Horizonhobby.com How To - Setup your Head Lock Gyro the easy way

Headlock Gyros have been the main thing that makes high performance helicopters controllable by the average modeler. I have worked for a long time and suffered through a number of frustrating Gyro setups before a friend showed me a simple way to have a headlock gyro "locked" from the first liftoff. You will see that it is different from most instruction manuals. Basically the idea is that we do not need the "Gain Mode" in heli flight. Except for the bench mechanical setup session we will not use the gain mode thereafter. The Head Lock function is by far the most important for your helicopter and with this setup you can count on your heli tail rotor being in trim from the first lift off. Our video will outline the steps. They are included below for your reference.

Watch this video, and then try it on your own collective pitch heli. It really is easy.



First I'll assume you have your main controls setup in your Transmitter.

In the transmitter:
1) Make sure you have the rudder trim tab and sub trim functions set to "0".
2) Set the TX rudder travel to 100%
3) If you use the Retract Switch or Aux 2 lever to switch Gyro modes set the Headlock position to about +60% (nothing critical here we will fine tune later) and rate mode to -30% (not critical)
4) At this point set the TX gyro lever in the Rate Mode position (for setup only!)
In the helicopter:
5) Fix the servo output arm such that it is at 90 degrees to the servo
6) I assume you have mounted the gyro and checked the servo response direction (left and right commands from the TX) as well as the Gyro response direction (it should go left when the nose goes right).
7) With your tail rotor servo connected make mechanical adjustments such that the tail slider is in the center of its travel (equal movement left and right).
8) Using the gyro "Limit" function, adjust the travel of the servo such that full left rudder does not bottom out, then go over and see that the full right does not bottom out. Change the Gyro limit until you have the setting correct.

Believe it or not you are done. When you are ready to fly set the Gyro switch to the Head Lock position and turn on the TX then power up the helicopter. Allow the gyro and heli to sit perfectly still during the initialization process. When everything is ready to go you can lift off.

Questions? Comments? Feel free to e-mail us at Editors@HorizonRC.com

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