Adding Ailerons to the FT SE5

kdobson83

Well-known member
Ok, let me start off by saying I will add pictures once I'm done, successful or not. Lol
Now, I decided to do this because my SE5 flys horribly. Even in relatively calm weather. I have the throws turned WAY down and it still flys bad. It glides straight and true, but almost impossible to turn. So I decided Ailerons could fix it. Cut in full length Ailerons, added a servo, and tested it. This is when I noticed it jerking when moving the sticks. All 3 servos seem really jerky. AND the cheaper aileron servo I used gets stuck when fully turned... I have good emax servos on the tail and plan to replace the sticking servo tonight with a better one.
But does anyone know what causes the jerkyness? Could it be the cheapo Orange RX I have in it? I have 2 more lemon RXs coming today with some new 5g servos, I plan to try a new RX too.
With 3 servos (2 different brands) all doing the same thing I assume the only options could be a bad Bec on the esc or a bad Rx.
 

Chappie66

Active member
1. Is there any binding that might cause servo(s) to 'labour'. Too much load or servo that is stuck can result in a current draw that produces a voltage drop. This then can result in servo jitter

2. if you move away from the model with your TX does the jitter go away

3. if you disconnect servos one at a time can you isolate if it is a certain servo or RX channel is causing the jitter
 

JakeTheSloth

Active member
Jitter may be caused by antenna close to servo wires or other wires close to that servo wire. And yeah, check if it moves freely. Btw what do you mean it turns bad if you said that throws are low? Increase throws and it should be good. I made few SE 5's and I could even do a barrel roll with each of them using rudder. Can you record how rudder in your SE5 moves? It would help us solve the problem. I am certain this plane ans DR.I should fly in stock configuration better than fine
 
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kdobson83

Well-known member
Jitter may be caused by antenna close to servo wires or other wires close to that servo wire. And yeah, check if it moves freely. Btw what do you mean it turns bad if you said that throws are low? Increase throws and it should be good. I made few SE 5's and I could even do a barrel roll with each of them using rudder. Can you record how rudder in your SE5 moves? It would help us solve the problem. I am certain this plane ans DR.I should fly in stock configuration better than fine
I'm pretty sure it was turning poorly due to the jittery servos. I put a Lemon Rx in it and its not jittery any more. But now I'm dealing with a cruddy aileron servo. I got a cheap 5gram in it running both ailerons and it's not returning to neutral position when I let go of the sticks. I'm gonna put a decent 9gram metal gear servo I have in it tonight and hopefully try again tomorrow. With two kids and a needy wife my build/fly time is severely limited... 😒
The 30 seconds I had it in the air with ailerons it seemed like it would fly awesome with a better servo. I have a feeling the next step will be more power. Running an 1806 with a 6030 prop on 3s and it flys too scale for me. 😀 I need it to go vertical! I'll post pics and maybe video once I get the kinks worked out.
 

JakeTheSloth

Active member
Servo's not centering may be caused by faulty gimbal on Tx (had such issue on one i6 tx). Did you check if those servos move freely out of plane and center too? It's weird because even cheap servo's should center. You don't really need to change motor but if you change prop to 6x4,5 you'll feel the difference, but be careful. Some 1806 motors may be overheating with such prop.
Oh and here's my DR.I and it's really manevuerable without ailerons
 

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kdobson83

Well-known member
Servo's not centering may be caused by faulty gimbal on Tx (had such issue on one i6 tx). Did you check if those servos move freely out of plane and center too? It's weird because even cheap servo's should center. You don't really need to change motor but if you change prop to 6x4,5 you'll feel the difference, but be careful. Some 1806 motors may be overheating with such prop.
Oh and here's my DR.I and it's really manevuerable without ailerons
I had a gimbal go bad on my i6x too, every time I touched the throttle the rudder would go haywire. Didn't figure it out till 2 crashed 1 totalled plane later. Lol But it's not a gimbal issue. I am using my dx8e now and none of my others do this. I believe I added too much hot glue to reinforce the hinges making the control surfaces a little hard to move. I plan to sign out old 5gram and while I have it out try and loosen up the hinges by removing some of the hot glue. Then add in my 9gram metal gear. It should work then. I'm pretty sure there was an issue with the Rx before. Either too close to a servo wire or just a bad Rx. It's not jittery anymore and one I fix the Ailerons it should fly, and good too. The little 30 second flight I had with it looked promising.
 

kdobson83

Well-known member
UPDATE-
Ended up cutting the control surfaces off and remounting with tape. MUCH easier to move now. Also added a 9 gram servo for the Ailerons. Figured bigger was better since it was move two control surfaces.
Took it out for it's re-maiden and... It flew horribly. Lol it did fly how ever. And the ailerons had pretty good control. But the dihedral killed it. It's massive self righting tendency made it REALLY hard to fly. Normally with ailerons you bank a bit and yank, maybe adding rudder for tighter turns. But the dihedral would push back when I applied bank making turns a mess of banking, self righting, and half wobbly stress.
Now, I REALLY want a biplane and half contemplated giving up on the SE5 w/ailerons and build a Baby Blender but what's the point of giving up.

So, next course of action will be to remove the dihedral, since this is my main/only issue with it atm. Looks like a decent amount of surgery but should be doable. I'll will be adding more power as the 1806 Racerstar with a 6030 on 3s just doesn't cut it. Maybe move to a 6045 or put on my 2205 Radial.

Anyhow, that's where I'm at with the SE5. I'll post again once I get the work done.