Manual Elevator Trim
 

For those who have been flying with Vans manual elevator trim; how do you set the take off (no trim) setting? Is there a notch you feel, visual mark on the controller, or some other measure. Currently, I am sort of guesstimating it. What is the best way to set it? thanks, Jack 9A N489JE (waiting for the wind to calm down for first flight)

Set it Flat & mark the shaft
 

Set the trim tab flat and mark the shaft for visual neutral reference. Hand fly it off and dial off the pressure as you climb out at the desired speed. I take off with the up elevator setting that I had on landing and dial out the pressure. It is a wonderful funtioning system.

Take-off trim
 

I visually check the tab as part of my pre-takeoff checklist. For a normal no-flap takeoff, I set the tab about 1/4" up (nose down trim).
For a short field takeoff (15 degrees flap) I set the tab to neutral. This has worked on my -6 for over 12 years.
Mel

I set my 7A at 0 trim and marked the Vernier shaft with magic marker. I take off at 0 trim. My landing trim is usually too high for take off causing the elevator to be too light. I have an 0-360 with C/S prop.

Roberta

by feel
 

The pad of my left index finger rests on the steel shaft of the manual elevator trim... I can tell just by the feel of it if the trim is correct for takeoff. Of course, if there's a "Bubba" in the backseat, a little more nosedown trim is required(less of the steel shaft exposed). Like Bob Axsom said, you can just fly it off and then dial out the pressure.