Steve,
Mine did this too. I simply machined a part of the mass balance away,
so that it looks rather like a truncated cone at the forward end. Then
it cleared OK.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Hagar
Subject: Tailplane mass balance stops
I'm up to another case of looking for someone who has been in a
similar "been there done that" situation. I am in the process of putting
in the bulkhead and stops for the tail plane mass balance. During the
first iteration, (setup as described in the manual), things did not pan
out as expected (typical). The end result was that the aircraft nose
down travel (balance up) exceeded limits of bulkheads.
The second iteration involved getting rid of the big fat wooden dowel
and rubber hose stop (1.5" dia) and replacing them with a UHMW type
material stop around the cross bolt with a dia of .5" to get the mass
weight down lower to start with. At this point the weight stops about
1.2" above the tailplane push tube in its lowered position. The end
result was that it looked close, though the next step was to get
technical and actually lay the top of the aircraft on the whole mess
before continuing.
With the top on, the weight smacks the top of the fuselage being a
little over a degree short of the minimum amount required of nose down
travel. Granted only 5 degrees is called for but I am short over 20%.
I see my direction now as doing some creative machining of the steel
weights when it comes time for metal removal and balancing to get
clearances. Or to do some beefing up of the lower stop to allow the
weight to get even closer to the tube at its bottom travel.
Any "out of the box" insights would be much appreciated.
Steve Hagar
A143
Mesa, AZ
--- Steve Hagar
--- hagargs@earthlink.net
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