How to set up a Belt CP A guide for beginners (and others) Version 1.

08 - February 3, 2009
Author Ian Turner (Heliguy handle CHOPPERADDICT)

CONTENTS 1.0 The legal bit 1.1 - Introduction 2 Opened the box here we go 3 The electrical and electronic bits 4 Setting up the helicopter overview and description 5 Balancing the rotor blades 5.1 - All about the rotor blades 5.2 - Getting the Centre of Gravity (COG) of each blade to match 5.3 - Balancing the rotor blades together to get a perfectly matched pair. 6 Setting up the aircraft mechanically
6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 - The Servos - Connecting the LIPO for the first time - Setting up the full throttle range - Setting up the initial position of the servo horns - Setting up the position of the swash plate - Setting up the Rudder Servo

6.7 - Fitting the rotor blades to the rotor head 6.8 - Setting the rotor blade pitch range correctly 6.9 - Setting up the tail drive belt tension 6.10 - Balancing the fly bar and paddles
6.11 - Setting the rotor blade tracking

7 Setting the aircrafts Centre of Gravity 8 Information on what is necessary to replace certain common parts, or upgrade with non stock parts. 9 Summary 10 Some common problems and how to resolve them.
1.0 - The legal bit This document is provided as is, and neither the author(s), the publishers, the hosting web site or any other person or persons involved with it in any way will accept any responsibility for how it is used, or any accidents or damage that may occur through you use of the information contained herein. It is provided as a free service, and contains information gathered from several different source and from many years of experience performing the tasks described herein, but you are totally responsible for how you use it and any results of that usage. Please note : Although this document has been placed in to the public realm by the author, and may therefore be downloaded and printed or stored for later reference by

any individual who wishes to do so, it may not be used for any commercial purpose or redistributed for any sort of financial gain or be included in whole or part as a part of any other product or products or as a part of any other documentation without the express written permission of the author. The author also fully acknowledges the suggestions and ideas of other interested parties that have been included in this document in whole or part. 1.1 - INTRODUCTION This article is designed to be a step by step guide for anyone that has probably not set up a radio controlled helicopter before, or has tried to do so without detailed instructions such as these. This is because most R/C Helicopters available today are either Japanese or most likely Chinese sourced and manufactured, and unsurprisingly I suppose, as my Chinese is certainly pretty damn poor, the manual written by the Chinese and translated into English are equally poor. (In fact, I am told that even the Chinese version isnt much better, but its what you get for your pennies. In particular, this document is designed to show you how to setup the standard Belt-CP V1.0 (Collective Pitch) helicopter produced by ESKY in China, although in truth much of the general information provided in here will apply equally to most Collective Pitch (CP) helicopters. Some areas may also be useful for those setting up Fixed Pitch helicopters as well, but it is designed and aimed at Collective Pitch helicopters (CP) Because SAFETY is so important, I have purposefully coloured all safety warnings in RED, so please make sure you take note of them for your own and other peoples safety. You will notice quite a lot of RED in this documentation, it is there to keep you totally safe, so PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF EACH ONE OF THEM until you have got totally into the SAFETY HABIT when working on R/C Helicopters. Equally I have coloured all of the mentions of technical names in BLUE where they are described so that you can find them more easily while you are learning all of the helicopter jargon. You will find that you will very soon get used to most of these terms. Hints and tips are coloured in green, and other points of possible interest appear in orange If some parts appear to be rather too basic for you individually, please do bear with me, or skip down to the next section, as I am trying to target as wide a range of pilots and potential pilots as possible. I am also assuming the standard RTF system that includes the ESKY 0406 35 MHz transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX), although you may have the ESKY 2.4GHz system. If you do have the 2.4GHz ESKY radio then please note that where we say turn on the TX and then the RX, it may well need to be the opposite with the 2.4Hz system CHECK YOUR MANUAL FIRST TO BE SURE, and if this is the case, do it the way the manual tells you wherever we tell you to turn on/off the TX and RX.

NB The standard ESKY radio equipment and electronic parts such as the ESC that also come from ESKY are commonly known as the stock parts throughout this document Although I can understand that the size of this document may put you in fear and trepidation of even starting with R/C helicopters, please dont let it do so, as it is written to be very detailed in the necessary areas, so there is much of it that you may be able to skip over. Finally in this introduction, PLEASE dont think that you are going to have to do any of this every time you want to fly your new helicopter you CERTAINLY DONT. It is only needed before its maiden flight, or quite naturally if you have replaced any parts due to a crash or whatever that may have changed any of these crucial settings. You will very soon find that this document will guide you step by step through the process of the mechanical setup of your new Belt-CP, and you will probably find that it will only take you about an hour or so. 2 Opened the box - OK then, here we go Its Xmas day (for me right now anyway), and I guess you have either received, or bought yourself what is known as a Ready to Fly (RTF) BeltCP (Collective Pitch) radio controlled helicopter as a present. THAT IS A REALLY GREAT PRESENT !! But it is quite probable that you have never built a radio controlled helicopter, or even tried to fly a model helicopter before, but it is possible that you may have flown fixed wing model aircraft (Known widely as planks) before. The first thing to think about when working on or flying any model aircraft is ALWAYS SAFETY, SAFETY and then more SAFETY. This applies especially to Helicopters. We cannot emphasise this enough, but please dont take it to mean that anything to do with radio controlled helicopters is dangerous, it is just that we always like to work and play with the SAFETY of ourselves and other people being the primary factor. So, please dont panic at all the red you will see in here, its there for your own good OK then, why are Model helicopters (and also fixed wing planes) potentially very dangerous. ? Because in the case of the helicopter, the main rotor blades and the fly bar paddles spin at around 2000+ RPM in flight, so if you are mathematically inclined, I feel sure you could probably soon work out the speed of the tips of the rotor blades in flight, given the rotor head speed above and the circumference of the entire pair of rotors when spinning is about 800 mm. You can quickly see that this rotor blade tip speed is very fast, and therefore, if you or someone else were to be hit by a rotor blade, serious injury or other damage can be the result. SAFETY Although this is as yet unproven, we do suggest that it really is a good idea whenever you are going to have your radio system turned on to try to ensure that there

are no mobile phones in the close vicinity, or if there are, ensure that at least they are turned OFF. This warning can still apply EVEN IF THEY ARE TURNED OFF. This is because they contact the phone network carriers all by themselves, and it is possible that they MAY cause radio interference to 35MHz radio systems. 3 - The Electrical bits The very first thing to be done is to get some batteries into the Transmitter (TX) and into the aircraft. The TX you will receive is either the ESKY 35MHz 0406 or the newer ESKY 2.4GhZ system. For the TX you will need 8 AA type batteries, which DO NOT usually come with the kit. These can be normal alkaline batteries, or you can use rechargeable AA size NiCads or similar rechargeable batteries. As you will see later on, it is important that you know which type of radio system you have, 35MHz or 2.4GHz. For the aircraft, you will be using what is commonly called a LIPO battery (Lithium Polymer), which DOES come with kit, and is used to provide power for the radio, plus the servos and the motor itself, but before it can be used it will need to be charged first.

A typical LIPO battery as used in the Belt-CP helicopter The LIPO is quite a large rectangular battery, and has two different leads coming out of one end of it, a thick pair and another much thinner one, both with a different type of plug on it. Your kit should also have included the standard ESKY LIPO charger, which is a small black box with two LEDs and a lead coming out of it, plus a mains adaptor to plug into th wall outlet. WARNING LIPO batteries can be very dangerous. They must never ever be fully discharged, and when being charged, it is strongly recommended that you are somewhere around to keep an eye on them. Never ever throw them in a fire and keep them dry at all times.

So, lets go ahead and find the LIPO battery and the charger in your Belt-CP box and first of all lets take a careful look at the connector on the battery chargers charging lead, and the connector attached to the thick cables on your LIPO. The red plugs you see fitted to the thick wires are called Deans connectors, and these are the most common type of plug and socket used to connect LIPOs to models of all types.

The Female Deans connector

The Male Deans connector

Please note that the battery has a FEMALE DEANS SOCKET while the charger uses a MALE DEANS SOCKET.

The other connector found on most LIPOs - used to monitor charging The reason for this should be obvious if you think about it, it is to ensure that the battery cannot be shorted out accidently, which could happen if it had the male plug fitted to it. Please note that the two pins on each Deans connector are not parallel or aligned together (by design), so they can only be plugged into each other in one way. It is also very important to try to ensure that both pins make contact at the same time. Before you do anything else, and before you plug the charger into the wall socket, try connecting and disconnecting the deans plugs between the battery and the charger lead a few times until you get the feel for how best to do it as smoothly as possible. They are designed to be a fairly tight fit.

SAFETY - While you are practicing this, focus on getting BOTH PINS to connect at exactly the same time, for if they dont, it is possible that this can cause problems with motors spinning up unexpectedly and other nasty occurrences.

Here it is, with the LIPO connected to my ESC on my Belt-CP Finally, leave the LIPO battery connected to the charging lead (in other words, with the Deans plugs connected) and then plug the charger adaptor into a wall outlet. The small RED LED on the charger should come ON. If it does not do so, check the wall outlet and if necessary the fuse in the plug. When the battery is connected to the charger lead the green LED should come on and continue to flash throughout the charging period. If both LEDS flash there is a problem with the LIPO BATTERY DISCONNECT THE LIPO IMMEDIATELY. If the RED LED alone flashes, it signals that the charger is in protect mode. Just disconnect the power for three seconds or so and then try again and it should be OK. When the LIPO is fully charged, the green LED will be lit continuously. Ok, so far so good, that initial charging process may take up to 4 or 5 hours, so we have lots of time to look at the rest of the things we are going to need to do. Well, more truthfully YOU are going to do What exactly should be plugged into what in the helicopters radio receiver ?. The following list assumes that you have the standard 35Mhz Esky Transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX). I do not have access to a 2.4Ghz Esky system to verify those settings (as yet)

Receiver (looking from the rear of the helicopter): Channel 1: Right front servo Channel 2: Left rear servo Channel 3: Electronic Speed Control (ESC) Channel 4: Gyro Channel 5: Open (Not used) Channel 6: Left front servo What settings exactly should be on the Transmitter (TX) ?. Front panel: Aileron: Reverse (up) Elevator: Normal (down) Throttle: Normal (down) Rudder: Reverse (up) Battery Bay Remove the batteries, and in the back behind them, there are some DIP style switches that should be set as follows : Switches A and B down (i.e. Mode 2 setup correct for most European pilots, throttle and rudder on left stick) Switch 1 OFF (swash mix enabled) Switch 2 ON (Belt type mixing) Now lets look at your aircraft itself in a little more detail. Remove the pretty but delicate canopy by sliding the rubber grommets outwards on the small pole on which they are mounted, and it will slip off very easily by pulling it forwards. Put the canopy somewhere safe so it cannot be trodden on. ! Now depending on the person or LHS (Local hobby shop) who put the helicopter together to make it into an RTF kit, there will be what is commonly known as the ESC which is usually mounted on one or other side of the frame of the helicopter. ESC simply stands for Electronic Speed Controller, but it is a really important part of all electric models. From its name you can see that this takes the place of the throttle on the engine of Nitro based models, and its task is to handle supplying the correct voltage to the electric motor, and also to the radio receiver (RX). Most ESCs have some form of heat sink on them that makes them quite easily identifiable. You should be able to find it easily enough just by tracing the wires that come from the electric motor, which is just in front of the main rotor shaft. The other end will be connected to the ESC.

