Roswell
Flyer Manual
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The following instructions are meant to guide you
through the use and assembly of the alien technology
known as the Roswell Flyer. Your attention to detail and
safety precautions is mandatory. As we can not be there
to help and guide you, these instructions must bridge
that gap from what sits in front of you, a box of parts,
and the final product, - radio controlled, silicon based
flying device.
Neatness and accuracy count. You can build the Roswell
Flyer in record time and be the first on your block to
defy gravity, or, you can take your time, do a good job,
and still be the first on the block to defy the elements.
The difference is, you will get much better results from
the second option.
Flight time is based on many things, how well the gears
mesh together, how well you have sanded the rotor blades
to a perfect flying will-, and how accurately you follow
all these instructions 3o please pay close attention to
these assembly instructions and do a good job. There is a
test later, its called first flight.
We are counting on you!
WARNING STATEMENT
The Roswell Flyer is the most exciting R/C product you
will own, it is however not a toy. The Roswell Flyer is a
very sophisticated flying device that can cause harm to
children if not properly attended to. It can cause damage
to your personal property if not flown in the appropriate
flying area, and of course it can cause you harm if you
operate the F;yer in a improper manner.
The Roswell Flyer is run by electric power, while ;seing
environmentally safe, the power source is used up -with
each flight, as the power decreases, the Flyer is less
responsive. Take care to learn the characteristics of the
Flyer so that you can be in control of the situation and
not the other way around.
AFOT does not accept any responsibility for any damages
to humans, pets or personal property due to your use or
misuse of this product. |
Packing List:
Qty Description
1 Black Composite Frame top 1 Black Composite Round Frame
Bottom 4 Black Composite Frame arms 4 Black Composite
Motor Mount Braces 4 Plywood motor mounts 4 Aluminum
rotor shafts 4 Black Main Gears 4 Aluminum main rotor
shafts 4 1/8 inch main rotor retaining clips 8 1/8 id 1/4
OD flanged main rotor bearings 8 3mm X 5mm metal motor
mount screws 8 #4-40 X 1/2 nylon rotor mounting screws 8
#4-40 nylon hex nuts 8 1/4 inch threaded nylon rotor
spacers 4 Electric motors with pinion gear installed 4 ft
Red and Black motor wire 4 Motor noise filter capacitors
2 Clockwise turning main rotors 2 Counter clockwise
turning main rotors 1 Main control circuit board 1 Wire
antenna 1 Charge Adapter cable 1 8 Cell 600 Mha battery
pack 1 square of double sided tape 1 set of Velcro tape 1
Clear plastic packing tray ( has dome and motor covers
molded into it)
Note: Some additional screws and retainers may be
included as extras, just in case ....
Additional items required: 4 Channel radio Transmitter
and receiver 5 Minute Epoxy wire cutters and strippers
needle nose pliers Small soldering pencil and solder 100
grit sandpaper 400 grit sandpaper
A special note, TAKE YOUR TIME, dont hurry, we know you
want to get in the air quickly but take your time, and
make sure that you check things twice before gluing once.
Accuracy is important, so TAKE YOUR TIME. |
| 1. For all four main gears, press two flange bearings
into the 1/4 inch hole in the center of the gear, one on
top, and one on the bottom. The easiest way to do this is
to lay a bearing on the table, flange side down, then
hold the ,ear over the bearing, line up the hole with the
bearing, and press the gear into the bearing using the
palm of your hand. Il may be necessary to deburr the
inside edge of the hole in the gear with a small knife.
One of these will be used in the following steps to check
the alignment of the rotor shaft. For P-11 four arms,
check-fit motor mount brace on end of arrn. If necessary,
trim top edge of key on end of arm so that top of brace
is flush with top edge of arm. Epoxy in place and let
cure. When the Epoxy has cured, double check that the top
of the motor mount brace is flush with top edge of arm,
if not Band flush.
