Adjustments During The First Flight, Blade Tracking - GRAUPNER Starlet 50 Instruction Manual

15. Adjustments during the first flight
15.1 Blade tracking
"Blade tracking" refers to the height of the two rotor blades when they are spinning. The
adjustment procedure aims at fine-tuning the pitch of the main rotor blades to exactly the same
value, so that the blades rotate at the same level.
Incorrectly set blade tracking, with the blades revolving at different heights, will cause
the helicopter to vibrate badly in flight.
When you are adjusting blade tracking you are exactly in the „firing line" of the blades,
so keep at least 5 metres away from the model in the interests of safety.
You can only check blade tracking if you are able to see clearly which blade is higher and which
is lower. The best method is to mark the blades with coloured tape as follows:
There are two alternative methods: figure „A" shows the use of different colours on the blade
tips; fig. „B" shows the use of the same colour, but applied at different distances from the blade
tip.
Procedure for adjusting blade tracking:
1. Set the helicopter to the point where it is almost lifting off, then sight directly along the rotor
plane.
2. If you can see that the rotor blades are running in the same plane, no adjustment is required;
however, if one blade is running higher than the other, the settings must be corrected.
3. Locate the pushrods between the swashplate and the mixer levers; the adjustment is made
at the ball-links on both ends of these pushrods: unscrew the links to raise the blade, screw
them in to lower it.
44
Starlet 50