Here is my ESC mounted on the right side of the aircraft You will see that the ESC has leads coming out of both ends, some to connect to the LIPO battery, others go to the radio receiver (RX). Follow the wires until you find the radio receiver, which is probably mounted at the back of the main frame somewhere. If you have a 35MHz radio system you will probably have noticed that the Radio receiver (RX) has a rather long aerial wire, usually coloured orange for some reason unknown to anyone. This is how the aircraft receives instructions from the TX, so it is important that it is mounted the most efficient way to allow this. Most people tend to slide it through that small opaque plastic tube that you will find in the box, and then mount that onto the skids on one side or the other. However, the aerial is much longer than that, so you need to handle the rest as you cannot just cut it off. Many people wrap it around the same tube in a spiral, which is perfectly acceptable, while others wind it up and even back down the boom support arms, which is equally acceptable. Whatever method you choose, ensure that it cannot come loose and get fouled by the main gears, or the main rotors OR the tail rotors, or you will definitely have a VERY HEAVY LANDING known to us as a CRASH ;-) Ok, we have briefly covered what the electrical and electronic parts of the helicopter are, so we can now move on to setting the helicopter itself up correctly. 4 - SETTING THE HELICOPTER UP MECHANICALLY Why do we need to do this you may be asking, because you bought the helicopter as an RTF (ready to fly) kit, so surely it has been done already. Well, yes and no is the best answer I can give you. Although most of the parts that are provided in an ARTF (Almost Ready To Fly) kit, which is what is normally used to create an RTF (ready to fly) kit, by adding servos and radio gear, are indeed connected and working, it is not uncommon to find some parts

that are not correctly fixed, or even connected wrongly, so we strongly recommend that you check each and every screw and bolt carefully to ensure they are tight, and that all the connecting rods between the servos and the rotor head are on securely, and are not binding. (We will cover what binding means further on in this article). Also, as we have 4-5 hours to wait for your LIPO to charge anyway, what better use could there be for that time than to learn all about your new helicopter. In other words, the term RTF (Ready To Fly) really only means that you do NOT have to purchase anything else, except perhaps for batteries for the TX, to be able to get this helicopter to fly, as everything else that you will need to create a flying helicopter is provided in the RTF kit, including radio, servos, ESC etc. NB - IT REALLY DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS ACTUALLY READY TO FLY It simply means that you have all the parts needed so that WHEN fully assembled and CHECKED and SETUP correctly, it will be able to fly. This is crucial point to understand. Due to this, it quickly becomes obvious that it is really is important that YOU become familiar with YOUR HELICOPTER as soon as you can, so what better time than right now. This is because you can be certain that YOU WILL CRASH from time to time, we all do, and when that happens, it will be you that has to repair your aircraft, so it is definitely a good thing to know as much as you possible can about how they are put together, how they are set up, and how they fly, and all as soon as you possibly can. Right now, if you have been following along, you will have your LIPO on charge, you will have removed the helicopters canopy, found and identified the ESC, the Radio receiver (RX), and the electric motor, and your new helicopter is standing upright on a level table or workbench. If this is not the case WHY EVER NOT - get to it right now OTHERWISE THATS GREAT - Lets get started. Despite the risk of appearing to be talking down to you, which is certainly not what I intended, I am still going to run through all the various common parts of the helicopter for completeness. First of course is the main frame onto or into which everything else is fitted. In most cases, this is made of a hard but reasonably flexible black plastic, although you can also get complete Carbon Fibre frames for the Belt-CP. This frame needs to be strong enough to support the rest of the aircraft, and resist the tremendous forces and torques that all helicopters create, even real ones, especially from the rotor head and tail rotors. You will also see two largish, black plastic gear wheels mounted horizontally and sticking out of the middle of the frame directly below the rotors and rotor head. The uppermost of these is the MAIN GEAR, and this meshes with the pinion gear on the motor to drive the rotor head. This gear includes a special one way bearing so that the rotor blades can continue to spin down even when you remove power from the motor. The lower gear is the one used to drive the tail rotor gear, which in its turn is connected to the tail rotors using a toothed rubber belt, and this provides all of the power and facility to control the tail of the helicopter, which is also essential.

The swash plate and mixer arms on a Belt-CP (This is the CNC upgrade Swash plate, your will be black plastic) Lets move upwards, and immediately above the main frame where the mainshaft comes out of the top, you will find the first part of the rotor head system. This is called SWASH PLATE and it is probably the single most important part of the helicopter in terms of giving them the ability to fly. You will see that it is circular, has various silver connector balls sticking out of it, and if you rotate the rotor head CLOCKWISE using the fly bar (which is the direction it turns in flight) you will see that the inner part of the swash plate rotates with the rotor head, whereas the outer part, that is connected by rods to the servo arms on the frame, remains stationary. It is the swash plate that CONVERTS ALL CONTROL MOVEMENTS made by the pilot (YEP thats going to be YOU) into the correct movements for the main rotor blades to follow to achieve the flight attitude required. Even REAL HELICOPTERS have a swash plate.

A view from the top of the swash plate (This is the CNC upgrade Swash plate, yours will almost certainly be black plastic) You will also see that the swash plate is connected by rods going down from it to the SERVOS and servo arms (horns), which are simply small electronic motors that convert radio signals received by the RX into the appropriate movements to control the helicopter by moving the servo arms to which the connecting rods are attached. These in turn are connected to the control parts of the aircraft such as the swash plate, tail rotor assembly etc. You will soon see that these rods provide the way for the servos to provide the power to in turn raise, lower, or tilt the entire swash plate in all directions. THIS REALLY IS THE KERNEL PIECE OF CONTROLLING HARDWARE THAT ALLOWS A HELICOPTER TO FLY AT ALL. You will see this for real once we have the LIPO battery charged and installed in your helicopter. Moving up a little from the swash plate you will see more connecting rods that connect from the inner part of the swash plate to what are called either the mixer arms or the washout arms. These are also very important as they change the pitch of the rotors constantly as the head spins to maintain to correct pitch on each blade independently. If you did not have these mixers, then no collective pitch helicopter would ever fly. Finally there are more connecting rods that connect from the mixers to the rotor blade grips and also to the flybar control arms. What is the flybar ? It is the thin rod with two small wings (called paddles) one on each end. On the Belt-CP it is placed above the main rotors but on other models it can also be found immediately underneath the main rotors. Its purpose in life is again very important. Most real helicopters do not have a fly bar as they have the power to handle to rotor blade pitch etc, but for models they are needed to help provide more power and control to the main rotor blades themselves. That is why the flybar is mounted at right angles to the main rotor blades. It also flies using its paddles, and together with the control inputs from the swash plate and the mixer arms it provides the additional power needed to keep the rotor blades at the correct pitch at all times. (Dont forget the pitch of each rotor blade changes incrementally as the head rotates. (Actually it has to do this 2 * 2000+ times a minute = 4000+ times a minute)

Finally on the mainshaft, we come to the rotor blades themselves. As standard, the blades are made of wood, which is why they are commonly known as woodies and they are covered with plastic so as to be as aerodynamic as possible. Each rotor blade is shaped from front to back as an aerofoil (just like the wings of an aeroplane). This shape produces the maximum lift possible.

5 - Balancing the Rotor Blades

5.1 All about the rotor blades Throughout this document we will mention the leading edge and trailing edge of rotor blades, both main and tail rotor blades, so perhaps now is a good time to clarify exactly what these are, as they are very important to understand. A helicopter rotor blade is actually nothing more than a rather thinner version of a normal aircraft wing, and has much the same profile when viewed from the end. Basically the LEADING EDGE is always more curved around than the TRAILING EDGE, which tends to be thin, rather like the edge of a ruler that has a bevelled edge. Also, all blades have something called a CHORD which runs along the entire length of the blade, and this is at the thickest point across the rotor blade, which will also always be toward the FRONT of the blade. So to check for the leading edge, just see where the thickest part of the blade is across the width, and that is the leading edge. The next crucial thing is to decide which is the top of the blade. Well in helicopters these rotor blades are simply thinner wings that are rotated by the aircraft, but they still have to adhere to all the laws of aerodynamics, and these do so to generate the lift we need to fly. Without going into those laws, the basic thing you need to establish is which side of the blade is longer from the leading edge to the trailing edge. The longest side is always the top as to obtain lift, any wing has to have a difference between these two measurements. Why, well its simple really, to generate any lift at all the air passing over the rotor blade (or aircraft wing) has to travel further across the top, which of course means it moves slower underneath the wing. Basically the difference between these two speeds is what creates lift. TECHNICAL ASIDE. If you are of a technical bent of mind you might well now be jumping up and down and telling me thats total rubbish ? Well, you are of course technically correct, so to clarify this, the real fact is that wings do not create lift upwards, they actually create a suction upwards. The higher speed of the air across the top due to the increased distance it has to travel creates a lower pressure than the air crossing the bottom, which results in a partial vacuum on top of the rotor/wing.

Due to simple physics, most types of pressures always wants to even themselves out if possible, so the two different air pressure areas will always try to move towards each other. As they cant actually do so in this case because the rotor/wing is in the way, the high pressure underneath tries to move to the low pressure on top of the rotor/wing. This is of course how it generates the lift under the blade, but when you think about it, the real fact is that it is actually the suction created on the top of the rotor/wing that pulls the rotor/wing upwards, and not the high pressure underneath pushing the rotor/wing upwards. Strange but nevertheless true 5.2 Getting the Centre of Gravity (COG) of each blade to match One of the first things we can do while our LIPO is charging is to check and ensure that the rotors are perfectly balanced, both for the centre of gravity (COG) of each blade and also the overall weight of each blade against the other. If they are not balanced you will get bad vibrations, loss of lift, and possibly even cause damage to other parts of the machine, so this is another crucial part of the setup process. Due to this, you should always keep your rotor blades together in pairs once you have balanced them.

