Hints for Working the Rotor on the Bell 407

Revision: 1 Dated: 19 June 2004

The following are items I have found that will make working the 407 rotors go faster and with
less heartburn. I have found them while working numerous 407 rotors. These are based on the
407 MM chapter 18 which must be followed and just improve on the details.

1. Put the paint or ink on evenly on all four blades to prevent you from working the
uneven paint for balance and not the blades Insure that the paint or stencil ink on the
leading edge of the blades extends at least 0.5 inch around the top of the leading edge.
This is particularly important when at higher altitudes over 3000 ft MSL. This
prevents the brighter sun from refracting around the leading edge and giving
erroneous track data. Check the paint or ink after every flight or run to insure that it
is not eroded. Insure that the paint or ink is smooth to prevent it from changing the
blade airfoil and contour.
2. Always clean the blades and hub before doing track and balance.
3. Insure that the accelerometers are installed with some slack in the cables somewhat
like a drip loop. Any tension on the wire to the accelerometer may cause problems
with the amplitude and phase angles.
4. When doing a tail rotor, insure that the sun is not shinning directly into the Optical
RPM sensor (photocell) or is at an angle from the right side that will reflect into the
Optical RPM sensor (photocell) from the reflective tape. Either of these will saturate
the Optical RPM sensor (photocell) and give tacho errors.
5. Be sure to remember the following when doing either a main or tail rotor with the
RADS-AT. Always look at the top right corner of the CADU screen to see how
many pages of data there are for that set of displays or corrections. A common
problem for example, is to only do the span wise adjustment for the tail rotor and not
notice that the chord wise adjustments are on page 2. The left/right arrow buttons
move you up and down one page at a time. The up/down arrow buttons may move
you one line or one page at a time depending on the screen you are on. If you can’t
see the data you are looking for then try both up/down arrow buttons to get the page
or lines of data to move as some of the screens scroll differently.
6. Remember that balance affects track and track affects balance. Do not ignore the
weight moves on the main rotor because the Fore and Aft vibrations are low. When
you do any track move the Chordwise balance for that pair of blades will change and
may need the weight change to compensate. Like wise, a weight move may make the
track change required to make the rotor smooth.
7. 10 grams of weight on the main rotor is a significant move and enough to make or
break the limits in both Fore and Aft (FA) or Vertical vibrations. Always do any
weight move that is 7 grams or more.
8. Use the “Edit Defaults” to reduce the “Maximum # of Adjustments” instead of “Edit
Adjustables” if you start seeing a lot of small adjustments. Editing out adjustments
may not get you the best ride very fast. When you use the “Edit Defaults” screen to
reduce the “Maximum # of Adjustments” from “0” (which means all ten are turned on
to begin with) to a “Maximum # of Adjustments” of two or three, you will get the
final ride quickest. Do not mess with any of the other settings on the “Edit Defaults”
page.
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 9. If you have done a major change in the rotor, such as a blade change and are going to
start with the “Initial” program remember:
a. Never!! Never!! go to flight until the CADU states that “All Measurements
are within Manufacturers Specified Limits” for the “Initial” program. “Close”
on track and balance on the “Initial” program is not good enough. You will just
waste time and flights.
b. When you “zero” the tabs, set the tabs to the angle marked on the butt of the
blade. This angle (it is in degrees not minutes because the stencil maker did not
have a degree character but did have an apostrophe mark) is what the blade was
set to fly against the master in the whirl stand. If you set all the blades to their
basic setting, they will be very close on the “Initial” runs. Do not set them to zero
degrees (0 degrees) unless you want to do a few extra runs.
c. You may do the “Initial-NF” which is the “Initial: program with no Frahm
installed. This allows you to do your re-torques without removing the Frahm and
fairing (beanie).
Caution: You must simulate the damper being installed to provide clamp up of
the upper plate assemblies to the dampers with the damper removed. To do this
you must install properly sized spacers or washers along with the proper nuts at
the proper torque on the studs where you removed the dampers. Note that the
spacers ( p/n: 140-007-24S20A8) or washers (p/n: NAS1149F0663P) on the large
portion of the stud are 3/8 inch I.D. and the washers (p/n: NAS1149F0563P) on
the smaller portion of the stud is 5/16 inch I.D.
d. If necessary, you may do the “Idle” test state and do the pitch change link
adjustments only to get started. You must “Edit Adjustables” to turn off the tabs
and weights for the CADU to give you adjustment. Do this until you get the idle
track with in +/- 2 mm.
10. Always work the rotor with the aircraft a mid to heavy mission weight. Do not
change the gross weight of the aircraft more than 200 pounds while smoothing the
rotor.
11. Check your autorotation on the first one or two flights. If it needs to be adjusted, do it
now as it might cause you to have to rework the rotor later if you wait until last. At
Bell Helicopter this is set with a basic aircraft (about 2750 pounds) and full fuel and
two people on board to 97 to 98 % Nr. As the basic empty weight of the aircraft goes
up from this due to kits and user installed equipment, you should increase the speed
approximately one percent for each additional 250 pounds of added equipment.
Autorotation speed should be checked twice a year for changes in speed as the
ambient temperature changes and any time the aircraft is going to be based at an
altitude of 3000 ft different than where the speed was set at before.
12. Always correct your Indicated Airspeed (IAS) for True Airspeed (TAS) for the
altitude and temperature that you are working the rotor at. The RADS data was
gathered at close to sea level altitudes. The coefficients for the adjustments were
designed around these tests where Indicated Airspeed (IAS) is almost exactly True
Airspeed (TAS). At higher altitudes and temps, the Indicated Airspeed (IAS) is much
lower than the True Airspeed (TAS). For example, on a 15 degree Celsius day, at
5000 ft pressure altitude with a barometric pressure of 29.92 in/Hg, an Indicated
Airspeed (IAS) of 100 kts will give you a True Airspeed (TAS) of 110 kts, 120 kts
IAS will give you 131 kts TAS, 130 kts IAS will give you 142 kts TAS. Obviously,
this will really make your rotor not respond to the corrections.

