The Dude II
Senior Heliman
Location: Martinsville, IN - USA
| Little trick I came upon yesterday.
Was noticing in the past few trips to the field that my Pantera was not "on-rails" as it had been. This particular machine went through all last season with excellent performance...till I had a rash of crashes due to an aging transmitter (replaced with 12z on 2.4).
As much of a tweak as I am...the entire machine was "blue-printed" (to use a JB concept)...but I had over-looked the flybar assembly as it aged (read as... plastic parts wearing against metal parts).
With the radio on, center stick (so 0 degrees collective & cyclic) I was able to rock the paddles +/- 1 degree...while observing the washout base "twisting" on the main shaft.
As we all know...the flybar is the mechanical "stabilizer" on our RC helicopters. Unwanted play in the stabilization system yields unwanted control responses on the main blades.
The fix was simple...pull the washout base off the machine...drill through the opposite side where the washout arms are bolted (there's already a hole...just not drilled through) then tap it with a M3 tap, install a set of M3 set screws.
What you are doing is reducing the "side-to-side" or "twisting motion" the washout base has when assembled with the guide pins and main shaft. You simply tighten the set screws just to the point that they reduce the play...but not bind the movement.
After reassembly, the paddles had 0 degrees of "unwanted play".
Flew this machine 3 times last night...just like "new"!
Hovers were crisp...carved through moves like it was "on-rails"!
 
it really tied the room together |