A typical pair of standard ESKY rotor blades for the Belt-CP Shown above are a pair of standard ESKY wooden rotor blades, with the tracking colour strip in place near the tips. NB they are also lying in the correct position and way up as they will be when attached to the helicopters rotor head you can quite easily see therefore that they revolve clockwise.

My head and blade grips painted both red and (in my own case) white for total clarity Most rotor blades come with a small strip of coloured tape already stuck onto them just inside the tips. Typically one is red and the other one is blue. This tape is used to let you see which blade is flying high or low when we come to checking and setting the rotor blade tracking. However, because rotor blades, and for that matter, rotor blade grips can vary in weight etc, it is a very good idea to put a small dab of red paint on the blade grip that is holding the rotor blade with the red strip on it so that you always put the same blade back into the same grip.

The coloured tracking strips Now, having done that, lets remove the rotor blades (if they are fitted already). Find the 3mm Allen key provided in the kit that exactly fits the hex cap bolts you can see on the top of the rotor blade grips, right at the root of the blade, and carefully unscrew both of

them. Be careful that you do not loose the Nylock nuts that are recessed into the underneath of the blade grip, as they usually stay put in their recess, but if they do slip out you could easily loose one or both.

The roots of both rotor blades Now slip the blades out of the blade holders and lay them carefully on your work bench or table. To do the first part of the balancing you are going to need some form of small rod or a knife blade or a similar tool that will let you balance each of the rotor blades on to identify the exact centre point along the LENGTH of each of the rotor blades. A useful and easy to make tool for this is to find an old Stanley knife blade, and then cut a small groove into a small piece of wood and simply mount the blade, sharp side up, in that groove in the wood, which will make an ideal fulcrum for the COG balancing. You will also need to have a soft lead pencil available.

MY rotor blade COG balancing tool A Stanley knife blade stuck into a piece of scrap wood

How the blades will look when fitted to the helicopter correctly Right, take one of the blades, it doesnt matter which one, and place it on the blade with the flatter underside of blade downwards, and carefully move it along your knife edge from root to tip until it just balances. Hold it there and use the pencil to mark that balance point on the BACK (trailing) edge of the rotor blade. Now repeat the process with the other rotor blade. So, how do we tell if the COG is the same for both blades, which is what we are trying to achieve ? Easy, lay them down on your work surface, underside of the rotor blades on the work surface, and with the trailing/back edges of each blade touching each other. Ensure the outer tips on the trailing (back) edge are in exactly the same position, and then look at your pencil marks. Are they exactly together ? If the answer is Yes, then you are lucky, and have nothing more to do .

Note the pencil marks at the centre, and that one blade has been turned upside down to allow us to compare the positions on both blades

If they are not exactly in the same place, we are going to need to add some weight to one or other end of one of the blades to bring its COG to the same place as the other blade. Pick whichever of the blades you wish to be the master, and move it out of the way.

Close up of the COG pencil marks these are dead right Now on the other blade we need to work out where we need to add or remove a little bit of weight to make it move the COG to the same place as the master blade. This is not as difficult as you may think really. Lets assume that in our case the original COG (pencil mark) on the blade we are going to change the weight on is closer to the tip of the rotor blade than the root. If you think about this, it means that we want to make the COG of this blade move the correct distance toward the root of the blade, so that means that on this blade the tip is currently slightly heavier than we want, so we either need to add a little more weight on the root end, or remove some weight from the tip of this blade. To be honest, most people find he second option is usually the best, as it is much easier to add or remove weight from the tips than the roots, and usually more beneficial. So, how exactly are we going to do that ? Again, this is easy. If you look back a little I mentioned that each blade will have a thin strip of coloured tape at the tip, so we can usually use a modelling knife and cut a small amount off that strip. I normally do this on the underside of the rotor blade at the trailing edge of the blade (dont forget the blades are mounted so that they rotate clockwise, so the leading edge is the front edge of a clock hand, and the trailing edge is the back edge) Take your knife, and depending on how much movement of the COG you need, carefully cut around about inch off the end of coloured strip off at the trailing edge of the blade, then wipe off the original pencil mark to avoid confusion and repeat the balance check. Keep doing this bit by bit until the balance points (COG) are the same.

NB - Dont suddenly decide to change to the other blade unless you go too far with removing weight on the blade you are adjusting, as it can cause confusion. ALL DONE - GREAT STUFF !! 5.3 Balancing the rotor blades to get a perfectly matched pair. OK, so now we have a pair of rotor blades that have exactly the same COG, which is just what we need. The final thing we need to do with the rotor blades themselves is to ensure that both of the blades are exactly the same overall weight, so that when spinning on the rotor head, they perfectly balance each other out. For this you really do need a blade balancer, which costs around 10, but you can do it without by putting a bolt through the roots of both blades and using one of the Nylock nuts to pinch them tightly together. The blades must be checked when they are mounted exactly as they will be on the rotor head, so ensure that you have the leading edges on different sides. If you do not have a blade balancer, you would then support each end of the bolt through the roots of the blades on something that has the same height so that they can rock on the bolt. If you are using a blade balancer, then it is much easier, as you simply bolt each blade onto the balancer, adhering to the same rules of direction etc. Now, let the blades settle and stop rocking, and carefully measure the distance of the corner tip of the trailing edge of each of the rotor blades. The aim here is to have that distance EXACTLY the same, which means that both blades must have exactly the same overall weight. PLEASE DONT FORGET THAT THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE ON A TOTAL LEVEL SURFACE. If they balance already, GREAT, your all done. If not, we obviously need to add some weight to the lighter blade, as we cannot really remove any weight in this case. The next question often asked is where are we going to add it on the rotor blade ? Well, the answer is again pretty simple, it ABSOLUTELY MUST BE ADDED AT THE COG of the lighter rotor blade, and NOWHERE ELSE. The reason for this becomes obvious if you actually had to reset the COG in step 1. If you went ahead and added some more weight to the tip of the lighter blade, the COG of that blade would then move toward the tip of the rotor as well, loosing the matching on the position of the COG on both blades. So, we will use some form of sticky tape such as electrical tape to achieve this. If you can, use some tape the same colour as your blades, although it doesnt really matter. Depending how far out of balance the blades are you need to add more or less additional weight, so the best way to do this is to wrap a piece of tape of about the maximum size you think you will need over the leading edge of the rotor, with the same

amount of tape on either side. This will help to avoid it coming off again in flight when those rotors are spinning at 2000+ rpm. I like to use thin electric tape, but I cut it along the centre line to make a nice thin strip, and then start off by wrapping it across the blade on the COG mark so that it goes over the top of the rotor from the trailing edge to the leading edge and then across the underside of the rotor to the trailing edge again. Right, check the balance again Is it right now ? - most unlikely in my experience, and the chances are good that the blade to which you have added the weight is actually heavier now. No problem, we do the same trick as previously when we were doing the COG balancing. We use a model knife to start cutting and removing small bits of the tape that we just added at the COG point, starting at the trailing edge on the underside of the rotor blade. Yet again, RECHECK, remove a little more tape, RECHECK again and again and again.. Finally, you will have them balanced perfectly GREAT STUFF !!! I strongly advise that you use a rubber band or similar and tie the two blades together as they are now an inseparable pair to all intents of purposes as they have been balanced to be perfect together. Thats all there is to balancing the rotor blades. Dont forget though that you will need to do this each and every time you change a blade for whatever the reason may be. Put the pair of rotor blades to one side carefully as we will not need them, at least just yet. DONT FORGET TO GET THE NYLOCK NUTS FROM THE UNDERSIDE OF THE ROTOR BLADE GRIPS AND SCREW THEM ONTO THE BOLTS so they do not get lost.

6 - Setting up the aircraft mechanically.

6.1 - The Servos What are each of the servos ? Well, unlike fixed wing aircraft, helicopters dont have the same controls, although they are still called the same names. All aircraft are controlled by what are known as Ailerons Control how an aircraft rolls about its centre line (roll) Elevator Controls how the nose moves up and down (pitch) Rudder Controls how the aircraft turns left and right (yaw) Throttle Controls the amount of power to be used to propel the aircraft (power) In Helicopters, the servos have some additional tasks to perform.

The ailerons, elevators and rudder work in much the same way as on a fixed wing aircraft in terms of making the aircraft roll, change pitch, or change yaw. The throttle however has to do a lot more, and this in its turn, impacts tremendously on the way that the ailerons and elevators have to work. Why is this ? Well, when you change the throttle settings in a Collective Pitch Helicopter, the first and obvious thing to happen is that the speed of the rotor blades will increase or decrease. The second thing is that what is known as the collective pitch will also have to increase or decrease proportionally. What is collective pitch ? Collective pitch is the way that the angle of attack of the rotor blades to the airflow changes to control the amount of lift the aircraft will provide for any throttle setting. The more angle of attack = more pitch = more lift. Less angle of attack = less pitch = less lift. In fact, unlike aircraft, most helicopters are designed and setup to be able to provide negative pitch angles of down to -10 degrees and about the same value of positive pitch. So when you close the throttle completely, you dont just reduce the lift to zero, you will actually start the rotors pulling the helicopter down out of the sky. This is really the kernel of what CCPM is all about, and it is the TX that does all this magic for you. On the stock ESKY TX it is configured internally to provide a certain mix of throttle and pitch that you cannot change. On computerized radio systems such as the DX6i, DX7, the similar Futaba systems and other CCPM computerised radio systems, you can change almost all of the settings to suit your own flying needs and style. In the very simplest of terms, what CCPM does is to calculate how much pitch change is needed when the throttle setting is changed. It then sends signals to the RX on the aircraft telling all three of the servos that connect to the swash plate to raise or lower it the correct amount, which changes the pitch of the rotor blades the correct amount to match the throttle setting and provide more or less lift. The way they do this is perhaps a mystery to many people, so I will run through it very briefly. There are three servos connected to the swash plate, and their BASIC FLIGHT functions are simple and obvious. The aileron servo on the right of the aircraft tilts the right side (only) of the swash plate up and down to create roll to the right. The other servo on the left side is actually also an aileron servo, and it does the same as the previous one, but only effects the left side of the swash plate to create roll to the left. When a fixed wing aircraft performs an aileron roll, one aileron goes up, the other goes down. The same functionality is also true for a helicopter, so if our left aileron servo LIFTS the left side of the swash plate, the

right aileron servo will need to LOWER the right side of the swash plate exactly the same amount to make it tilt evenly while still keeping the pitch at the correct level. The other servo at the front on the right side of the aircraft is known as the pitch servo, and this is configured to control the nose up or nose down attitude of the helicopter. It connects to the front of the swash plate on the Belt-CP, and there is only one servo used to do this, which is why the back of the swash plate has a protruding rod that goes through a guide which ensures that the outer part of the swash plate doesnt try to rotate with the inner part. Remember that unlike a normal aircraft, raising the nose will not cause a helicopter to start to climb. In fact, it will simply change its attitude to a more nose up one, slow down assuming it had forward speed before, and then probably start to drop in altitude, or even, if it has no forward speed, it will go backwards, not something you will be wanting to try just yet. That is why helicopters have a collective control in addition to the other controls found in a normal aircraft. The complicated bit is that it is these same three servos that are used to lift and lower the entire swash plate evenly to control the rotor blade pitch, but that they also have to handle the functions of the elevator and ailerons, most often at one and the same time as changing pitch, so you can see that they are very much involved in dual activity virtually all of the time. Why ? Because as you increase throttle and pitch to lift off, they will start to lift the swash plate to increase the pitch. At the same time you will be telling the aileron servo to apply some right roll to counter the helicopters natural tendency to go right on lift off. You may also want to lower the nose to make the aircraft start to move forward. If you think about this, all three servos are trying to lift the swash plate exactly the same amount so that the pitch increases, but to make it also roll to the right a bit the right aileron needs to lower its side of the (now rising) swash plate a little bit, and the elevator servo, which is also lifting the swash evenly to raise the pitch suddenly has to also lower the (now rising) front of the swash plate to make the nose of the aircraft drop.

