shuttle gyro

[zxr750]

help i have a hirobo shuttle z it has a standard mechanical gyro which works fine but i want to up date it to something electronic ie not something out of the dark ages what would be a good gyro to buy ive heard csm make good ones but which one would be the best for me cheers..

[hawkman]

Hi there, I am from Devon originally...Tavistock...you know it?

I used a CSM 200 Gyro in my first and second helis...its currently fitted to my Trex 450...does a grand job.

This Gyro is a bit limited though....its simple enough to set up and its gain is adjusted on the Gyro itself...its wise to first fit using blutack or something like that...to test its 'sense' there is no 'reverse' switch...so if it goes the wrong way to correct yaw you have to flip the gyro upside down to correct.

I cant speak for CSM's better gyros but I do have a Futaba GY401 fitted to another Heli....its coupled to the 9254 servo...it came as a combo package.

The 401 is not the most easy gyro to set...or thats how it seems...but its actually very good. The Gains are remotely set...using the radio. There is a trimmer function on the gyro itself...so the servo throw is set to maximum...for better speed...the trimmer is then carefully dialled in to limit the servos range of movement..so what ever servo you use, you will get maximum performance out of it.

[zxr750]

thanks ive just brought a shuttle in bits and it has a csm 200 fitted so i will be giving it a try thanks again will let you know how it go's

[hawkman]

Ok, its not a bad little gyro...certainly good enough for learning with and some forward flight with tight turns and hacking about....the only limit I found was in doing forward flight and then doing piros (tail spinning about) the gyro seemed to hold the tail a bit too tight...the tail would come around eventually.

To set the gyro;

set up the correct sense...ie it moves the correct way to correct yaw.

when hovering if the tail keeps drifting left or right...dont use the radio trim...keep it centered....land and go to idle...BE CAREFUL!...might be better to switch the engine off.

using the connecting rod to the tail pitch lever....unclip and adjust the linkage in or out to suit....go hover again....if the tail stays straight then you are ok...but any drifting...land and adjust again.

For a reference, the tail rotor will have about 5 degrees or so of pitch in its nuetral postion...ie the servo arm is 90 degrees to its servo body...with rotors running the heli will have torque...the 5 degrees or so of nuetral pitch will counter this.

Be careful of setting up the linkage for the tail rotor...any 'binding' could easily pop a linkage...which will give an interesting episode....better not to try this

Rob

[zxr750]

thanks guys ive put the csm 200 on today fired the heli up and wham it went into a mental spin which killed my main blades when it flipped on its side im thinking about calling it a day with this gyro and biting the bullet and getting a half decent gyro the 401 sounds good but abit tricky to set up god why cant life be simple i hate ebay because it temps me so much with all the choices.. we will see maybe one day she will fly i live in hope...
P.S thanks again for your help dont be shy keep advicing me as im new to this and im not to pig headed to listen to any advice cheers keep the good work up

MERRY CHRISTMAS...

[hawkman]

Dont give up on this gyro, sounds like the 'sense' was working backwards...try installing it upside down and see how it goes...you need to check it out by connecting the power and holding the heli...move it left and right...and see what the servo is doing.

Another crucial point...when powering up...connecting the power...DO NOT MOVE the heli...let the gyro sort itself out...otherwise it will lock out. Mine did the other night when I was doing a demo flight...pays to do a quick movement check



The gy401 is a good gyro, but the CSM will do the thing its meant to.

What radio is it...be careful how this is set up...otherwise the gyro wont work at all.

[zxr750]

the radio is a futaba t6exhp dont laugh its all i could afford at the time the gyro is a hlg 200 i know to let it set its self from my walkera 36 i have the csm 180 on that i tried the gyro today and yes i did try it upside down as well i just think its broken so ive put my mechanical one back in and it works great again im still drawn towards the 401 is there a better gyro thats not going to break the bank and be easy to set up i so want to fly my copter im on my last set of blades now got some more coming all i need is a good day

[hawkman]

You might have to set the gyro mode!

go into this...and set 'GY' for the CSM gyro...'Norm' will screw it up...I suspect 'Norm' is for older gyros.

Ignore the gain settings, or else set these to 50 percent for both. Try again.

I see what you say about the older gyro..but this will scoff battery power a bit.

Try the above out...and and swing the heli about to see if the gyro is making any corrections.

I flew my old Hawk in 'Norm' mode once...the gyro was there (csm 200) but it couldnt work...I did a few circuits without a gyro in effect...it wasnt too bad but hovering was a swine..had to make the corrections.

I wont laugh at the radio you have...if its the basic computer type its a good one.