flickroll

flickroll

Well Known Member
I have just finished up a retrofit installation of the latest style tips to my -8. When the new tips were installed, both of them, at the trailing edge, where up a little (1/8") relative to the aileron in aileron/flap neutral. I split the trailing edge of both tips, and realigned them with the aileron when the ailerons and flaps were in perfect alignment, and epoxied them together with flox. Today I was finally able to fly the airplane with the new tips. The left side is perfect - flaps, ailerons and tip in perfect alignment. The right side is off a little. The flap and tip appear to be in perfect alignment, but the aileron is deflected up about 1/8" - 3/16". I honestly cannot remember how the alignment was with the old tips. In any event, what is the best way to correct this situation? I don't think resplitting the tip would help since the tip rib is riveted in place and would not allow any shifting of the trailing edge. I suppose I could live with it but want to make it right if possible. The airplane flies about half a ball out of trim so I do know I need a little rudder trim, but it was this way with the old tips. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks
 
trailing edge alignment

I couldn't seem to get the flaps, ailerons, wing tips perfectly lined up on
both wings on my initial try.

The error was about the same, maybe 3/16" on one side.

Really bugs me. I'm going to try to correct it on final assembly.

Having said that, I've compared my initial results with the certified plane I'm
flying (rental DA20). Its WORSE than my RV. It also has trim tabs on one aileron and the rudder. The ball is slightly off during cruise flight.

Sometimes I think I'm being too much of a perfectionist with my RV.

I think it'll fly just fine...

Just my two cents.

Dave
finish kit -9A
 
Thanks for the reply. You're right, the Bonanza I used to fly was a LOT worse than this. I think I am WAY too anal about this... I talked to Ken at Van's today and he started laughing....'you're worried about 1/8"....ha ha ha'

So it sounds like this is somewhat normal and probably no easy way to correct. The airplane does fly straight, except for the 1/4 - 1/2 ball that I need to fix with a rudder wedge.
 
1/8 inch?? try 3/4

Both of my wing tips had a heck of a curve in the trailing edge. I could line it up with the aileron and site down the trailing edge from the flap and the very tip was over 3/4? low on one and 3/8? on the other. Had no choice but to slit it open and re-epoxy it back together. You would think that who ever lays these things up would have some sort of jig set up so it would be straight. Sure makes for a lot of extra work?. :mad:

Mark Erickson
RV9A
Getting ready for paint
 
Mine Too

I had the same problem with the tips on my 6. I bought the newer 7 style tips. I lined everything up with the jigs to get the ailerons and flaps perfectly lined up with the jigs in the tooling holes at the end of the wing. Then I lined up the wing tips to that. My tips were WAY off. not only lining up with the aileron but they were also warped. The inboard portion of the tip was out about an inch, but out towards the end of the tip it was almost 2 inches. It looked terrible. I did the same thing and cut the tip apart and reglassed it into line. It came out prtty good though I think I added a bit of weight doing it. Then the other problem was how it all fit against the fuse. My flaps are a bit low at the fuselage. So now I want to redo my fuse to wing fairings to match the flaps better. It's one thing after another. But I will tell you my plane flys real nice and straight.
 
When you get to Oshkosh, take a look at Van's demonstrators. I had the same feelings that have been expressed here (mine are off about 1/8th inch) and it was driving me crazy. I looked at Van's airplanes at Sun n Fun....they're alignment is worse than mine. I walked away satisfied with mine. Van's crew flew the airplanes diagonally across the USA. If there was a performance problem, I'm sure Vans would have made corrections. And, you are right.....most RV builders are much too anal.

David Watson
Quincy, Florida
 
fix things in order

From your original post, it seems you're questioning aileron alignment, not just tips. Getting everything to line up nicely on the wings is tedious, but very straightforward. So if you think something is out of whack, just check things in the following order.

1) With stick in neutral position, are both ailerons perfectly neutral? With tips removed, you check this against the tooling holes on the outboard ribs. If something is not right there, you fix this with the aileron jig in place on the side you're adjusting. Change the length of the wing pushrod to achieve a vertical stick. Change the aileron pushrod to get a neutral aileron. Do it for both sides.

2) Does the flap reach neutral in the full up position? Do both flaps extend down the same amount? Check for skin interference on the flap fairing and adjust flap push rods as necessary.

3) With ailerons and flaps now perfect, put the wingtip on. If something ain't right, it's the wing tip. On my -7 tip, I was able to influence the alignment a little by fudging the tip rib into the position that wanted to hold the tip in neutral. If that doesn't do it, then I guess some glasswork would be the only other recourse. I didn't find this necessary in my case. The tips were slightly long, but some minor sanding produced a clean trailing edge.

Good luck,

Don
 
I've been fighting a heavy left wing. I know I have a wing tip on the right side that is down about 1/8 inch. I just don't feel like cutting it or anything like that. Take away from flying. So I hit the left aileron from the trailing edge to make it fatter, worked, and squeased the right aileron on the right. Originally I put a trim on the right underneath aileron. That worked great. But I wanted to get rid of that so I tried the aileron bit. What happened and this was real bad after the engine broke in. I had heavy right wing at slow speeds and heavy left wing at high speeds. Last night I squeased the left aileron and fattened the right, to put it back to where I built them, than I put the trim, wedge, whatever you want to call it back under the right aileron. It flys perfect now, hardly any trim input. I'm leaving it. The wedge will be put on perminate. I'm going flying. If somebody can see my trim I put on the right aileron at a fly in, so be it. I don't care.
 
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