PICTURE - Here are the two right side servos, the left picture is the right aileron servo, the right picture is the elevator servo. Both of the servo horns are NOT yet set to be perpendicular as you can see.

HOPEFULLY THAT LITTLE BIT OF TECHNICAL BACKGROUND HAS MADE SOME SORT OF SENSE TO YOU ? Thats exactly what CCPM takes care of, so now you know roughly what goes on, you may not need to bother about it again Very well done, you are now a semi qualified helicopter builder stage 1. To do the next part, we will need to have our TX with batteries in it, and our LIPO battery fully charged. 6.2 Connecting the LIPO for the first time Assuming you have now had a well earned drink from reading and digesting all of the foregoing information, 4 or 5 hours will probably have passed, so with luck your LIPO battery should now be charged. Whoaaaaa SLOW DOWN SLOW DOWN SLOW DOWN SLOW DOWN

SAFETY - VERY IMPORTANT BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE AT ALL, and indeed whenever you are going to work on the aircraft, YOU should ALWAYS DISCONNECT THE MOTOR FROM THE ESC to prevent it from spinning the rotor head up even if you do touch the throttle accidently.
Look at the motor, and you will see three wires coming from it that are individually connected to the same coloured wire coming from the ESC with push/pull connectors.

DISCONNECT ALL THREE BY CAREFULLY BUT FIRMLY PULLING AND SLIGHTLY ROTATING THESE CONNECTIONS

OK, ONLY NOW is the aircraft safe to work on. Remember how to do this, you will need to do it again very often in the future. Disconnect your charged LIPO from the charger and also unplug the charger from the wall outlet. REMEMBER - SAFETY FIRST Now slide it into the battery tray with the two sets of leads sticking out of the front. Find the male DEANS CONNECTOR that is attached to the ESC, but SAFETY FIRST DONT PLUG THEM TOGETHER YET. Use the Velcro tape to secure the battery into the battery tray. 6.3 - Setting up the full throttle range This step may have already been done if your helicopter was test flown by the LHS (Local Hobby Shop) you bought it from, but if it is required it is a good idea to repeat it so that you are sure the throttle range is set correctly. With most of the upgraded ESC and the better ESC units you may want to purchase, the ESC needs to learn the full throttle range provided by your particular TX. To let it do so is actually quite easy. If you have the stock ESKY ESC (ELECTRONIC SPEED CONTROLLER) then you DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS but it is perhaps still worth noting where this section is for reading when, as I am sure you will eventually decide to upgrade to a better ESC, which mostly do need this Throttle setup to be done FIRST AND FOREMOST. So for now those with the stock ESKY esc can move straight on to section 6.4 if you wish to bypass this for now. Most decent ESCs that you can, and probably will purchase in time, do require this throttle setup, so please also bear in mind that if you change your TX to a different one with an ESC that does need this, or even change the ESC, you MUST DO IT AGAIN with the new TX or ESC. To check whether your ESC needs this setup, look in your manual, or check the documentation that comes with the ESC.

SAFETY TURN THE TX OFF Place the TX somewhere close to you so that you can reach it easily Check that ALL of the small trim adjusters to the left and under the control levers are exactly in the centre of their sliders INCLUDING the throttle trim adjuster. NB Yes I know that many people will tell you to move it fully down, as even do some instruction manuals, but in fact this will mess with your power curves. For more information on this if you are still not persuaded is to Google for - Finless Bobs and go through his posts on ESC setups. Finally, and only when you are doing this operation, move the throttle lever which is the lever on the left (for the normal mode 2 TX used in Europe and the UK, or right hand lever if you are flying a mode 1 TX) ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP Dont forget that if you have any 35MHz radio system, you MUST always ensure that you EXTEND THE TXs AERIAL AS FAR OUT AS YOU CAN. You should never, ever, switch any (35MHZ) TX on without doing this first. If you have a 2.4 GHz system you dont have to worry as you cannot extend the aerials anyway. There are also a couple of actual switches on top of the TX. The right hand switch is a pull and hold for linking to a trainer TX, which you will not be wanting. The FAR MORE IMPORTANT switch is the IDLE UP SWITCH which is located at the back left of the top of the standard 0406 ESKY TX. The two settings for this switch are ON or OFF. If it is backwards, it is OFF, which is the position it should almost always be in unless you fully understand what it is and how to use it. UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, OR UNLESS I TELL YOU IN HERE TO TURN IT ON TO PERFORM THE SERVO POSITIONING, PLEASE DONT TRY TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE DEVILS SWITCH TO FIND OUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN PLEASE TRUST ME OR YOU WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY REGRET IT. So, basically, at this stage of your helicopter flying career you should NEVER EVER HAVE THE IDLE UP SWITCH FORWARD unless you really mean it to be set to ON for a very good reason. If this switch is NOT backwards right now, push it backwards and make sure it is there properly. Even put a rubber band on it somehow to ensure it cannot be flicked accidently. If you do somehow enable this switch (most of us call it the EVIL or DEVILS switch), your main rotor blades will instantly go to almost full throttle, you will almost certainly tear all the teeth of the main gear, and as you can imagine, many other nasty things can happen. OK, now switch the TX on and check that you have at least all but the last green LED on the right lit. If the last one is not lit its still fine to use, but any lower and you really do need to charge the batteries for the TX.

OK, recheck to make sure the throttle stick is RIGHT AT THE TOP, and now connect the DEANS connectors on the aircraft so that the LIPO is at last connected and your helicopter is alive There is a safety system built in to most radio systems that if an initial connection is made with the throttle anywhere but fully down, it assumes a problem, and the motor SHOULD NOT ENGAGE. For absolute safety, you can release the mounting screws a little and move the motor back so that the pinion will not engage with the main gear, or you can remove the main rotors so that only the flybar and paddles is left to turn if it does still happen to try to spool up. If you leave the paddles on, SAFETY - HOLD THE AIRCRAFT FIRMLY until you KNOW IT AINT GOING TO SPOOL UP ON YOU. The ESC on the aircraft should beep, and then a couple of seconds, beep again. On the second beep, pull the throttle all the way down, and then TURN OFF the TX. The RX/ESC will now have remembered those positions for you. Please note that each manufacturer uses different beeps, but basically you will get one, two or three beeps in succession at each end of the throttle movement. If you ever change to another TX (or a different ESC) you will need to repeat this process. FINALLY - DISCONNECT the LIPO for safety.

6.4 - Setting up the initial position of the servo horns Now we come to the real meat and potatoes of the setup process. We call it the mechanical setup because we will be working on the connecting rods and servo horns positions to get the swash plate as near totally horizontal in all directions as we possibly can. So to achieve this, we first of all need to set our TX up to the correct settings at mid throttle, which is the point that the pitch of the rotor blades should be ZERO DEGREES. As always when you are going to switch the TX on, check that SAFETY - All trim levers are centered, EXCEPT the throttle trimmer, which SHOULD ALWAYS BE FULLY DOWN. The left stick will be at the bottom and centered, whereas the right stick will be centered in both planes. Are you sure you have that right ? - THINK SAFETY OK, ONLY NOW CAN YOU TURN THE TX ON AGAIN.. Got enough of the power LEDS alight ? (all but maybe the rightmost LED) OK, SAFETY - the MOTOR IS DISCONNECTED ISNT IT ? Connect the LIPO in the aircraft.

If so, and everything is switched on, you can **slowly** move the throttle lever up until it is exactly mid way thru its travel. If the motor buzzes or there is any movement in it at all, disconnect the LIPO immediately and find out why it still has any power at all. With the stock ESKY 0406 TX there are no alignment marks for the throttle position, so you just have to try to guess this as best you can. This is the throttle position we always use when setting up the aircraft mechanically, but at all other times, we ensure that the Throttle lever is FULLY DOWN BEFORE the TX is turned ON. IF YOU ARE USING THE STANDARD ESKY TRANSMITTER (MARKED AS 0406 USUALLY) THAT COMES WITH THE Belt-CP, THEN THIS PARTICULAR TASK DOES REQUIRE THAT YOU HAVE THE IDLE UP SWITCH PULLED FORWARD TO THE ON POSITION. So do it now if you have done all the above safety checks. If you are using a programmable TX such as the DX6i or Futaba etc, you should not need to do so as both curves for throttle and pitch should be the same in the TX for this operation. Again, if your curves are not both linear, change them to be so for this operation. So far, so good, here we go Stage 1 of the mechanical setup an adventure in itself ! Lay the TX to one side DO IT CAREFULLY you do not want to accidently change the throttle position, and you are not going to be touching it again for a little while, but it MUST BE LEFT SWITCHED ON. As you gently moved the throttle to the centre position, you may well have noticed that all three of the swash plate servos moved as well. That is a VERY GOOD THING. Try it again to make sure all three do move. If any one of the servos does not move, then as they famously said from space Houston - we have a problem and you should disconnect the LIPO in the aircraft and then turn off the TX immediately.

