Simple successes make it all worth while

[Rick_A]

A couple of weeks ago I installed and rigged my elevators for what I thought was the last time. Then my brother, Walt, came to help me with my wing installation and informed me that the elevator had waaaaay to much drag and needed to be fixed.

I probably spent 30 to 40 hours working on getting it right. I finally got it down to about 6 oz. of break-out force and was about ready to say good enough. Walt didn't agree, so I went back to work.

Well, after about another 5 hours work , I finally got them to where they move with the touch of a feather. This simple success made my day despite last nights election news.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by Rick_A

A couple of weeks ago I installed and rigged my elevators for what I thought was the last time. Then my brother, Walt, came to help me with my wing installation and informed me that the elevator had waaaaay to much drag and needed to be fixed.

I probably spent 30 to 40 hours working on getting it right. I finally got it down to about 6 oz. of break-out force and was about ready to say good enough. Walt didn't agree, so I went back to work.

Well, after about another 5 hours work , I finally got them to where they move with the touch of a feather. This simple success made my day despite last nights election news.

Rick,
Keep this up and you will be rewarded with a great flying RV.
A lot of RV's fly well, but this type of effort does make a difference, an is the difference between a good flying RV and a great flying one (a lot of people have never experienced teh true RV handling qualities to the full extent possible). The pitch stability is improved and it gives the ultimate handling qualities that are possible with an RV.

[Walt]

We used to have a saying at the last place I worked:

"The difficult we do immediately, the impossible take a little longer".

Take your time, do it right, you'll appreciate it later

Keep up the good work Rick, you're almost there (but don't get in a hurry!)

[kiwipete]

Rick

What did you find to reduce the breakout force?

Peter

[deene]

It's always worth it to do it right...

Didn't realize you were at the airport already. Let me know the next time you will be at the hangar and I'll stop by and chat.

[Rick_A]

Peter, both elevator moved freely when they were not connected together. The problem was when I connected them through the center bearing. They would be fine until I tightened the center bolt.

I thought the problem was in washers & spacers next to the center bearing. I had bushing that I made which were too big, so I started by trying to get a combination of regular and thin washers but that was fruitless. I went back to work on filing down the bushings until they fit just right. (This was a slow process since getting the fender washer and bushing inserted between the elevator horns and bushing is very challenging. I got real good at using the "string" method.) Getting the bushing right helped alot.

When I eyeballed through the center bearing to the individual elevator horns, there seemed to be a slight mis-alignment between the holes in the horn and bearing. In order to get the bolt through both horns and the bearing I had to push a little on one of the horns. So I loosened the bolts on the bearing and re-tightened then with the elevators in place - not sure if this helped much.

Finally, I started tweaking the bearing in the elevators themselves. I re-checked the distance between the center of the bearing and elevator spar. I got smart this time and did it by running a string through the center of the bearing. The plans called for 13/16 to 7/8's, I was just a little over 7/8's so I started by turning each bearing in 1 full turn. I had to tweak these bearing a half turn a time but that's what finally did the trick.

BTW. Walt also insisted that I have a minumum of 2 threads exposed when the nuts were tight and to use no more then 1 washer under the bolt head and 2 washers under the nut. I replaced all the -7 bolts in the elevator hinges with -10 bolts using 1 washer under the head and 1 washer under the nut.