3. For all four arms, check fit rotor shaft in hole on
arm. Apply Epoxy adhesive to rotor shaft about 1 /4 inch
below the shoulder clown to about 1/4 inch from bottom of
shaft. Push rotor shaft up into hole in end of arm from
the bottom. This prevents Epoxy buildup around the top
edge. Check to make sure all rotors are square to the top
edge of the arm, and that they are all the same. Use one
of the gears from step 1 to check the alignment of the
shaft by slidi-ng the gear onto the shaft and making sure
that the bottom of the gear is parallel with the top edge
of the frame. Be very careful not to get any epoxy on the
gear or in the bearings. Let Epoxy cure.
For ail four arms, check-St plywood motor mounts on
rotor shafts. If any are too tight to easily push clown,
enlarge hole in plywood with drill. Apply epoxy to top
edge of arm and motor mount brace, making sure epoxy
touches the edges of the laminate for strength. Push
plywood motor mounts down onto rotor shaft and make sure
they are square to rotor shaft. Allow epoxy to cure.
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5. Each motor must have a length of Black and Red
wire. Make four sets of 12.5 inch lengths of red and
black wire. Holding one red and one black wire at the
saure time, push the pair through the foam of the frame,
between the laminates, and into the first small
lightening hole at the top of the arm. Using needle nose
pliers, grab the pair of wires and continue to thread
them through the foam into the center of each subsequent
lightening hole. If you do not wish to put the wire
through the frame you can simply tape it to the bottom of
the frame as shown in the photo.
When the outboard hole is reached, pull an extra three
inches of wire through.6. Important! The top of the
frame (smaller disk with little arms) has a top and a
bottom. Mounting it incorectly will make it impossible to
mount the controller board. I: you hold the top such that
the 1/2 inch wide notch is to the right, and towards you,
then the rectangular hole will be directly beyond the
notch. Check-fit all four arms into the frame top and
bottom. When satisfied of fit, epoxy in place. Make sure
to apply epoxy to all matting surfaces. The frame should
hold itself together if set on a flat surface, however if
it tends to pull apart, use some tape to hold in together
until the epoxy cures.
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| 7. Strip 3/16 inch insulation from both ends of thje
4 red and black wires that you created, LATER you will
solder these to the motors and circuit board. 8. You
are now going to cut pieces (as shown in the photo to the
right) of double sided foam tape to the approximate size
as shown. Remove ONE side of the paper from the tape and
place them on the top piece of the frame. ( shown to the
right) You most likely know that you do not want to touch
the tape with your fingers as they will lessen the
stickiness of the tape. Take your time.
9. Locate the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) over the top
of the center of the frame such that the battery
connector is oriented over the clearance.notch in the
frame ring. Insert the 4 servo connectors through the
rectangular hole.
10. Note that the PCB has 8 holes around it's
perimeter, 4 labeled black, and 4 labeled red. Feed the
red and black wires [rom each arm up through the
lightening holes just or, Either side of their respective
arms so that the wire colors will match up with the
indicated labels on the circuit board..
11. Insert all 8 wires up through the PCB and solder
them on the top side. Trim any excess wire with wire
cutters.
CAUTION, be careful with the soldering iron the frame
of the Roswell Flyer is very easy to (lamage with the
soldering iron, again Take your lime.
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| 12. Remove paper covering from double sided tape
already installed on top of frame and secure the PCB onto
the tape. Make sure to pull the wires down through the
holes so that they do not get pinched under the PCB. 13.
For each arm, pull the Black out of the wires, but do not
make them tight. Set this assembly aside for now.
14. For all four main gears, install two 1/2 inch
nylon screws through the two opposing small holes in the
web of the gear such that the threaded end is on the same
side of the gear as the gear hub. Thread a 1/4 inch nylon
spacer onto each screw and tighten snugly. Do not
over-tighten. Finger tight is good, dont use pliers or
other devices that might damage the plastic sleeves or
bolts.
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Important! Failure to bevel the edges of the blades
will
result in the aircraft having significantly reduced
flying
tune, and reduced performance. Do not skip these steps,
even if you think you can Jet away with it.
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| 15. For all four rotors, using 100 gril sandpaper or
file, bevel the top of the leading edge of each blade.
The bevel should be about 1/8 inch wide and the leading
edge should taper to about I/10 the thickness of the
blade. 16. For all four rotors, smooth out the marks
from the 100 grit paper and round of the bevel a bit.
