geoffs crash and learn

MAIN BLADE PITCH SETTING UP

 

To set up the blade pitch correctly you have to have the helicopter powered up so DISCONNECT the leads to the main drive motor and tail motor (if fitted).

 

Turn on the transmitter and connect up the helicopters battery.

Ensure the PIT and PLT knobs are both set to centre position.

Set the throttle stick to centre position.

Then switch the idle up (mode 1 or whatever) ON.

 

Now working on the helicopter you need to loosen off the grub screw that holds the collective push rod to the servo pitch control arm bearing (located directly below the push rod).

By hand move the collective collar on the main shaft to its lowest position and take a measurement from a set point on the rotor head.

Now move the collar to its upper most position and take another measurement.

 

(For example let say measurement 1 = 45mm measurement 2 = 35 mm gives 10mm total collective travel)

 

we now want to set the collar at the mid position (example will be a measurement of 40mm) move the collar to the required position and tighten the grub screw in the pitch control bearing.

 

We now have the pitch control set up correctly and can now set the blade pitch up.

 Using a pitch gauge set the blades to ‘0’ degrees pitch adjusting the links to the blade holders to obtain the ‘0’ degrees, once both blades are set move the throttle stick up and down a couple of times then back to centre and recheck the pitch it should be ‘0’ degrees.

Now move the throttle stick to the top position and measure the pitch (require +9 to +11) to achieve this you need to adjust the PLT control on the transmitter, once you have the pitch you require move the throttle stick to its lowest position and take a pitch reading you should have between -8 to -10 degrees pitch this has now set the travel of the servo and your blade pitch up.

If your transmitter has a PLT lock then lock it now otherwise make a note of its position in case it gets accidentally moved you can reset it again.

Now switch back from idle up to normal flight mode on the transmitter and check the pitch at the lowest throttle position it should be ‘0’ degrees if it is out of range use the PIT knob to achieve ‘0’ degrees now lock this into the transmitter if possible or make a note of its position.

Move the throttle stick to mid position and then top position and your pitch readings should be around

Mid = +5 to +6

Top = +9 to +11

Your pitch control and pitch settings are now set up for both normal and 3D flight.

 

If you experience trouble in control flying in windy conditions in normal flight you can reduce the PIT knob down slightly to give you a negative pitch at O% throttle aiding decent this also effects the mid position pitch as well but not full pitch.

 

Hope you find this helpful

geoff

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO FIRST HOVER 

Your helicopter has arrived but you have never flown a radio controlled helicopter before, the guide below will get you up in the air for your first hover.

 

1^st rule of flying don’t rush take your time

 

1) Remove the contents of your package onto a suitable table or bench and check all contents are there and complete.

 

2) Read the helicopter manual on battery care and charging, then put your helicopter battery on charge.

 

3) Check over the helicopter for any loose screws, fitting or wiring connections.

Tighten as necessary but DO NOT over tighten.

The main rotor blades and tail blades should be able to move with a little resistance

 

4) Whilst waiting for the battery to charge take this opportunity to read the instructions and get familiar with the transmitter, how the sticks move, where all the switches and knobs are etc. CAUTION DO NOT MOVE THE TRIM settings (the small sliders by the sticks).

Install 8 number ‘AA’ batteries into the rear of the transmitter.

 

5) OK now the battery is charged, remove the canopy from the helicopter and install the battery on the helicopter securing it in place with the elastic band supplied. DO NOT CONNECT THE
BATTERY TO THE HELICOPTER YET.

Place the canopy back onto the helicopter and secure it on to the main frame pins via the rubber grommets.

6) Now build up the training gear by installing the rods into the plastic disc then pushing one plastic piece of tube over the rod allowing enough room to put the ping pong ball on then use another piece of tube to hold in place.

Once built up you have an ‘X’ shape with orange balls at each end.

Now place your helicopter skids on top of this and secure the two together with the tie wraps supplied.

 

7) Make sure all of the switches on the transmitter are switched towards the rear of the transmitter and the left hand stick (throttle) is in its lowest position.

