Although the stock RV-3 design has simple and effective manual flaps, we wanted to do something different with the interior that wouldn?t really leave room for the flap handle. We weren?t exactly pioneering electric flaps on a -3?.that had already been done by a number of people, including Randy Lervold. Randy used a custom version of the ?standard? linear actuator that Van?s sells, but when we tried to go that route, the response we got back from the supplier was ?we won?t supply to aviation projects?. Hmmm?.ok, I guess we?ll just go to the internet and search for ?DC linear Actuators?.
Here we go ? only about 100,000 hits or so. And this model seems to be pretty standard in the 12 volt world with 120 lbs capacity and whatever stroke length you want (as long as it is even inches) . The unit has internal limit switches that turn off the motor at end of travel, which is very convenient. Unfortunately, for our project, we needed a stroke distance in between an even number of inches, so we had to rig an external ?up? stop micro switch ? something pretty standard in many RV?s. The actuator cost about $100 ? a bargain, and quite rugged.
One other modification we had to make was how it attached. The ?fixed? end was pretty easy ? I simply built a bracket of sheet steel, bent and drilled to attach to the seat back bulkhead. The moving end, however, really needed to have a Heim bearing, and the stock actuator simply had a hole drilled cross-wise through the shaft. Fortunately, our airpark has another RV builder with a machine shop in his hangar, and rusty was able to turn an adapter that slipped over the shaft and provided a drilled ad tapped hole for the Heim bearing. For the RV-3 installation, the only other thing we needed was a flap actuator torque tube without a handle, and with a little bracket on one side to attach the motor. This was also easy to obtain ? all it took was a phone call to Russ McCutcheon, the man who builds the stock torque tubes for Vans. It was nothing for him to make up a special assembly for us.
As with any new component, we?ll have to see how it does in service over the long haul, but I found that it was a compact and inexpensive alternative to the norm, and since we were essentially building from scratch, it was easy to incorporate. It also has the benefit of being about twice as quick as the normal RV actuator, so the flaps are quite snappy!
Paul
Here we go ? only about 100,000 hits or so. And this model seems to be pretty standard in the 12 volt world with 120 lbs capacity and whatever stroke length you want (as long as it is even inches) . The unit has internal limit switches that turn off the motor at end of travel, which is very convenient. Unfortunately, for our project, we needed a stroke distance in between an even number of inches, so we had to rig an external ?up? stop micro switch ? something pretty standard in many RV?s. The actuator cost about $100 ? a bargain, and quite rugged.
One other modification we had to make was how it attached. The ?fixed? end was pretty easy ? I simply built a bracket of sheet steel, bent and drilled to attach to the seat back bulkhead. The moving end, however, really needed to have a Heim bearing, and the stock actuator simply had a hole drilled cross-wise through the shaft. Fortunately, our airpark has another RV builder with a machine shop in his hangar, and rusty was able to turn an adapter that slipped over the shaft and provided a drilled ad tapped hole for the Heim bearing. For the RV-3 installation, the only other thing we needed was a flap actuator torque tube without a handle, and with a little bracket on one side to attach the motor. This was also easy to obtain ? all it took was a phone call to Russ McCutcheon, the man who builds the stock torque tubes for Vans. It was nothing for him to make up a special assembly for us.
As with any new component, we?ll have to see how it does in service over the long haul, but I found that it was a compact and inexpensive alternative to the norm, and since we were essentially building from scratch, it was easy to incorporate. It also has the benefit of being about twice as quick as the normal RV actuator, so the flaps are quite snappy!
Paul