Here it is with the servo horn very close to being perpendicular

So lets start our task with the Elevator servo, which if you remember from above is the one at the front on the right of the aircraft, and it has two rods connecting it to similar swinging arm lever by the mainshaft. What we want to achieve while the throttle setting is exactly central is for ALL of the servo horns to be as close to right angles to the body of the servo itself as possible. If it is not, which is quite likely, carefully undo the small Phillips headed screw that holds the servo horn on to the servo shaft and put it somewhere very safe. Now gently pull the horn off the servos splined shaft, and then rotate it whichever way it needs to get it as close to perpendicular to the body of the servo (NB - not the bottom of the aircraft, which is probably horizontal). When you refit the horn to the splined shaft you still may not be able to get it to be perfectly perpendicular. If that is the case, try disconnecting the two connecting rods from the balls on the servo horn, and then rotate the horn 180 degrees. Why, because the splines in the servo horn are slightly offset by design, which means you may (or may not) get a better result when it is fitted the other way around. There is one more check that you need to do for the elevator positioning, and that is to check the little arm that sits inside the frame, and which is moved by this servo, and make sure that it is pointing forward at 90 degrees to the main shaft. It usually will be, but if not, you may need to adjust the length of the two rods to get it to be in the right position. If you have to do this, do MAKE SURE that when you reconnect the second rod, it is exactly the right length so that is aligned with the ball before you connect it. If it isnt, you will create a bad case of binding as each connecting rod will be fighting the other one. Think about it and I am sure you will understand what I am saying Select the horn direction that gives the best position, and then reattach the connection rods. Finally, find that little fixing screw I told you to put away safely and attach the servo arm to the shaft. Tighten it firmly, but do not over tighten it. Great stuff, you are now one third of the way through this process, and I would bet you will agree that it wasnt really too difficult, was it ? So, now lets do the right aileron servo, as we have the aircraft lying on its left side already. You follow EXACTLY the same process as we have just described, apart from the fact there is only one connecting rod on this servo horn, going up to the side of the swash plate. If the horn on your servo only has a single arm, and you still cannot get a good perpendicular position, you might want to try one of the spare double ended servo horns that you should find in your kit box somewhere. As previously, try them each way around until you get the best fit so that the servo arm is perpendicular to that servos body. Once you have it as good as possible, carefully cut off the unused arm to stop it hitting anything else accidently. Even better, you are now two third of the way through this process, and it is probably now getting even easier ? So, turn the aircraft over, and repeat the process on the left side aileron servo, exactly as we have done previously.

PICTURE Left Aileron servo with horn perpendicular Right then, we have now reached that magic point where we can actually try to get the swash plate exactly where we want it, which relies totally on the fact that the three swash plate servos have been set up correctly before we do so. 6.5 - Setting up the position of the swash plate This is another critical step towards having a well balanced, smooth flying helicopter, so if you are getting a bit weary, TAKE A BREAK and come back to this later on after a stiff drink or whatever you like to use to relax.

Had a break - Are you feeling better now ?

Great, lets proceed with stage 2 of the mechanical setup By now I hope you are realizing that none of this is particularly difficult, its just a question of proceeding carefully and double checking every thing you do, and most people can do it very successfully. But as always please do Remember, Remember, Remember SAFETY FIRST ! So, if you took a break, have you remembered to check control levers and trims on the TX, and is the antennae fully extended WHAT A GOOD LITTLE FUTURE PILOT YOU ARE.. Ok, stand the aircraft up again, ensure the LIPO is connected and the MOTOR IS NOT CONNECTED, and have a very careful look at the swash plate. It has probably moved to a different position if you moved the servo horns in the previous step, but dont worry about it, as we are going to set it up now using those connecting rods that connect the swash plate to the servos you have just setup correctly.

A CNC upgrade (thats why its purple) for the swash plate yours will probably be black plastic It doesnt really matter which one we start with, so I suggest that for the time being, we will use the elevator position as our starting point by assuming it is in the correct position already. So you are probably asking, how are we going to make the rest of the swash plate exactly level with the front of the swash plate.

Here is the swash plate with positive pitch, as the front of the swash plate is very clearly higher than the rear. This position will cause the nose of the helicopter to rise. Well, remember that we have three servos that control the swash plate, and we have accepted the elevator servo as being in the right position already, so it makes sense that we must need to change the connecting rods going from the left and right aileron servos to the swash plate. With me so far ?

Ok then lets start with the left aileron servo. Is the left of the swash plate (when looking from the tail of the aircraft) higher or lower than the front of the swash plate. Lets assume it is higher for now, so what we need to do is to SHORTEN the connecting rod from the left aileron servo to make the swash plate move DOWN on that side. Carefully take the rods off the balls on the servo horn and the swash plate. If you have ball joint pliers this is much easier. Now to shorten a connecting rod, we need to turn one or both of the plastic ball joint connectors clockwise. To lengthen them, you turn them anti clockwise. The minimum adjustment you can achieve here is one half a turn. When doing this it is always a good idea to adjust both plastic ends nice and evenly so that the same amount of thread on the connecting rod is visible. This will avoid having one plastic end almost falling of its thread while the other is almost fully screwed in. So go ahead and adjust your rod the number of turns clockwise (or anti clockwise) that you think it will need to bring the left hand side of the swash plate to the same height as the front of the swash plate. Rather than pushing the ball joint on and off endlessly which can easily weaken or even break them, just try to hold the rod in position on the outside of the connector balls without pushing them on completely and hold them there while you recheck the level of the swash plate. Repeat this process until you have achieved the aim we started out with, which was to make the left side of the swash plate sit at exactly the same height as the front of the swash plate. Got it right GREAT STUFF !! If not, repeat the process again until you do reach the magic setting. So now we have a swash plate that has the left hand side and the front at exactly the same height are you sure ? Just have another quick look from all angles to be sure. If you are still sure, fit the connecting rod properly so that the plastic loop is firmly over the connecting balls at each end, and then turn the aircraft around and repeat this identical process with the right side aileron connecting rod. Is the entire swash plate totally level now ? Wow that makes you a semi qualified helicopter engineer stage 2, very well done.

PICTURE Here is what a swash plate that is setup totally horizontal looks like from the right side of the aircraft What we have just done is the basic work required to be able to set any collective pitch helicopter up, as they all use the same basic processes. There is however one more thing that needs to be checked now we have our swash plate level. Just above the swash plate you will see the mixer/washout levers we mentioned before. Well, at 50% throttle, with the swash exactly level, these should ALSO be exactly level. TO see what I mean, try increasing the throttle and then decreasing it again and watch the washout levers move. See what I mean, they move quite a bit in opposite directions, but at one point, which is the 50% throttle position, they should also be exactly level with each other. If yours are not, work out which way the swash needs to move to get them level by moving the throttle and noting which way the swash has to move to get them level, then return the throttle to 50% setting and adjust ALL THREE OF THE CONNECTING RODS TO THE SERVOS the correct (and same) way until the mixers are also level. OK, VERY WELL DONE, thats probably the most technical thing you will have to do.

PICTURE And here is what it looks like from the front of the aircraft. You can just see my washout arms are also dead level above the swash plate. Please excuse my golf clubs in the background, I forgot to move them before filming this

6.6 - Set the Rudder Servo up Before we move on to the final things we need to do to the rotor blades, lets just set up the rudder servo horn as well, as this still has to be set up to be perpendicular to the servo body.

The Rudder servo with servo horn perpendicular to the servo It is usually a good idea to remove the connecting rod from the ball on the servo before starting this. You will need to lie the aircraft on its left side to be able to see the angle of the rudder servo horn as the servo is actually mounted directly onto the boom in which the rudder drive belt goes to the tail. OK, this is exactly the same process as we have been doing with the other servos, so you dont need me to tell you how to do it do you ? Once the servo horn is perpendicular, refit the connecting rod firmly to the servo horn. 6.7 Fitting the rotor blades to the aircraft OK, One other point you need to check if you have been following along with me so far. You need to check to ensure that those very carefully balanced rotor blades are actually fitted to the helicopter before we commence the next setup operation. Optional check Before doing so however, you might want to check the tightness of the rotor blade holders that sit in what is called the feathering shaft. These should be nipped up so that both the blade holders can rotate freely, but there should also be just a slight amount of resistance as well. This is because inside the rotor blade holders there are various washers and other stuff, but most importantly each blade presses inwards against its own rubber ring that is there to provide a small amount of flex in the movement of the

rotors up and downwards. Due to the very important job they do, they are unsurprisingly called rubber dampeners To adjust this tension you will need a pair of box spanners that will fit the two Nylock nuts you can see inside the rotor blade grips, and that are not too large as to be able to slip into the blade holder. If you need to tighten them, slide a box spanner over each nut, and gently tighten it a little bit, then recheck the tension. It is usually best to go a tiny bit too far, and then back it off very slightly. Getting this feathering shaft nut tension right usually results in a far more stable aircraft and will certainly make tracking the rotors far easier. OK, Now lets get on with it and fit our rotor blades shall we.? To do so is very simple, but lets just cover the main points here for completeness. When you put them away safely, you also put away the fitting bolt and Nylock nut as instructed DIDNT YOU ? Now get them Right place the aircraft with the nose pointing to the RIGHT Next place the rotors in front of the aircraft, and lets ensure that we have them pointing the correct way. The main rotors on a Belt-CP, and many other R/C helicopters rotate clockwise, so you need to have each blade oriented so that the leading edge is at the front when the blade is moving forward (clockwise). Turn the rotor head so that the flybar is pointing across the aircraft. Now take one of the blades and lie it to the left of the mainshaft, with the mounting hole at the right, and the sharper edge of the rotor toward you (this is the TRAILING edge) which means the leading edge is correctly oriented to go clockwise leading edge first. Now put the other blade to the right of the first one, with the TRAILING edge of the blade away from you, so that this is also correctly oriented with the leading edge coming first when the head rotates clockwise. Now I normally suggest that you push the Nylock nut carefully into its recess under the rotor blade holder on the aircraft, ensuring that it is pushed in as far as it will go. Do this in both rotor blade holders now. SAFETY - Dont forget to put a small drop of thread lock on the face of the nut first so that it will lock it nicely when the bolt is fitted., as we DO NOT WANT rotor blades flying off everywhere, do we ? Finally, pick up the left hand rotor blade, slide it into the rotor blade holder carefully, making sure you dont turn it around the wrong way as you do so, and use a small screwdriver or similar to push through the hole in the blade holder and down through the rotor blade and through the bottom hold of the rotor blade holder and then wriggle it about gently to make sure the blade mounting hole is pretty well central to that of the blade holder. The blade should stay there, so get your bolt and gently remove the screwdriver and start to wind the mounting bolt downwards from the top. You will find that it needs to be

screwed all the way through the top of the blade holder, the blade itself (lightly anyway) and the bottom of the blade holder, and finally down through the Nylock nut. Pinch it up so that the blade doesnt swing pivot in the blade holder by itself, and then repeat EXACTLY the same process with the other rotor blade. Dont forget to check the orientation of the second blade so that it is leading edge at the front will you ? The final thing to be done is to set the amount of pinch required for the rotor blades. Basically all you are trying to achieve is to have the blades only start to slip down slowly if you hold the helicopter on its side and give it a gentle shake. So slowly loosen each bolt until you achieve that amount of resistance. Right, now your rotor blades are fitted correctly, you can recheck the tightness of the feathering shaft nuts more easily by rocking the fly bar up and down from one side to the other. If it moves totally freely, your feathering shaft nuts are NOT TIGHT ENOUGH. Equally, if it is hard to move, the feathering shaft nuts are TOO TIGHT. If either case happens to you, you just have to remove the rotor blades again and repeat the tightening process described above. 6.8 Setting the rotor blade pitch range correctly BUT, and there is always a BUT isnt there, we have no idea what actual pitch setting we have a central throttle, as we simply assumed the elevator setting was right for the time being while we set up the swash plate, so now we need to check it to find out if we were right. Hopefully you purchased a pitch gauge with your Belt-CP, as if not, this next process is a lot harder, if not really impossible to do successfully, as we are going to be trying to measure the exact angle of attack (pitch) of both rotor blades.

