More flap handle questions

First off, I built my front seat and flap stops exactly according to the drawings. That was long before I had the wings in place so now I'm puzzled. When I bring the handle all the way up onto the top stop, the flap actuator weldment will have to pass through the floor a bit. Is this right? If I then set the pushrod length to achieve 42 degrees deflection, when I retract the flaps they are in trail before the handle gets to floor level. All in all, I'd say the drawing has the stop locations out of whack and that putting them in before getting everything else set was way too optimistic. I'm hoping that others can share what they did before I go out there and try to make it right.

Questions:

1. Should the actuator penetrate the floor to get full deflection?

2. Should the handle sit right on the floor when fully retracted?

3. The manual says 42-44 degrees full, but doesn't mention the intermediate setting. Anyone know?

Please don't be shy about giving lots of detail or even a pic or two . Thanks.

flaps

Steve, I see you are in the Yahoo RV4 group too, so am I. As I said in the yahoo group, I don't think the manual flaps are worth the effort. Even if you get them to where they will work they will still be prone to moving around and if you've ever flown in the back seat of an RV4 you will find the flap handle is quite a nuisance. There is enough flex in the whole setup that makes it very difficult to get it right. As far as following plans and doing things ahead of time is concerned, I have found that this almost never works out. Everything has to be made to fit. A perfect example of this is the instrument panel. If you cut out the instrument panel per the plans it is very likely that you will either be doing more cutting or be buying a new panel because it won't match the canopy frame. I'll bet Van sells lots of RV4 instrument panels.

Flaps

Steve...First notch "15"deg. The flap handle should not be on the floor when fully retracted. Mine is slightly off the floor and has a little bit of pressure on it to hold it under the first detent. When I select 15deg I have to first push down a little to take the pressure off the handle, and move it out from under the detent. First notch can be selected at any speed but to get the second 40deg you have to be slowed to under 80kts. One advantage to manual flaps is that you can "feel" the pressure required to get the second notch (40 deg).....electric actuator you would not be able to feel this and could be possible to bend or break something.
The arms should not go "through" the floor but it is very close, less than 1/8 if I remember.
I did have to make a change after a year to the stops. I had installed them with 3/32 rivets but had to drill them out and put 1/8 rivets in.....the pressures were too much and the stops were starting to loosen up.

Marc DeGirolamo

Marc,

If the handle is not on the floor when the flaps are up, what keeps the air loads from pushing the flaps upward beyond neutral? Are we relying on that little flap-skin overlap under the fuse to prevent them from deflecting upward. The more I look at this, the more confused I get.