miyu1975

miyu1975

Well Known Member
Can someone explain to me why the right side E counterweight has to be cut down but not the left side. Is there some sort of p-factor reason for this?
 
ok..but the heavy weight is on the left side.??? plus mine is going to be manual trim. Do I need to trim the left weight too.?
 
Balance

The trim tab makes the elevator heavier so the counterweight must be heavier.
The right elevator is lighter so the counterweight must be lighter.

hope this helps.
 
My RV-7 left elevator counterweight seems light as my trailing edge balances lower than even trail (and they aren't painted yet). Is this normal? I haven't installed the fiberglass tips yet. Will that make the front portion heavier when I do that or will I have to add weight? It doesn't look like it will take much weight to bring the balance forward.
Thanks,
 
My elevators were perfectly balanced, but then I hooked up the elevator and aileron pushrods, and rigged everything, and now the elevators rest in the Up position. I'm wondering if this is OK. Are they supposed to be balanced without pushrods connected or with?
 
flybill7 said:
My elevators were perfectly balanced, but then I hooked up the elevator and aileron pushrods, and rigged everything, and now the elevators rest in the Up position. I'm wondering if this is OK. Are they supposed to be balanced without pushrods connected or with?
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The elevator balance should be done without connecting the pushrod. For maximum protection from flutter, the counterweights should be such that each elevator is in balance, without having the elevators connected together.

Many folks have balanced the two elevators as a unit, with them bolted together. This will yield a bit less protection from flutter, but RVs balanced this way aren't falling out of the sky, so it appears to provide more than adequate flutter protection if Van's VNE recommendation is respected.
 
Dave Watson said:
My RV-7 left elevator counterweight seems light as my trailing edge balances lower than even trail (and they aren't painted yet). Is this normal? I haven't installed the fiberglass tips yet. Will that make the front portion heavier when I do that or will I have to add weight? It doesn't look like it will take much weight to bring the balance forward.
Thanks,
Click to expand...

Dave,

My left elevator counterweight was also light. Installing the fiberglass didn't change it much, if at all. I haven't riveted the tips yet, but before I do, I will add some weight to balance it properly. I've read other posts on here that others have also experienced a light counterweight on the left elevator. There are also posts on installing a platenut at the tooling hole of the counterbalance arm to allow the addition of weight after painting to help acheive perfect final balance. I plan on doing this myself. Don't worry about it and keep on building.

Brad
 
qiutong said:
Dave,

My left elevator counterweight was also light. Installing the fiberglass didn't change it much, if at all. I haven't riveted the tips yet, but before I do, I will add some weight to balance it properly. I've read other posts on here that others have also experienced a light counterweight on the left elevator. There are also posts on installing a platenut at the tooling hole of the counterbalance arm to allow the addition of weight after painting to help acheive perfect final balance. I plan on doing this myself. Don't worry about it and keep on building.

Brad
Click to expand...
Thanks Brad! I'll do that.
What would I do without this message board and the people on it?
 
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