Fully articulated rotor - Initial testing.
2,434 views · Published 22 September 2010 · 5:38 · Indexed 29 October 2026
Channel: RCmags · 2010 · Gaming
This is a successful fully articulated rotor head. The blades are allowed to flap (move lengthwise) independently, they differ from a semi-rigid rotor in which the blades flap in unison (if one blade flaps up, the other flaps down). This design is more complex then updated ones as it uses two levers attached to the rotor blades and shaft. The levers movement is limited via advanced ballsocket. Updated versions directly limit the movement of the blades, removing the complexity of the levers. The levers were installed to: - Limit rotor blade flapping. - Remove rotor blade tracking issues (when blade flapping was directly limited, the angle of attack between the blades and shaft were not equal, causing uneven lift across rotor and vibrations) - Rigidly secure blade lead/lag angle (With only a advanced ballsocket securing the angle between lengwise axis of the blades and shaft. The angle between the rotor blades would not stay equal whilst rotating. This would shift the center of mass of the whole rotor, thus creating massive vibration). Although this worked fine, it presented instability during lateral flight, The blades would reach the flapping limit with collective. Allowing only downwards flapping, thus not completly canceling out dissymmetry of lift. It's building was also tedious as the levers required multiple constrains in the same position.