The trim to the right hand side of the throttle stick must also be at its lowest position.

Now turn on the transmitter and extend the Ariel to its maximum extent.

 

Place the helicopter on a flat open piece of ground and connect the battery to the helicopter.

You will see the light on the gyro flash then either go out or stay a constant colour (this indicates that all is well), if the helicopter has a motor controller it will emit a sound too.

You must wait until you get the conditions above before continuing.

 

 

EXTREAM CAUTION IS REQUIRED WHILST CARRYING OUT THESE CHECKS AS YOUR HELICOPTER IS LIVE AND IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY CATCH THE THROTTLE STICK OR ANY SWITCH THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES WILL SPIN UP CAUSING DAMAGE TO THE HELICOPTER AND YOURSELF.

 

9) Before attempting to move the throttle stick (just to see if it works) check the right hand stick is working correctly.

Move the right hand stick forwards and you will see the swash plate on the helicopter move down towards the nose of the helicopter, move it back and the plate will move down to the rear of the helicopter let it rest in the centre and the plate will return to the level position.

Now move the right hand stick to the left, the plate will move to the left. Then to the right and the plate moves right, put it back to centre and the plate resumes the central position again.

CAUTION NEEDED FOR THE NEXT CHECK, carefully move the left stick(throttle) to the right you will see the tail blades change their angle to give a bigger angle, then move the left stick to the right the tail blades will reduce in angle.

 

EXTREAM CAUTION IS REQUIRED WHILST CARRYING OUT THESE CHECKS AS YOUR HELICOPTER IS LIVE AND IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY CATCH THE THROTTLE STICK OR ANY SWITCH THE MAIN ROTOR BLADES WILL SPIN UP CAUSING DAMAGE TO THE HELICOPTER AND YOURSELF.

 

10) Move away from your helicopter and slowly move the throttle stick upwards your rotor blades will start to turn now move the stick back to the bottom and whilst the blades are slowing down note which way they are spinning, if they are rotating clockwise as viewed from above all is well.

Now move the stick up again this time you want to get the helicopter light enough on the training gear for it to move, note which way it moves and shut the throttle off again (stick to bottom) and allow the rotors to stop.

 

We’ll presume the helicopter moved to the left and forwards for this example.

 

The small trim slider below the right hand stick needs to be moved to the right by two clicks, then spin up again and note the direction it moves after this adjustment, keep repeating until you only need a small input on the stick to keep it from drifting left.

Next move the trim to the left of the right hand stick back two clicks and spin up the rotor again, repeat this until you now only need very small inputs to the stick to keep it in one place.

 

This has effectively levelled your swash plate to a certain degree, once you get more experienced we can then go into more details on how to set up for fast flight and 3D.

All we want to do at the moment is to get to a hover in control.

 

During this initial set up the tail might of stayed in a relative stable position or it might have been spinning wildly to one side we need to set this up now.

 

11) If the tail has been moving to the left, the trim below the throttle stick will need to be moved to the right two clicks at a time, if you reach the full extent of the trim travel you then need to move the servo on the tail boom to compensate for the lack of trim.

To do this move the trim back to centre position then loosen off the screws which clamp the servo holder to the boom, then slide the servo up or down (depends on whether you require more or less tail pitch move the trim to see which way the push rod moves) by no more than 3mm. then repeat the initial trim set up as above to get a steady tail position.

 

12) By this time your battery is low so disconnect the battery from the helicopter and remove it and then turn off the transmitter.

Put the battery on charge and make yourself a well deserved cuppa.

 

 

13) Mark out an area aprox 4 foot square or visualise this area as this is going to be your “flying zone”.

Turn on the transmitter then connect up the helicopter battery.

Slowly increase the throttle until the helicopter is very light on the training gear and practice keeping it in one place (your flying zone) continue doing this starting up and stopping until you are confident you want to give it a little more throttle where it will lift off the ground once up reduce the throttle and land, close the throttle off and disconnect the battery.

 

WHY this will let your nerves settle and you can think about what has just taken place i.e. your first flight be it all very quick but it does save on parts after panicking and crashing (trust me) .

