Ikarus CP and K&S Pitch gauge

[Petermcc]

Ok I give in! Can someone tell me how to use my K&S pitch gauge with my Piccolo CP? The instructions are pretty much in Chinese and I think I can work it out as follows:

1. zero throttle / collective on the tx

2. align flybar, paddles, links & blades until they are ALL horizontal. Might need to adjust the screws on the CP head to get here. This gives zero pitch?

3. Adjust Pitch %age on my JR XP652 until I get +4 degrees mid throttle (or until it starts to lift when I hold it with 75% throttle curve dialled in)

4. Get about 8-10 degrees at full throttle.

I'm lining up the top of the pitch gauge, by sight, with the top of the flybar. Is this correct? My Picc barely lifts off the ground and everything else was fine before the cp conversion... [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[ 21 May 2002, 22:07: Message edited by: Petermcc ]

Hey there,

First of all, you need at least an 8 cell nicad or a 9 cell nimh. The forget the pich gauge, you need as much pitch as you can get on this little heli. Use the larger of the pinions, which is the 10 tooth and you should be set from there. I don't think that 4 degrees pitch will lift the heli.

[Petermcc]

Hi - I'm using the 10 tooth pinion, an 8-cell NiCad (at least 550mah as I recall) and have tried it with a higher pitch than 4 degrees to no avail!

Petermcc,
Do you have a picture or a link to a picture of the pitch gauge ?

Regards,

Sean - HeliHobby.com

[pgoelz]

I do no tthink that 4 degrees is anywhere near enough pitch. I think that even my Raptor hovers at about 5-6 degrees, and the CP Piccolo on stock CP blades hovers at more than that.

As ECOFLYER said, don't worry about a pitch guage. Set the servo and linkages so that at full positive collective the pitch slider just contacts the bottom of the hub and at full negative collective you have SOME negative pitch (as much as you have positive if you plan on aerobatics). Then set the throttle curve so that you have your target head speed at all collective settings and you're done. This is so much easier with the Piccolo because you can do the throttle curve while running it in your hand.

At full positive collective I have quite a bit more pitch than the 15 degrees that is the limit of my pitch guage.

[Petermcc]

Thanks chaps! I think I was using the pitch gauge correct anyway. I set the wee beasty up as Pauls instructions, re-adjusted the travel adjust and subtrim on the servo to allow the pitch slider to move up & down as much as possible and I have -2, +10, +15 (low, mid, high). I just need to play around with the throttle curve now. The sound it makes spooling up is incredible - just like my .30 size Nexus!

The tail gyro needs some fiddling with as it seems to be over-reactive (higher head-speed I think) and maybe takes the rates down or adjust the max travel on the cyclic as she is very twitchy; just like learning to fly again!

[pgoelz]

If the tail is twitchy, do you mean that the rudder stick is very sensitive or do you mean that the tail does not hold well?

Set the gyro gain so that the tail holds well, then back off the rudder ATV until the rudder stick response feels comfortable.

[Petermcc]

Paul - sorry to be so dumb but just wanted to clarify....I need to sort the gyro out again (not been touched for 2 years!. The tail needs lots of left yaw on the tx and seems to need less when it gets up to speed. I've lost the manuals now and can't remember the difference between Mixer & Sensitivity on the Piccoboard. When you say ATV you mean travel on my JR XP652. I didn't think that worked with the Piccoboard!!! It certainly does on my ICG540 with my Nexus 30!

[Petermcc]

UPDATE! Had a quick trial flight in the garden (quite gusty) and the heli flew fine - needs tail & cyclic sorted out but otherwise ok. A big gust of wind threw it about a bit and I decided to put her down which turned into a sideways-flop manouvre and bang! The head snaps near the screw holdiong the pitch rod bearings in!

Is this common crash damage for CP Piccolos?

[Petermcc]

Hi -I took a pic of the gauge but not sure how I embed it in this reply! I can email it to you (120kb)!