Before we go into how to set the pitch up, lets talk briefly abut what PITCH is in terms of Collective pitch helicopters, and see what it does.

A typical pitch gauge As you already know, assuming you have read this through so far, (You have been following along havent you ?) whenever you increase or decrease the throttle on your TX, the CCPM mixing built into it also increases or decreases the amount of pitch that the rotor blades are set to, and this in turn governs the total amount of lift we have. You may also be a little surprised to learn that most helicopters do not simply have pitch angles that go from zero degrees at low throttle to xx degrees at full throttle. In fact, at low throttle they are set to provide a negative pitch (angle of attack) which means that if you pull the throttle right back to the bottom, the aircraft will not simply SINK to the ground gently, as if it were a fixed wing aircraft gliding, it will actually pull itself down out of the air as the rotor blades are now providing negative lift, so that are pulling downwards out of the air. It is very important to always remember this if you want to avoid a heavy landing or much worse. Ok, having explained briefly what pitch is, we need to decide what pitch range we want. In the case of the standard ESKY 0406b TX you cannot choose this, as it is preconfigured in the TX. However, the range you can expect to find available is from -9 degrees to +9 degrees approximately. As we cannot change this range, you may be asking how or even why we have to set it up anyway ? The reason is, as always, very simple. The one setting that is almost always cast in stone is that the pitch setting that you should see when you have the throttle at exactly the centre point of its travel will always be ZERO DEGREES. You may be wondering why this is ? Well, because our pitch range is likely to be from -10 degrees to + 10 degrees, at some point, we need to decide exactly where the central, zero degrees will be on our throttle curve. It has been learned by long and hard experience that for the basic setup of any Collective Pitch helicopter, this magic point should be at exactly 50% throttle setting. So, we can see that yet again, we need to set up our TX with all the trims in the correct positions, and the throttle lever at the exact mid point of its travel. SAFETY You have got the antennae of the TX FULLY EXTENDED and the motor DISCONNECTED havent you.

Good, turn on the TX, and then connect the LIPO in the aircraft. Check that you have the throttle at exactly half way and move the TX away from you so you do not knock it over. Take your pitch gauge and slide it over one of the rotor blades, sliding it all the way down until it is about 4 inches from the blade grip. Remember, have a little play with your pitch gauge first You will find that it has a spring that lets you open up the slot for the blade to slide into to save you damaging the edges of the rotor blades. Ok, now we should again find our swash plate is nice and level all the way around, so we now need to read off the pitch setting on each blade separately. They should hopefully be somewhere around zero degrees, but please dont panic if they are not. If you are getting a different reading for each rotor blade, as is very likely, we need to correct that first. The topmost adjustable connecting rods between the rotor blades and the swash plate are where we do that. Follow the rotor arm grip carefully, and identify the two adjustable rods that connect to the balls on the rotor blade grip. These are what we are going to adjust our pitch level with. Now, If we have both blades higher than the required zero degrees, it makes sense to adjust the blade that has the highest pitch downwards to match the other. If the reverse is true, then lets raise the pitch on the lower blade to match the other blade. Dont worry if you cannot get these absolutely correct, just get them as close as possible. We can handle the discrepancy later on. Right, so now we have both blades giving us the same, but wrong pitch ? Fine, lets assume for this discussion that they are now both showing +5 degrees. Thats no problem. Can you guess what we are going to adjust to bring the pitch on both rotor blades down to zero ? HINT - Think about what we did when we setup the swash plate to be totally level. CORRECT, did you get it right - we are again going to adjust the lengths of the connecting rods that go from the servo horns to the swash plate outer ball connectors, which will raise or lower the entire swash plate, while keeping it level, until the pitch is zero degrees. Easy really isnt it, all you got to do really is ensure that you adjust each of the rods by EXACTLY the same number of turns to ensure the swash plate remains level as we change the pitch. So, we know (or rather you know - dont you ?) that we want to bring the swash plate DOWN to decrease the pitch on both of the rotors until they are set to zero degrees. Fine OFF YOU GO. I am sure you dont need me to tell you how to do that simple little job now, as you have done it before and are becoming an expert.

I will now take the opportunity to wander off and have a small drink myself to settle my nerves, while YOU get on with this important task, as I know you can handle it without having to ask me any silly questions now. ALL DONE ?. Are they both set to be exactly zero degrees ? Is the throttle on the TX still set to exact central throttle Remember check and check again to be sure you have it right. Are all of the connecting rods securely fitted to the balls at both ends ? OK then, we can (ONLY) now find out for the very first time what pitch range YOUR HELICOPTER can provide. Move the throttle stick on your TX down to the very bottom and check the pitch again. It should be around -8 to -10, but dont worry if its one or two degrees different to that. Now push the throttle stick all the way up to full throttle and measure the pitch again. It should be around +8 to +10, but dont worry if its a few degrees different to that. Because I just know that by now you have learned to be really careful when working on helicopters, you might as well check the central throttle pitch again as well for completeness. SAFETY What do we normally do when we have finished working on the aircraft Correct WE TURN OFF THE AIRCRAFT **FIRST** by disconnecting the LIPO AND then we turn off the TX. So now, lets review what we have achieved shall we ? Your last check has shown you that you have pitch range of around -10 to +10 degrees which is quite sufficient if you are still learning to hover. We also know that at centre throttle, the pitch is set to zero degrees. Surely that must be all we could possibly ask you to do before you can go and try to fly your new Belt-CP. Sorry, but the answer is still a resounding NO. We have not touched the question of rotor blade tracking as yet, neither have we looked at the tail rotor gyro, so bear with me a little longer YOU REALLY ARE NEARLY THERE. But before we do that, lets just set the central pitch point for our rudder, as this is a nice quick and easy job to do. As always, throttle at centre, all trims at the usual setting, and look at the slider that moves in and out on the tail rotor shaft. It should NOT be totally central as helicopters require a bit of rudder immediately to counter the rotating forces of the main rotors. You need to adjust its position so that it is about 1/3rd away form the boom and 2/3rd away from the tail rotor blades.

PICTURE - Rudder correctly centered, note it is closer to the boom than the tail blades How do you set this very simple. Look at the servo from above and you will see two small phillips headed screws holding the servo mounting to the boom. Just loosen these about one turn, and you will find that you can slide the entire servo and mounting forward and backward along the boom. Move it forward or backward as necessary so that you have the slider in the position discussed above, and then RELOCK the screws firmly, but not too tightly. One thing that is worth noting is the way the tail rotors are fitted, and which way around they should spin. In common with many real helicopters, the tail rotors are usually found to spin upwards into the downwash of the main rotors, which gives them a bit more power. This is true in the case of the Belt-CP, so the tail rotors rotate ANTICLOCKWISE when viewed from the right side of the aircraft. It is also worth checking that the connecting balls for the control rods that attach to the tail rotor blade grips is also AT THE LEADING EDGE of the tail rotor blades. You can see this quite clearly in the next illustration.

PICTURE The tail rotors fitted the CORRECT way around. The leading edges are on the left of the top blade and right of the bottom blade. The connecting balls are on the same side as the leading edge of the tail rotor blades.

PICTURE - Here is my Rudder servo immediately behind my stock ESKY gyro, seen from the top and looking from the left side of the aircraft. You can see in the left picture the two philips screws on the mounting that are used to allow the servo to be moved along the boom. Another point worth noting is that if you have the stock ESKY gyro, which is only a RATE gyro, not a Heading hold gyro, you should check to ensure that the small switch you will see marked NOR/REV is set to REV (for reverse) This is the correct setting for this gyro. If you leave it set to NOR then the gyro will actually help the tail to turn even faster, which is something you really do not want for your first flight. What I hear you asking, is the difference between a RATE gyro and a HEADING HOLD gyro ? Well, a RATE gyro simply tries to stop the tail moving around and changing position too much due to the effects of the wind etc, but it has no concept of what direction it may be pointing in. The HEADING HOLD gyro on the other hand does not worry about effects of wind on the aircraft, it always tries to maintain the same heading, so as you turn the tail, it is actually fighting you a bit. For learning to hover, it is strongly recommended that you use a RATE gyro, for although a HEADING HOLD gyro makes the tail stay nice and still when hovering, you will not learn to control the tail, and you really do need to do so. The HEADING HOLD gyro is used much more when flying forward (called FFF) as then it tries to keep the aircraft heading solid, and as you make a turn, you bank the aircraft AND you have to also ensure you handle the tail to follow the nose, or the aircraft will simply go around the turn more and more sideways until you have a nasty moment.

PICTURE - How to adjust the tail rotor belt tension 6.9 - Setting up the tail drive belt tension If once you have set the tail servo up, the tail rotor control has been positioned 1/3rd of the way along the shaft from the tail rotor gearbox. You should also check the tail rotor belt tension. You do this by looking down from the top of the aircraft just inside the left aileron servo, and you will see the drive gear and the belt. Slip a screwdriver down to the outside of the side of the belt and gently push it inwards toward the other side of the belt. It should be set so that it can be pushed to around the middle only, it should not be too tight, but should not be able to be made to touch the other side of the belt. If you need to adjust this, you need to loosen the four Philips headed screws that you will find in the four holes you can see in the picture above and below the boom tube. Undo these so that you can JUST move the boom in and out. NB the boom WILL NOT TURN, it only moves directly inwards and outwards. Now slide the boom so that the belt reaches the correct tension, and then make very sure that you retighten these screws firmly as you certainly do not want the boom to start moving when the helicopter is in flight. The very last thing we must do as far as the rotor blades are concerned is to make sure that when they are spooled up to speed, the tips track (run) in the same plane. This is another reason that we have the red and blue strips on the tips of the rotor blades.

