Counterbalance question

[Maxrate]

I may be getting ahead of myself here but other planes I've worked on the counterballance weight usually needed some tweaking after painting the control surface. Im about to build the rudder and it looks like the counterballance lead weight is totally enclosed. How are you guys making the final ballance adjustment after the paint goes on.

 

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Elevator counterweights may need to be adjusted because gravity pulls on them differently before and after paint, and also because it's good to have both sides balanced equally before connecting them together. There's no gravity working on the rudder and nothing the rudder needs to be balanced against and thus no need to modify the counterweight.

 

[Maxrate]

Easy enough. Thanks for the post Steve.

 

[sgordon]

Maybe a stupid/newbie question. What if one is flying 90 deg bank? At that angle the rudder would be parallel with the earth (acting like an elevator) and gravity would come into play. Maybe the unmodified counterweight is close enough to balanced for such a maneuver.

 

[dhammer]

I don't think -

- the balance has anything to do with gravity or or the orentation of the control surface. It's there to prevent flutter. There is a plus and minus for the balance and I doubt if paint would take it out of that range.

 

[sgordon]

You see, that's what I love about VAF. I am constantly reminded of how much I have to learn. I have been under the assumption that counterweights are intended to keep the control surfaces in a stable straight-and-level. Without counterweights, I assumed that the elevators would have a natural tendency to pitch the airplane downward. I didn't even consider it was there to prevent flutter. You prompted me to research the subject, and I have learned a lot tonight. Thank you.