Question for the Experts

[beedm]

1.When you track your rotor blades, after you chord wise and span wise balance them, at what throttle/pitch combination do you track? 2. Do you look at it while in a hover? 3. Do you put identical lengths and weights of different color tape on the blade tips and use a flashlite? 4. Do you use a flag? 5.Do you depend on your blade measurements (setting pitch static) and call that tracked? 6. last but not least....how do you adjust: hi blade down, then low blade up?

[mightyxxwhitey]

IM no expert, but what I do is track them at about 50% throttle, on the ground. I think you adjust the high/low blade by the linkages attached to the blades. Thats what I did, and it worked.

[akphill]

I bring my bird up to hover and look at the blades. they have two peaces of different colored tape on them . then adjust the hi one to the the low one or the low one to the high one always adjust the one blade never both the links that go to the blades are the ones i use to adjust tracking seem's to work for me.

[coffinsnail]

i have been told one piece of tape is enough, but as stated above, pick one as the constant blade... IE the tape blade is never moved only the none taped.

[fergie]

hey BEE, like phill i bring my bird in a hover. which is alittle over half throttle which myself i like 5 or 6deg. pitch. i would bring the low one to match that, or the high one to match that.
does that make sence?

[McKrackin]

+1 on checking in a hover.I want the blades adjusted when they are moving fast enough to fly.I mark my blades with a Sharpie.A and B.Since I use tape to dial in the balance,I understand that a single wrap of tape changes the balance.

[beedm]

I put a piece of white reflective tape on one blade (non target) and an identicle strip of red reflective tape on the red blade (target). I take a look at it on the bench, fastened to the top; run it up to mid throttle and use a flashlite to see how the blades look. Ernie said something interresting that I did read and use: Make one blade (red on mine) the target or measured blade. Adjust the white to it. But I've also noticed that alternating adjustments, ie; white down a turn then check it again and if needed adjust red a little for fine tune seems to work for me. I also try and adjust at two different rpms: ground track and flight track are a little different as the high blade tends to rise higher with RPM.

Yesterday, I was tracking the Belt and at a hover, the track was just peachy. But at hover, the tail was moving up and down a little indicating that it was out of track. (verticle one to one). Back to the bench and ran it up to check track: at higher RPM with the pitch curve taken out....it showed separation that I wasn't observing in flight (with pitch curve in). Adjust for that, took it out to hover, and smooth as silk.

[akent]

Before I was comfortable hovering these things while trying to look at the tracking, I would strap the heli to a sawhorse. Then I spooled it up and could look at tracking with all different throttles.
Then one day I was playing around and at full throttle, I pushed forward.
OOPS! Ugh. Boom.

Now, I hover to eye level, but that ability was hard to get to.
It's hard to learn to hover at exactly eye level to see the blade tracking! I think once you can do that, you are really good at hovering!
Kent

[akent]

Oh, and once I balance the blades on the bench, if the blades are black, I use whiteout on one of the tips, and if they are white blades, I use a black magic marker on one.

But I have a set of beautiful CF blades for my 450 now that didn't need anything. I put whiteout on one of them and it just slid right off! It's black again! These are the finest blades I've ever seen. The problem is that I can't remember where I bought these things!!! Man.
Kent

[heliraptor]

When I balance blades I use a Kohl Rotor Pro. Most times I just buy V Blades, Radix or RotorTech's. Maybe 90% of the time they are near perfect and need no balancing. On most other brands I do check them right away.

For tracking purposes, I found a method that hits tracking dead on 95% of the time and if it is off it is by 1 turn of a ball link.

I take the heli and lay it on it's side do the main shaft is horizontal and level. Then I hang the blades down at Zero Degree Pitch. Then I adjust the blades until the tips are on the same plain. This gets them perfect nearly every time. I have been doing this for a couple years now.

This tip came from Garf, he is the owner of G-Force Heli. He is a big supporter of my forums and the hobby.

I hope this info helps others like it has helped me and many of my buddies.

[rcdbutz]

If it's a 450 size or smaller, I just hold it by the skids really tight and spin up to half throttle and check the blades. I usually mark one blade to be completely black and leave the other one white (or visa versa with dark blades). Usually there is one that is closer to 0 pitch at half throttle, so I'll adjust the other blade to match it.

If the heli is any bigger than a 450, then I'll start by spooling up and stepping back to get it close enough to hover, then I'll hover to eye level and look at the tracking that way.