Jig for Cutting 45 Degree Angle

This is a jig for cutting a 45 degree angle. Works especially great on foam, depron, etc.

Common RC Heli Control Configuration

Co-Axial Heli
Co-Axial helicopters use a counter-rotating twin rotor design. Two sets of blades spinning in opposite directions eliminate the need for a tail rotor and provide excellent stability making these helicopters an ideal introduction to the hobby.

Collective Pitch (CP) Heli
Collective Pitch Helicopters alter altitude by changing the blade angle using pitch servo combined with increased RPM from the motor (pitch/throttle curves decide the exact input of each variable and can be altered depending on ability).

Fixed Pitch (FP) Heli
Fixed Pitch RC Helicopters only have 4 channels and they increase in altitude by increasing power to the motor. They have curved blades to create more lift and lack the collective pitch (blade angle) method of lift. They have a very simple servo configuration making them easier to repair than a CP Heli.

EVO 12 Troubleshooting

Recently, my faithful EVO 12 decided to give up on me. Here are the symptoms. The right stick (for elevator & aileron control - I'm a mode 2 user) fails to respond. If you go under the Servos -> Monitor menu, both CH 1 & CH 2 show the bars in 100% end-to-end position. Similarly no respond by the right stick movement, but left stick movement shows the bar responding accordingly. I suspect to be the 74HC4051 chip or the Micro Controller (CPU) that is having problem.

However, thanks to Mike from http://www.modelradioworkshop.co.uk/index.htm.

Here's what he said.

The earlier production of the Evo's did have a problem with the wires to the stick pots, but this tended to only effect the horizontal stick pots. If your transmitter pots wire include yellow as the middle wire on the horizontal pots then this suspect wire. All of the main stick signals go to the main CPU chip, so I don't think it will be the 74HC4051 chip. I suggest that you measure the voltages at the pots it is around 3.28 across the pot and a centre voltage of 1.8 volts. Don't forget to remove the RF board from the transmitter so that the RF doesn'teffect the DVM reading. If that seems OK, I would then check that the voltages appear at the plug and socket for that stick on the main board. If that all seems fine then it's possible that the model data have become corrupt, so you could try sending a blank models data to the transmitter. Which is like resetting the transmitter to factory setting, this is available in the data manager program which you can get off the Multiplex web site.

All the hardware checks show things are in order & hence I tried reloading the software as recommended by Mike. However, after several software reloading tries, something new shows up. Like the Welcome Tone on powering up is now gone and the EVO keeps going into the Servos Menu after start up.

Luckily with Mike's advise again.

From what you are saying, it tell me that the transmitter has lost it's stick and slider calibration. Here is the proceeded to re-calibrate the sticks and sliders.

1. With transmitter off centre all of the sticks and the sliders.
2. Switch the transmitter on and then move each stick in turn to one end of its travel and wait for the LED by the ON/OFF switch to go out. If the transmitter tells you to move the throttle stick low, as you switch on make this the first stick to be move to its end of travel.
3. Do the same with the 2 slider controls.
4. Once you have completed this operation use one of the digi knobs to get out of this menu by dialling out to exit until you get to the normal display. The voltage level will show 0 volts at this point.
5. Now switch off the transmitter and the calibration data will be stored.
6. When you switch the transmitter back everything should be displayed as normal i.e. voltage and trims etc. If the transmitter goes back into displaying the stick data i.e. percentage numbers it means that the calibration was not completed or not done correctly.

And Walla! My EVO problems are solved & it works just as fine as it did before. My sincere thanks to Mike!

ClonePac for Futaba Radio

A simple to built memory add-on for Futaba Radio. This is a cheap, simple & effective circuit to expand the memory for your radio which you can built over a weekend. To make fabrication even easier, you could consider using a veroboard instead of etching your own PCB.

The Wall

What it is
The Wall or the Pop-Up: is when the airplane comes to a stalled stop into a vertical position from a horizontal flight path.

Plane Set-up
Full 3D Throws.

How to do it
Enter from level flight into the wind with power off. Pull full elevator, neutral on the elevator as soon as plane is vertical. You can also enter from inverted which is one variation. Another variation is the Wall Slide, which enters going downwind...you, can actually maintain altitude for a few seconds without throttle while the wind slides the plane down the runway. You can also do a Wall slide with a twist. As the plane slows down in the vertical position, add rudder to make the plane spin around heading back into the wind.

Trickiest Part
Don't over rotate. The idea is a vertical stop.

Recovery
Full power climb out.

The Terminator

What it is
It’s when the plane is flying straight and level and then makes a 90 degrees dive straight down toward the ground. When the plane gets close to the ground, you pull up.

Plane set-up
Full 3D rates.

How to do it
You will start out by making a straight and level pass down the runway. This maneuver can be done from a lot of different altitudes. To start out you need to be pretty high till you get your timing down. Speed is something else that you can play around with to do different variations. It looks better at a slower speed. After you have established your speed and altitude you will give the plane full down elevator. This will make the plane dive straight toward the ground. Let the plane come down to where ever your comfort level is. You will then pull full up elevator and add power. Once you have mastered the basics of this maneuver you can play around with different variations.

Trickiest Part
Getting your timing down to just when to pull out.

Recovery
There is really no recovery from this. You either do it great or hit the ground hard.