Info Common Rc Helicopter Problems For Newcomers

Discussion in 'Newbies: Tips and Information' started by smakmeharder, Feb 9, 2015.

By smakmeharder on Feb 9, 2015 at 2:39 PM
  1. smakmeharder

    smakmeharder Administrator

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    Please add any common problems that you think newcomers should lookout for. Its hard enough to learn how to fly let alone figure out how to fix problems once you crash your helicopter. So i will start with one tip that has helped me time and time again.

    How To Eliminate Vibes.

    Firstly you will know you have vibes when your helicopter just tips unexpectantly on take off, or it feels like its very loose and uncontrolable in the air. Sometimes vibes can creep up on you. For example i have had instances where i have chipped a tail blade, not taken much notice then slowly but surely the helicopter starts to feel less accurate in the air.

    HOW TO FIND AND ELIMINATE VIBES

    Remove the main blades and tail blades.

    Clamp the model down and spool it up to FAST place your hand on the boom - be very careful of moving parts as they will shred you very quickly. Wear safety googles and gloves to be sure. Watch the swash plate. If it starts to lean or the tail starts to move by itself towards one side you know you have vibes. Verify by placing your hand CAREFULLY where the boom meets the head of the helicopter. You will feel the vibrations you are trying to eliminate.


    First check the obvious - Check the head for bearing damage, bent feather shaft and also make sure that the main shaft is not bent. Do the same for the tail. Grab the blade grips. Are they moving or loose? This is usually a sign of bearing or assembly issue.

    If the quick inspection fails we need to now go into a process of elimination so we can track down where the vibrations originate.

    Disassemble the boom from the body. Spool once more. are the vibes still there? If yes well then its to do with the motor/main gear or even torque tube/belt interface. Something in the front part of the helicopter. Assemble the helicopter main parts sequentially until you track which part is the culprit.

    If the vibes are coming from the tail area then strip all the main tail components off the boom. Keep assembling the tail components one by one (ie tail shaft, then rotor, then tail blades) and spool with each successive major assembly part until you find the source of the vibration.

    Once you think you have eliminated the vibes, keep the helicopter clamped down and run at maximum speed without blades to start with. If you have vibes the swash will usually tilt and lean to the side after 10 seconds or so. At this point if the swash leans you have not picked up the origin of the vibration and will have to perform the procedure outlined above once more.

    If all is good, then assemble the blades. Take the heli out to a field and spool the helicoper up once more. Keep the pitch neutral DO NOT TAKE OFF.

    Again watch the swash and tail closely. If it starts to lean for no apparent reason or the tail starts to turn to one side you still have vibes. DEPOWER IMMEDIATELY. Start to suspect the blades. Check them for balance..

    This method has helped me eliminate vibes in every case so far.

    Please provide our newcomers any other useful tips to solve common RC helicopter issues.
     
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Comments

Discussion in 'Newbies: Tips and Information' started by smakmeharder, Feb 9, 2015.

    1. Beaver

      Beaver Well-Known Member

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      @smakmeharder is right on about the vibration problem, as I demonstrated to myself today (coincidentally enough). I spooled up my Nano CPx inside today and immediately noticed it was unstable, it was leaning oddly and was having a difficult time keeping the tail locked-in. At first, I began to suspect the tail rotor motor was going bad. As the Nano is very small, I picked it up carefully and spooled up the rotors to find out what was happening. I immediately felt vibration from the main rotor being out of balance. Having recently replaced the feathering spindle in the rotor head, I looked at that first. Sure enough, I found that the spacing between one of the blade grips and the hub was greater than the one on the other side. I corrected THAT little problem and installed the blades for another test run. There was still a slight vibration, but not as much as before. Suspecting the blades were slightly out of balance I clamped the heli securely in place, spooled up the rotor at neutral pitch, and (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME) carefully "lathed" the edges of the blades with a razor blade very slightly until the vibration went away completely. Having completely eliminated all unnecessary vibration, the Nano flew smooth and stable with good tail lock. In fact, this evening I was getting "hands free hovering" out of the Nano after fine tuning the trims on my radio a little. The reasoning in all of this is that these modern gyro-stabilization sensors are extremely sensitive to movement of any kind, which is how they detect and feed information to the on-board circuitry to help keep your heli stable and oriented. any unnecessary vibration in the main and/or tail rotor system will carry through the airframe to the sensors and cause false readings, leading to inaccurate gyro reactions and stability problems. Needless to say, I will be buying some new blades this week.
      Hopefully this will help with the discussion. ;)
       
    2. Beaver

      Beaver Well-Known Member

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      Don't assume new blades are already balanced....... especially less expensive makes and models of blades.
       
    3. feral

      feral Well-Known Member

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      Which way the blades go on


      Dont laugh I had a dude whinging about how shiz his trex 450 flew I had a look sure enough blades on backwards
       
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    4. smakmeharder

      smakmeharder Administrator

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      Yes thats true @feral! Expecially if you have a belt helicopter and you have a twist in it or something like that. Allways check the belt and tail rotor direction! Allways make sure the thick edge cuts into the wind!
       
    5. feral

      feral Well-Known Member

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      This dude also was certain that in an auto the blades stop and reverse direction
       
      Last edited: Feb 10, 2015
    6. simon

      simon Well-Known Member

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      Learn to use your throttle hold....save you heaps of stripped gears
      Simon
       
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    7. HeliGods

      HeliGods Mark - Administrator Staff Member

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      Wives seem to be the biggest problem from what i have seen ..
       
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    8. Geena

      Geena Well-Known Member

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      Oh really now! Well...My husband`s wife happens to be awesome..LMBO :p
       
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    9. feral

      feral Well-Known Member

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      My mrs is pretty cool she asked me what heli or plane id like for my birthday I said a Zivko Edge 540 she said something under 200 grand would be a better option
       
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    10. smakmeharder

      smakmeharder Administrator

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      Oh wow.... thats a brave man right there! or his other half is not on the forum!
       
    11. PJ1977

      PJ1977 Member

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      Wow good going beaver. You got this down to a science. I definitely need to
      Take lessons from you since I crashed about 4 450 kits due to vibrations .
      First I spooled her up then at a high
      Rpm she tipped over and boom the main rotor blades desintegrated upon impact they basically turned to a fine powder I am not kidding .The boom
      Bent into a pretzel.
       
    12. Ozzy Mozzy

      Ozzy Mozzy Well-Known Member

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      My wife is the opposite, she even bought me a Goblin for my birthday. Previous to that a plane and another Heli..... oh and a boat lol.....
       
    13. PJ1977

      PJ1977 Member

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      shiz wish I had a wife to buy me goblin.
       

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