CSM CycLock

The CSM Cyclock is a multifunction device. Primarily it is a device that allows you to run an eCCPM helicopter without the need to have a transmitter with 120° swashplate mixing built into it (or in fact 90° or 140° as the cyclock does these as well). This review focuses on 120° as that is what the T-Rex 600 uses. This is not the only reason for using a cyclock. The device also contains a large amount of configuration parameters aimed at producing a much more accurate setup for 120° (or other) mixing of the swashplate. Lastly the cyclock can be used in conjunction with two CSM 720 gyros to allow flybar less operation.

I will cover each of these aspects separately within the bounds of this review. First some pictures:

 

Using a basic transmitter

The cyclock contains all of the programming necessary to control three servos in 120° configuration (or 90° / 140°). The transmitter does not need this functionality in order to work with the cyclock and control an eCCPM helicopter. Similarly if you are using an advanced transmitter that does have eCCPM mixing this is disabled and the transmitter placed into non eCCPM mode in order to function with the cyclock.
Effectively the cyclock allows a very basic transmitter to control a quite complicated eCCPM helicopter. I will cover how to set up the cyclock later in this review. However, it was important to highlight that one capability of the cyclock is that of allowing a basic transmitter to be used with an eCCPM helicopter.

CycLock specification

The cyclock works at a resolution of 2048 points. Resolution is the number of points that the servo can move through from one end of its travel to the other. With a normal 35mhz / 72mhz radio system resolution is usually much lower than this. With something like the DX7 the transmitter is capable of transmitting across 2048 points of resolution, however, when dealing with an eCCPM helicopter this resolution is reduced dramatically. The reason behind this is that normally the servo end points are set at 100%, whereas end points usually go up to 150%. Therefore a full third of the resolution is unused. On top of this when a transmitter is put into 120° swashplate mixing mode the in-transmitter mixing usually reduces the servo throws to 60% for aileron, elevator and collective pitch. These things added together reduce the overall resolution down from 2048 points to something like 800 points. This effectively means much less accuracy at the servo per stick movement.

The cyclock uses the transmitter with all of the end points for cyclic and collective set to 150%. Additionally the transmitter is used in normal mode rather than 120° swashplate mixing mode. This ensures that the full resolution is transmitted to the cyclock. The cyclock then does a conversion to 2048 points of resolution before passing on the transmitter signals to the servos. Therefore the cyclock maintains a much higher resolution than what you can achieve using in-transmitter mixing.

The cyclock removes transmitter latency and transmits all of the signals to the servos simultaneously once it has received all of the information from the receiver. The cyclock can also optionally drive the servos at digital rates, this is not possible when working directly off of a standard receiver without the cyclock installed.

The cyclock introduces a virtual cyclic ring. This virtual cyclic ring works with exponential, dual rates and will even allow mode one fliers to benefit from a simulated cyclic ring.

Lastly the cyclock is extremely good for correcting CCPM geometry errors and also rotor phasing issues.

CycLock Installation

Installation is very straightforward. The cyclock sits between the receiver and the servos. Basically you plug the cyclock into the channels that the servos for the cyclic would normally be plugged into. Then you plug the servos into the cyclock. The cyclock then is able to receive signals from the receiver and translate and modify these for transmission on to the servos.

Effectively three servo cables go into the cyclock from the receiver and three servos plug directly into the cyclock. The cables to connect the receiver to the cyclock are supplied in the packet.

Lastly CSM provides the usual double sided foam tape for securing the cyclock to the model, just like you would install a gyro.

CycLock configurable parameters

I don't want to go through the entire detail of how you configure a cyclock. Therefore I will just cover the main configuration parameters and what they do. In order to adjust these parameters the CSM configuration cable is required. The CSM configuration cable comes into different types, one is a USB cable and the other is a parallel port cable. Both cables end in a servo plug which plugs into the cyclock via the slot labeled PC.

Once the cable is connected it does immediate updates to the cyclock whenever you change any of the parameters. In order to change the parameters you must install the supplied software that comes on a little CD. Below is a picture of the software:

So let's work through these parameters one at a time:

General Settings

Mid stick pulse length is used to set the pulse width that represents mid stick on the transmitter. For Futaba this is 1520, for JR and Spektrum it is 1500.
Swash phrase correction allows you to digitally advance or retard the phasing of the flybar. This is very useful for the T-Rex 600 which does have phasing issues.
Swashplate servo type is used to configure whether you have standard or digital servos.
Servos speed allowed you to configure how fast your servos are so that the cyclock communicates at the correct speed.

Left, Centre and Right Servos

The collective, elevator and aileron sense allow you to effectively reverse the servo, just like you would on a transmitter.
The trim setting allows you to adjust the swashplate at mid stick in order to get it level.
The up collective gain allows you to just the swashplate at full pitch to get it level.
The Down collective gain allows you to adjust the swashplate at full negative pitch to get it level.
The elevator and aileron gain values allow you to adjust how much the servo moves for a full stick deflection. The higher the value for further the servo will move at full stick.

Interaction correction

Lastly the interaction correctors for up collective and down collective allow you to adjust and remove any interactions on the swashplate when moving the aileron or elevator. Corrections can be made to remove unwanted collective movement, or unwanted aileron or elevator movement. These correctors work at full positive pitch and full negative pitch respectively.

