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Aileron to Flap Gap???

RudiGreyling

RudiGreyling

Well Known Member
Hi Guys,

I am about to drill my flap with hinge to the wing on my RV7, but for the life of my can't find any dimensions for the gap between the flap and the aileron. :(

It is not like the hinge is prepunched?? What am I missing here?? Where am I not looking? :confused:

Thanks in advance.
Kind Regards
Rudi
 
I never found it in the plans either, but supposedly an RVator mentioned that it should be 1/4". I choose 7/32" myself. Other builders have used as small as 3/16", but I was worried about the clearance to the aileron attach bolt head. You can see my flaps page for pictures:

http://jmjula3.home.comcast.net/flaps.htm
 
Thank you very much guys, I must be blind I did not notice it..duh :eek:
I must have selective builders block, well my wife says I have it for sure. When I think about the plane and she talks, well you know, I don't hear
 
Last edited:
Rudi, Don't feel badly... I had to phone a friend on that one too!

:eek:

James is right about the the aileron bolt clearance being the issue. Mine is a tad closer too.

:D CJ
 
Gap

Hi all from Uk that is on lockdown for commercial flying as we speak ! :( :( :(

Re the 1/4 " gap - when I did mine I used the trick of duct taping a 1/4" drill perpendicular to the end of the aileron.

This worked very well for maintaing the gap without having to keep checking that the dimension was correct - a tip that I think I picked up from the forums.... :)
 
Blind Spots

RudiGreyling said:
Thank you very much guys, I must be blind I did not notice it..duh :eek:
I must have selective builders block, well my wife says I have it for sure. When I think about the plane and she talks, well you know, I don't hear
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad. There are times where everything runs together on the plans. Especially, when you have to go to several plan sheets while working on the same part.

Wouldn't it be nice if they Van's would go back and revamp the plans to make them like the 10.
 
Looks like the number's 1/4". Mine's in that vicinity and looks/works just fine. Point of my comment is that I've heard people talk about closing up these attachment gaps for appearances, performance, etc. Be *very, very* careful with (closing) any control surface clearances. It might work just fine on the ground, but under flight loads, close and cause control surface binding. haven't ever experienced that, but have read about the consequences. I believe it could ruin your whole day!

2 cents

Bryan
 
Rudy,

While drilling the hinge half to the wing, take care that the hinge remains straight as you approach the wing root. The flap brace steps up onto the spar doubler-doubler and unless you form the angles just right it will tend to push the wing skin down (away from the cord), taking the hinge with it, possibly pushing it aft, also, and misaligning the eyes. I drilled the hinge to the prepunched skin holes, keeping it parallel to the trailing edge, intentionally excluding the brace from the clamp-up, then came back and clecoed in the brace, tweaking it as required to mate with the skin/hinge holes. Straight as a die on airplane #2; airplane #1 requires a bit of cussing to shove the pin through the (slightly misaligned) eyes.

John Siebold
 
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