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RC helicopter reciever as an RC plane reciever

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ATRfactory

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I want to make an rc airplane using recycled materials.I have got a damaged helicopter and I.want to know whether I could use it as my plane's reciever board and controller
 
Is the helicopter radio or IR controlled? If it is radio, then it should work in an airplane. You will need to rename the channels and be sure that the control sticks make the control surfaces move the way you want.

If it is IR, then there will likely be problems, the most obvious will be range outside.

John
 
Hi!
IR control doesn't work outside because the natural light is full of infrared radiation and this will upset the transmission. It's like trying to tell someone a word while a jet engine is a few metres away from you and him. The IR control would work at night but who is playing with helicopters at night?:D
About turning a helicopter into and aircraft, it is a bit more complicated stuff. I have 2 IR helicopters which could shoot one to another with IR (in fact one helicopter is really a transmitter and one is the receiver and when the first heli shots, the second receives the command and ''crashes'' and viceversa, a game for two players. It is called Sky Challengers) Unfortunately one got damaged and couldn't fly anymore (the battery was faulty too) and I tried to turn it into a plane, but it was more complicated than I thought.
You know that a helicopter, when it takes off, it has both antirotor and the main rotor working ALL THE TIME , the two can be controlled so that you can turn left, right, up and down.
In the case of an airplane, the engine is working all the time, but the elerons and rudder servos are OFF when flying in straight line. And this leads to a problem when you want to mount the receiver on a plane. It's a matter of programming and/or adding an external circuit so that you can modify the command.
The simplest RC plane has only 2 channels, one for the engine, and the other one for the rudder. Ok, I don't know how many channels has your module, but modifying won't be as easy as thought. It would be possible, but ths means to modify the receiver, or adding external circuit which adds more weight on your plane, especially if is a small one.

The easiest way is to find another destroyed plane, but with the circuitry intact, and build another fuselage, wings and tail.

Andrei
 
These are the helicopters I was talking about.
2AWK0xp.jpg

These helicopters are as small as your hand...
 
Removed temporarily while I try to decide what sort of helis are shown...
 
Why would the type of heli's shown by Andrei matter to the OP's question?

The only issue is IR, which won't work, or RF, which can work on an airplane. You don't even need two channels or more. We flew "single-channel" CW RC planes for years. I am assuming, of course, that the OP is not talking about an indoor airplane with multiple sensors on board. I can't say such airplanes don't exist, but I have never seen one in 63 years of experience with remote controlled model airplanes.

John
 
Because the receivers in coaxial helis don't have the servo position circuit(s) needed for adapting to elevator/rudder servo controls found in most RC airplane receivers. Swashplate helis have servos.

The helis Andrei_D12 has provided have a horizontal tail rotor motor (which argues against a coaxial main rotor) and, weirdly, the main rotors appear to be connected together but with no obvious swashplate connections. Makes me wonder if the angle main rotor shaft is somehow controllable (for and aft) which then suggests a servo.

And I've never seen this type of little heli before.
 
These helis are the simplest ones. They are made to "fight" each other by shooting with IR. In fact these helis are transmitters for each other because when one "shots" it transmits a signal to the other one and it simulates a crash by modifying the torque of both main rotor and the antirotor, It doesn't have forward or backward control. However, the modification of the receiver is highly dependent on the helicopter type. There are also toy helicopters like Chinook.
 
The newcomer didn't mention from what kind of helicopter he wants to take the receiver. I've just given an example of helicopter. If the helicopter has a bigger scale, things get complicated...
 
The newcomer didn't mention from what kind of helicopter he wants to take the receiver. I've just given an example of helicopter. If the helicopter has a bigger scale, things get complicated...
I would say things get less complicated. My heli is a Falcon 40 and the receiver (2.4 GHz) is identical to a model airplane receiver. John
 
I have seen some photos with it (I have also seen one in action) and, I agree, it is so simple. I was talking about the big ones, however, I don't think ATRfacory has such a big helicopter.