6.10 Balancing the fly bar and paddles Before we start to track the main rotor blades, we need to make sure that the fly bar and paddles is also balanced, as these are also a part of the mass of stuff rotating at the top of your mainshaft. The first and obvious check is to ensure that there is no end to end movement if you pull each paddle outward along the flybar. If there is you need to slight release the collars that are immediately to the outside of the fly bar control arms and then push them up snugly against the control arms so there is no slop. Then retighten these. Next, check to ensure that both of the paddles are the correct way around, which is that the leading edge of each blade faces forward, which means they will be at the front as the rotor head rotates CLOCKWISE. A final check of the paddles is to check that are both exactly level with each other when viewed along the flybar. In other words they both have the same pitch, which at mid throttle should then be zero degrees of pitch. Also check to see if the two control arms that connect to the head are also horizontal. Now, if you looked at the Belt CP manual, you will see that an approximate distance is specified for the gap between that locking collar we have just looked at and the equivalent one that is immediately on the inside of each of the paddles themselves. In fact the actual distance is not critical, but the paddles should be screwed on a sufficient distance onto the flybar as to ensure they cannot fly off. It is a good idea to take them off and then count the number of turns you use to replace one paddle securely, and then screw the other one back on the same number of turns. Finally you can use a normal ruler, or better yet a vernier calliper if you have access to one, and carefully measure the distance between the two locking collars. Naturally, these should be EXACTLY the same on both sides. Now retighten all grub screws firmly. ADVANCED INFORMATION If you want be really professional about the fly bar and head assembly, you can disconnect the motor pinion so that it no longer meshes with the main gear, remove the tail drive belt, and then after checking that the head spins freely, hold the aircraft on its side with the fly bar paddles horizontal and see if one drops down more than the other. If so weight is required on the lighter paddle blade. To make sure the entire head balances level. THIS ADVANCED BALANCING IS NOT NECESSARY IF YOU ARE PERFORMING A FIRST SETUP AS A NEW PILOT/BUILDER, BUT THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED HERE AS YOU MAY WANT TO DO IT AT A LATER DATE. 6.11 Setting the rotor blade tracking CAUTION WARNING THE NEXT OPERATION INVOLVES THE HELICOPTER HAVING ITS ROTOR BLADES FITTED, AND THEN SPINNING THESE UP TO

AROUND 1000+ RPM with the throttle. This means those rotor blade tips are moving VERY FAST, so PLEASE do this VERY CAREFULLY Most of us put together what is called a Lazy Susan to let us run the aircraft up with its rotors fitted and spinning. This is just some form of turntable that you can firmly attach the helicopter to so that it is allowed to rotate, but of course, so that it cannot rise up or down at all. If you do not have such a thing, you can do it by strapping the aircraft down very firmly so that it cannot even rotate, but in this case, you will need to be very careful how many rotor rpm you let it go to. Use the skids to secure it to something level and very immovable. Whichever method you use, it is a very good idea to put some dense foam or a similar material under and on top of the skids, and then fix the helicopter down just tightly enough so that it can still move up and down a bit by compressing the foam. This will help to stop unwanted harmonics causing vibrations throughout the aircraft. Even some thickish polystyrene sheet will do the job quite well. By now, you should have the rotor blades fitted to the aircraft if you have been following along, and now it is SECURELY ATTACHED TO A LAZY SUSAN OR OTHER IMMOVABLE OBJECT BY ITS SKIDS ? Please do NOT consider for even a second that maybe you can just put a book or something over the skids and try to do this operation You may well injure or kill yourself or someone else, and damage the aircraft severely. OK, enough warnings and caveats, you are now ready and comfortable to check the tracking are you ?

As usual, check the TX trims and stick settings, ensure that all connecting rods are securely fitted over the various ball joints, extend the TX aerial, turn on the TX, and finally, connect the LIPO in the aircraft.

THE MOST IMPORTANT WARNING IN THIS DOCUMENT IS RIGHT HERE

There is one more switch we have not mentioned very much, but in this part of the setup, it becomes very, very important. It is the IDLE UP SWITCH which is located at the back left of the top of the standard 0406 ESKY TX. If this switch is not backwards right now, make it go backwards. Even put a rubber band on it somehow to ensure it cannot be flicked accidently. If you do enable this, your rotor blades will instantly go to almost full throttle, you will almost certainly tear all the teeth of the main gear, and many other nasty things can happen. This switch is very aptly known as The Devils Switch by most pilots. If you are not using a turntable, then at no point in this adjustment are you likely to ever go beyond half throttle, so DO NOT TRY IT, you will probably tear a rotor blade off if you do, and that is a highly dangerous scenario. Finally, if you have a pair of safety goggles PUT THEM ON NOW Make sure that you have the aircraft oriented so that you are looking directly at its tail from behind, and stand as far away as is reasonably possible so that you can still see what is happening, and then VERY VERY GENTLY increase the throttle setting to let the rotor blades spin up as gently as possible. You should NEVER EVER HAVE TO change the throttle position rapidly. Look at the right hand side of the rotors, which now appear to be a spinning plate. What you are actually looking at is of course the leading edge of the spinning rotor blades. This lets you see the red and blue tape if the blades are not tracking correctly. If one blade is flying higher than the other, lets say it is the red blade, then you will see what appears to be the red tip sitting ABOVE the blue tip. Ok, throttle back to zero throttle SLOWLY. Once the rotor head has stopped spinning totally, it is safe to approach the aircraft, do so in order that we can Remember SAFETY - Disconnect the LIPO and then adjust one or other of the blades to correct the tracking. We have decided for the purposes of this discussion that it was the red tipped blade that was flying high, so what do we need to do now ? Well, you have two choices, You can lower the pitch on the red blade, or raise the pitch on the blue blade. At this stage it probably does not matter very much which you choose to do, but once you pick a blade to be adjusted, stay with adjusting that blade, dont suddenly decide to switch to the blue blade. So yet again find the rotor blade grip for the red tipped blade. Identify the adjustable connecting rod that it is connected to. As we have our red blade flying high we need to REDUCE the pitch on that blade. Normally that would mean shortening the uppermost adjustable connecting rod, but just to be awkward, the Belt CP reverses this motion due to its design, so in fact, if you look at it all carefully, you will see that you need to INCREASE the length of the connecting rod to REDUCE the pitch on the red blade. As always, do this slowly and carefully, following the processes I have described previously. Lengthen the correct rod by as many turns as you think will bring it down to

the same pitch as the blue tipped blade. Reconnect the rod ends securely, turn on the TX after performing all the normal safety checks, and connect the LIPO in the aircraft. Spool it up again SAFETY - WHOAA DO IT SLOWLY and see if both blades are now tracking together. If they are you got really lucky. So, again note where the red tip is flying, is it still flying higher or is it now flying lower than the other blade. Repeat the entire process again, adjust THE SAME ROD to change THE PITCH ON THE SAME ROTOR BLADE, and continue until they are both tracking as closely together as possible. If they are just very slightly overlapping that is good enough for the time being, but you should not be able to see an actual gap between the two tip colours. Phew Now that was what is called really scary wasnt it ? :-) Well, No, not really 7 Setting the aircrafts Centre of Gravity One final step is needed before you can get out there and fly your perfectly setup helicopter, and this is one that is often forgotten. Because you have the radio receiver (RX) the ESC and possibly a UBEC that can be strapped anywhere on to the sides of the aircraft, plus a big and quite heavy LIPO battery and the motor stuck somewhere at the front, there is a pretty good chance that the overall COG of the aircraft will not be correct. What is needed is for it to balance perfectly along the total length of the aircraft at the point immediately at the centre of the mainshaft. To check this, turn the rotor blades so that they are fore and aft, and then gently pick the aircraft up by using one finger under each side of the fly bar, as close in to the mainshaft as possible, and see if the skids are parallel to the work surface. If they are not, there is a very good chance it is tail heavy. If so, you either need to move the radio and electronic stuff around to get it right, or to move the LIPO, which is most often the easiest way to achieve this. If tail heavy, you only need to move the LIPO forward bit by bit until it balances, and then ensure you always position it at that same point when changing the LIPO. Even better, make up a small square of padding and place it BEHIND the LIPO so that it can not go all the way back, and it will always be right as long as you use the same size/weight of LIPO in future. ADVANCED INFORMATION FOR THE FUTURE

8 Notes on what is necessary if you decide to make some common modifications with non stock parts.
I have added this section for the more advanced builders and pilots in an attempt to help you avoid the common pitfalls we have all been through as we tried to do these relatively simple repairs or upgrades.

Please also check the forums and in particular the stickies for more information. Much of this information is available there in even more detail, so these notes will just give you what I feel to be the most important pointers. 8.1 Replacing the stock main gear, or replacing it with the Helimax 400 main gear. Because the stock main gear is moulded out of something closely resembling a hardish cream cheese, it is very common for the teeth to get stripped, especially if you use hard throttle movements, or worse yet, hit the Idle up switch (The devils switch) at the wrong time. It has been found that the main gear produced for the Helimax 400 is an ALMOST direct swap for the stock belt gear, and it is very much stronger. The problem The one point to note is that if you simply drop it in place, you will almost certainly hear a strange ticking noise when you spool the aircraft up. This is because the one way bearing in the main gear needs to be pushed up about 1 mm so that the spokes of the main gear clear the large washers that are on the motor position adjusting screws. This is not difficult to do, but you really cannot just hammer it up a bit without risking damage to the one way bearing needles. The Solution If you check on the stickies on the Heliguy forums, you will some find good suggestions on how to make a simple bearing puller for yourself that will let you do this very easily. All you need in most cases is a drill or better yet, a Dremmel, maybe a grindstone, some files, a few spare bolts and washers and presto your there for a few pennies. How to do it Again this is pretty easy. SAFETY - DISCONNECT THE LIPO Now release the connecting rods at the swash plate end of all three rods from the servo horns. Undo the very bottom bolt that passes through the main shaft below the main and tail drive gears, make sure you do NOT LOOSE that little nut on the other side Now pull the mainshaft upwards slowly until it clears the main gear, or if you prefer, slide it out of the aircraft entirely and place carefully on the bench. Finally slide the two gears gently out of the side of the aircraft together, and pull the tail gear out of the main gear it is just a slide fit. If you are using a stock main gear, ensure that the one way bearing is already fitted. If not, you will have to obtain one and use your puller to fit it. If this is the case, the stock gear needs the top of the one way bearing to be flush with the top of the bush it fits into. If you are fitting a Helimax 400 gear, you will see that the one way bearing is level with it bush it fits into, so use your puller to press it **upwards** about 1mm no more. Now fit the two gears back together again, slide them gently into place in the aircraft, slide your main shaft down and gently engage it through the gears, and finally, align the