Also sand the perimeter of the Made to remove any burrs
and slight round the edges of the trailing edge.
Make sure you prep and Band these edges of the rotor
blades, failure to do so WILL affect the performance of
the Flyer.
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17. Install all four main gears onto the rotor shafts
with the
nylon screws pointing up, this should also make all the
gear
hubs face up.18. Make sure each 0gear spins very
easily. If you give the
gear a spin, it should continue to spin for at least 10
seconds
thereafter. If one of them does not, check to make sure
that
the bearings are fully seated in the gear hubs, and that
no
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19. Install a I/8 inch retaining clip on the top of
each rotor shaft. This is most easily done by laying the
ring on the end of the shaft with half of the ring
hanging a bit down the shaft. Using your linger, press
down on the end of the shaft, and work the test of the
ring onto the shaft, then usina needle nose pliers,
carefully push the retaining ring down the rotor shaft
until it seats in the groove.
Caution, these little clips are an alien life form all
unto
Themselves, they fly off into the carpet, under doors and
generally just get lost if you dont take your lime. WE
have included sonie extras, you won't need them ho wever
if you work slowly and get the hang of f it. The first
one
you do is a bit tricky but once you get the hang of it,
the
rest will be easy to do.
20. Install all four motors on the bottom side of the
plywood motor mounts using two 3 mm X5 mm machine screws.
The gears on the motor ends fit up through the elongated
center hole in the mount, and engage with the main gear.
Make sure that there is a small amount of slop in the
gear mesh, about the thickness of a sheet of paper.
Tighten the mounting screws being careful not to crush
the plywood.
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21. Now let's attach the wires to the motor. On each
motor there is a red dot, indicating where the red wire
should be soldered, the black wire goes to the other
motor lug. Also for each motor, install a noise filter
capacitor across the two terminals of each motor.
Install the green capacitor across the motor leads, it
has been omitted here for clarity. It is also a good idea
to slip a bit of heat shrink tubing or tape onto the
capacitor leads so that if they gent bent they will not
short the motor. |
| 22. Charge the supplied battery with a correct
charger, be sure not to over-charge. Charging batteries
is almost an artform, we suggest that you review your
charger specs and read again the best way to charge
Ni-Cad batteries. We have used various charges and this
battery pack will charge with a normal charger in about
25 minutes. Let the battery charge until you can hold it
in your hand and feel that the battery is slightly warm,
or use a charger that measures the peak of the battery.
This is, of course, the best way and the most expensive. |
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23. Connect a four channel RC receiver to the PCB
usine the four provided connectors. Use the following
color codes to make sure the correct plugs are installed.
Yellow/Red/Black Throttle (Futaba Channel 6)
Blue wire Elevator (Futaba Channel 2)
Green wire Aileron (Futaba Channel 1)
Yellow wire Rudder (Futaba Channel 4)
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23a Attach receiver to underside of PCB usine two
layers of
double sided foam tape. You can follow the procedures in
the step 23 b if you want to use built in stubby antenna
or do
the following:
Ri-in antenna wire around frame through Lightening,
holes, or use a commercially available short antenna that
is
glued to the frame. We recommend that the antenna point
up and to the rear for orientation reasons
NOTE: usine built in antenna:
Warning! The following steps require you to cut the an-
tenna wire on your receiver. This will most likely void
the
warranty on the receiver, so make sure that you want to
do
this.
23b Solder the 7 inch long piece of music wire into the
hole
on the PCB near the round black cylinder. At about 1/2
inch above the PCB, bend the wire over towards the center
of th_- PCB. Now where the antenna crosses t the cc-ILcr
Une
of thé dise, bend it so as to align with the rear arm.
Cut the
receiver antenna wire long enough to reach the hole
marked
"Ant" on the PCB, from the bottom, with about
1/2 inch of -
slack. Strip about 1/4 inch of insulation from the end of
the
wire, and push it up through the frame, and into the hole
marked "Ant" on the PCB and solder in place.
