using gyro's on planes

[Paul Williams]

some people may not agree with the use of gyro's on planes but after a few very dodgy landings in gusty conditions I would like to try one. I have seen it done using a dedicated plane gyro but the cost was around £80 a bit rich for me.

 

 

I have a few helicopter gyros doing nothing so has anybody managed to plumb one in? The first problem I can see is the tx does not offer gyro control unless I am in the heli mode. I would like to switch the gyro on or off at least, is this possible in acro mode?

 

I am using a spektrum dsx7 tx with a six channel rx.

 

Can anybody help?

[Bob Cotsford]

What is gyro control? Just another way of labelling an auxilliary channel as far as I can see.

I connected gyro rate to ch 5 on my Baronette, switch on heading hold for take-off to reduce ground-loop tendencies, rate to zero (=gyro off) for the rest of the flight.

[Wingman]

I have used a PG03 gyro (about half the size of a matchbox) on ailerons in a lightweight (3lb-ish) aerobat (an Easystreet iirc)and it certainly flew as if 'on rails' even in a stiff breeze but now I use a separate servo for each aileron on my aircraft so gyro is no use.

PG03 seem to be going for about £35 these days but I managed to buy 3 clones for that price from HK a couple of years ago.

Found this gyro switch which might solve your problem.

Edited By Wingman on 21/11/2011 13:34:25

[Paul Williams]

Thanks for your answers guys I have been busy on the old google and found this in case any body is interested,Aileron Gyro installation

 

You can run the gyro on one or both servos ( using Y lead wingman) it still works quite well if only one aileron is connected.

 

What surprised me is how simple the set up is, not test flown yet but works well on the bench.

 

Happy days

[Steve W-O]

I use headlock gyros that cost less than £10 each.

 

One on the rudder is a great help, and one on ailerons helps as well. I only use it on one aileron as I have two servos with different travel on each.

 

I set the switch to switch between off and about 70% gain.

 

If you use it for take off, switch them off as soon as you are safely clear of the ground, and on landing, get the approach the right height and roughly the right direction and then switch them on.

 

Helps a lot on a windy day, but I find on a normal day, it takes more effort than just flying, just personal feelings

[Wingman]

Of course! one aileron would work just as well - never thought of that! Must try and find the gyros again. Cheers guys!

[Tony Read 2]

I started a thread quite a while back Here

 

There may be some useful info.

 

I took the gyro out of the T28 and put it in a Cessna after I started experiencing problems with the nose wheel tracking. Sorted it out very well, but took a couple of attempts to get the orientation of the gyro correct. The switch came in VERY handy!

[John Sheehy]

I want to fit a gyro on the ailerons of my plane. It's a HK401B gyro and it has a gain lead. I'm happy to use the gain lead to set the gyro up but I need the receiver channel so I would like to unplug the gain lead when the gyro is set up. I've read about using the end point adjustment on the TX to set gain but if I disconnect the gain lead that setting will be gone. There are 2 adjusting screws on the gyro, one is Delay and one is Limit. Can I set the gyro up using these? I've been told that while using the Tx channel I can effectively switch off the effects of the gyro by setting the HH (heading hold) to zero as rates is what I need for fixed wing planes (so I'm told).

If only I had an 8 channel receiver I'd be sorted, if I had an 8 channel Tx.

Any ideas welcome.

John