Nose to the left!!

I'm having MAJOR trouble with the nose of my Century Hawk always wanting to spin to the left. I know this is becuase of the tail rotor, but I can't seem to pinpoint how to fix it. I've fooled with the settings on the gyro, all the controller trims and settings and the rod lengths and nothing seems to work right. It is always wanting to spin to the left, never the right. Any advice would be great, otherwise I'm ready to fly I hope.

[hawkman]

OK....your gyro is set up ok? it corrects in the correct sense? is it a heading hold gyro? have you checked your modes?

I take it that your tail rotor is set up ok? there should be a few degrees of pitch with the servo arm centered. This is to counter act the torque produced when the rotors are turning from idle to lift off. Re check your instructions and make sure it has those few degrees.....actually it shows you how the tail pitch arm should look...with the servo arm centered...it does give you an overall measurment from the servo arm to the tail pitch control.

with your hawk switched on....but not running....put your tail /rudder stick, left the trailing edges of the tail blades should go left.....and vice versa for right rudder.
Check the gyros performance......turn the helis nose left....the tail rotor should try to correct....the trailing edges should move right and vice versa....you can watch the servo arm....just be carefull and dont get confused....take your time.

Do check the transmitter, if you have a 'heading lock' gyro and you have the wrong gyro mode then you will have trouble. I did that once.....I had the wrong mode after messing around on a simulator...forgot which mode I was in and flew my chopper.....I did well to fly it....flew a couple of circuits in fact but then 'WHAM' ended up with smashed blades, carbon ones at that....my first set ever.....ouch:-(

Heading lock gyros, for example, dont need 'revo mix' you would have to make sure its 'inhibited' or off.

Its bound to be a simple problem, but please use patience and caution.....dont rush yourself and 'fly at all costs' otherwise it will 'cost' ;-)


once you are happy, gently raise the collective and see what happens.

I have a Hawk, its a lovely chopper which is quite capable of all sorts of tricks......I like it as its cheap, flys well enough.....and doesnt cost the earth to fix.

Let me know what gyro and radio set you are using.

Rob

AHHHHHH!!!! I still can't keep this nose from continually spinning to the left. I'm using the Century PG2000IIR DR gyro and Futuba FUTJ73 radio. I'm using all the settings as specified in the manual but to no luck. It used to be fine and all of a sudden it's uncontrollable. Thanks for the past response, if you know of any settings to use with this gyro and radio I'd certainly be glad to try them out. I know the gyro is working properly. It doesn't seem that the rudder can compensate enough to make it keep from going left. Any more help would be greatly appreciated.

[hawkman]

What pitch range do you have on the main blades? I would check the pitch range and throttle settings....too much pitch....slightly lower revs....might cause a torque issue......dunno....struggling to think.

Keep the helis tail linkage set up as per the book....you know thats ok then....unplug the gyro and plug the tail servo directly into the tail channel....making sure the servo is centered.....then go left and right making sure the servo doesnt 'bind'.....make sure its still centered....then unplug and plug the gyro back into the system.

Doing these two things will give you a 'base line' from which to work on.

I dont know the radio..is it computer type? if its an older type it might only use non 'heading hold' gyros.

The gyro I dont know either....DR? Dual Rate? is there a 'spare' lead? this would plug into the rate socket on your reciever.....the gain can then be adjusted at the flick of a switch.

It might be a good idea to contact Futaba in the USA and just ask a few questions.....likewise....Century would be worth a call.

Rob

[bigdog714]

anybody check to see if the servo is operating in reverse , both times Ive had this problem that was the solution

[littleT]

i had the same problem with the 400 raptor g2 i own/i carried it to a hobby shop,left with a flyer for 2 weeks.after days of trying he found battery was not giving enought head speed.he went to a lipo and it flys pretty well.i too kept trying and i had adjusted too much pitch at full.power could not get up to speed so tail gyro could not lock tail