WARNING! |
Alake sure none of the rotor blades are attached
for the following steps. Failure to follow this in-
struction could result in damage to the aircraft or
injury to you! |
| 24. The purpose of these steps is to make sure the
transmuter is properly set up. Set the transmitter
throttle stick to ils mid point and turn on the
transmuter. Make sure the power switch on the Circuit
board is turned OFF, then connect the battery to the
Circuit board 25. Set the Flyer on a flat, open
surface, (the floor is good) making sure that nothing can
catch in the gears. If you have long hair, secure it so
that it will not fall into the cgears, and do not wear
any lose clothing that might gel caught in the gears.
26. While holding the aircraft down by the center area
(PCB) use your thumb to turn on the power switch( small
black slide switch). The motors should not corne on, but
the LED (little red lioht) should begin ta flash. 1vlove
the throttle stick on the transmitter up (increase
throttle) the LED should blink faster, If it instead
blinks slower, flip the reveres switch for the throttle
channel on the transmitter. Note the LED should blink
faster with more throttle, and slower with reduced
throttle. The motors will NOT turn on at this lime, the
Flyer is not yet ARMED.
27. On your radio transmitter set the throttle to
minimum, and set the throttle trim to minimum.
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28. With the aircraft sitting solidly on the flat
surface (do not pick it up) carefully push the arming
switch (small white rectangular button labeled
"caution") on the top of the PCB. Be prepared
for the motors to come on or give a little kick.
For the following steps, push the throttle stick until
the motors just start to spin (about 1/3 throttle)
29. The motors should not be turning, or turning very
slowly . Move the rudder stick (rudder /throttle stick)
to full left, both the left and the right motors should
turn on, and the front and rear motors should slow down
or stop turring. If the opposite happens, flip the servo
reversing switch on the transmitter. The motors should
now respond as described.
30. Move the aileron /elevator stick full forward, the
rear motor should speed up and the front motor should
slow down. If the opposite happens, flip the servo
reversing switch for the elevator on the transmitter.
This should make i; function as described.
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31. Move the aileron/ elevator stick full right. The
left motor should turn on or go faster, and the right
motor should slow down or stop. If the opposite happens,
flip the servo reversing switch for the aileron channel
on the transmitter,. This should fix the problem.
32. Now move the throttle stick forward until the motors
just start to turn. Adjust the elevator trim so that the
front and rear motors are spinning at about the same
speed, or so they corne ,ii at Zhu same time when the
throttle stick is pushed forward. |
33. In a similar fashion, adjust the aileron trim so
that the left and right motors run at about the same
speed, start at the same time when throttle is applied.
34. Now adjust the rudder trim so that the front/rear and
left/right motor pairs run at about the same speed, or
come on at about the same time when throttle is applied.
Note: This may all seem a bit
complicated but don't worry,
remember we said take your tune, well that is stil! a
good
idea. Get to know your f flyer and how it reacts before
you
try your first f ight. The Flyer is easy to fly once you
under-
stand what is going on when you push those transmitter
sticks. So ...yeah , take your time...
35 Disconnect and remove the battery pack
36. Position the frame in front of you so that the
battery con-
nector on the PCB is to the rear right of the frame (near
you
and to the right hand side). This puts the front arm
furthest
from you, pointing away. Install the four rotors using
two
#4/40 nylon nuts on each screw. Do not over-tighten. The
front and rear blades should be the ones designed to turn
counter clockwise as viewed from the top. The left and
right
blades are to be the clockwise rotating when viewed from
on
top
37. We highly recommend that you mark the front arm or
rotor with a highly visible mark. Either by putting
colored
tape on the front arm, or a colored dot in the center of
the
front blade, or using a marker, color the front blade.
This is
necessary in that you must always know which way it is
pointing in order to properly control the flyer.
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Flying
Never fly this aircraft where damage to property or
injury to persons may result if loss of control occurs.
Never leave the Flyer unattended with a battery connected
to it. Always disconnect battery when not flying.
Always turn the Roswell Flyer off FIRST and then turn of
the transmitter. Failure to do so could cause the Flyer
to become airborne and out of control resulting in injury
or damage
Startup procedure:
1. Turn the black sliding switch to the off position
2. Connect the battery to the PCB
3. Turn on the transmitter, and make sure that the
throttle is fully closed.
