Official Freewing Twin 80mm/90mm A-10 Thunderbolt II Thread

[gravity tester]

So call it a happy accident. Flight 26 on my second A-10 with no landing issues at Jet Jam or at home. Stock landing gear other than paint. Nice easy flight, set the ship down and was rolling out fast on the pretty grass and I go and hit the only critter hole within 50 yards, head on. Violent hop right resulting in bent nose gear pin and damaged sidewinder rails. (No surprise on the AIM-9 rails. They splinter if you look at them cross-eyed but I digress.) Motion was out of stock on the gear pins so I went and sprung-ded for a whole new gear unit, thinking I might need some other parts someday. Anyway, I was day dreaming today of Bill Murray-like methods of critter carnage or at minimum, some 30mm combat mix down that rodent's front door when the UPS guy dropped off the new gear. Since my original gear had the standard play/slop in it, I had planned to try out some of the various methods y'all have come up with to combat it, even going so far as to fab a bracket even Sam "Crow" W. would like. LOL However, I am fired up to report that none of that will be necessary. Have a look at the picture, new gear is toward the top. Old gear with the gap between trunion and housing resulting in the play we all know and deal with. New gear has no gap, and is solid as a rock, right out of the box. Have cycled it several times now and it is fantastic. Either Motion's gear supplier and QA team are dialing it in, or I just got very lucky. I will assume the former since I haven't won the lottery yet. :)

Just thought I would throw it out there.


Cheers,
Dan

[Dirty Dee]

darn, just went to order one and its out of stock :-P. got on the notification list

Hope the new gear works out better!

[sam51401]

Dan i like the nick name, awesome. Well to be fair, the gear will develop the same play as it wears being that the housing is plastic. Now i will make you a set of nose plates as i did from the 6061 T6 aluminum that i found off the bay. I wish to send you a set and also Cris, aka DirtyDee, as i feel it is a well worth benefit and simple solution. That way when the "new" nose gear has an issue, you can still use this one as a backup and there will be less fore-n-aft play with the plate.
Now if i can only find the video that Capt Mike from Motion took of my full crow fly by, that would be awesome also.
Sam "Crow" W.
Keep them flying!!!!

[sam51401]

Hey Dan, i just looked closer at your gear and see if that is a faint crack line radiating out in each of the flanges just over the pivot pin.

[downwindleg]

All right guys, gotta give xviper credit for this. He was the one who mentioned the throttle monitor. Checked that yesterday but today I went to model adjust to move from 150 back to 130 and found that it was + 130 to zero instead of + 130 to -130. Even though that was how the previous A-10 ran it made the difference. Made the change and fired it up and WOOHOO!!! the motors went right into action. Case solved and again I thank everyone for their ideas on how to make this thing go. That's what I love most about this forum. Now I can continue on with setting up all the control surfaces to match the old one mechanically so I can use the original settings to start with on the maiden. Just have to wait 'til I get the feeling back in the throttle/rudder thumb from surgery.:Cool::Cool::Cool:
Brad

[gravityworks]

Hey Y'all, Still setting up the A-10. All is good except elevator and rudder dual rate switches. My tx is a Futaba 8J and my first fully programmable tx. I have followed both the Futaba manual and the Freewing settings for the A-10. Tx shows Switch A & B 'down' with 85% set but when I move the switch back to up I do not get up position indicated on the display panel; reads the same, i.e., Down and the values remain 85% with only full movement at the control surface. This is the same for both Switch A (Elevator) and Switch B (Rudder). However, I had no problem when I set parameters for Switch D (Ailerons), i.e., switch down=70% switch up=100%. Clueless here. Any assistance would be appreciated. Best, LB

hello Elbee I too fly Futaba. i use the 18sz but have a friend who still uses that radio. Iam i understanding you correctly that you are trying to set up three switches for rudder Ailerons and elevator for duel rates? Why not just use one for all. Make the low 85% and the high 100% Motion themselves recommend using the high rates for maiden anyways. I fly 100% all the time. But if you really want to set different rates you could do that in the mixes per channel for each switch. Or at lest you should be able to..been a little bit since ive played with that radio

[xviper]

yes I fly off pavement

Some have said that if you fly off pavement, you are better off to leave the front strut alone and turn the mains around and swap sides.

[xviper]

All right guys, gotta give xviper credit for this. He was the one who mentioned the throttle monitor. Checked that yesterday but today I went to model adjust to move from 150 back to 130 and found that it was + 130 to zero instead of + 130 to -130. Even though that was how the previous A-10 ran it made the difference. Made the change and fired it up and WOOHOO!!! the motors went right into action. Case solved and again I thank everyone for their ideas on how to make this thing go. That's what I love most about this forum. Now I can continue on with setting up all the control surfaces to match the old one mechanically so I can use the original settings to start with on the maiden. Just have to wait 'til I get the feeling back in the throttle/rudder thumb from surgery.:Cool::Cool::Cool:
Brad

Great to hear this! :Cool: I was hoping it was something really simple. By seeing +130, the ESCs were going into program mode. Motors are disabled in program mode.