 

Reconnect the battery and slowly increase throttle until you lift off again and land only lift a max of 1 foot in the air at this time until you are confident to try gaining more height.(the training gear is more effective at this height at preventing overturns during crashes therefore expense of new parts)

 

Once you get 3 feet and higher you will notice the control of the helicopter gets better this is because you move out of the disturbed air your rotor blades create below you helicopter.

 

You are now in control of your helicopter and with more practice you will be able to take off and land without the training gear.

 

REMEMBER

1^st rule of flying don’t rush take your time

ART-TECH   FALCON 3D

Pic 51-52

 

PACKAGING: - This heli comes as a RTF helicopter the package is moulded polystyrene and all components are held in securely.

The bottom section comes out to gain access to the helicopter, transmitter and all the equipment required for charging.

Also included is a full training gear set.

so what’s actually in the box?

1x RTF helicopter fully built

1x transmitter (requires 8 number AA batteries)

1x 240volt mains adapter

1x 12volt field cable (for charger)

1x e sky balanced charger

1x 11.1volt. 1300 mAh li-po battery

1x bag containing alan keys, tie wraps and training gear centre hub

1x training gear (rods and ping pong balls)

1x instruction book for helicopter

1x instruction book for flight sim

1x cd-r flight sim

1x flight sim cable

1x decal sheet (for your canopy)

1x check sheet from heliguy signed and dated by the sender.

THE STRIP DOWN: - Sacrilege I hear you all shout. Yes I know but this is heliguy and we need to have a step by step guide for this helicopter.

Pic56

STAGE 1:-The rotor head.

(Main blades and feathering shaft)

Remove the two main rotor blades using the alan key supplied.

Pull off the links to each blade holder

Remove the two screws from the blade holder and separate the holder; this reveals two cross head screws one either end of the feathering shaft.

Using two cross head screw drivers remove one of the screws.

You can now pull off the two bearings, one spacer and two rubber ‘O’ rings.

Withdraw the shaft through the head assembly, if you are going to replace the shaft hold the shaft in a pair of pliers or vice and remove the other screw, bearings ,spacer and two rubber ‘O’ rings.

Pic 80-75-72-65

 

 

 

(Fly bar and paddles and fly bar tube)

Loosen the 3mm grub screw on the paddles and remove the paddles from the fly bar.

Loosen the grub screws in each of the ‘L’ shaped control arms and withdraw the fly bar (beware between the ‘L’ shape control arm and the fly bar tube is a shaped washer), remove the link from the swash plate to separate.

Pic 71

(Collective collar and push rod)

Remove the links from the swash plate then undo the two screws holding the rocker arm to the collar (note the correct way the brass bush is fitted).

Holding the collar steady turn the bottom collar holding the push rod anti clockwise to unscrew the push rod from the collective collar(you will have to either disconnect the servo horn or move the servo down to totally unscrew the rod).

Loosen the grub screw in the collar and withdraw the push rod.

With a small flat bladed screwdriver push out the small plastic bock which holds the collar through the main shaft then lift the collective off the shaft.

Pic 81-82-83-87

 

 

(Swash plate)

Remove the links from the swash plate (3 No) and lift the swash plate off the main shaft.

Pic 88-89

 

(Electronics)

Disconnect all of the plugs from the receiver:-

Channel no                               Control

1                                                                                            left / right

2                                                                                            forward / back

3                                                                                            ESC

4                                                                                            Giro

5                                                                                            Giro heading hold

6                                                                                            Pitch

Remove the screws from each servo horn and remove the horn from the servos, then remove two screws from each servo and remove the servos.

Remove the gyro and receiver from the main frame assembly.

Pic 90

 

(Tail boom assembly)

Slacken off the small screw on the tail boom holder (this locates the boom to give correct gear mesh),

Remove (4) four screws from the holder these have nuts under the main frame so be sure not to loose these.

Remove the tail boom assembly from the main frame.

