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Setting Horizontal Stabilizer Angle - Tip

mturnerb

Well Known Member
Looking at this part of the plans, and trying a measuring tape at first, I found it difficult to get consistent measurements solo.

So I came up with what may or may not be a unique solution. I took a piece of wire and crimped a ring connector on it, then secured it to the center forward rivet hole and measured the distance and made adjustments. I was careful to twist the connector to point in the correct direction.

Connector/wire:

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Using small piece of tape to mark exact position at each corner:

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Good way to use those new-found crimping skills! I think I'll use this technique - I was wondering what to use as to not get any stretch/unwinding in whatever string material I was going to use.
 
Drill a #40 hole at 1" mark on a tape measure and cleco it in place. But I have to admit, I like this method, too. Clever thinking.
 
Drill a #40 hole at 1" mark on a tape measure and cleco it in place. But I have to admit, I like this method, too. Clever thinking.

Never thought of that - but somehow it would bother me to drill into my tape measure.
 
Never thought of that - but somehow it would bother me to drill into my tape measure.

If you have a Harbor Freight nearby you can take a coupon and get a free one. Do it again the next month or week or day, and again... I have like six of them.

Also if you foster an attitude of, "modify to make it work" you will save yourself lots of time and effort over the course of a project. Be willing to innovate, it's freeing! :D
 
I find a string is an excellent tool to reference a straight line but it can stretch, even for a short distance. Longer distance makes it worse. I use a metal tape measure when I aligned my horz stabilizer because of it
 
I find a string is an excellent tool to reference a straight line but it can stretch, even for a short distance. Longer distance makes it worse. I use a metal tape measure when I aligned my horz stabilizer because of it

Same here; I just used a tape measure, hooked onto a corner of the stab. IN my case, I used the corner of the elevator counterweight cutout. Measure from there to a spot forward, do it on both sides, move stuff around, do it over again. I didn't find it to be particularly tedious.
 
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