GUIDE: How To Level your swashplate

Since I noticed several inquiries about swashplate levelling, I have been inspired to write a 'how-to' article. Enjoy!

I'm not sure if this will apply to other helis, but it should help anyone who owns a King or Cool. Also, I'm aware that there are several different levelling tools out there, but they should all work about the same. I'm using one designed for the Trex...

Here are a couple photos of the levelling tool that I will be using:


First, remove the upper "Jesus bolt" and nut, and put them somewhere safe - in a small bowl or something.



Next, carefully disconnect the four ball joints on the swashplate, noting which one goes to which - I used a little of my wife's fingernail polish to mark them (Don't tell her!). You should now be able to easily lift the rotor head assembly off. If it doesn't come off easily, make sure you disconnected all of the right joints...



It should look like this when you have the rotor head off. The arrows below point to the spots where the 'feet' of my levelling tool will rest when it's installed. Note - they will rest on the swashplate itself, not on the links.



Before you slide the tool on, we need to find out what your heli thinks 'level' is, so powerup your Tx, making sure your controls & tabs are all centered, disconnect the motor for safety, and powerup the heli. The servos should center themselves. Now, slide the tool down the rotor shaft, line it up, and check for gaps.



If you see any gaps, remove the tool, power down the heli, and adjust the three servo linkages as needed. Now power it back up (your Tx should be turned on throughout this process), reinstall the tool, and check for gaps again.



Repeat as needed, until there are no visible gaps...



Congratulations! Your swashplate is now level!

Now all you have to do is put it back together! If you decided that you wouldn't need to mark the balljoints as I suggested earlier, you may have problems at this stage - don't say I didn't warn you!
_________________
-Mike



Esky Honeybee King: JustGoFly 400DH motor, HB Cool 290mm main rotors, Sonix 30A esc w/bec, Mega Power 2200mah 18c battery, (4x) Hitec HS50 servos, Esky HH gyro, Stock Esky Tx/Rx, Super skids.

Remember, a good Landing is any landing, after which the aircraft can still be used...

LTFG,

Very useful. I have just leveled my swash - sort of. I set up the levels with the swash at half-stick and got it spot on - however at maximum positive and maximum negative the front swash-plate "shoulder" (the bit that the leveller sits on) is now out of adjustment. Is this an End-Point-Adjustment issue or do I adjust the maximum and minimums on the Swash menu ??

Cheers,
Mike.

Mikej wrote:

LTFG,

Very useful. I have just leveled my swash - sort of. I set up the levels with the swash at half-stick and got it spot on - however at maximum positive and maximum negative the front swash-plate "shoulder" (the bit that the leveller sits on) is now out of adjustment. Is this an End-Point-Adjustment issue or do I adjust the maximum and minimums on the Swash menu ??

Cheers,
Mike.

FOUND IT

By adjusting my end points EPA setting I now have a flat swash throughout It seems to be proportional thoughout so is falt all of the way up and down.

Cheers,
Mike.

I have a Honeybee KING and I am new to all this but will be doing the leveling (using the same leveler pictured in your SUPERB How-To) in the next day or so. You did not mention any detailed procedures to follow if any of the 3 servo arms, upon allowing the transmitter to 'center' all linkages, are NOT at 90 degrees to the pushrod or at 90 degrees to the servo.
Please advise.

DKellett wrote:

I have a Honeybee KING and I am new to all this but will be doing the leveling (using the same leveler pictured in your SUPERB How-To) in the next day or so. You did not mention any detailed procedures to follow if any of the 3 servo arms, upon allowing the transmitter to 'center' all linkages, are NOT at 90 degrees to the pushrod or at 90 degrees to the servo.
Please advise.

You want the arms at 90 degrees to the main shaft - this way movement in both directions will be equal (get them as close to perpendicular as possible) to do this just undo the screw in the middle of the arm, pull the arm off the spindle and move the arms up or down by a "notch" - the arms are splined. You will normally find that they will be just above or just below 90 degrees - just make sure that all are the same (i.e. all just above or all just below). I then set all of the links to the same length and check with the leveller.

Cheers,
Mike.

A question: How bad is the swashplate configuration normally when the heli (I've bought a Honey Bee King 2 if that matters) comes out of the box? Or is this conf. very different from one helicopter to another? Can you be lucky and only need to use the trims on the transmitter to calibrate the heli in a good way?

Thx for the help =) And yes, i'm a noobie with this sort of things..

Where did you guys buy the levelling tool pictured?
_________________
Raptor 50 v2, OS50 hyper, AR7000, GY401,S9254, ATG gov.
Trex 450 SE v2, S9257, GY401, HS65MG, AR7000
Honeybee King AR6200, brushless
DX7
Realflight G3.5 & Phoenix.

RCa wrote:

Where did you guys buy the levelling tool pictured?

PM sent with information.
_________________
Thanks, Paul

Futaba FF7 2.4Ghz
Trex 600NSP R617FS, OS50H, S9254 & Gy401, 3x 5625MG + 625MG
Pilatus PC-9, Green Sleeve Glider BMFA "A" HELI/FW CERT PASSED
Imax B6, Cellpro 4S

http://www.klamc.co.uk

flossie wrote:

RCa wrote:

Where did you guys buy the levelling tool pictured?

PM sent with information.

If it's not too much bother, I could use this information also!

Thanks,
Paul

any chance making this link public to the leveling tool? as I wouldnt mind getting my hands on one either.

