILL UNPLUGGED (if you value bits of your body)
b. Turn on the tranny and then the heli (the motor is still unplugged?)
c. Flick the F-mode switch to 1 (towards you). THIS IS WHY THE MOTOR MUST BE UNPLUGGED AS NORMALLY THIS WOULD TAKE A HELI STRAIGHT TO FULL POWER> THIS IS ALSO WHY I SET THE STUNT F-MODE THROTTLE CURVE TO 0:0:0:0:0!!!
d. Centre the throttle stick. The aim here is to get to zero pitch, with a perfectly level swash plate and ninety degrees on the servo and control arm horns.
i. Start by taking the servo arms off and getting them all at ninety degrees. Move them round the splines first then use the sub trim to get them exact to get then.
ii. Then adjust the linkage rods attached to the cranks on the 3 swash plate servo arms to get them all square also (see the pics).
iii. Then level the swash plate, by adjusting the linkages to it from cranks. I used a mm steel rule as I haven’t got a swash plate leveller yet. The gap between the top- of the frame and the bottom of swash was about 11mm.
iv. Make sure that the main blades are attached. At this (throttle/collective) centre stick position, in Stunt / F-mode, the blades must be zero degrees. Adjust the linkages from the swash to the control arms until this is achieved.
v. The paddles (the small blades on the main rotor) should be lined up with their control arms and be level also. They should already be balanced .A topic for another time.
e. The swash mix settings are used to give you the right pitch range – which is =/- 10 degrees on Stunt / F-1 mode. A pitch gauge is quite helpful at this point. On mine, I ended up with the values:
1. AIL : +80
2. ELEV : +80
3. PITCH :+ 80
f. The blades should be balanced. Again not a topic for now.
g. The helicopter should be balanced, so that boom is parallel to the ground, by lifting the heli up by the flybar (with it horizontal, from left to right) and moving the battery, or adding weights to the nose of the canopy as I did. The battery should be secured, so this it doesn’t move. I use an elastic band – as well as the strap.
5. Dual rates can be used to restrict the movement of the control surfaces and exponential applied, to lessen (or increase) the effect at centre stick. On this menu item (D/R&EXPO), I ended up with (this is all down to personal preference) :
a. AILE 0 90% + 10% AILE 0 70% + 10%
b. ELEV 0 90% +10% ELEV 0 70% +10%
c. RUDD 0 90% +10% RUDD 0 70% +10%
6. The tail servo must be set properly. I used an IKEA cake turntable, with the heli screwed down using the plastic clips meant to hold aeroplane undercarriage on. Without the gyro, the tail should stay roughly still at centre stick, although input will be required to get it there. On the Esky704B HH gyro there are two settings; one with head hold (switch in the down or ‘one’ position on the tranny) and one with out (up or zero position) . In the head hold setting (the one that I am using, I set it to 74%.
That’s about it.

Piczo