Newbie looking for other Heli Pilots

[flynlyons2]

I've been on the sidelines for years and now diving feet first into the world of RC Helicopters. Wanted to really know how they work so I purchased the TREX 500 ESP. I also have the x9503 as I love the interface and plan on doing many many years of Heli flying. Currently I have CX3 and mSR bound to the x9503 along with RealFlight G5 for practice. So I'm VERY new at all of this. I have seen all the TREX 500 build videos online and they have been very helpful along with other references. However I'm a little stumped about the settings for my x9503. Most charts show a 5 pt curve, yet my x9503 has 7pts. So I've tried to convert, but wanted to make sure my understanding is there, so here is my question(s)...

(Currently my TREX 500 is all built, but just waiting on batteries, so using 5 cell radio pack for my R921 receiver and Spartan 760 gyro.)

I understand that 4.5-5 degrees is where most helicopters hover. My TRex 500 (first "real" helicopter I'm building) says +5 with throttle curve of 0/50/70/85/100. In an eBook from rchelicopterfun it is recommended to use a curve of 0/25/55/70/70 for newbies on a TREX 450 size... Mid at 70 for Trex 500 as it is larger. I understand all that (I think), however I need to make sure my settings are good for my x9503.... My curves have 7 marks, not 5 as the DX7 and other radios and that is another hurdle for my limited experience. Based on a 7 pt curve would I put 0/25/55/70/75/80/80 or something like that for my x9503?

Right now I have pitch set at -2 at low stick, 0 at mid stick and 9.5-10 at high stick (full mechanical was -12 and +12). My +5 pitch (based on "normal" throttle below of 0/50/70/85/100) looks like about 87 or so on throttle curve the way it's setup right now (see next paragraph). I don't think that's right?

The "normal" throttle curve recommended by the TRex 500 manual for +5 pitch (0/50/70/85/100)... So I converted to 0/40/57/70/80/90/100 as being roughly the same??? There are 15 numbers between 70/85 and 85/100 so I converted accordingly on the high end. I'm just trying to figure out what to set my Trex 500 for as a newbie and trying to work backwards from these numbers. (I'm probably not doing a good job of explaining my thought processes either).

I've run through 2 full batteries on my x9503 trying to figure this out (along with reading eBooks and watching great HeliFreak videos). I'm starting to loose my mind at this point. Any help is appreciated.

David.

[Valkyrie_1520]

Hi David!

Welcome to the forum. There are a few of us on here that fly heli's. From your description, you have done your homework. The throttle and pitch curves take a bit of tweaking to get them right. As long as you set up your heli per the manual you should be close. Take note of where the manual says to servo arms (ex. arms at 90 degrees at 50% throttle). After all of that is set, tweak your pitch curves until you get the low end (-2 degrees at 0 throttle) and the high end (~+10 at full throttle). Your heli should hover at about +5 degrees which should coincide with 55-60% on the throttle. After the pitch curve is good, you can then tweak the throttle curve to get the head speed you desire during hover.

I know this all sounds a lot more complex than it really is but it's really just moving the points on the radio. In order to keep it simple, remove all but 3 middle points on the pitch curve. Then line them up diagonally. (0,25,50,75,100). The pitch curve should look like "/" with a straight line initially. You can then tweak the points from there to get +5 at 55-60% throttle.

If I missed anything, I'm sure some of the other heli pilots will chime in. And remember, the only stupid questions are the ones that never get asked. 

