450 Futaba 18mz With Align 3gx Setup

[infernorcteam]

I’m going to ditch the 3GX and go with one of the units you guys suggested. Ive spent too much time on this old system. Thanks again for all of your help.

 

[Tony]

Best decision you could make right there. Keep us posted on how it goes and what you choose.

 

[infernorcteam]

Will do Tony.

 

[infernorcteam]

Tony, out went the 3GX and in with the Ikon 2. I've got everything set up but I can't seem to get this tail under control. As I get light on the skids it goes into a crazy pirouette to the right. I started with my gain set to 45% as in your video. When that didn't work, I tried adding and removing gain. I received the same results. I've tried starting at 45 in the software mode to see if I could get this thing to at least give me a starting point. Same results while adding and lowering the gain the software mode as well.

It seems as if the tail gyro is reversed. I've double checked the orientation setting and its correct. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

Brandon

 

[Tony]

It sounds like your tail gyro is reversed. When you move the tail to the right or left, the TRAILING edge of the blades should point into the direction of travel. below is a video on how to verify the tail gyro settings from Lee.

 

[Smoggie]

There will be a setting somewhere to reverse the tail servo direction, sounds like it's set wrong.

Ignore what is said in the video about reversing in the transmitter to fix a reversed tail servo, that's wrong for most FBL units. Once you are past the Tx setup tab then all servo reversing must be done in the FBL software..

 

[infernorcteam]

That’s was it! Thank you so much guys! I was able to put 4 flights on it yesterday

 

[Tony]

Noice!

 

[Smoggie]

That’s was it! Thank you so much guys! I was able to put 4 flights on it yesterday

That's great to hear, but remember

 

[Tony]

We need to learn Steve the new smiley....

 

[Smoggie]

Videao AND photos is best of all

 

[infernorcteam]

So here’s how she sits today. I was able to get 20-25 good flights in before I developed tail issues. As I became more comfortable I began playing with the different setups in the Ikon menu. I went away from the beginner and flew several flights in Sport, 3D and Extreme 3D. Most of which were in Extreme. I was most happy with the agility it had in that mode. Unfortunately it’s slowly developed an issue where the tail falls out. Sometimes 90* and others as must as 360* on its own. I noticed it occurrs mainly in a decent (- pitch) after a hard accent (+ pitch). During accent, the tail will drift right 45* or so and then fall out on decent. I’m far from a 3D pilot so I know I’m not exceeding the Ikons limits! While working with pitch precomp and cyclic precomp, I lost the tail again and hit the side of my shop.

I’m running an Align DS520 tail servo. It doesn’t appear to be faulty. Any ideas what my issue could be?

My tail servo is set at 1520/333hz

 

[Tony]

I know you say it doesn't appear to be faulty, but I'm going to say it is the tank servo. The Align DS520 is a very old servo and it is likely the pot is dirty causing this issue. One way to check this is to put the gyro in rate mode and very slowly move the rudder stick left and right. I will bet you will find the spot it is getting stuck in and you will have to 'nudge' the servo to get it to start working again. I had this issue on a 450 and it almost caused me to crash on multiple occasions. Thankfully back then I was pretty good with my orientations lol. Not so much anymore.

I have 2 or 3 of those servos around here and I'm only putting them on non critical helicopters now. Which means it will never go on anything that is not a clone. Test it out and let us know.

 

[infernorcteam]

Awesome Tony. Thank you for the reply. What would you run on this tail? I had seen where you posted your 450 servos before somewhere but couldn’t seem to find it again.

 

[Tony]

I am running multiple servos on the tail of my 450's. Below is a link to one that I have on my ALZRC 450 and is doing quite well!

ALZRC DM1531T Medium Digital Metal Locked Rudder Servo for Devil 380 450 480 500 Pro

 

[infernorcteam]

I ordered the ALZRC servo from Banggood. After seeing the 7-20 days shipping, I also ordered an Align DS455 that will be here Tuesday. Between the two, I’ll see which one I prefer and the other will just be an emergency backup.

 

[Tony]

The 455 is going to be a micro servo and will not fit your holder, you will need an adapter to make it fit. The one I linked to fits directly and is a mini servo, not micro. Confusing I know lol.

 

[infernorcteam]

That’s no problem. I’ll make an adapter that will just stay on it. I’m building a CARF P-47 with a Moki 300 in it so a servo adapter for a 450 heli is a piece of cake.

 

[Tony]

That is awesome and I would definitely like to see some more of that little project if you care to share. I have made the adapter before. I just drill 4 holes so I can secure it to the mount on the helicopter, and then drill and tap (or you could use bolts) 4 holes to hold the servo to the plate. Most people can't do this so I try to stay away from mentioning it, but looking at your shop, I don't think you are going to have any problem making that plate lol. Oh, and I used .063 aluminum for mine and it worked quite well. I have it on video somewhere.

 

[infernorcteam]

I made the adapter this afternoon but the wind is howling right now so I didn’t have the chance to put it up in the air. Maybe tomorrow after work.

As for the P-47, I still have a long ways to go. The goal is a maiden late September early October but we'll have to see how it goes. I have way too many open projects. I’ll attach a few more pictures of the exhaust dumping out of the scale location. The rest of the pictures are fairly boring but I’ll post more as I go if you’d like.