Main Shaft Wobble

[Ru-Ready]

Hey Gain...

I'm afraid that my main shaft might be bent on my new CP. When I start it up the main gear has a lot of movement to it, and I it takes over 3/4 throttle to just get it off the ground.

I have search through the post tonight and saw some things to try.

Thanks for any advice.

[Stack]

Hey RU,

A couple of things:

1. Did you have some sort crash?

2. Main Shaft: If it is indeed bent, you can find out by simply pulling it out and rolling it on a flat surface.

3. In a bad crash bending the main shaft AND the spindle is pretty common. A bent spindle can make it appear as if your main is bent as well.

4. A bent main shaft (unless REALLY severe) probably wouldn't cause your 3/4 throttle hover problem. This goes back to why I asked you if you had a crash. It is possible that you just don't have enough pitch. Also, is your battery pack okay?

So to summarize: I would pop the head off and check the main shaft. If bent, I'd replace it. Some people will tell you to straighten it but I prefer to replace. I personally would then check the spindle. It can be a pain in the butt, but it is worth it. With a bent spindle you will have all sorts of vibrations and tracking issues.

If you did have a crash, and had to rebuild I would check your pitch ranges as well. Easiest way to get it setup is to A) disconnect both motors B) flip into idle up (stunt mode) C) make sure you have 0 degrees at half stick in idle up. Once you do, everything should correlate over to normal mode.

Hope this helps.

[Ru-Ready]

Thanks Stack

No crash. Came that way of the box I would say the main gear moves as much as 1/8 of an inch in one revolution.

I bought a new shaft today, and will tear it down this weekend.

If you not working on it your not learning!

[Stack]

Wow, that seems like quite a bit of movement. Definitely tear it down and see what is going on. Let us know how you make out.

[Ru-Ready]

Stack,

Sure enough bent shaft or bad mount of the main gear, who will ever know. But I do know now how to break the bird down. Only had one time that things went flying...

I have adjusted the pitch some and hopefully I will be able to test it soon.

[Ru-Ready]

Ok,

Got verything back together blades are right on track and turns up very smoothly, but this little thing is hard to fly. What are some basic things that I can try to get started with.

I have the training balls installed and get about 2 inches off the gournd and off it goes. Last night I was about eye level for about 20 clicks and had to set it down before it just before it hit the house.

I just need to know if this is normal, I know that I will not being doing any 3D any time soon.

Thanks.

[redout]

Im pretty new to the scene. Been flying since Nov. 05 However i have read and LEARNED alot since then. So lets start shall we.

The calming:

1) Your flybar has 2 weights on each side. Buy 2 more and add them to the flybar (1 on each side) .Thats a total of 3 weights each side or 6 on the entire flybar. Place them next to the weights on the outside, you will have to move the ones there inward a bit to make room for the new weights. This will really calm that twitchy CP down. This is fast, cheap and easy to do.

2) Jump up in gears. The stock gear is 10T, try a 11T instead. Again thats a cheap and fast fix, but wont calm the CP down as much a #1, but calm it down it will. I understand they have a 12T now... I cant recommend that gear as I have yet to try that myself though.

3) If you use Lipo batteries (and only if) you can get the symmetrical blades. Fast, but NOT cheap calming effect. The NiMN batteries dont have the power to lift the CP off the ground with symmetrical blades, and if the CP does lift your goign to get about 4" off the ground.

4) Get a flight sim!!! FMS is free and you can get a cable to make your stock CP Transmitter work on it. Or get a fancy flight sim, which can cost $$. Just starting out i would opt for the free stuff first.

If you use #1, #2, #3 together you will have a pretty good rock steady bird. There are addon parts that will make it better also. But im thinking if its cheap or free (and easy to do) then go that route first and contiune to learn.

Practice, practice, practice... take it slow and practice. Try to hover about knee cap height and in one spot for about 20 seconds to start out with. This will hopefully take away alot of the rotor wash, so you dont FLOAT all over the place.

Hope this helps

P.S. DO NOT.. DO NOT fly in windy conditions, the CP simply cant handle wind over 4 to 5 MPH. You will be a rebuilding pro in no time if you do.

[SSG Scott]

Hey Gain...

I'm afraid that my main shaft might be bent on my new CP. When I start it up the main gear has a lot of movement to it, and I it takes over 3/4 throttle to just get it off the ground.

I have search through the post tonight and saw some things to try.

Thanks for any advice.

Hey I bet you didn't know this but actually when you bend your main shaft you can easily bend it back. We bent lots of them while flying in iraq and the mail was slow so we had time to try a number of different things.

To straighten your shaft will require you remove it from your heli. Rotate it slowly to determine where the bend is (usually just above the top bearing) and using long nose pliers gently bend it back. I chuck mine into my cordless drill to rotate it. A little patience and 10 minutes later you have a perfectally straight shaft once again!

Good Luck and Happy Flying!

-Scott

[Ru-Ready]

I must say that Patience is the most important thing one can learn from these little heli's.

I have tried to straiten the shaft but then I had so many burs on it I could hardly get it back in place.

I also now have some succesfull hover time and very pleased with my progress. I'm really just doing baby steps.

I'm wondering if the hummingbird or vemon shafts are stronger or if they would even work on this bird.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

L8ter.