Tim

[flynlyons2]

Thanks for the email Tim!  Nice to "meet" you.  Hopefully we can get together sometime and do RC stuff (although I can imagine just hovering for the foreseeable future  )

Of course once I see something in action a few times it'll really click, but from what I've read I understand all the concepts, just putting them into real action is the key I suppose.  I went with the conservative route and right now I'm at a pitch of +2 low (in case I freak out I won't slam it, which so far I haven't yet... 4 flights as of this email).  +5 at mid stick and +7ish at high with a 0,50,64,78,85,90 power curve.  Done a few hovers and noticed on my graph that I'm hovering at just below mid stick.  Seems to hover nice and I actually increased mid stick from my initial settings of 72.  Might want more power?  Anyway, I know I'll be slowly setting my pitch/power curve back to "standard" settings over time... I'm just trying to get my head around the Pos 0 (normal) of 0,50,80,90,100 and Pos 1/2 (stunt) 100, 80, 50, 80 100.  I think they are for transitioning for a specific flight mode (hence the name stunt) to keep power up until ready to land.  But it all seems alot given my newness.

I'm hoping to get together with fellow pilots in the east TN area as I think that would help a LOT.  Plus you guys can see what I'm doing and kick me in the rear to show me what I'm doing "almost right". 

Here are some videos of my helicopter... The first one is longer (talks about setup and how the thing works... Which I personally find fascinating).  This will be rather boring for anyone who knows RC stuff.  I did it for a friend of mine in Denver who knows nothing about helis.

Trex500_Training.m4v	Small | Large

Second video is the actual first flight yesterday.  My nephew was around so I figured why not get it on video (he added the sound and stuff).

Trex500_MaidenFlight.m4v	Small | Large

I also have created a site on YouTube called RCHelicopterNovice for future videos

[Kerbob]

Welcome to the forum flynlyons2!  Those are some fantastic videos!  Great for someone like me that has been looking at the helis from the sidelines while I'm flying my planes.  I learned stuff.. thanks.

[flynlyons2]

Thanks for the kind comments.  After some more research I've changed my settings to (Throttle Curve 0, 50, 60, 70 (mid), 80, 90, 100).  My curves have 7 pts on x9503.  Then I have pitch at -2 to +8ish (don't want to get too aggressive).  After all that I find the heli more sensitive, but will hopefully "dumb down" the response with D/R, Expo or swash mix.  One problem I'm having is that my Spartan DS760 gyro isn't working right in heading hold mode... Only in rate?  I'm learning that gain on a x9503 is different than others?  0-51 is for Rate Mode (no LED) 52-100 is Heading Mode (LED on)... However I can't get LED on and the gain seems to have little effect from 52-100?  Driving me nutty.  Obviously it's me (I'm a newbie) but I can't figure it out (yet).

Would love to get together sometime soon with anyone who knows stuff about Helis.  Fly a little and compare notes or something.  I'll be away from internet until next Wed/Thursday (busy with work). 

Thanks
David

[Kerbob]

The heli guys are lurking around somewhere.
 
You should also hook up with Tom, the owner of TNTHobbies.  He's not only a hobby shop owner, but a heli enthusiast.  A lot of the local heli guys are mentored by him.  Unfortunately, I still don't have him on video flying his helis, but I hear he can really wring them out.

[Valkyrie_1520]

There will be a bunch of us at the Indoor fly at TAC Air on Monday evening. Grab an AMA membership if you don't already have one and bring out the Trex.

[TNTHobbies]

Welcome to the forum and Im very happy to see another heli pilot..Kerbob is dead on..Im a diehard heli pilot..I love helis.Ill help you any way I can..Tim is also getting pretty savy on setting up heli`s.When the warm weather hits I pretty well fly my heli`s every day. Getting with me to fly and or tweak on them is not too hard to do..Yell any time..Tom

[flynlyons2]

Well Ratz... I was out of town this past Monday when you were having the TAC Air event :-(

Back in town and I've got my heli up and running (hopefully correctly) and I've updated my videos on YouTube to a new site called RCHelicopterNovice

I'd love to get together anytime.  I'll certainly give Tom and others a yell...

