Roban 800 UH-1D Huey build thread

This is my first time using the Demon flight control software/hardware. Previously, I’ve only used Spirit flybarless units and Beast X flybarless units.

I still have a lot to learn about the different settings of the Demon 3X software to achieve the feel I’m looking for, but as a first impression, the software was pretty intuitive. I was able to figure it out and set up my helicopter without any instructions.

I initially set my hover pitch to 3 degrees and will adjust it accordingly with a pitch curve in my radio if needed.

I added two flight modes: throttle at 70% and throttle at 95%. At the higher throttle setting, the head speed still seems manageable and within the limits of the mechanics. I haven’t calculated the head speed yet, but I’m guessing it’s between 1100 and 1400 RPM.

After checking and double-checking everything, I did my first run-up of the mechanics with the blades attached. I checked blade tracking and had to make slight adjustments. Thankfully, there were no crazy vibrations during the full run-up.

I then decided to run it up again and feed positive collective pitch to see when the helicopter would get light on its feet. Right at about 40% collective on my radio, it started to lift off the ground, and I brought it into a ground-effect hover for about 4 minutes. The tail was locked in, and in rate mode, it would slowly turn to the left, so I will adjust that mechanically. The heli wanted to drift slightly to the right, so I’m thinking my swash may not be perfectly level. I’ll need to buy an actual tool for that instead of using the zip-tie method.

All in all, the helicopter is very stable and sounds amazing. I need to invest more time in tuning the flight controller to get the right feel. My rates felt a little too low at center stick, and my collective rate seemed too high, making it hard to maintain perfect altitude. But overall, I’d say this is a successful maiden. I’ll probably only be hovering it for the next few flights until I dial it in, before attempting any forward flight or out-of-ground-effect hovering.

In retrospect I wish I was at my house and not in a trailer at this flight school, I would have loved to have my garage and make a test bed for these mechanics. Thankfully i trust my basic experience to set up a heli and attempted a maiden in the fuselage. Thankfully Roban has created a package that requires minimum tools and fabrication to fly right out of the box.