Hello Paul, I hope you might be able to offer some sage advice on a project that has me stumped. I just completed a Century Heli / Funkey MD-500D body as an OH-6 "Loach". For mechanics I'm using my flybarless Chaos 600 with MicroBeast that I've been flying over a year and a half. I flew the scale body in primer several times prior to painting, and everything seemed fine. Now, when I attempt to fly it, the body shudders so badly it tosses off the canopy (which is secured with alignment pins and 4 pairs of 3/8" rare earth magnets). I've checked the mechanics over carefully and can't seem to track down the source of the vibration. I thought it might be a governor gain issue, so I dropped that to low. It'll fly without the tail, but when I add the T-tail it's back to shaking off the canopy. I've checked blade balance, replaced the main shaft and flown it again on the stock landing gear. It seems okay, but there is a touch of vibration that I can't seem to completely eliminate. It doesn't cause a problem in pod & boom config, but when I add the scale body this minor vibration propagates. I would note that the mechanics are securely mounted in the body, including cross braces in the doghouse, so damping should be sufficient. Can you offer any tips or suggestions for tracking down the last of the vibration? I'm up against deadline, so I'm getting a little panicked. Jim
First of all I’m forwarding your e-mail to Tony Iannucilli. He flies with me, and has several scale helicopters, and may be able to shed some light on your problem.
Hi Jim,
I’d say internal body support, blade balance all around, and head speed are the things I’d focus on. You seem to have a handle on all of them, so I don’t think I can be of much help.
Securing the boom firmly is important, as you know. The hard foam rings work, and also wedging some hard balsa worked for me on my Century Agusta A109. It sounds like you’re satisfied you’ve done a good job with that, BUT, when you added the tail is when you have the problem, so double check it all.
We’ll get more into solving this vibration problem later, but for now let me know if you have any ideas that may be of help.
