Digital angle gage, which is especially useful for taking advantage of the
90° relationships built into the Pantera's side frames between the main
shaft and tail boom to quickly measure blade angles.
- Push the LEVEL button and read absolute level
(LEVEL appears in the upper corner of the display).
- Relative angles can be handy. Just set the gage on your
tail boom and push the ZERO button. Now
measure the pitch at the grip directly because the spindle shaft, main
shaft, and tail boom are all 90° from each other, which means 0° on the blade
grip is perfectly parallel to the tail boom regardless of whether the model is
nose down. At last, accurately measure blade pitch, e.g. 11° to a
resolution of 0.05° (with a repeatability of 0.1°, which is closer
than anobody can feel).
- To go back to absolute level, press and hold the
LEVEL button for 3 seconds.
- To hold a setting, press the HOLD button for 3
seconds and an H appears in the upper
corner.
NOTE: Two cautions; first, at 8 ounces, the
angle cube is heavy enough to influence angles because of the play in any
mechanical device (play in bearings, ball links, etc.) This isn't the end
of the world, just account for it. Second, there are two magnets on three
sides (the dark gray circles in the picture) and these magnets are strong -
keep them away from servos, motors, and credit cards - you've been warned!
ProTip - use an old pitch gage to make up an handy
platform for attaching the cube to main rotor blades (but remember about the
play in the linkages and mechanism affecting things if you're not careful so
play around with setting the center of mass of the cube as close to the
center of rotation of the grip blade on the spindle shaft as
possible).