4. Turn the switch on the Flyer to the ON position. You
should note that the LED will staff i blinking. Make sure
at this stage that when you advance the throttle stick,
that the LED blinks faster. This verifies the
functionality of tire radio link. Return the throttle to
minimum.
5 . While holding the Flyer down on the ground at the
center, push the arming switch on the Flyer. Be prepared
for the motors to turn on at any time! If they come on
for some reason, and you can not throttle them back, turn
off the switch on the PCB and check the radio and
receiver.
6. Back away from the flyer to a safe distance.
?. Slowly increase the throttle until the Flyer gets
light, and the adjust the trims on the transmitter, so
that i: doesn't icimediately turn or try to fly off in
some direction:
The Roswell Flyer flies similar to a helicopter, if you
are
model helicopter pilot, you should be up and flying
within a
few minutes. If you aren't familiar with choppers, dont
worry the Roswell Flyer is actually much easier than a
chopper.
The trickiest part is getting used to the rotation. Start
by giving it just enough throttle to get the aircraft
light, and then practice keeping the front arm always
pointing forward. Make sure you have a good feel for this
before you try and get much higher off the ground.
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Forward flight:
While the Roswell Flyer is designed primarily for
hovering, forward flight is more than possible. One thing
to note though, as the speed of the Flyer increases, it
will require more and more forward stick to keep it
going, eventually it will pitch up and stop the forward
motion. With this in mind, be aware that as you move to
forward flight the flight performance will change and
require more transmitter input to maintain the forward
motion.
Wind:
The Roswell Flyer can fly outdoors in a limited amount of
wind, however, do to the very lfight disk loading of the
Flyer, it will become difficult to maintain station in a
moderate breeze.
Ceiling:
Y ou can fly the Roswell Flyer as high as you like so
long as you can still see it well enough to control the
flyer. However care should be taken not to stay up high
too long as you may not have enough battery power to make
a successful landing. Also a rapid vertical descent
should be avoided for similar reasons.
Discharged battery:
The Roswell Flyer is designed to Nover at about 1/3 to
1/2 throttle with the supplied battery pack in the fully
charged state. As the battery approaches the end of its
charge, you will notice that more throttle input is
required to hold it in a hover. This is how you tell is
the battery is running low, and it is at this point that
you should be begin planning your landing or at least
getting near the spot where you intend to land.
Flight Time:
The Roswell Flyer should be able to Nover for about 3
minutes on a fully charged battery pack, alter that time,
it will descend to a point where it will only fly about a
foot off the ground. After about ) 0 to 20 seconds, you
-ill notice that it takes more than 3/4 throttle to
maintain a low Nover. At about this point the Flyer will
start to become somewhat unstable and it is at this point
that it is best to land and recharge the battery. This
period of instability at the end of the battery charge is
normal and is caused be the lower battery voltage in the
discharged state.
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Optional performance enhancement ideas:
The Fine Art of Tweaking:
While thé rotor components of thé Roswell Flyer are
care-
fully machined to perform well without much need for ad-
justment, you may be able to make your Flyer even
smoother
by tracking and balancing thé blades.
The rotor blades on thé Roswell Flyer are very light and
spin at a relatively low RPM so balance isn't as critical
as it
would be on an airplane propeller. None thé less, a well
bal-
anced machine (helicopter or Flyer) is a joy to fly.
To balance thé blades on thé Roswell Flyer, loosen thé
screws that hold one of thé motors and pull it back so
that
thé gears no longer mesh and thé rotor turns freely.
Now
tilt thé Flyer into a 90 degree bank and notice what
thé
blade does. If one blade or thé rotors always seems to
swing
down, then that is thé "heavy" blade. You can
do one of two
things at this point.
1. Sand a small amount of material from thé edge heavy
blade until it balances.
2. Add a small piece of tape to thé light blade until it
bal-
ances ( wrap tape half on top and half on thé bottom of
thé
blade so it won't peel off
Now return thé motor to its' origine' _ position
That is it, just do the same procedure for all four
blades.
