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My Review of Andy Johnson-Laird's "A Rather Good Guide to the Cinestar 8"

Discussion in 'CineStar FAQ - Tips and Tricks' started by Morgan Friedland, Sep 6, 2012.

  1. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Your description suggests that the "Mode" you've got selected is Fixed Position Stabilized (see Step 6: of the documentation).
    "Fixed Position Stabilized" is the name that Tabb or John gave to "it's stabilized but you can't control it."

    Can you post a screen shot that shows the Diagnostic window -- that's the window with Slew, Mode, Servo Out, etc.

    If the Mode status bar is not in the green area, you are indeed in Fixed Position Stabilized.

    Andy.
     
  2. Bob Wojda

    Bob Wojda Member

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    Andy,

    Got the gimbal mostly figured out now. I had some wiring mistakes and issues with the com ports/ computer connections. Just took a while to troubleshoot. One thing I haven't figured out yet is that the pan servo is working but it won't come to a stop when the stick goes to center. You can get it to stop by going the other direction to compensate but that won't work later. This seems that the servo is acting differently than the tilt and roll which both seem fine. Do you think this could be the radio setting somewhere?

    Also, got the power board extension in today and was surprised to find that none of the electronics were assembled to the board. I also didn't see a diagram as to what went where. I made some educated guesses and tried my hand at micro-soldering, hopefully I got it right and will be able to continue with the heli build.

    Thanks,
    Bob
     
  3. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Do you have the Cinestar suspended above the table/floor by its battery plate? If not, then you get this constant rotation problem because the Radian sensor is trying to stabilize, but, if it's resting on the table then the gimbal cannot move -- only the hub and booms can move -- so that's what it tries to move! :)

    Yeah, that Extension PCB is an issue. Do a Google search for:
    soldering smd tutorial
    and
    soldering smd capacitors

    SMD in this context is not a rude saying. It means "surface mount devices."

    The good news is that there's lots of instructional videos out there to tell you how to do it.

    Andy.
     
  4. Bob Wojda

    Bob Wojda Member

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    Andy,

    I powered up the Cinestar today with no real problems. Lights didn't come on due to my work on the power extension board, no problem though as I just wired the lights directly to the flight board and bypassed it. Just wanted to say thanks, couldn't have done it without you.

    Bob
     
  5. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hey Bob, well done! Take an image of the aircraft and post it!

    I'm gratified the DVD set was helpful.

    Do you have a "training wheels" aircraft (e.g. Blade mQx) or are you going to be going straight to the Cinestar? (I didn't have courage to do that, so I flew the Blade for about 20 hours flight time.)

    Andy.
     
  6. Bob Wojda

    Bob Wojda Member

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    Well, we actually started thinking about doing this a while ago and started collecting helicopters for practice. Small indoor coaxials, two small blade 120sr's, a rotor concept quad (bought it at NAB) and a Blade 450 3d. Also, been on a simulator quite a bit. I'm interested to see what this thing flies like. I think it'll be a lot easier than the 450. Maybe I'll get it in their next week!

    Bob
     
  7. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Be sure you can fly in other orientations that nose out! You may not need it but it would be really good for one's confidence to know that you can. AeroSimRC is pretty good -- the "training" is more written with the gamer in mind and, IMHO, encourages sloppy flying. But you can make up your own exercises pretty easily.

    Andy.
     
  8. Tommy - KnightDesignDev

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    Hello CS8/AP users !
    Where can someone buy / get a copy of this DVD ?


     
  9. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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  10. Josh Lambeth

    Josh Lambeth Well-Known Member

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    Find the flight sim deceiving for flying nose in... not sure why but on the simulator I can fly nose in all day long without an issue but when I fly nose in with the copter i get nervous! I know this isn't a good thing but I am practicing with the copter to get more comfortable with the actual copter. Anyone else have this problem? Maybe it's just because I don't do it enough.

    Josh
     
  11. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    The simulator is more responsive than the Cinestar plus it costs so much less to crash! :) That's why we're both more nervous flying the Cinestar.

    So I do two things: Crank in a lot of Expo on the MX-20 for the Simulator to make it feel heavier, and increase the windspeed/turbulence so I have to fight it. Then I just try and hover nose in and let my conscious mind wander off as I fly. My unconscious mind is a far better pilot, for reasons I don't understand.

    The other thing I do is fly a Blade mQx. That too is far more twitchy that the Cinestar, but, again, Expo can make it feel slower to respond. Again the "unit cost of failure" is much less.

    That said, there's no beating flying the Cinestar -- I take the gimbal off and stick some landing gear out on the booms and practice with that. No point it seeing how hard I can centerpunch a Canon 5D into the ground. :)

    Andy.
     
  12. Josh Lambeth

    Josh Lambeth Well-Known Member

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    HAHA Thanks Andy,
    Yes I too know my subconscious is a much better pilot then the conscious version of me... Weird!

    I will be doing a lot of practicing in the next coming weeks/months... sort of have something HUGE coming up in Feb! ;)

    josh
     
  13. SteveWilson

    SteveWilson Member

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    Andy, have you seen any loosening of the bolts you applied the torque seal to? Be nice to know if there are any areas we need to keep an extra sharp eye on.

    Thanks.
     
  14. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi Steve:
    No -- the good news is that I've not seen anything on the frameset come loose so all of the Torque-Seal is still intact.

    That said, I still do checks to makes sure as there's a fair amount of vibration coming from the motors and as a "reformed" sailplane pilot I have seen the consequences of things work loose -- fortunately, not on my ship, but on the wreckage of someone else's ship (he bailed out as we routinely wear 'chutes).

    Andy.
     
  15. Bill Collydas

    Bill Collydas Active Member

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    Andy
    on post # 5 you mention Torque Seal from Aircraft Spruce
    In the past when I was assembling electronics I used to use nail polish on the threads and screw heads. It worked like a charm.
    Just an Idea.

    Bill
     
  16. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Hi Bill:
    Yes, I've used nail polish in the past, however, what I've found is that the demand from the ladies was for nail polish that wasn't so brittle that it would chip on their nails. So, now, many brands are now much more flexible when dry. The net effect is that a bolt can start to come loose, but the nail varnish will not crack to show this. That's why I reverted back to Torque Seal which is extremely brittle and shatters with the slightest rotation.

    The good news is that the really cheap brands of nail polish are more brittle, but, that said, were not brittle enough in my judgment.

    I could be wrong. But I'm rarely uncertain. ;)

    Andy.
     
  17. Bill Collydas

    Bill Collydas Active Member

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    You could be right about that. Like I said that was a while ago and the polish was brittle back then.
    If you tamper with the screws it will break, but if it gets loose a bit you might not notice.

    PS I changed my username.... Happy?

    Bill
     
  18. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Deliriously so! :D
    I presume you saw Tabb's announcement on this subject?

    Andy.
     
  19. Bill Collydas

    Bill Collydas Active Member

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    Impressive list Andy.
    I wished I could get some of those parts but Amazon does not ship to Canada. The Amazon.ca does but they don't have what the American site has.
    Like I can't order anything from McMaster either.what a bummer...

    Bill
     
  20. Andy Johnson-Laird

    Andy Johnson-Laird Administrator
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    Yeah. I used to live in Toronto, so I hear ya. I used to have to make frequent trips to the USA, so I would ship stuff back to myself--mind you, with NAFTA now, there's not usually much duty on this kind of stuff, eh? (Note correct use of Canadian, eh?)

    Andy.
     

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