Pic 93-94

(Main frame)

Undo and remove the 17 screws recessed into the main frame, and the small screw holding the collective pitch arm.

Carefully separate the two half’s of the main frame the main drive gear, elevator arm and collective arm should stay in one half.

Pic 96-98

(Main drive gear)

Pull out the main drive gear from the main frame.

The gear wheel is held in place on the shaft with three collars with two grub screws in each, and two main bearings.

Loosen the grub screws and slide off each collar noting the orientation of the raised portion on each collar(raised portion faces bearings).

Remove the drive gear.

4 small screws hold the tail drive gear on to the main drive to remove the gear you need to remove these screws and gently prise the gear off the one-way bearing.

Pic 98-100-101

(Tail boom dismantling)

Remove the screw (2) then loosen the 4 screws (1) to allow the tail gear box to be removed from the boom.(see photo below) loosen the screws holding the vertical and horizontal fins and the servo mounts and withdraw them from the boom.

Note the tail gearbox end bevelled gear is smaller in proportion to the main driven gear.

Carefully prize off the tail end bevelled gear (might have glue on it so expect it to be tight) then tap the drive rod through the bearing, this gives plenty of shaft at the drive end to allow you to pull it through the centre and end bearings.

Handy tip……………………………………………………………………………..

To prevent the centre bearing from being displaced there are small dimples on the tail boom that hold the bearings in place carefully clamp the mid bearing position in a vice to stop it being moved during drive shaft removal and replacement.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

A little resistance will be found during removal and replacement of the drive shaft.

The drive bevelled gear is also push fit and can now be tapped off the shaft.

Pic 113copy -114 110-111-112

(Tail rotor dismantling)

The tail rotor assemble can be dismantled by removing the 5 screws holding the two half’s of the gear box together (don’t loose the small bearings inside the two half’s) then loosen the two grub screws from the tail blade holder centre hub and pull it away from the shaft.(if the grub screws have been tightened too much the shaft burrs making removal a little difficult).

Remove the tail rotors to reveal two hex head bolts inside, remove these to release the holder from the centre hub and also give access to the two bearings within.

Pic 107

So there you have now completely dismantled the falcon 3d to assemble the craft reverse the above procedures remember to use loctite or similar on the screws to prevent them working loose.

Well after stripping the falcon 3d down to the bare bones I’ve finally put it all back together again.

As the heli comes with training gear I decided to install it on the heli and try it out.

Weather conditions: - Very windy.

ok so spun it up to get it light on the skids the tail turning left so moved the servo until I got a steady tail without too much input on the stick.

Now up to speed and light on the training gear and its pulling left a lot and back unfortunately their is no facility to compensate for this on the link for the forward / aft on the transmitter so its all down to using the trim, after a few spin ups the heli seems to be trimmed up, so gave it a little more just as a gust of wind hit it, well it shot upwards but fortunately still under some resemblance of control I managed to get it down.

The heli responds very quickly to any inputs you make on the transmitter which in the conditions made it very hard to keep in one place, also the altitude was hard to keep stable too.

Although a slightly bumpy first flight this heli flew extremely well in these conditions all with stock fittings and battery.

I then installed an 11.1v 2200mAh 10c battery which I use in my walkera 36; well the difference the added weight made was quite astonishing, the heli was a lot more stable and easier to control and added a good 5 min extra flight time. So what would it be like with a bigger battery???.

Installed an 11.1v 2200mAh 12c into it. The extra weight of this did not really make a difference to the handling but the flight time was 2 min longer.

The extra flight time is taken from the time I got from the standard battery.

So to sum up the 11.1v 2200mAh 10c battery is the ideal one for this heli giving better handling in windy conditions with the benefit of a longer flight time.

NOTE

This heli shares parts with the walkera #36, the list below I have compiled using the measurements off the falcon and my walkera: -

Rotor blades

Blade holders

Collective collar arrangement

Swash plate

Main shaft (falcon shaft will need to be shortened slightly to fit walkera)

Landing skids (will need very slight mod to fit existing mounting holes on walkera)

Collective rod (from servo to collective collar)