Left elevator balancing

[Simon Hitchen]

Ive just completed the left elevator and installed it on the HS to check for fit.
Everything looks good and its good to see it all coming together. I am puzzled that the elevator tips down and the counterbalance weight doesnt seem heavy enough. I havent screwed the electric trim servo and 615pp to the elevator yet, nor have i installed the fiberglass tip. Obviously paint is to come, am i missing something here? The instructions say the counter balance weights will over balance the elevators at this point

 

[JoeG]

Silly Question...

I know this may sound obvious, but is the HS/Elevator upside down?

 

[fodrv7]

Balanced as a pair

Mine was similar.
The left Elevator was slightly tail heavy even after painting and so all the balancing was done by drilling out the Right Elev counter weight during final assembly with the elevators bolted together at the elev horn.
I saw over 220KT during VNE testing and it was solid as a rock.
Pete.

 

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

Everything looks good and its good to see it all coming together. I am puzzled that the elevator tips down and the counterbalance weight doesnt seem heavy enough.

Mating the tail surfaces now. Same thing. Very slightly tail heavy. Of course, most of the plastic is still on, but I figure that will approximate the weight of paint. No fiberglass installed. I'm not particularly worried about it. Interesting thing, though, when I attached the pushrod, and adjusted it so the bellcrank was perfect at 90 degrees, the tail seemed even more tail heavy.

In the end, I figure if I need to, I can always put some of the lead tape in there somewhere, but I doubt it's going to be much of an issue.

 

[RV_7A]

If you have the new style weights and trim them per Vans plans, they come out too light. I trimmed mine precisely like they instruct only to find out later I was adding lead shot/epoxy to the inside of my fiberglass tip. Easy enough to fix but it would be nice if it was trimmed and too heavy. It would be much easier to drill more lead away after final assembly.

-Jeff

 

[kentb]

Mine were balanced perfectly...

Until I painted the plane. I then needed to add about 1 lb of lead shot/epoxy to the fiberglass tips. I drilled a hole in the rib and pored it in.

Kent

 

[RV7Guy]

Too early

I'd wait till you get everything on then work on the balance. On my 7 I balanced mine with the counterbalance approximately 1/4" below level. After paint, the balance point was about the same. I didn't mess with anything and it flies great.

The paint had little no affect on the balance.

 

[Simon Hitchen]

THANKS,

Thanks guys,

Wont worry too much about it until later on. At least it seems like a common problem and not specific to something I've done.

Build on, and on and on....