Need advice for Spinner Alignment

[CFI1513840]

I'm in the process of fitting my spinner. Van's instructions say to mark the tip of the spinner and swing the prop with a pointer at the mark to indicate any run-out. In trial fitting the spinner with both front and back bulkheads installed, there is very little or no movement possible. The spinner is essentially locked into place by the bulkheads. I wondered how other people are dealing with this. Even if the spinner required adjustment, I don't see how it could be moved without having to modify the bulkheads is some way. Any advice would be appreciated.

[Bruce]

Ken,
With the plugs out and the spinner on the bulkheads,
use a step ladder and put a pointer on it to the
tip of the spinner.
Rotate and it should not move.--sideways---spinner

If you have to adjust take off the sideclamps and adjust
and do over.

Pretty simple.
Hope it helps.

[jdiehl]

You should be able to make subtle (in-out) movements of the spinner 'till the point remains centered opposite a stationary pointer. I had the spinner securely clamped to the aft spinner plate while rotating the prop. Again, I slightly nudged the spinner in and out until the point was right on the mark. Before setting the spinner, I spaced and drilled #40 holes on the aft plate. When I was comfortable with the setting of the spinner, I matchdrilled through the spinner (yes, it's clear enough to see the pre-drilled holes in the underlying aft plate) and set a few clecos to set it in place. I theen proceeded to rotate the prop several more cycles 'till I was totally certain that the spinner was centered. At that point, I matchdrilled the remainder of the back plate holes. Hope that helps.

Jim Diehl N891DD
RV-7A
Just about ready for final inspection

[RV6airplanePilot]

and likely to be very accurate. If the edge cut on the spinner is matched up with the edge of the backplate you are very likey to have a perfect tip alignment. If the tip is off, first check that your backplate is perfect as mounted. The most accurate final test would be light reflection off a nearby light source while it is rotated. But this is an acid test, hard to set up and slight variations would be very acceptable imho. I spent 8 hours just verifying the factory edge cut was perfect on the spinner. Found that mine and 2 friends were all very good.
Dale
RV6a

[CFI1513840]

Thanks for the advice. One complicating factor is that the plane is still in the basement and I didn't want to install the prop to fit the spinner and then have to remove it to get it out of the basement.This looks like one of those details that will best wait until the plane is in the hangar (hopefully within the next couple of months).

[DanBaier]

Originally Posted by RV6airplanePilot

and likely to be very accurate. ... Found that mine and 2 friends were all very good.RV6a

No alignment issues at all.

[CFI1513840]

It's nearly a perfect fit. The back edge of the spinner lines up with the rear bulkhead almost perfectly. There is no side to side movement with the spinner nested into the bulkheads. It fits like a glove. The only slight adjustment might be to loosen the 4 bolts on the front bulkhead and slide it a little bit within the constraints of the bolt holes, but at the most this would only give about 1/32" lateral adjustment. It would be far easier to drill and install nutplates the way it's sitting on the fixture instead of hanging on the engine. I'm going to go for it, with the thought in mind that the worst case scenario is a new spinner at a hundred bucks (I'm saving my templates).

Thanks again for all the advice. Anyone know what the allowable run-out is? I'm thinking up to about 1/8" would be okay.