By: Rick Klages 1-2010

Setting up a ccpm heli can be a bit of a mystery, especially for the new heli pilot or for someone who is used to a mechanical setup and changing to their first ccpm heli.

I have an easy way to get familiar with ccpm and make your setup much more straightforward.

CCPM differs from a mechanical setup as it relies on your transmitters computer to mix the control inputs to each of the three servos that control the swash plate instead of a direct one servo, one function control as mechanical systems utilize.

There are two common types most used today. They are 120 degree ccpm and 140 degree ccpm. Almost all heli’s use 120 degree ccpm as they are able to eliminate the interaction on the head with sophisticated software.

The first step is to choose the correct ccpm that your heli requires in your model setup menu. Make sure it matches your specific instructions in your heli’s manual.

Once that is done and you have your heli selected and named you can continue with the setup.

When connecting the servos to the receiver use this easy method. Picture yourself sitting in the pilots seat. The front left servo is connected to the receivers pitch channel (usually Aux 1), the front right servo connects to the receivers aileron channel, and the rear servo connects to the receivers elevator channel. On the T-Rex 700 and similar heli’s the inside front servo connects to the elevator channel on the receiver.

An easy way I have come up with to remember how to adjust your swash direction is to remember two points.

#1—Your left stick uses your transmitters servo reverse screen to allow you to get all three servos moving together (up and down) with the movements of the left stick. Simply reverse the servos that move the wrong direction. This is important and don’t worry if your right stick doesn’t control the swash plate in the correct direction yet. This step needs to be done BEFORE you worry about the right stick.

#2---Your right stick uses your transmitters swash mix screen to allow you to change the direction of movement on your servos. If they are backwards simply change the value of the servo you wish to reverse. For example they are all defaulted to +60 and if you wish to reverse the aileron servo, change the value to -60.

Your goal is to have the swash plate follow the movements of each stick when standing behind your heli.  It is that simple!

Good luck and happy flying.

Rick Klages 1-2010
rick@heliproz.com