[Hardway]

Sounds like they entered programming mode... Lower your trim on the TX all the way down. Then go in the sub trim setting and set the throttle subtrim to its extreme ranges... On a DX-9 that is a value of 150. You can verify that in the monitor screen. Then also check that the throttle is not set to REV, but NORmal. Then bind it again and see how that goes.... If it works, then you have to re calibrate the ESC's... Let me know if that works!

I guess I should have been more specific. The value of 150 is for both end points, not just the bottom. Glad you got it to work....

[downwindleg]

I guess I should have been more specific. The value of 150 is for both end points, not just the bottom. Glad you got it to work....

Sorry Hardway for not giving you credit as well. I knew I remembered the 150 number as you mentioned but have had so little time to monkey around with he new trany. Thought I had it for both endpoints but still learning on the new IX12. Thanks so much for your input.
Brad

[Hardway]

No problem. I just wish I was clearer in trying to help! My brain knew what I meant! :Silly:LOL:Scared: Just happy for you and the progress! Jerry

[xviper]

I guess I should have been more specific. The value of 150 is for both end points, not just the bottom. Glad you got it to work....

I don't wish to add to the confusion or an already complicated topic. The value itself (the actual number) can be tinkered with at both ends via the servo travel menu. It's minus or plus (in the monitor) that's important. Also, don't confuse or get mixed up between the throttle servo travel, with is in terms of percentage (%). This can be dialed in for the low end and for the high end and even for both at the same time if the stick is centered. The number you see on the monitor is in terms of minus (low end) and plus (high end). I can't say for sure what those numbers are except to say that they represents "units". Those units can be in terms volts (in this case, either mV or micro-volts).
It's generally not recommended to go as high as +150% in the servo travel for throttle. Nevertheless, this really doesn't matter since after throttle calibration, the ESC knows what zero throttle is and what max throttle is (ie, 100%) not matter what it is. It's when you are trying to bind the RX that it matters that the low throttle setting is not too high. That's why in some electric applications, keeping the throttle trim in the middle is too high for bind to take place. Usually, setting the trim as low as it will go and leaving the throttle servo travel alone (ie, 100/100) is enough to bind almost every electric set up. This, along with throttle cut applied, will give you -130 "units" without messing with servo travel or sub-trim.
The only time you want to mess with the servo travel on the throttle channel is after the bind and throttle calibration is perhaps in an EDF application where you might set the upper limit to 110% to ensure you've got max throttle. Typically, this won't necessarily give you 110% throttle. It's not like when people say, "I'll give you 110% of my effort".

[LeftyAce]

Some have said that if you fly off pavement, you are better off to leave the front strut alone and turn the mains around and swap sides.

I've been following this forum since getting an A-10 early last summer and thoroughly enjoy it and have learned a lot. In the offseason I reversed the mains and switched to the new front strut and the combination has worked very nicely for me. I fly exclusively off pavement at 5000 feet elevation have no issues since making the change. On my last flight today I had a landing that I thought might yield the opportunity to bounce and it locked down nicely. This is my first EDF and I love it!!

[RCjetdude]

Thanks for the input LeftyAce and welcome to HobbySquawk.

[Elbee]

hello Elbee I too fly Futaba. i use the 18sz but have a friend who still uses that radio. Iam i understanding you correctly that you are trying to set up three switches for rudder Ailerons and elevator for duel rates? Why not just use one for all. Make the low 85% and the high 100% Motion themselves recommend using the high rates for maiden anyways. I fly 100% all the time. But if you really want to set different rates you could do that in the mixes per channel for each switch. Or at lest you should be able to..been a little bit since ive played with that radio

GW, Roger that. Tango Yuma. My thoughts exactly on 1 switch. The only D/R I have used in the past was Aileron on a Fut 7G with my Spittie. I suppose what was frustrating me is the 8J TX should be able to be set up anyway I want and I am not able to do that. LOL. Best, LB

[gravity tester]

Hey Dan, i just looked closer at your gear and see if that is a faint crack line radiating out in each of the flanges just over the pivot pin.

You got good eyes, Sam. Must be that bird DNA. LOL Yes, there are definitely some hairline cracks in the old one but it won't be used again. As to the wear over time, I get that for sure and expect it. However, I noticed that the original had the gap/slop/play from the beginning, as did my first. The new replacement just seems to be buttoned up a bit better all around. I am putting the new one in using two plates (benefits of having a donor plane) and filler in the old mounting holes to shore that area up.


@LeftyAce: Welcome! Do you fly at the field near Ft. Collins then?

@DirtyDee: I am feeling ECM inadequate. Ha ha ha.

[RCAV8R]

Congrats Brad! Looking forward to hearing about your flights!!! Rob

[Dirty Dee]

@DirtyDee: I am feeling ECM inadequate. Ha ha ha.

I swear, I'm not compensating for anything! LOL

[Elbee]

Gravityworks, Opened the 'new' Futaba 8J tx and pulled out the switches 'A &B' which are on the piece of circuit board. Switch A loose meaning not completely snapped and squeezed together. Very Interesting to me. Repaired, reinstalled and now functional. I will still set up D/R per the OEM, but I will most likely follow your lead on flying with less or without D/R after first check flight. Thanks again. Best, LB

[Hardway]

:( wow