Tracking refers to making thé tips of thé rotor
blades fly at
thé same level. Making thé tip heights equal implies
that
each rotor blade is producing thé exact same amount of
lift
and thus help reduce shaking of thé rotor shaft. On most
model helicopters, this is done by adjusting a ball link,
but
since thé Roswell Flyer is not bound by thé limits of
human
design, a différent method is used.
ï o start with, you need to check thé existing
tracking situa-
don, i1 will Ikciy be just fine. 'fo do this hover thé
Flyer
high enough and at a safe distance ,so that you can CARE-
FULLY look across thé plane of thé rotor blades. Look
at
thé edge of each tip path and see if you see one looks
like
one rotor tip or two. If you only see one rotor tip
zinging by,
then that blade is tracked adequately. Check all for
blades
this way. For those where you see what looks like two
rotor
tips, tracking is in order.
To track thé blades you must first determine which one
is
flying high. Do this by either marking thé tip of one
blade
with a bright marker or put on a piece of bright colored
tape
that you can remove after thé process. Now bring the
Flyer Pa 15
into a hover again and look at thé marked rotor.
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The marked blade will either be high or low, just
remember which land, and disconnect the battery.
If the marked blade was low then you may want to increase
its' pitch, if the marked blade was high, then you should
reduce its' pitch.
The pitch can be quickly adjusted by heating the root of
the rotor right at the rim of the gear, with a heat gun.
Heat only until the material just starts to soften. Then
twist the blade in the desired direction (don't twist
very much just a degree or so) then hold the blade still
for about a minute while it cools.
Check the results by hovering again, and adjust as
required to get good tracking. |
High speed uncontrolled ground contact
(or a crash to the rest of us)The frame:
The frame of the Roswell flyer is made of a wood based
laminate, and mends very well with epoxy. If an arm is
broken in a hard landing, you may glue it back together
with epoxy. For extra reinforcement, you should apply a
small piece of tight weight fiberglass cloth to each
side, and epoxy i; in place. Check for crack in the frame
alter any hard landing, and do not fly the aircraft if
any of the components have been weakened by crash damage.
The Rotor blades:
Do NOT attempt to repair a broken or damaged rotor blade.
Always replace with a new blade. Use of a repaired blade
will almost certainly.result-in an in-flight blade
failure and result in further damage to the aircraft.
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| Beginners Read This. If you are
new to R/C choppers and planes, in the words of Douglas
Adams, DONT PANIC. It is out experience that new pilots
tend to over control the transmitter sticks, or just the
opposite, they do nothing at all. Some place between too
much and too little is that happy place where the Flyer
Oies and you have fun. The best place to find the
"Flying grove" is to practice in short spurts,
Hop the flyer off the ground a few roches, but do so with
a purpose in mind. Like, keep the nose point in a certain
direction or make the flyer moue right and then set down.
Above all else take your time, think about what you are
doing, before you do it.
In the GROUND EFFECT the flyer gets pushed around by the
wind that it produces. This also creates that cushion of
air which the flyer can float on with less power. However
flying a few roches off the ground gets to be real
boring. You have to get the flyer to an eye level hover.
This is where all the fun begins. Until you are
comfortable with hovering just above the around, in the
ground effect, dont give the flyer too much power.
No doubt you will give the Flyer a bit too much juice and
it will rise to a height that will be new to you, this is
where the phrase, DONT PANIC cornes into play. The
Roswell Flyer, DOES fly, so relax, enjoy and mort of all
do something, but not TOO much. A little bit goes a long
way.
One final comment, what you put in, by way of control you
will most likely have to take out, if you roll to the
right, make sure you roll a bit back to the left or the
Flyer will just keep going in the last direction that you
gave it. Have fun, after all that is what its all about.
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| All parts of the Roswell i Flyer ire available for
sale as replacements. Visit out web-site at www.afot.com
to order these parts. Or see your local dealer for parts
if all else faits, call us direct at 1-800-32$-0184. In a
pinch improvise, with all parts, except the motors, the
circuit board and the gears. The test of the Flyer is
there for you to experiment with. Let your imagination
run wild, just be sale and if you fend out other tips and
tricks or corne up with a cool design, contact us and
share the information. We will be glad to post articles
on things you have done to the Flyer, on out web-site. |
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