Ikon and E5 tail gain

[Grimmy]

So I finally was able to get back to the field this last week and got some flights in after doing the Milton mod.  A friend had his Trex700 with Ikon there as well.  We were comparing some setup information, on the tail gains.  I noticed his tail in a hover, seemed pretty solid, even though it was a pretty windy day.  Mine on the other hand, some some wag to it, but I don't know if was the wind causing that, yet my friend's didn't have that issue.

So my question, for those that have the Ikon, what is your tail gain at?  Mine is at 56%.  I'm just asking to see if I am in the ballpark, or maybe I'm way out still.

Oh, I'm running like 1900 in idle up 1 and 2150 in idle up 2.

[BrianE]

Is your E5 a 556 or 606?  Those headspeeds are pretty slow for a 556.  Was the tail wag slow?  How loose is your tail pushrod?  When the heli isn't powered, the tail pushrod should have very little resistance to being moved.  A slow wag can be from a tight tail pushrod instead of FBL gain.

[Grimmy]

It is a 556.  I say the wag is slow.  It doesn't always wag though.  If there was absolutely now wind, it holds better.  The day I was out last week, I'd guess at least 10mph cross winds.  The tail rod I think is for the most part smooth.  I'm going to replace one of the clear pieces on the rod holder, as I did get some bubbling when I shrunk it down.

I will check the tightness again.  Maybe another round with the Boto-sizer is needed.

[Chris Sexton]

Grimmy,

I fly iKON on all my Synergy birds. I have setup and flown 3 556 models, 2 606 models, 2 E7se models, 4 N5c models.  ALL of them the tail performs perfect on stock settings with 45% gain reading in the iKON manager.

If you are having a slow wag, I would almost bet it's a mechanical wag. I know you have tried everything, I read your thread on the iKON forums.

Every time I have EVER had a slow wag on any brand heli it was mechanical.  It might seem mundaine, but go through it again.  It can be the littlest things. I had a 450 once that one of the shims had a burr and under load the thrust bearing was binding causing a slow wag.

Can you take the tail rod off the bell crank in the back and get the tail slider to move by tilting the heli around?

Double check that the links on the tail slider are on right. There is a wrong and right way to put a link on a ball. The side of the link with the halo or circle around the hole goes over the ball first and is on the inside of the link.

What servo are you running on the tail? could it be bad?

I am sure you have checked all of these things twice, but maybe have a friend check it all for you. I have had to do this for friends too. sometimes a fresh set of eyes helps.

Not saying it can't be the ikon, but slow wags that you can't easily tune out with gain are almost always mechanical in my experience.

[Grimmy]

Thanks Chris!  I will check that.  I am running a Savox 2272 tail servo.  That I know of, it's still good.  Not sure how I'd go about testing it, but flying around in forward flight, things seem normal.

I will try to check that stuff tonight and report back.

[Chris Sexton]

I have had mixed results with the 2272 tail. If the tail is mechanically perfect it works fine, but if the tail isn't mechanically perfect, it can't keep up.

[Grimmy]

Ok, I checked what you mentioned Chris.  I couldn't get the slider to move by tilting the heli, but I think it's really close.  I put on one ball link (the plastic piece that goes from the slider to the blade grip) and moved the bell crank to see how it felt.  One was nice and smooth and the other greatly made the slider stiffer.  So I opened that up with the boto sizer till it was nice and easy, but not sloppy.

I think pretty much did the same with the tail rod.  I had one end attached and would grab the rod and try to twist it, to see how easily it twisted.  I ended up hitting both links with the boto sizer as well and it's much better feeling.  I did put a couple drops of tri flow on the tail shaft the slider moves on, and that helped as well.

Now if the weather would cooperate so I could get some testing in.  I'm still going to change out the clear Teflon on the tail rod, as there's a bubble right before the holder that I don't like.  I'll try it with the gain as is, and then try turning it down.  When I get time to get a flight in, I'll report back the results.

I guess I might have been too careful or thought it was loose enough when I put things together and had to size the links.