Setting up the Cyclock

Setting up the cyclock is done in a specific order. Initially the collective is moved to mid stick and the swashplate trimmed to make sure it is perfectly level. Next full collective (high stick) is applied and again the swashplate is trimmed to ensure it is level. Lastly full negative collective (low stick) is applied and the swashplate trimmed to ensure it is level.

Having ensured that the swashplate is completely level at full negative, mid stick and full positive pitch it is time to remove any unwanted interactions between the aileron, elevator and collective pitch. As an example, when working with the aileron full deflection on the aileron is given (both left and right). The swashplate watched for any aileron to collective interaction or aileron to elevator interaction. If any is spotted then the correction boxes can be used to tailor the servo response to remove any unwanted interaction.

Pre-flight overview

Having completed my setup the cyclock highlighted several issues to me. Firstly my understanding of setting up a eCCPM helicopter has increased from going through the cyclock setup process. Secondly I realised that my servos don't centre as well as I thought they did and also that my servo disks could be slightly more accurately aligned.

Having fixed these issues (apart from the centering which would require new servos) I now have the most accurate and consistent swashplate movement that I have ever attained on an eCCPM helicopter. The cyclock is so configurable and isolates each area where interaction can occur. You can then adjust this area individually using the adjustment boxes. The result is a supremely accurate and high resolution movement of the swashplate through its entire range as well as minimal interaction on any of the elevator and cyclic movements at all stick positions in the pitch range.

With a normal transmitter the only configuration elements open to you are the end point adjustments. Adjusting any of these tend to throw out the whole range of movement of the servo.

At this point I am very impressed with the technical capabilities of the cyclock. It makes adjustment of the swashplate so easy once you understand the configuration parameters. It only took me two reads through the manual to commit the various configuration parameters to memory. Although initially it looks very complicated the process is actually quite intuitive.

Flight Review

Once you have completed the bench setup (and this is much easier achieved if you have a swashplate leveler) it is time to put the helicopter in the air and discover what minor trim changes are required. My machine hovered perfectly without any trim changes required. Similarly a full pitch climb out resulted in a nice straight climb with no tendencies to veer off to the sides or forwards/backwards. The inverted climb out was not as good, there was a clear tendency to roll to the right.

This is where I believe there is a slight weak spot with regard to the cyclock. In order for me to change the full negative pitch trim it is necessary to connect the cyclock to a PC. You cannot make these changes at the field unless you have a laptop. This isn't really a big deal but it does mean living with whatever settings you have for today's flights and changing the settings in the evening. It could take several days to get the trim settings perfect. In my case I took the laptop to the field and trimmed it out over the course of two flights.

Having done this I also introduced some slight phase correction as it was clear that the phasing on the T-Rex 600 was not quite spot on. The T-Rex 600 head does not have adjustable phasing, therefore the only way to correct a phasing problem is with something like the cyclock or using washers on the washout arms to try to advance or retard the swashplate slightly. Having tried the second route the cyclock is far simpler.

Having made all of these changes I can now confidently say that my helicopter is flying more accurately than it ever has done. I run a DX7 transmitter which is very accurate and has swashplate synchronisation for the cyclic servos but this really is no match for the configurability or accuracy of the cyclock. Not only this but I have told the cyclock to run the cyclic servos in digital mode and have now got faster and more accurate servo movement.

 

 

Conclusion

The cyclock is clearly a very innovative electronic device. In fact it is exactly the type of thing I would expect to see from CSM. Colin Mill who owns CSM was the inventor of the heading hold gyro which revolutionised model helicopter flying. Colin has now introduced the cyclock which is designed at fixing a whole bunch of different problems with eCCPM in one single device. This may not be as revolutionary as the heading hold gyro but when combined with two CSM gyros you have all the elements required to run a flybarless helicopter. Once again Colin is making moves to revolutionise our helicopters.

Putting innovation to one side for a moment is it worth buying a cyclock?

This is an interesting question. Up until I bought the cyclock I was under the impression that my DX7 was doing an excellent job of keeping all of my servos in sync and driving them accurately. It wasn't until I installed the cyclock and started looking at it's configuration parameters that I realised that my setup actually wasn't that good at all. With the cyclock my cyclic servos are moving faster, more accurately and with less interaction than I could ever achieve with just the DX7 transmitter.

With this in mind the cyclock definitely improves the flying accuracy of an eCCPM helicopter. The real question is whether you need this accuracy. A beginner flying circuits or hovering would be unlikely to benefit from the accuracy, speed and interaction removal offered by the cyclock. A more advanced pilot flying 3-D manoeuvres or using more of his available pitch range would notice the increased accuracy and precision offered by the cyclock. Anybody considering flybarless operation would need a cyclock anyway.

So in summary for beginners the cyclock has limited appeal unless you are using a cheap transmitter that does not have eCCPM mixing. In which case the cyclock can do this for you. For more advanced pilot's the cyclock is a marvelous piece of gadgetry that solves a lot of problems that normally cause headaches during mechanical setup. Not only this but it will drive your digital servos at digital frame rates offering faster, more accurate servo movement. It comes highly recommended.

 

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