hole at the bottom and refit the bolt and nut that you removed earlier. Do please make sure this bolt is tightened thoroughly, and use a drop of thread lock on the nut to make sure. The final test is to rotate it all to check the gears run as straight as possible, and that you have no ticking noise. 8.2 Replacing the rubber tail drive belt. Again a relatively simple task if approached from the correct direction. I prefer to do it by removing the entire boom from the aircraft, but you can do it the reverse way and only dismantle the tail gear box if you really prefer to do so. If you look at the front of the tail boom, where it disappears into the frame of the aircraft just forward of the tail servo, you will see that there are four recessed screws, two above and two below the boom. Disconnect the tail servo wire, loosen these four screws, and then gently push the boom in a bit so that you can release the belt of the drive pulley, then slide the entire boom with servo etc away from the frame. DO NOT TRY TO TWIST IT, AS IT HAS A LOCATING SLOT, AND TWISTING IT MAY DESTROY YOUR BOOM. IT SHOULD SLIDE OUT REASONABLY EASILY Lay the entire boom assembly with tail rotor etc on the bench, and before doing anything else, check the belt drive pulley that the belt went around to ensure there are no crack or missing teeth. Plastic tail units The stock ESKY tail unit is very simple to disassemble, just undo all of the screws on the side away from the rotor blades, and the bolt that holds the tensioner pulley. In all there are 3 small screws at the very back, the tensioner bolt and two long screws at the front. This will allow this side of the tail casing to be slid away from the boom and out of the way entirely. You can then slide the belt off the tail drive pulley and replace it with the new belt. Rebuilding it is a simple reversal of the above steps, but MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE BELT TWISTED THE CORRECT WAY. It should make the tail rotors turn anti clockwise when viewed from the tail rotor blade side of the aircraft. Also ensure that you dont put more than a single half turn on the belt. Once the tail gearbox has been rebuilt and the boom is pushed back into the frame, pull the boom back until the tension on the belt is such that you can only push one side of the new belt about halfway toward the other side. You can use a screwdriver or similar tool to check this. When the tension is correct, tighten those four recessed screws nice and tightly. Check that everything rotates freely without any binding from the tail. ESKY CNC tail units

These are slightly different in design, but you use a similar method to that described above, except there are different types of bolts on the CNC assembly. 8.3 Ensuring that your tail belt tensioner/idler pulley does not get chewed up internally by the fitting bolt. This modification only applies to the stock plastic tail gearbox on the Belt-CP, the CNC tail gearbox already has the pulley mounted on a smooth shaft. It has been noted by several pilots that the tail belt tension pulley at the back of the aircraft is made of aluminium. Due to poor design, this is attached to the helicopter using a fully threaded bolt, which means that after a relatively short time, the inner bore of the tensioner pulley wheel can easily get badly scored, causing binding or even a complete lockup of the pulley wheel in the worst case scenario. The fix is easy, remove the standard bolt, and then find one of the same size, but that has an unthreaded shoulder long enough so that the pulley wheel is rotating on the smooth shaft across its entire width. Then refit the pulley wheel, using a nylock nut to secure the bolt if necessary. 8.4 How to make the setting of the main rotor blade tracking much easier. Because shortening or lengthening the main connector rods between the swash plate and the head means that you have to make at least one full half turn on one end, it is of course, impossible to be totally accurate when trying to get the tracking spot on. A great way to improve this is to purchase what are known as Titanium turnbuckles, which cost very little. What these do is to have a left hand thread on one end and a standard thread on the other end, and an adjusting hole in the middle to let you twist the rod. If you twist the centre of the turnbuckle clockwise, the rod shortens, and vice versa, but the turnbuckles can be adjusted so little or much that you can change the pitch a tiny distance, meaning that you can easily get both blades tracking perfectly, and all with very little effort, and another plus is that you do not have to keep removing the ball connectors. 9 - Summary Once you start to try to fly your shiny new helicopter you will almost certainly find out why so many of us are totally addicted to the hobby of R/C helicopters. They offer any number of challenges, not least from trying to hover, and then to fly them forward and backward and sideways, to building them, modifying them, repairing them, and even writing about them. In fact most helicopter pilots will tell you that they get a little scared while it is airborne, and after all, they are in sole charge of it, so you are unlikely to be any different. As a last point, you will almost certainly find that reaching the stage that you can hover a helicopter will be extremely difficult in the beginning. DO NOT GIVE UP, we have all

found that but suddenly, one day, it just clicks, just like learning to ride a two wheel bike for the first time, and once you can hover sensibly, you really are up and away. Unfortunately for all fledgling chopper pilots, the hardest part of it all, which is hovering, is the very first thing you must master, as it is of course the only way to get off the ground and back onto it safely and in one piece. Having said that, many thousands of people have succeeded, and will all tell you that the first time you master a decent hover, you will glow with pride for at least a week. FINAL TIP Please dont expect to be hovering immediately. You should now have a well setup helicopter which will certainly make that learning curve a great deal easier, but just take it nice and easy and dont try to move ahead to fast, as that usually results in a crash and more expense to buy replacement parts. YOU WILL MASTER IT IN TIME and really half the fun of the hobby is in the amount of learning that is necessary, and the amount you can move onto with scale flying, aerobatic flying, building, modifying, or even just talking with other helicopter pilots. Join a local modem aircraft club, get BMFA insurance if you are thinking of flying on public land such as parks, and/or check your household insurance as many cover small electric helicopters because they are classed as toys, and finally and most important of all ENJOY THE EXEPERIENCE AND CHALLENGES AHEAD OF YOU as you learn to master YOUR helicopter. Another tip you may find useful in learning to hover and fly is to go to your computer and Google for Dr Radds flying school. This is an excellent document that will definitely teach you the best ways on how to hover and then fly forward etc, all with the least possible chances of doing any damage to yourself, other people or your shiny new helicopter. This is highly recommended by many R/C chopper instructors, and other normal pilots who used it to learn themselves. (I was one of them too). The very best of luck to you, and I sincerely hope that you have many happy years of R/C helicopter flying ahead of you.

10 Some common problems and how to resolve them. 10.1 - Excessive vibration of the aircraft when you spool the rotor head up
All helicopters, real and model, tend to vibrate to a certain amount when the rotors are spun up to normal speed, and it is not something to worry about, unless it is excessive, or it continues when the rotor head is spinning at normal speeds. As we have discussed in the setup guide, you have to spool the head up to check the tracking of the rotors, and therefore this is a good time to also check for any bad vibrations. The first thing to mention here is that if you are using a turntable, or simply bolting the helicopter down to perform this checking, this will in itself induce unwanted vibrations, as

the aircraft cannot adjust itself properly. The best cure is to wrap the skids in some fairly thick, or dense sponge of some form, and then bolt it down so that it can move up and down a little by squeezing the sponge up and down which helps to let it establish its own harmonics. If, despite this, you still have severe vibrations, here is a list of possible causes. 10.1.1 - The mainshaft itself may be bent. It is not unknown for new ones from ESKY to be bent in new kits. To check this does of course mean removing the mainshaft from the aircraft. But this is not a difficult job. Please check out the stickies on the Heliguy forums where you will find articles that cover how to do this in great detail. 10.1.2 - The feathering shaft may be bent. This is a shaft that fits through the rotor head and supports the main rotor blade grips. To check this means removing the rotor blades, and then taking out the feathering shaft itself. This is a slightly more difficult job than the mainshaft itself due to the many and various small washers and three part bearings you will find in there. Again please check out the stickies on the Heliguy forums where you will find articles that cover how to do this in great detail. 10.1.3 - The rotor blades may not be balanced correctly. How to balance the rotor blades is covered further up in this document. Please review those details. 10.1.4 You may have one or more broken linkage connectors. These are the plastic loops that go over the metal balls. In particular, the loop shaped connector that goes around both sides of the main rotor blade grips is well known to snap these connectors due to binding at certain rotor positions. Carefully check all of the connectors on the head for excessive loose movement up and down. Any that are too loose or can be pulled off the balls with very little pressure are too loose and need to be replaced. 10.1.5 Place the helicopter on a flat surface and hold it down by the skids and then try to push/pull the entire mainshaft up and down. If you can feel any vertical movement there you need to adjust the top mainshaft locking collar that you can see on the mainshaft immediately above the top of the frame, and below the swash plate. Just loosen the grub screw on this collar, and then pull the mainshaft up as far as it will go, hold it there and slide the collar down to hold it in that position, and then relock the grub screw. Once relocked, check again. Finally, ensure that the grub is tightened fully. You may well want to take the grub screw right our so that you can apply a small amount of medium thread lock to it when you retighten it again. 10.2 On take-off the helicopter always tries to come back at me and it slides left.

This is absolutely normal, and is due to the ground effect, which is because as the rotors spin up, they blow air downwards, and this bounces back off the ground and pretty soon you are actually flying in a column of your own air that is moving downwards ABOVE the rotors. Once you reach around two feet or so, you will find that you get out of the ground effect, and the helicopter will then stop that backwards and left movement to a great extent. Until you can hover however, you need to learn how much right cyclic and forward elevator you need to provide just as she is lifting off the ground. 10.3 The helicopter still wanders around, even though I am hovering out of ground effect. Yes, it will, and again this is perfectly normal. The cause of this is the fact that you have sideways forces from the tail trying to move it sideways one way or the other, plus other rotational forces that all combine to make any helicopter unstable by nature. It is much the same as the modern fighter aircraft, which all use fly by wire now. The reason they do this is because they are designed to be totally unstable, which allows them to perform manoeuvres impossible with a stable aircraft. It is then left to the computer to sort out the correct control movements of the aircrafts control surfaces to recreate the aircraft movement that the pilot is trying to achieve. It is a very similar thing with helicopters, as they require constant inputs from the pilot if they are to stay in one place (hover in other words). They still require them to a lesser extent when in FFF (Fast forward flight) as the forward speed provides more stability anyway, but it is well proven that if you take your eyes off a helicopter you are flying for a moment, there is a very good chance it will end up with a crash..

*** END *** For and on behalf of Heliguy UK. Ian Turner, January 2009 Heliguy Forum Handle - ChopperAddict