There is one problem with the people who are asking for solutions to their problems/projects and give few details about their problem/project. These few informations could be interpreted in 1000 ways.

I want to make an rc airplane using recycled materials.I have got a damaged helicopter and I.want to know whether I could use it as my plane's reciever board and controller
Ok. He wants to turn a helicopter into an aircraft. This was surely understood by everyone.
But:
1 - what's the size of that helicopter?
2 - what kind of helicopter is that?
Is it:
A
W5x6yub.jpg
?
B
6q6Abln.jpg
?
C
MdbNzDV.jpg
?
D Any other type unspecified here?
Don't misunderstand me, I don't say it is impossible,or very very hard, but it depends on some conditions. In this case a photo is worth a thousand words!
There is almost a day since it's last reply, so this tells me that he is not interested so much in building that aircraft.
It's just an opinnion.
 
Ok. He wants to turn a helicopter into an aircraft. This was surely understood by everyone.

That is not my understanding. He doesn't want to turn a helicopter into an airplane. He simply asked whether the receiver and controller (implied motor controller) can be used in an airplane.
ATRfactory said:
I.want to know whether I could use it as my plane's reciever board and controller
If it is a simple radio control, then the answer is yes, without over complicating the situation. I do agree that this may be a one post and gone situation. I have personally used the extremely simple RC system from a blimp in an airplane. Of course, one must observe a simple "rule" of simple to simple. The RC system fromthat blimp just gave power on/power off for two motors. The airplane's only control was the same two motors. There was no rudder or elevator.

John
 
I have two helicopters and two quadcopters. My biggest heli (blade 400) is the only one where the control system is generic. If it's a generic system with receiver and servos then you can use it for anything.

R/C systems are going the same way as car radios, 20 years ago any radio fitted any car. Now every car has a unique radio. It's why radio theft is no longer a problem.

Mike.
 
John,

On reflection, I realized that RC receivers' output is a signal (generally PWM, sometimes PPM) that is compatible with either a simple motor or a servo. So, you're correct saying that ATRfactory can probably use the wrecked heli's xmtr and rcvr for a different aircraft (or whatever). Managed to confuse even myself...:banghead:.

I remember back to the old "escarpment" type RC controls (mid to late-1950s for me) - mid/full left/mid/full right/mid/full left... etc. the only options. Made controlling a series of gross rudder movements. At least until the twisted rubber band powering the escarpment wound out - hopefully about the time the fuel ran out.

<EDIT> Just noticed I misspelled escapement. Stuipd dislexai... (and fat fingers)
 
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Hey Bob, Didn't realize you were that old. My first RC flight was in late 1952. I remember well the old Babcock and Bonner escapements. I met one of those men at Whittier Narrows Dam, where a major LA group flew. He showed me how to clean the relay on my receiver. Controlled flying was a real challenge then. Fortunately, the planes flew pretty much by themselves. My transmitter was an early handheld version that was built from a kit. Some of the fellas still had ground mounted transmitters. Good memories, but I appreciate modern equipment.

John
 
Born in 48'. It's what got me into Ham radio (got my novice ticket -KN4NFF in 1960 and then later K4NFF).

And yeah, the stuff now, especially for the quad copters, is practically science fiction... :woot:. And, frankly, no real challenge at all.
 
The small top rotor is called a "flybar", it spins in the same direction and speed as the main rotor and it stabilizes the helicopter by twisting the blades of the main rotor when the helicopter is losing stability.
Modern model helicopters use a swashplate and an electronic gyroscope instead of a flybar.

I agree that an IR controller cannot be used outside in daylight or sunlight and its range is too short on the cheap little helicopter to be used for an airplane.
How would the airplane steer without rudder and elevator servos? But full power might make the airplane climb and low power will make it go downwards.
 
You are wasting your time and effort guys.
The OP has not been back since he posted his vague question.

JimB
 
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