[flynlyons2]

Well... Here is the T-Rex 500 body build and some observations... I just can't get over how you must really "stress" the tail rod to get it to work inside the body with the standard Align tail rod. I elected to install the tail rod on the outside lower section of the boom as this gives almost no resistance to the servo and tail rotor (unlike routing the cable through the body). No matter how I placed the servo, it would not allow me to route the tail rod easily. I just felt that there was too much resistance and/or stress to the tail rotor movement. Maybe I'm being too critical and the servo torque isn't effected? Chalk it up to a learning experience. Any suggestions are appreciated however.

Eventually I may come up with a better solution for the tail boom, however, with this solution I can easily remove the parts and have the T-Rex 500 up and flying (without the 500E body) in under an hour.

Hughes_500E_Installation.m4v	Small | Large

[Valkyrie_1520]

Have you tried flipping the ball links from outside on the tail rotor link to the inside? Not sure if there is enough room to do that but from the video it looks like it has enough room. You may need to do the same on the tail rotor servo arm to get it to route through the tail boom housing correctly. Just a thought.. 

[TNTHobbies]

Tim is right on with that idea.There should be no resistance, thats not good for the servo and could cause a failure..Nice looking heli too..I also have a hughes but its on a Rappy 50..

[flynlyons2]

I have seen one other T-Rex 500 with an Align 500E body (military paint, but same body) that had mods done to it.  Looks like from the pictures the other gentleman actually cut out a square hole for his pitch servo so he could lift his heli up inside the base another 1/8-1/4 inch.  This allowed him to run the tail rod at the very bottom of the tail boom, however I think the square hole cut out in the top side of his body looks much worse than my setup.  Just another option/thought process I suppose.  There is a dense foam circle (with an offset hole cut into it) that must be fitted to the rear of the tail boom, it apparently takes the place of the tail boom support/brace bars... So I have the tail in the correct position based on that support disk.  That's the strange part.

I tried for two hours to see how I could route the tail rod into the fuselage without stressing or binding anything, I just couldn't do it (and keep my servos in their correct (and perfectly matched) positions.  Align does show reversing the aileron/pitch servos and shoving in the elevator servo to make the body "fit", but we're talking an extra few mm of movement, not worth worrying about and actually I like having the frame a little forward in the body for better nose CG (it's already way tail heavy (without extra nose weights) due to the cosmetic T tail addition).

I thought I might get another rod and put a small S bend in it as it comes out of the fuselage, but I'll worry with trying that when I do maintenance and have to pull the mechanics out of the body.  The way I have the tail rod right now puts almost no pressure on the servo/connections and the heli flies nice, so I've learned to not tinker or I will probably make things worse.  I suppose if there were a flexible linkage that was the same length as the original tail rod that might work, but there's still a sharp bend as you exit the scale body.

I'll figure it out eventually... I did look at placing the ball link on top of the L bracket at the rear of the heli, but then the bottom screw mount interferes with the rod movement and even though it looks like it would work, when I placed the rod into that position it still rubbed (more pressure than I liked) on the fiberglass.  Ratz.

David

[flynlyons2]

Anyone know of a person(s) who would like to help out a newbie?  I've gotten my T-Rex 500 around the patch.  I can (knock on wood) hover nicely, maneuver the helicopter around (mostly pointed nose out still) and fly left and right in front of me... But I've got a mental block building as I am getting very nervous trying anything more.  I am actually uptight and worried about loosing orientation (which I have slightly done at 20-30 feet while turning... So hard to judge if the heli really is level and then I apparently over correct, then use rudder to point nose away from me and do fine... Don't even loose much altitude, but it upsets me none-the-less).  I wasn't this nervous on my first hover!  Think I need "insurance"... As in someone connected to my radio in case I mess up and he/she can take over.  I use Phoenix software and can can fly around with little problem, but it's a mental game I think.  Again, not as much worried about hovering, actual left/right turns (next step after hovering I suppose).  Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

David

[TNTHobbies]

I would be glad to help you..I have helped alot of people with learning to fly heli`s and it sounds like your off to a good start.