983RV Life

Tag: Empennage Attach

  • Empennage Finished & Stored

    Empennage Finished & Stored

    I finally got everything put back together and checked all of the control throws and everything looked great! The elevator goes a few degrees beyond the expected amount. The one odd part I’m going to have to figure out is that I am unable to get the 35 degrees of nose up trim that I’m supposed to get. It only gets to about 31. I tried maxing out the amount I could pull the tab down and just couldn’t get anymore. I’m not sure why that is the case. It has to do with the cables that is for sure. I disconnected the cables from the bellcrank and I still couldn’t get anymore throw out of them even manually. I even maxed out the amount of threads I had inside the trim tab control horn and it didn’t help. Definitely odd but I will work on that when I get towards finishing the plane.

    Another thing I’ll continue to work on when I get to finishing the plane is getting all of the fairing transitioned smoothed out. I talked with a gentleman from church who told me I should back the fiberglass with a washer and that I should also sandwich epoxy between the aluminum and the fiberglass when I redo the riveting. I trust his opinion as he does alot of really solid repair work and he is very meticulous about doing things right. He was an inspector for Southwest so I’m going to bet he knows a thing or two LOL

    Either way, I got all of the parts packed up on the trailer and put it in storage with the RV. It is off the ground and in an enclosed storage unit with the trailer so it should stay safe. I’ve never seen any water intrusion in there through the roof so fingers crossed. I hate having things away from the house where I don’t know what will happen to it but I trust this more than anything else right now.

  • Fixing Elevator Trim Tab Bellcrank Mounts

    Fixing Elevator Trim Tab Bellcrank Mounts

    I decided to go back and fix a mistake I made with the elevator trim bellcrank mounts. I was off when I drilled them and the elevator trim was not within specifications. I drilled out the rivets, threw the mounts away and built two new from scratch. This time they were spot on! I did damage the trim tab rubber gasket on the left elevator so I’m going to have to figure out what to do with that. I’m going to imagine there is some boot I can buy to put on it again… But I got everything almost put back together. I need to re-read the section on how to get the trim tab cables mounted properly again to the bellcrank so that I can then test the elevator trim to see if it is within specifications. I am betting it is now but we’ll see when I get a chance to finish reassembly. Of course I was so busy fixing things that I forgot to take pictures of the work. Here is where I left it tonight.

  • Empennage Attach Section 11 Complete

    Empennage Attach Section 11 Complete

    I finished the rest of the empennage attach work today. I have an issue that I will need to resolve in the future which is the servo throw is not as far as it should be outwards (the servo extending) and it pulls too much in (the servo retracting). I believe it is an issue with the bellcrank brackets that I created. They were off by about 1/16″ and I believe that’s throwing off the geometry. I checked the servo to see if I could change it’s internals but it does not have that capability. I’ll probably have to redo those brackets and be VERY exact on the hole drilling. The part I hate the most is that when you are drilling the tip doesn’t seem to be the center of the drill bit. I will punch a tiny mark to get the center of the hole I need to make and then put the very point of the drill bit on that mark but it always ends up off of that center. Still not sure what I’m doing wrong with it. Next time I make these brackets I’m going to have to start with a small hole and work my way up so that I can make sure that I can correct the hole location as I drill larger and larger.

    Other than that the rest of this went fine! I might have to adjust the location of the cable sleeve jam nuts but that can be fine tuned later towards the end of the project.

    • Looking at the servo throw
    • Trim Servo Assembly installed
    • Threading the inspection plates
    • Installed right
    • Installed left
  • Elevator Trim Servo Mounting Assembly

    Elevator Trim Servo Mounting Assembly

    Eric Muehlberg showed up on August 30th to review what I’ve assembled of the tailcone. He saw everything looked good and he’s going to give me the form on the next EAA chapter meeting on September 9th.

    I got all of the parts primed for the trim tab servo assembly. I put it all of the riveted portions together. I need to figure out a way to power up the servo to actuate it from one end to the other. I just have the last page on the tailcone assembly before I move on to the fairing installation steps.

    • Parts primed
    • Before riveting
    • Trim cables attached
    • Might need to use an AN4-4 or AN4-5 here
    • Trim cables fastened
  • Trim Servo Assembly Initial Work

    Trim Servo Assembly Initial Work

    I started work on the trim servo assembly. I ended up wasting some work on trim bell crank tab as I cut too much out of it. I ordered more aluminum from Van’s to remake the one tab I made. I also finished the other tabs that are used to mount the trim cables. All of the rest of the drilling and countersink work is done. I just need to get the aluminum stock in and then I can finish up the last little bit. Then I’ll prime all of the parts and get it installed. I’m going to start working on the elevator trim tabs tomorrow while I’m waiting on those parts.

  • Elevator Push Rod Completed and Rudder Installed

    Elevator Push Rod Completed and Rudder Installed

    I got the pushrod completed today. I just created 60 ml of primer and just swirled it around on the inside. I checked and it created a complete coverage on the inside. I let it dry for an hour or two before putting the caps on each end with the pop rivets. Got the install of the rod completed and had to file down the rear elevator stop to achieve the 30 degrees of up elevator. I already had enough for down elevator. Then I installed the rudder and it has plenty of throw. I’ll have to get the elevator trim tabs done next so that I can get them installed and check clearance for the ruder on them. I also need to double check my throws even though they seem like they cleared enough. All in all I got quite a bit accomplished today even though we had alot of kid stuff to do today as well as my meeting with the EAA 1612 chapter at David J. Perry today.

    • All components installed right side
    • Pushrod installed
    • All components installed left side
    • Filed down up elevator stop
  • Pushrod Prep

    Pushrod Prep

    I got all of the prep work done for the push rod today. I just need to get some primer on the inside tomorrow, rivet it together and install it. I also got a good hack from the Facebook group. I was having trouble getting my spacing washers installed for my elevator horns and someone suggested using floss. That worked great! I’ll have to remember that in the future.

  • Vertical Stabilizer Attached & Rudder Stop SB Completed

    Vertical Stabilizer Attached & Rudder Stop SB Completed

    I had bought the rudder stop service bulletin hardware a while ago, but just hadn’t executed on it yet since it was up in the attic. I knew I would pull it down at sometime so I just waited. I finally got that done which we can see the completed work below.

    After completing that I was able to get the vertical stabilizer attached as well as reinstall the elevators. I am hoping to get done with the assembly of the rear by the end of this weekend but we’ll see. We have the kids starting school and then we have band and cheerleader stuff we have to go to this weekend.

  • Horizontal Stabilizer Attached

    Horizontal Stabilizer Attached

    I got all of the work done to attach the horizontal stabilizer today. I saw that I did not trim down the shims on the forward portion of the horizontal stabilizer properly so I spent some time reshaping those. Luckily I had to remove more material so it wasn’t a total redo. I also got the vertical stabilizer attached with the clecos to see how it would fit. It looks good and I just need to do the drilling tomorrow.

  • Control Horns Drilled & VS Attach Point Ready

    Control Horns Drilled & VS Attach Point Ready

    I got the control horns drilled, the vertical stabilizer forward attachment point prepped, and I also got all of the horizontal stabilizer spacers cut and stuck on to the forward horizontal stabilizer brace attachment points. I’ll have to figure out where to put the rest of the parts before I turn the empennage around so that I can attach the horizontal stabilizer. I’ll figure that out tomorrow.

    Control horns drilled
    Forward Vertical Stabilizer Mount Prepped
    Spacers done and attached