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 a. You may use your trusty E-6B or other flight data calculator to make up a IAS
versus TAS correction chart for the temperature and altitude that you will be
working the rotor at.
b. Or, you may use the chart I have attached to quickly find the corrections. This
chart is accurate within a few knots to match the speed decreases from your
airspeed placard in the aircraft. To use this chart, find the VNE for the aircraft for
the temperature and altitude at which you will be flying. Then find this airspeed
on the left side of the chart and go across it to find the Indicated Airspeed at
which you should fly for each of the RADS-AT test states.
13. Due to variations in blade contours, some blades will not respond properly to the
adjustments from the RADS-AT at higher speeds when the data is taken at lower
temperatures and higher altitudes. You should always check the attached “Suitable
Operating Range For M407 Rotor Work” chart to determine the maximum Indicated
Airspeed you should fly and take data for the aircraft to be guaranteed to respond to
the RADS-AT corrections. To use the chart:
a. Find the altitude you will be flying and taking data at on the bottom of the chart.
b. Go up the chart from the altitude selected until that line intersects with the curved
line or extrapolated line that matches the temperature you will be flying at.
c. Go directly to the left side of the chart to find the maximum Indicated Airspeed
(IAS) you can fly and take data at for working the rotor.
d. I.e.: at 4000 ft PA on a 10 degree Celsius day, the maximum Indicated Airspeed
(IAS) you can fly and take data at is 121 kts. This means that you will not want to
take tests at any above that.

RADS Aircraft Data Delete Code is: 27182818 Which is the natural alogrithm of the number 1.

If you have any questions or suggestions for changes or additions, please contact me.

David C. Burch
Senior Customer Support Representative
Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc./Bell Technical Services, Inc.
P.O. Box 460640
Aurora, CO 80046-0640
Phone: +1-(720)-870-7414 Facsimile: +1-(720)-870-7415
dburch@bellhelicopter.textron.com

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407 Rotor working hints 4 of 6 Revision: 0 Dated: 5/11/2003
Rotor working, Indicated Airpseed versus True Airspeed for the 407 and 412

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 (Max VNE 140 knots)

Find the VNE for the aircraft test Altitude and Temperature from the limits placard in the
aircraft or in the flight manual. Locate this airspeed on the left column below.

Indicated Airspeeds to match the test state as corrected for Placard VNE limits are
in the column below each test state.

60 100 Kts 120 Kts 60 Kts

VNE Limit KtsTest Test Test 130 Kts 140 Kts/VNE Letdown Conversion
from Placard state State State Test State Test State Test State factor

140 60 100 120 130 140 60 1.00

139 60 99 119 129 139 60 0.99
138 59 99 118 128 138 59 0.99
137 59 98 117 127 137 59 0.98
136 58 97 117 126 136 58 0.97
135 58 96 116 125 135 58 0.96
134 57 96 115 124 134 57 0.96
133 57 95 114 124 133 57 0.95
132 57 94 113 123 132 57 0.94
131 56 94 112 122 131 56 0.94
130 56 93 111 121 130 56 0.93
129 55 92 111 120 129 55 0.92
128 55 91 110 119 128 55 0.91
127 54 91 109 118 127 54 0.91
126 54 90 108 117 126 54 0.90
125 54 89 107 116 125 54 0.89
124 53 89 106 115 124 53 0.89
123 53 88 105 114 123 53 0.88
122 52 87 105 113 122 52 0.87
121 52 86 104 112 121 52 0.86
120 51 86 103 111 120 51 0.86
119 51 85 102 111 119 51 0.85
118 51 84 101 110 118 51 0.84
117 50 84 100 109 117 50 0.84
116 50 83 99 108 116 50 0.83
115 49 82 99 107 115 49 0.82
114 49 81 98 106 114 49 0.81
113 48 81 97 105 113 48 0.81
112 48 80 96 104 112 48 0.80
111 48 79 95 103 111 48 0.79
110 47 79 94 102 110 47 0.79
109 47 78 93 101 109 47 0.78
108 46 77 93 100 108 46 0.77
107 46 76 92 99 107 46 0.76
106 45 76 91 98 106 45 0.76
105 45 75 90 98 105 45 0.75

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