Servo centering necessary?

[@dkunruh05]

Hi guys I got the foam board kit for the ft simple scout today so I’m excited to put it together! First foam board plane for me also #1 rc plane at all! So I’m watching the video and the guys says that the servo centering too is pretty much necessary. And.. I don’t have one. Is there a way I can do it without one now or do I need to order one and wait. Thanks

 

[CappyAmeric]

Most servos come centered when you open the package. It’s always good to make sure though. You can hook a servo into your receiver and it will center itself when the receiver is powered up.

 

[Hondo76251]

Like @CappyAmeric said, you can always plug your battery into your esc and your esc into your receiver and then any servos you have hooked to it will self center (so long as your transmitter functions are centered)

But servos testers are cheap, worth the investment for simplicity sake.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088KMG8DQ/?tag=lstir-20

And little 1s batteries will usually power them enough to get centered.

 

[Flyingshark]

Hi guys I got the foam board kit for the ft simple scout today so I’m excited to put it together! First foam board plane for me also #1 rc plane at all! So I’m watching the video and the guys says that the servo centering too is pretty much necessary. And.. I don’t have one. Is there a way I can do it without one now or do I need to order one and wait. Thanks

Using your receiver and transmitter is possible, it's what I do. You just have to make sure you have no trims or subtrims set up for the model you're binding to. I tend to use linkage stoppers (they usually come in FT power packs), so I can adjust the effective length of my pushrods after they are installed. That's nice because you don't need to get everything exactly right on the first try, so you can do a couple tries of moving the pushrod and powering everything up to see where the control surface lands.

As regards servos coming pre-centered, FT says their servos start out pretty well centered. I've always had mine be centered out of the box, but in the process of installing them and removing and putting on servo horns, I tend to bump them, so it's way "safer" in terms of not wasting effort to power the plane up and let them center themselves at critical points in the build process. Then you (hopefully) won't have to remake pushrods that end up being too long or too short.

 

[Merv]

.... Is there a way I can do it without one now or do I need to order one and wait. Thanks

I agree with the others, a servo tester is very handy but is not necessary. You can do the same thing with your Tx & Rx, just make the connections, power everything up and go.

You should center the servo prior to installing the horn. Having the servo centered will allow you to put the horn on the correct servo spline. It’s often difficult to remove the servo horn after the servo is buried inside the plane.

Any 5v power source will work to supply the Rx or a servo tester. Some use the flight pack and ESC, any 5v battery will also work. I use a wall wart, I cut off the end of a 5v transformer & soldered on a servo end. Now I just plug it in and go. It will work equally well with an Rx or a servo tester. Just be sure to get the polarity correct.

 

[T1TAN]

I dont use a servo tester. Instead, I connect each servo with my receiver an then power it on and they automatically center. And before a flight, I trim and subtrim the control surfaces until the look right.

 

[Indy durtdigger]

I've got one of the cheap servo centering tools and the darn thing doesn't properly center them. I use it to test servo function before installing and then power them up in the plane with the TX before making the final linkage connections.

 

[Bricks]

Once you have the servo centered using above methods then normally how you install the control arm depends on IF the control arm is 90 degrees to the servo. I always try and install my servo so that I do not have to use sub trim to get to 90 degrees. When installing the control arm there will be one position that the arm will be at 90 degrees.

 

[Hondo76251]

I always center first, usually with the cheap tester, then i build modified z bends, shrink wrap slip joints, or linkage adjusters into all control rods as i go. When doing final pre flight i center all controls and zero all trims and then make any minor adjustments necessary with the z bends. After i do the maiden i take note of the positions of the control surfaces and then take out any trim in from my transmitter and use the z bends to match the trim needed for flight.

Long story short, yes i pre center. Is it absolutely necessary, no, because there are several more opportunities to re center and trim before flying.

 

[sprzout]

I bought a servo tester shortly after starting to build. Yes, it's certainly possible to do it with the receiver and transmitter; however, I would constantly bump the servos putting the servos into the planes, and half the time I didn't have the ESC connected to the receiver, or would be waiting for a receiver to show up from mail order. It's why I like the servo tester instead of the receiver in that respect. Just what I've done, what I've found works for me.

 

[Bricks]

If you use a lot of sub trim then yes it will definitely make a difference as the more sub trim you put in you loose servo travel in the direction you are trimming it too. If a lot of sub trim is used you will also loose resolution in that direction to your stick travel.

 

[Hondo76251]

If you use a lot of sub trim then yes it will definitely make a difference as the more sub trim you put in you loose servo travel in the direction you are trimming it too. If a lot of sub trim is used you will also loose resolution in that direction to your stick travel.

This becomes especially important after the 4th rebuild! Lol!