Variable pitch props.

[PappaBear]

This is an electric model with a variable pitch prop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7ZFKQvEgRw

Martin

[Konrad]

There was a lot of work done on this about 10 years ago for indoor flight it was marketed as 4D flight. I don't recall much comeing of it. Anybody know the whys?

[fhhuber]

Its still used for indoor flying.

tends to not get used on larger much (if at all) because it depends on 2 things:

Hollow shaft motor to run the control linkage through
Finding an appropriate heli tail rotor pitch control system to bolt onto the motor shaft.

Not enough interest even in the indoor aerobatics contest flying to be worth manufacturing some of the parts.

[Konrad]

Actually I used the rotor head, with blade holder machined at 90° to that of normal heli blade holders for 500 plus watt systems.

It's not too difficult to machine a hole in a hardened 6mm shaft by the EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining) process for larger motors.

I agree about the enough interest in the market (now). But even for those of us pushing the barriers of the frontier, I haven't seen too much activity.

For my part I'm not enough of a pilot to use this new dynamic variable. I was able to get models to get a short roll out after landing, make a lot of noise as the blades stalled, and keep the motor at a fixed power setting as the model's speed changed. But for the most part I didn't think it was worth the weight and effort.

[FLTRI]

Hell of a pilot. Looks like it has some thrust vectoring going on too...

[Konrad]

Yep, to both.