Originally Posted by kaptondave

This is called Provocative Trolling and is a violation of forum rules. That kind of poster is not welcome here.

It's not trolling, it's complaining about you guys cluttering up a usefull thread with your squabling and bickering

Antennahead,

Did you change you piano wires?

Originally Posted by antennahead

Has anyone had any problems with servo centering? I'm trying to get mine finished up to fly this weekend,weather permitting, and my elevator servo will not center. if I give it down elevator it will center properly If I give it up elevator it will not return to the same center position, it will always return to the same off center position at a significantly up elevator position.

That is a not-uncommon problem with cheap servos. No way I know to fix it other than to replace it,

Originally Posted by Little-Acorn

I think we're safe, unless the SSS's micro servos somehow draw more current than those larger Futaba servos.

All of the talk about current draw has omitted the most critical BEC load, that being the receiver. Granted it is not a big number but if the BEC is marginal in capacity it could be important.

Originally Posted by kaptondave

That is a not-uncommon problem with cheap servos. No way I know to fix it other than to replace it,

Is there a small servo (possibly expensive) that is well-known for good centering? What brand and model?

Originally Posted by Little-Acorn

Is there a small servo (possibly expensive) that is well-known for good centering? What brand and model?

Hitec makes good ones. Check the list and choose one with the characteristics you want.

http://www.servocity.com/html/hitec_servos.html

Originally Posted by G-LO

Antennahead,

Did you change you piano wires?

Yep, I changed them, and removed them from the ez connector once I noticed the problem, then rechecked and the problem is still there. I also noticed when I give it full up elevator and let the stick snap back the servo will come back to the correct center position and then chatter on it's own, back to the same off center position. I don't think it's a radio or rx problem, but I'll swap the wires with the rudder servo when I get home and recheck.

Originally Posted by antennahead

Yep, I changed them, and removed them from the ez connector once I noticed the problem, then rechecked and the problem is still there. I also noticed when I give it full up elevator and let the stick snap back the servo will come back to the correct center position and then chatter on it's own, back to the same off center position. I don't think it's a radio or rx problem, but I'll swap the wires with the rudder servo when I get home and recheck.

I had a new servo i got for my sonic 185 do the very same thing. Just a bad servo, had to get another new one as there is no way to fix the things.

Originally Posted by antennahead

Has anyone had any problems with servo centering? I'm trying to get mine finished up to fly this weekend,weather permitting, and my elevator servo will not center. if I give it down elevator it will center properly If I give it up elevator it will not return to the same center position, it will always return to the same off center position at a significantly up elevator position.

Remove the pushrods and try the servo without load. Stick a piece of masking tape somewhere along side where you can place a reference mark at center. Move the servo back and forth to see if it returns to center. That tests the basic servo and receiver.

The problem can be load, a bad servo, or a poor receiver. I had this on a Radian and was totally exasperated until I plugged in an old Futaba FM receiver. Bingo, perfect centering. Problem was that the Futaba receiver was too big to fit so I'm living with it.

Cliff

may be to windy tomorrow but if it is light enough im taking this beast out for a maiden ! It is killing me looking at it this long and not flying it ! Just been to busy with grand kids !

Originally Posted by fastfwd

may be to windy tomorrow but if it is light enough im taking this beast out for a maiden ! It is killing me looking at it this long and not flying it ! Just been to busy with grand kids !

Take a video to share with everyone. I also plan to maiden mine tomorrow if the wind gods are nice to me.
AJ

Plugging the wings into the fuselage, and connecting aileons and flaps, at the flying field was a medium hassle. You've all done it.

* Slide the wing down the spars to about 3" before it hits the fuselage,
* Snake the aileron and flap cables into the fuselage and forward to the receiver,
* Take off the canopy cover and reach way in with two fingers to snag the cables,
* Figure out which cable is from which wing, plug them into the receiver (or Y harness),
* Find you swapped two of the cables by mistake, re-plug them,
* Slide the wing all the way into the fuselage, pinch the cables between the wing panels, say naughty words,
* Pull the wings out slightly, straighten out the cables,
* Side the wings back in, done.

Medium hassle, easy to make mistakes.

I clipped off the flap and aileron cables an inch past where they come out of the wing, soldered both to a single 6-pin connector receptacle (from Fry's, balance connectors also work). Got some 18-inch long servo extension cables, cut off the female end and soldered the bare wires to the 6-pin plug, and epoxied it to a cutout in the wing slot of the fuselage. Plugged the male ends of the extension cables into the Y harnesses going to the receiver.

Now, installing the wings at the flying field is two steps:

* Plug the wings (and spars) all the way in to the fuselage,
* Plug in the 6-pin connector on each side.

MUCH quicker and easier. I got this idea from PROF100 in the regular Sky Surfer thread.

Made the extensions inside the fuselage, long enough to reach the receiver directly without the Y harnesses, in case I ever reprogram the Turnigy 9x transmitter for crow-foot landings. Also doubled up the power and ground leads in the 6-pin connectors, so there are two extra pins on each wing, maybe for lights or something. We found on Predators that each pin on these .1" connectors can handle about 1 Amp each maximum, should be OK even when servos stall. In case of a crash where the wings slide or pop out of the fuselage, hopefully the connector will simply unplug.

Pictures show the plug epoxied into the fuselage (foam is white, plug is white, hard to see, sorry), the wing installed with the plug hanging down outside the fuselage, plug plugged in to the fuselage, everything works. Bench-tested only, still have to clean up the wiring inside and make it pretty.

I haven't had any problems with the plugs on my regular Sky Surfer coming out in flight... yet. May put in a retainer some time.

.

Originally Posted by little-acorn

my apologies to all. Sometimes i talk too much. I have now ceased that.

In the future i will posts brief facts about what has worked well.

I sometimes appreciate your advice. I don't post much though...

Nice. This is a great mod.

Finally got tired of sanding fiberglass spar rods and carbon-fiber tubes, none of which fit. The fiberglass rod was 13mm diameter, carbon-fiber tube was 0.500" which is 12.7mm. Apparently my wing tubes are either mis-formed or have something in them, the fiberglass spar rod wouldn't go in except for immense hand cranking, and even the (slightly smaller) carbon fiber tube took a lot of twisting and cranking.

I sanded the rod way down until it goes in fairly easily, but it's still heavy. Sanded the carbon-fiber tube, now it fits somewhat better but the walls (formerly .05" thick) are even thinner now, it's probably lost a LOT of strength.

So I just ordered a 0.472" (12mm) carbon fiber tube, 48" long, from a place in Livermore, CA (near Oakland/San Francisco). Its walls are slightly thicker than the (unsanded) .500" tube. Hopefully that will fit. If not, a .400" carbon-fiber tube is next. For now I'll fly with the sanded-down fiberglass rod until the new .472" CF tube gets here.
Ordered it from: https://www.acpsales.com/Carbon-Fibe...uted-Tube.html

I get stubborn when components tell me they don't want to fit. If nothing else, the .400" tube should fit INSIDE the sanded .500" tube, and the combo should still weigh a lot less than the fiberglass spar rod.....