Swash plate setting with transmitter

[Paellaman]

Can anyone help please. I am new to rc models and have just bought my first heli, a ECO7 Jet Ranger and have not tried to start it yet because the swash plate is well out of adjustment.
I amusing the instructions in the manual but I can't understand what I amsuposed to do, as a reminder I have repeated the instructions below.

I am ok down to

• Set pitch to maximum; wait for “CONFIRM.”

but then I don't know what is meant by

• Pre-select with roll servo (Right, Center, Left)
• Change zero position with forward pitch (full defl ection) until the swash plate stands horizontal and at the
correct height.The center of the adjustment range is displayed with “CONFIRM.”

and I have never managed to get a final confirm whatever I have tried. I am a complete beginner and any advice or hints would be very welcome.
Thank you in advance.

Adjusting swash plate
This operation is useful if the servos have been replaced. With roll (right, center, left) the servo is chosen, with forward
pitch the zero setting is changed.
Preparation:
• Center all transmitter trimmers.
• Turn off transmitter.
Adjustment procedure:
• Plug in receiver battery. LED flashes red.
• Push forward pitch and roll sticks to any side and hold.
• Turn on transmitter; wait for “CONFIRM.”
• Set pitch to maximum; wait for “CONFIRM.”
• Pre-select with roll servo (Right, Center, Left)
• Change zero position with forward pitch (full defl ection) until the swash plate stands horizontal and at the
correct height.The center of the adjustment range is displayed with “CONFIRM.”
• Pitch to minimum fi nishes adjustment and saves the new settings.
After this adjustment the model must be retrimmed, for this purpose erase model trimming fi rst.

[ethomas999]

Hi there,

I also had some trouble with it the first time I tried the swash plate adjustment. Just to be sure we're on the same page, the "confirm" mentioned in the Ikarus instructions is a brief pulse of power to the tail motor, making the tail rotor spin briefly.

One thing that's a bit tricky with the instructions is that the transmitter stick assignments are different depending on whether the transmitter is setup for mode 1 (Asia and Europe) or mode 2 (US) transmitter. With a mode 2 (US) transmitter, the "Push forward pitch and roll sticks to any side and hold" step is accomplished by pushing the right stick into any corner.

Before doing a swash plate adjustment, the model trims should be deleted. This is done by powering on the transmitter, then the heli, and then holding the left (yaw) stick all the way to left until the tail motor is pulsed three times (this takes about 10 seconds).

Using the "Adjusting the Swash plate" instructions, once the "Preselect with roll servo (right, center, left)" step is reached, it works like this: The pitch-control stick is used to slowly move a particular servo in one direction or the other, depending on if the stick is pushed up or down. Which of the three servos is moved depends on the position of the roll-control stick (left, center, or right).

The servo movement is a very slow creep, so you need to hold the pitch-control stick in the up or down position and watch the servos closely. The idea is to tweak the servo positions until the swash plate is level. There is limit, though, to how far this procedure will move a servo, and once it reaches that point it will not go any further in the given direction. (This is different from the absolute-travel limit of the servo.)

During this procedure, while moving a servo with the pitch-control stick, a "confirm" (tail motor pulse) will be generated when the servo is at its center of travel. If all three servos are at their center-of-travel positions and the swash plate is still way off level, or if the servos cannot be adjusted enough to get the swash plate level, then it may be necessary to change the position of one or more servo arms on the servos. (This is done by taking the screw off the top of the servo shaft, pulling up the servo arm, rotating its position, pushing it back on to the servo, and putting the screw back in.) Be sure that the model trims have been deleted and that the trims on the transmitter are centered, as these can affect the servo positions. On my ECO 7, the servo arms are at slightly below 90 degrees when the servos are centered.

Below are the transmitter stick assignments for the two common types of setups.

Transmitter Stick Assignments

Mode 2 (US):

Left stick up/down = throttle (collective pitch)
Left stick left/right = rudder (yaw or spin)

Right stick up/down = elevator (pitch)
Right stick left/right = aileron (roll)

Mode 1 (Asia and Europe):

Left stick up/down = elevator (pitch)
Left stick left/right = rudder (yaw or spin)

Right stick up/down = throttle (collective pitch)
Right stick left/right = aileron (roll)

Regards
--Eric Thomas
http://www.etheli.com

[Paellaman]

Hi Ethomas999

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply which I found very interesting. I also got a reply from the forum moderator with further tips as shown below.

“It is normal, that the GigaTronic switches to green after the programming is completed. It would remain red if i.e. the battery would be low or the programming would not be completed correctly.

The swashplate can be slightly tilted (about 3º) forward and to the right. This would be normal.

If it is a little more, try to adjust the swashplate by using the trim levers of the respective channels on the transmitter.

If this produces an acceptable result, we recommend to re-program as per instructions on page 30 top respectively the additional more detailed write-up provided recently.”

Best regards
Webmaster

I combined your detailed information with his tips and came up with the following results and thoughts

After the exercise I found my settings were as in No.1 below which were not ideal

1) Existing setup min -7 mid +5 max +13.5

2) Ideal range min -3/4 mid +5 max +11

3) Ashley Liam lowered servo arms a notch below horizontal to change min pitch from 0 to -3/4

4) Therefore if I raised my servo arms 1 notch I would get a min pitch of -3/4 but my mid pitch would be +8 and my max pitch would be +16. These were the figures I had before levelling the swash plate

5) I asumed that servo arm angles Would not vary the movement range, only shift the existing range up or down. I would think that the range of pitch could only be adjusted by using different servo arm lengths. Like the old servos that had a series of holes along the arms so that you could select the required stroke length.

6) Adjusting the individual blade pitches equally would only have the same effect as adjusting the servo arm angles but less so.

7) My effective servo arm length is 15mm from the effective end of the arm to the outside of the arm mounting boss. So I would think that a shorter arm would restrict my range to something like min -4, the mid range would remain at +5 and the max would be below the original 13.5 but I am not sure exactly where. Is there any other way to reduce the overall range without going into PC re-programing which would be totally beyond me.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Regards

Paellaman.