Knife Edge tips.

[Space Bat]

robj

When I am in sport setup...as per EF manual - I have very little expo...and have setup without when I have had less throw on a plane...however once you start pushing that throw up...it's such a pig to keep flying...however not impossible...I think Daniel Holman has next to nothing Expo...Sadly not good enough myself to have the maxed out throw - without bowing to what the manual recommends for expo...

Going off topic - but...when I had the EF edge...I had a big problem landing it as it would float past me and would have to go around...on one occasion I think I did 5 or 6 go arounds before having the courage to land it ....I asked whether this was normal - and it was, however I simply wasn't prepared for its character and wasn't skilled to deal with it...I was recommended a down ELE mix and I used it...and it worked. I guess being a pilot of other planes...my ego got the better of me and I decided to find out why I had trouble with the plane and literally burned 10 batteries over a weekend learning what I was having trouble with...and doing wrong....I used to fly lots of warbirds...and used the characteristics to get around tip stalls...to bring them home...so I learned you need to force the issues with the edge and get it pointing to earth and bring it home on the correct angle of approach abd air speed...in effect forcing the landing... never looked back and took out the mix...

Yes the mix worked and I could have kept using it and kept landing it with the mix as it was far easier...however I wouldn't have learned why I couldn't land it was my piloting not the planes fault...so I had to be better at landing it and thus it has improved my landings of all planes...

I guess I am more critical of my own abilities...and more hard on myself...but guess that isn't a too bad a thing

Remember it's only my opinion on the KE mix its not a law I would have decreed...just my humble thoughts on the matter....nobody has to take heed of it...Just throwing it out there

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

When I am in sport setup...as per EF manual - I have very little expo...

If you truly set it up per the EF manual you are hardly from very little expo in the low rate. Put in 0 expo and then that is the same as no KE Mix. My KE mix is 4% and 5% "that" is very little compared to 40-45% expo.

60" Edge and 48" Extra manual

Aileron: Low rate-15-20%; 40-45% Exponential
Rudder: Low rate-20 degrees; 45-50% Exponential
Elevator: Low rate-8-10 degrees; 15-20% Exponential

I go back to my original point for those of you learning to fly helicopters, disconnect your tail rotor gyro so you "really get a feel for what the tail is doing".

 

[dth7]

+1 guys on "flying out" the KE. I practice with a RF 6 with no expo and no mixing and when I fly the models it's no big deal. The mixes become a convenience not a necessity! Big difference. Also to reiterate the cg first, then any mixes if you are gong to use them.

 

[Mithrandir]

one can prolly learn to do really awesome stuff if they can focus on the awesome instead of trying to fight bad tendencies of the plane....

I do everything I can to reduce the pilot workload.. and that includes reducing/eliminating adverse qualities of the airframe....

like trimming a plane to fly straight, to climb straight... a mix from Rudder-Elev and Rudder-Ail just reduces the bad tendencies so you can foucus on the cool stuff...

 

[djmoose]

My two cents...I don't see how fighting pitch or roll coupling when learning KE helps anything.

I think it's more important to practice getting into both KE's from all orientations...rather then learning to correct for a crappy airframe or crappy CG placement.

When you start 4 point rolling, you'd have to memorize both sets of corrections and learn how to move the sticks to those corrections...insted of just rolling with ailerons and adding in and taking out elevator.

Also, about expo...anyone who thinks no expo is linear...needs to look at an arc of a circle..because that's how your surface is moving. Linear in your radio does not equal linear movement of a surface using a typical servo. I'm not talking about how the surface moves...I'm talking about the rate of movement the pushrod moves at different parts of the arc of motion. You will inharently get more movement near the center to travel. So, in order to get true linear surface movement...you need a little expo.

 

[Ohio AV8TOR]

Also, about expo...anyone who thinks no expo is linear...needs to look at an arc of a circle..because that's how your surface is moving. Linear in your radio does not equal linear movement of a surface using a typical servo. I'm not talking about how the surface moves...I'm talking about the rate of movement the pushrod moves at different parts of the arc of motion. You will inharently get more movement near the center to travel. So, in order to get true linear surface movement...you need a little expo.

+1
Exactly and I sure noticed that when I did my first DA-60 throttle setup. No expo or throttle curve and half stick was easy 75% power. I now solved that with my 8FG throttle curve but when I first set it up I was using a 7C radio and I fixed it with Expo.

 

[Mithrandir]

I LOVE Expo!!

I use EXPO to make my high Rate (3D 45 degree throw) FEEL like low rate around neutral stick....

with the 14MZ and 18MZ you can directly see the two rate curves overlayed and actually get the high rate around say.. 20% stick deflection to match low rate....