spinning tail

[trex450xlowner]

Hi I have an align trex 450xl heli and an align gyro. the tail of the heli keeps not drifting, but spinning to the right, counter clockwise. i tried using the a-b reverse, but i don't think it worked. i also tried controling the rudder with the rudder stick and pointing left and right, but it still doesn't make a difference. it just keeps "dancing" across the field. what should i do? how can i fix it? and what's wrong?

[hawkman]

Try reversing the gyro 'sense'.....put the rudder servo back to its setting...the gyro might be sensing the wrong way...its trying to correct but will put in the wrong input.

Rob

[hawkman]

If the gyro doesnt have a reverse switch....then you will need to unstick the gyro and re stick it upside down....the more basic gyros are like that

Its still a good gyro....but to keep costs down etc...they dont always bother to add a reverse sense switch.

Rob

[Daz(DJLFlapper)]

Hi,


First thing we need to do is make sure that the drive belt is actually on the right way. When you turn the main rotor in the direction it is supposed to go (clockwise), the tail rotor is supposed to turn with the leading edge of the blade driving up into the downwash from the main blades (anticlockwise looking at it from the rear right side).
If this is good then check that the radio is actually moveing the tail servo in the right direction. if you give left rudder you want the tail control arm to move toward the back of the heli.
If that is ok then you now need to check that the gyro is working properly.
before we can do this you should make sure that you have the gyro set up correctly in your radio. You need to find your gyro sensativity function in your TX and make sure that in the normal flight mode you have the sensativity set to 20%
If your TX has a stunt mode/idle up then you need to have this set to 80%.
you will allso need to turn off the revolution mixing function to allow the gyros heading hold to work properly.
Now we can test that the gyro is working in the heli correctly.
what you need to do is unplug the motor, then turn on the Tx and the heli. Now when the gyro has initialised you should be in the normal flight mode, then you should be able to pick the heli up and see the gyro move the tail servo to counter the direction of the turn you put in to the heli.
Lets turn the nose of the heli to the left, the tail rotor control rod should move towrad the front of the heli and center again. if it does not then use the gyro reverse switch to change the direction and try it again. when it does your good to go.

Now having done this we now need to set the pitch on the tail so that the heli is not rotating too quickly when it gets light. You will need the tail pitch control gear to be closer to the tail rotor gear box than to the blades. you will need about a 3-4mm gap from the rotor gear box housing.
this should be about right, If the heli turns as it gets light use the rudder trims on your radio to make adjustments to stop it.

Hope this helps,

If after doing this you still cannot get your heli to stop spinning then you will need to take it to the shop it was purchased and have them look at it.

[trex450xlowner]

Wait, i think i figured out the problem i was setting the trim the wrong way, so that was what made it spin, but thanks anyway, hawkman and especially Daz, that was a lot of information that i can add to my knowledge

[Daz(DJLFlapper)]

LOL glad you got it,

[trex450xlowner]

sorry again, but setting the trim didn't really work because it was still spinning when i went to fly it again. I set the trim both ways and it was still spinning the same way it was spinning to the right.

[Daz(DJLFlapper)]

Does the nose or the tail go to the right?
If the nose goes to the right then use the rudder stick to put left into the rudder this should stop the spin.
If the tail goes right then use right to stop it.

let me know if this works.