RC Gyro Positioning Demonstration

This is kind of an obscure point but might be interesting to some "scientists-at-heart" out there.

I performed this experiment in response to a repeated assertion made by a certain popular YouTube RC channel that gyros must be mounted actually on the the axis of rotation to be effective. Although this is absolutely incorrect, it is a common misconception and one which I myself held for some time.

Because I am especially frustrated by intentional misinformation I made this demonstration to hopefully help the small handful of guys who wish to dig a little deeper and understand this principle of gyros and their application on RC aircraft.

Gyroscopes of all designs measure or respond to angular changes in orientation that need not be on an axis that passes physically through the gyro itself. That a gyro must "twist" on axis, ie: about the CG, is a fallacy that is easy to believe but also simple to disprove as in this demonstration.

PS: FliteTest originally mis-stated this as well but then retracted it. Those guys are awesome in my opinion. They were not the culprit.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• RC
• airplane
• radio
• controlled
• aircraft
• gyro
• gyroscope
• positioning
• center
• of
• gravity
• axis
• Radio-controlled Aircraft
• Plane
• stabilization
• pitch
• roll
• yaw

[ExperimentalAirlines]

That's exactly what started me thinking originally - why the gyro isn't under the main shaft. Heli's make the case quite clearly. Some fixed-wing guys have a more inflexible view of how gyros work and maybe the demo will help.

[DHubert777]

Great explanation/ clarification!!

[chiliidawg1]

Thanks and keep the video's coming!!!

[T3PRanch]

Thanks for dispelling popular myth. It would seem to me that the farther away from the CG that the gyro is mounted that the more sensitive to movement it would be since a small movement at the CG point translates to larger and larger displacements the farther away from the CG point you travel.

Thurmond

[theailer]

If you ever built a heli you would already know the above to be 100% true ;)

[opticell]

Great video. I plan to make a flying wing and want to use your foam board. I have heard the wing has camber both top and bottom. If you ever make a video about that, great, I will be working on a 50 to 60 inch wing and could use any help.

[ter4m4x]

very great, many thanks for this information!

[coa106]

@000006rapture same here. thanks again..

[FlyingMerf]

Great demonstration!

[AsSoulsDream]

wow that makes a lot of sense, now I can build with that in mind it opens a lot of possibilities,,that very much, I have also build a plane with ur wing making procedure and it is currently in the design stage as of right now..