600 The Goblin is done

[holtneil]

Hi Steve so what is the fine art of a mini auto ? do I just get into a low hover and kill the motor and leave the collective alone as your nearly on the floor ?

 

[Smoggie]

Yeah, it's pretty easy. On a large heli you can be a couple of ft in the air or even higher because there is lots of stored energy in the blades. So you just set up for landing and when ready hit throttle hold. The heli will immediately sink and as it gets near the deck you progressively feed in more collective and bleed off the head speed, and it will eventually settle gently down with quite low RPM.

You might have a few bumpy ones to start with but if you do them from low down you cant really do any harm. One thing to watch for is when you hit throttle hold the torque goes off the rotor and the translating tendeny is 'turned off'. The heli will drift to the right, so be ready to correct with some left cyclic.

Zoom to the end of this video for a typical example

 

[holtneil]

Hi Steve very smooth I will have to give it a go next time the ground is level to land on

 

[Smoggie]

Neil,

Thinking of your little misadventure with the rescue switch today, here's a 'ghetto' fix to make a momentary (spring return) rescue switch:


The offer is still there if you want the job doing 'right' with a proper momentory switch (Futaba part # 3M94A00907) available on ebay: http://go.redirectingat.com/?id=148...ml&pref=https://www.google.co.uk/&xtz=0&abp=1
Here's my Tx with that same momentary switch fitted (no way for rescue to be accidentally left on):

 

[holtneil]

Hi Steve thanks I may still take you up on the ,I didnt want to loose my trainer switch till after I got Debs flying a CP , working back through the whole day I think the switch had got knocked to on between flying the Trex pro and the Goblin so it was on when I set up the Goblin Now this is where I kick my self , I knew there was a problem I didnt have pitch so I set up again still no pitch ( Now the Doc has changed my drugs and I have been forgetting things and making silly mistakes from the day after ) any way I thought it must be the hold set up playing up so I will flick hold off ,I forgot the motor was powered up still well it spun up and in the few seconds got from floor to 20 feet and a few seconds after 150 feet ( god it fast ) well i knew recovery would make it climb so I hit hold but it would not auto so I managed to aim for some really soft ground , Now I worked out recovery was on so was at max pitch and even after I hit hold recovery was still in so could not get an auto going as pitch was to high , so now the switch is set up so the transmitter will not turn on if recovery is ON , was lucky as all I need is one skid ,one servo arm, If I get NO pitch range again I know its the switch , well we learn by our mistakes just glad it was not worse I temp fixed the skid and fitted new arm test and she flys as before thank god

 

[Smoggie]

Trainer would normally be on the button next to the switch, so changing this switch won't affect trainer function

 

[holtneil]

Hi Steve on the DX9 when In wireless trainer mode you flick the switch to on to give control to the student and to take back control you just touch your sticks this is what I like about the buddy box on the DX9 , it is better now that I set up a warning so the transmitter cant start up with this switch wrong , but I cant get it to give me a warning when you turn it on
The sad part is its on video of my beloved goblin biting the dirt

 

[trainrider06]

Oh no! Neil! Sounds like you had a scary moment there!
Glad damage was minimal!

Oh want to mention, if your wife is really getting interested in flying the heli's, get her a Blade 230s!

 

[holtneil]

Hi Rodney Yes thats what she wants to go for the new blade 230s , as for the Goblin just shows drugs and a heli dont mix , I always keep even a 450 heli a long way off before I knock off the Hold , just gutted thats my new Heli I stuffed oh well parts here in the morning , already did temp repair and test flight all is good just just bolt on new skid and tail fin and ready to rock and roll this weekend

 

[trainrider06]

Hi Rodney Yes thats what she wants to go for the new blade 230s , as for the Goblin just shows drugs and a heli dont mix , I always keep even a 450 heli a long way off before I knock off the Hold , just gutted thats my new Heli I stuffed oh well parts here in the morning , already did temp repair and test flight all is good just just bolt on new skid and tail fin and ready to rock and roll this weekend

Man I hate to hear that, but glad it's minimal! At least you have an excuse, my brain fart moments have been stone cold sober....Maybe I should try drinking and working on em and flying!
That heli is a perfect heli for her the 3 modes allow new pilots to grow with it....I love mine! I want to use it to learn to do soft 3D

 

[holtneil]

Hi Guys as you know Drugs and a heli dont mix , well its all fixed up now I did a quick test flight in strong wind the nodding on the tail is due to hard dampers in the head and low RPM , once its in to idle 1 2050 rpm the nodding goes so after this flight I upped the head speed to 1960 rpm so if the wind drop form the 26 mph we have now I can test again , well here is the video I am not that close I am zoomed in
after crash flight - YouTube

 

[trainrider06]

Did you say 26mph winds??? If so wow! Super stable!
Looks great Neil! I am in envy!

 

[holtneil]

Hi Rodney not 26 mph on that day was windy tho about 18 mph , with gusts the Spirit does well

 

[Smoggie]

Great to see that you got some flying in Neil. The head damping is very stiff on the big Goblins especially so on the 630 because it uses the same head and the same dampers as the 700 and 770. It's not a 'problem' as such because it really needs those higher headspeeds to fly like a Goblin should. At the higher headspeed you should be able to crank the head gain back up to at least the mid 40's which might help make the heli even more locked than it is now. You can use bank switching to set different head gains to different headspeeds, that's a very useful feature in the Spirit.

Doesn't look like I'll get any flying in this weekend. Yesterday was windy with rain showers and today is dry but winds are in the 30-40mph range, probably flyable if i was desperate but no fun and asking for trouble.

 

[holtneil]

Hi Steve shame its windy here to I first went out it started to rain but now stopped but still very windy but I did fly it the Nodding is loads better , I dont know if I need to up the head gains it does fly ok even in this strong wind take a look at the video and let me know sorry its not always in shot I over zoomed the camera , but she dont look bad at all unless the head speed needs to come up more its ment to be running 1960 well that is what I put in the castle ESC
Goblin 630 in 18 mph wind Spirit pro fbl - YouTube

 

[Smoggie]

Looks good to me Neil. I'm sure you don't need to increase head gain as such, but having as much as possible without the onset of nodding or wobbling makes the heli more 'locked' compared to lower gain.. Not that it looks loose in any way.

 

[holtneil]

Thanks Steve just need to learn to fly better now lol

 

[holtneil]

Hi Guys the Goblin has always been jumpy when flying so Smoggie did a little test with the DX9 and removed the throttle wedges from the gimbal , you need to re-calibrate throttle range after but omg the heli is so much smoother , collective is a little slower but after a few flights your be used to it , so it may be worth removing them if you fly just helis
Goblin 630 with throttle wedges removed from DX9 - YouTube

 

[Smoggie]

Glad it worked for you Neil. I think these 'wedges' are installed on all current spektrum Tx's and possibly other brands too. They limit the travel of the throttle stick which i think is intended to make for a faster acting throttle for fixed wing flying. Downside is for helis it can make collective a bit twitchy. It's easy to see the effect of the wedges, just compare the travel of the throttle stick with that of the elevator stick and you should see that the throttle has about 20% less travel.
You have to take the back off the Tx and the two wedges are retained by a single screw in each. After removal you need to go through the stick calibration routine but other than that it's dead straightforward. I also fly fixed wing and i prefer both fixed wing and helis without the wedges.