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Mounting elevators; is this normal?

KMinor

KMinor

Active Member
Is it normal to have to trim this much of the HS skin to allow travel of the elevator counterbalance arms? Just want to make sure I don't cut off anything I can't put back. Thanks!
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That looks like about what I had to trim off of my -7. I was surprised to see that much overlap, but the plans showed a similar amount shaded. And you can bet I double-checked the rod end spacing. And then checked it again.
 
Oops! Obviously, -8 builders would know better. ;) As a -10 builder, we never needed this sort of trimming on the Al. Fiberglass was another matter and required lots of trimming.

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Jae
 
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Elevator to Horizontal Stabilizer Tip Clearance

ElevatorClearance_zpsa799a041.jpg


Above is a clip of the drawing. I did have to cut out the area as you are indicating on my 7 Emp. Make sure to square everything up before removing the material. It's ok to use multiple cuts and a file to sneak up on the spacing.
Chuck
 
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Thank you!

Thanks for all the replies and examples. You've all been most helpful. I knew I had to trim it, but that looked like more trimming than I expected. I emailed Van's when I posted this and their answer was the same. Thanks again!
 
Before you trim- & you have adjusted your elevator hinge rod end bearings to proper alignment, use those tabs to align the elevators for match drilling the bolt hole in the elevator control arms.
 
I'm glad you brought that up, because I asked Van's that question in my email too. Their response was if I was certain the elevator trailing edges were in trail with the stab, and if the trailing edges were even, then go ahead and drill. I've read several builder's logs about this issue. The consensus that I'm coming up with is that its better to have the elevators swing freely to verify that they are in trail. I've read that many people clamp down the counterweight arms to the HS and call it in trail (those tabs have mine effectively clamped down now). The problem, it seems, is that some amount of twist can be introduced during the construction of the counterweight arms, so they might look even with the HS, but the trailing edge not be in trail with the extended chord line of the HS. I'm not going to get in a hurry to trim the tabs just yet. I'm going to tweak the alignment of the rod end bearings, and do more research into how to check the alignment with the extended chord line. I've seen it suggested to wait until the tail is mounted on the fuselage before drilling the control horns for this reason.
 
I'm still tweaking the rod end bearings to square the gaps, but I thought I'd do a preliminary check on the trail with the chord line using a laser level. This side at least looks to be in pretty good shape and if nothing changes with the bearing adjustments, I'm going to drill the control horn before trimming the HS skin. I'm learning as I go, though, so I welcome any suggestions. This seems too simple.
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You will find (via here or talking with builders face to face) that Van does revise over time the parts sent with the kits.

This is one example. My kit had to be trimmed per the plans. Newer ones dont. Other examples of updates are the VS spar reinforcement lightening holes and the heater hole in the firewall.
 
rzbill said:
You will find (via here or talking with builders face to face) that Van does revise over time the parts sent with the kits.

This is one example. My kit had to be trimmed per the plans. Newer ones dont. Other examples of updates are the VS spar reinforcement lightening holes and the heater hole in the firewall.
Click to expand...

What heater hole? Just received my fuse kit and did not see a hole? But I did luck out on the VS
 
bret said:
What heater hole? Just received my fuse kit and did not see a hole? But I did luck out on the VS
Click to expand...

Interesting. I definitely remember that a 9A builder told me his firewall had the 2 " hole in it and I thought other local 7As had said similar.

Vans inventory not FIFO maybe?
 
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