VStabi Pioneer of Flybarless

The swashplate servos can be adjusted in frequency. For scalers, this is of secondary importance as the entire helicopter will not be as reactive as, for example, a trainer. We'll start with 144Hz - more on that later when fine-tuning.

Please select the swashplate basic configuration accordingly. Basically we can create any swashplate you can imagine (see Expert).

Now the servos are connected according to the labels in the illustration (ideally without their servo horns).

If you open the "Trim" menu (normal or long click), the servos are blocked in the center. This is the ideal position to legthen the rods and zero collective!

To trim individual servos, open the menu with a long click on Trim. The servos are then blocked in the center. Here the servo horns are placed at the best possible right angle and fully adjusted with the trims. Trim values over 40 mean that you should move one tooth on the servo... ;-)

This is then also the zero collective position. The rods for the swashplate and the blade holders can now be mounted and lengthened (swashplate at a right angle, zero collective on the blade holder).

Tip: You can get an exact zero collective if you fold 2 blades so that they form a "scissors". As soon as the blade ends are at the same height, they are exactly 0°.

We strongly advise against using crooked rods, neither from the servo to the swashplate nor from the swashplate to the blade holder. Please do all rotations etc. later in the stabilizer. Our built-in geometry correction assumes straight rods at zero collective.

Earlier scale helis were set up with approx. hover collective here - however, this is thanks to the weaker servos at the time and is no longer necessary today. Therefore, we first set 3-D-Like here (this will have a few advantages later on, our entire control loop is based on this geometry).

Then the directions of the servos are checked and set with the sticks. At this point, the swashplate must always move cyclically in the stick direction and collective according to the setting (usually upwards with positive collective input).

With multi-blade helicopters, the question of swashplate rotation arises. If you look at the control elements (i.e. the blades!) of a 2-blade helicopter, you will see that, for example, when applying elevator nose down, the blade above the tail does not move. Instead, a blade that is 90° across the direction of flight and moves backwards (returning blade) moves as positively as possible when applying elevator nose down. This is exactly what we always have to implement as a basic setting. The swashplate is only the transmission element - the rotor blade is ultimately responsible for the correct movement. And the physics is the same for all - no matter how many blades ;-)

Video: Setting up the swashplate on a scale heli - until 5:05 it covers the static rotation
 

So... we now set a blade 90° across the direction of flight. It has to be the "returning" blade - i.e. the blade that rotates backwards for our purposes (left for left-turning, right for right-turning). In the swashplate expert (long click) we rotate the servos virtually until it looks as described above. The "returning blade 90° across the direction of flight" is set to the maximum positive position, one blade above the tail remains steady when pitching forwards. That's the end of the mystery of the static rotation.

Later we will do some fine tuning in flight, because 90 degrees is OK at first - but since the blade deviates depending on the load, damping, speed etc., the mechanical 90° is sometimes delayed by up to 20 degrees in flight. Don't worry, it will still fly - and usually surprisingly well.

By the way... since we're already here in Expert mode, we'll reduce the cyclic ring to 65, that's more than enough for a scaler and prevents binding and bending of the rods if cyclic and pitch add up.