Hi Fred
I added a second lower hinge on my XS monowheel as I am
using factory setup for monowheel tailwheel. When doing so, I added some
reinforcement on the inboard side of flange to not only stiffen things,
but to offset rudder to the starboard and a G-10 spacer.
In
other words instead of mutilating sternpost/removing materialto get
rudder offset more starboard, I put more space between the rudder hinge
and the rudder flange. It nets to perhaps halfway less filler that will be
needed compared if I left it as per manual.
I can't
remember exactly, but think lower hinges got 2 BID on the inside of the
flange and a thin ~ 1/16" piece of G-10 under the lower 2 hinges, and
it was necessary to put ~ 1/8" piece of G-10 under the middle and
upper hinge to make all have the same hinge line. Yes I needed to redo all
hinges on my rudder.
I saw fiberglass cracked around lower
hinge of a taildragger @ 2007 Rough River. There can be a lot of stress on
lower hinge with factory setup. As Graham pointed out if you were to push
both rudder pedals at the same time, or John Hurst pointed out lower hinge
area tends toget cracking around hinge area in fiberglass.
Instead of switching over to Singleton rudder/tailwheel mod I:
Added a second lower hinge
Reinforced both lower hinges 2 BID
outside and think 2 BID inside of flange
Reinforced lower heel
closeout for rudder drive
Fabricated some close fit Titanium spacers
instead of usinga stack of washers
At same time offset hinge so
rudder is moved outboard
Note on hinges, manual shows picture
(on aileron) where the part that wears out is on the surface that is
bonded and riveted. I like idea of putting part that wears out as the
movable surface much better. Also when bonding hinges,I used Redux
to make bond, and first ply of glass is Redux/BID/Peelply for better
aluminium bind.
I have some pix and details:
http://www.europaowners.org/modules.php?set_albumName=album223&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
Ron Parigoris
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