Elevator Horn Drilling

[ArVeeNiner]

Last night on my 9A I drilled the elevator horns using the homemade drill block as described in the instructions. I was very careful clamping the elevators at their neutral positions before I drilled. After drilling the holes to full size, I put the bolt, some spacer washers, the rod end bearing, and the nut through the horn holes and tightened finger tight. When I hold one elevator's counterweight arm even with the end of the horizontal stabilizer, the other counterweight arm is about 1/16" above the stab. I'm not too worried about this and a call to Van's confirms it's a non issue but it still BUGS ME! They say that it's so close to the centerline of the airplane that it shouldn't impart any roll in flight.

There still is some movement between elevators because nothing is more than finger tight. Once I get it on the airplane (this is all on the bench) and torqued things will change and I guess I'll worry then.

Now the distance from the holes I drilled and the pivot point is on the order of 3"-4" while the distance from the pivot point to the end of the counterweight arms is on the order of a couple of feet. So any small imperfection in the drilling of the elevator horns is amplified greatly once you get to the end of the counterweight arms.

My question is how did everyone else do? On the flying airplanes out there has this happened to does it make a difference in the flight characteristics? Does it still bug you over time or do you forget about it once you get that permanent RV Grin plastered on your face?

Thanks

Kelly Johnson
San Jose, CA
Gonna drill the tail on the fuselage this weekend!

 

[ArVeeNiner]

I guess I should have read

I should have read all the posts on this subject before I posted. Sorry about that. It seems to be a common problem.

 

[szicree]

I can understand that this would bug you, but when exactly will you or anyone else notice it. The only time the elevators will be positioned in trail is when you're way up in the sky, so unless your plane has a rear view mirror, you'll never see it. I say build on. There will be dozens of these tiny imprefections by the time you're done and you can then choose which ones to fix and which ones to let go.