Hi there
please could you let me know where you get the levelling tool from
and will it fit my esky honey bee king 2 ok?
many thanks
Karl

karl williams wrote:

Hi there
please could you let me know where you get the levelling tool from
and will it fit my esky honey bee king 2 ok?
many thanks
Karl

karl im in the same boat as you. awaiting a reply.

Just google T-Rex 450 Swashplate Leveler Tool made by Trueblood engineering (productnumber HR1010) and lots of websellers should pop up
_________________
HB King 2
3900 Kv motor with 9T Align pinion
1800 Mah batteries
Futaba 240 gyro
Hitec Optic 6 Transmitter
(Silicon oil spray)

Hi,

Will this work on the CP2 ?

ANdy

Does anyone knows if there is a Swedish reseller of that tool?

solariz1978 wrote:

Just google T-Rex 450 Swashplate Leveler Tool made by Trueblood engineering (productnumber HR1010) and lots of websellers should pop up

just ordered one from ready heli $14.95 plus about $5 to ship to UK not bad.

hope using this and tracking my blades fix my problems

Hi Guys, will this work with a Belt CP?

Thanks

John
_________________
Honey Bee FP to learn on
Belt CP, not yet nose in.
Lama V3 for fun

hi john
the leveler will work with any heli as long as the shaft diameter is 4.9-5mm.
geoff
_________________
Walkera 36, Esky CP2
walkera 83 nitro
walkera 83 sticky updated 12th june
blog update 10th july
falcon 3d

Thanks for the prompt reply, I'll order one.

Regards

John
_________________
Honey Bee FP to learn on
Belt CP, not yet nose in.
Lama V3 for fun

When I leveled my swash I also checked to see if the swash remained level as it moved up and down the mainshaft. Mine did not and I had to tweak my servo adjustments for a level swashplate through out its movement up and down the mainshaft. It results in me having to use less trim on the Tx for a level hover and flight. I am using the stock Esky Tx which provides no subtrim adjustments. Just as fun to fix as it was to finally track down.
_________________
Align Trex 450S

If you are not flying in 3d mode yet, do you still level it with the throttle and trim at mid level or do you level it with the throttle and trim completely down?
_________________
Honeybee King 2 CNC Full Head & Tail w/Aluminum Belt Crank, 3900BL w/Steel 10T Pinion, 25 ESC, HH Gyro, CF Tail boom, Blades & Fins.

I do mine with the throttle at mid stick and the throttle trim all the way down. This is with the Tx in the idle up mode (motor disconnected).
_________________
Align Trex 450S

When I levelled mine I just had the throttle stick all the way down.. Does anyone know if it differs any if levelling it in idle up with about 50% throttle, as macdaddyec suggests?
_________________
//Ola

Belt-CP V1 (3800 BL motor, 25A ESC + 10T pinion, E-sky HH gyro, 1x E-sky 1800 mAh 20C, 2x "Hong Kong"-copies 2200 mAh 20C batteries and some silicon oil spray)

I have just received the Trueblood swash plate leveler and did not realise my eye was so bad - the plate was very out of level. I have now leveled the plate and found that when attempting to take off and hover the front of the honey bee lifts up and the honey bee sits down on its tail. I have tried triming to no avail. I have set the tail rotor pitch and adjusted the pitch on the main blades. Could it be low transmitter batteries ?

PS how often do you need to relevel the swash plate ?

Thanks in anticipation

mrforfun

lovetoflyguy wrote:

Since I noticed several inquiries about swashplate levelling, I have been inspired to write a 'how-to' article. Enjoy!

I'm not sure if this will apply to other helis, but it should help anyone who owns a King or Cool. Also, I'm aware that there are several different levelling tools out there, but they should all work about the same. I'm using one designed for the Trex...

Here are a couple photos of the levelling tool that I will be using:


First, remove the upper "Jesus bolt" and nut, and put them somewhere safe - in a small bowl or something.



Next, carefully disconnect the four ball joints on the swashplate, noting which one goes to which - I used a little of my wife's fingernail polish to mark them (Don't tell her!). You should now be able to easily lift the rotor head assembly off. If it doesn't come off easily, make sure you disconnected all of the right joints...



It should look like this when you have the rotor head off. The arrows below point to the spots where the 'feet' of my levelling tool will rest when it's installed. Note - they will rest on the swashplate itself, not on the links.



Before you slide the tool on, we need to find out what your heli thinks 'level' is, so powerup your Tx, making sure your controls & tabs are all centered, disconnect the motor for safety, and powerup the heli. The servos should center themselves. Now, slide the tool down the rotor shaft, line it up, and check for gaps.



If you see any gaps, remove the tool, power down the heli, and adjust the three servo linkages as needed. Now power it back up (your Tx should be turned on throughout this process), reinstall the tool, and check for gaps again.



Repeat as needed, until there are no visible gaps...



Congratulations! Your swashplate is now level!

Now all you have to do is put it back together! If you decided that you wouldn't need to mark the balljoints as I suggested earlier, you may have problems at this stage - don't say I didn't warn you!

Maybe you are tail heavy.
_________________

---

Honey Bee King II
- Wooden blades - Titanium turnbuckles
- GF TRex Lid - Align HH gyro - DX6 Tx
- 1xHPS18100 - 3xHS55s - 43T pulley
- 3900kV + 10T - 11.1v 1800maH LiPO
GL450
- Not flying... yet