Exi 500 CF build (Overdue!)

[Gabe]

Shoot. I didn't let them center first. Did I ruin them? Can I remove the horns, let them center, and then install the horns?

I will take so e pics of the gyro setup. What procedure did you follow? I had the servo plugged in first by accident.

[McKrackin]

I doubt they would be ruined.Align servos are pretty tough.
I let the servos center then put on the horns level with the swash about halfway up the shaft with zero pitch.

DS520's have a seriously long throw so if you get close you're good.
Give it full throttle and then adjust the servos positive limits until you have the pitch you want.Then give it zero throttle and adjust the limits to get the negative pitch you want.

[Gabe]

Sweet. I will give it a whirl here in just a bit. Thanks for the quick reply Ern!

[Gabe]

That helped a little bit. They seem to buzz once I move away from center stick. I have to wiggle the stick to get them to stop.

Also, on the Spartan 760, once I'm in configuration mode and trying to select a servo, it just blinks twice no matter if I push the rudder stick to the left or the right. Has anyone had that problem? I have a 1520u servo which requires on blink of the LED, right now it has two.

Man I'm stumped on this one.

[Gabe]

Got it. Used the bing plug on the Spartan on power up.

Gotta set pitch mix now with the blades and test out the gyro and I may be ready for a test flight.

[akent]

Cool! You are learning it!

[Gabe]

Well, hit another snag. Actually, two snags.

1. Gyro reversing. When I reverse the gyro on the DX6i, the spartan 760 LED goes off (signaling rate mode) AND it has no effect when I move the tail. The servo still responds in the wrong direction. Any ideas? I think I had the rudder in normal mode when it needed to be reversed when I initialized the gyro, but I'm not sure if that has an affect.

2. It appears that the stunt mode switch (on the bench at least) has no affect on the pitch. They are identical in either mode. I'm using 40, 45, 50, 75, 100 on normal and linear on stunt.

Also, I noticed that the tail rotor actually spins the opposite direction than my Blue Ray 450 does, but the rotor blades are set on there correctly. If it spun the opposite way, everything would be perfect. Its really strange.

[Solitaire]

I may be able to help with questions one and three.

1. Instead of gyro reversing, try reversing the rudder on the DX6i.
3. Make sure your belt is twisted the right way when you assembled the tail and boom. With the main rotors moving clockwise (looking down on the heli), the tail rotors should travel counter clockwise (looking at the right side of the heli). Leading edge of the tailblades should travel up into the downwash of the main blades. If not, the belt is twisted the wrong way.

[Gabe]

Thanks! That was it. I didn't realize the direction the belt was twisted would affect the direction of the tail rotors. Got her torn apart at the boom now. I will put her back together after practice.

Thanks guys! Your help is invaluable.

[Gabe]

Test flight in normal mode complete!

She flies like a dream!! Gonna take her to the park for idle up test. Any recommendations on the gyro percentage for idle up. I have it set at 35% right now for idle up. I think that's what Finless Bob had recommended, but I'm not sure.

Kent, what are you using?

[akent]

Wow! That's awesome, Gabe!

I'm running 20% in rate mode and 72% in HH mode with the DX7. I think the DX6i settings mean the same thing.

But I never use rate mode except to bring the model out. I always fly only with HH mode, so my rate mode setting might not be good.

The HH mode of the Sparton is incredible!
Kent

[Gabe]

Got it. The DX6i actually allows for one setting in normal flight mode and one in stunt as well. I will kick it up to the 70's to be safe. Gonna go for a flight here soon and test out the idle up settings.

Thanks again Kent - and everyone else!

[Gabe]

So I went for the idle up test flight and when I switched to idle up, the bird actually lost power - so much that I almost hit the throttle hold. Little rough on the set down and stripped the belt drive gear.

I checked my throttle curves and everything seems ok. 100-90-80-90-100 in stunt.

Any suggestions?

[McKrackin]

95-95-95-95-95 in idle up.

What is the normal settings?
I've had that exact issue before.
It was because the throttle % in normal at that specific stick position was higher than it was in idle up.

[Gabe]

Ah hah!

Normal Throttle: 0-40-65-80-100
Normal Pitch: 40-45-50-75-100
Idle Up Pitch: 0-25-50-75-100

Let me know if I should change it.

Thanks Ern!