Dear Mono Fraternity
I have struck upon an idea which I thought might interest other Mono
believers.
The revelation that my flaps no longer retracted as nicely once the
outrigger legs were installed caused me some angst and disappointment to the
extent that I investigated more closely the geometry of the outrigger
mechanism. Whilst adjusting the flaps to go home more firmly yielded
a slight improvement, I found the outriggers still wanted to hang down
slightly.
My calculations revealed (subsequently confirmed with a spring balance)
that the force exerted by the flaps through the push rod OR5 to hold an
outrigger fully up (horizontally) is in the order of 18kg (40 lbs).
I found that this amount of force causes spring in the train from the flap
drive pin to the outrigger mechanism significant enough to cause the
outrigger to sag somewhat from the fully up position. By fully up, I mean
the nylon leg touching the bottom of the flap hinge.
My solution has been to install a small gas strut as depicted in the
attached photos.
If you haven't witnessed how much better the operation of the outriggers are
with this set-up, you would probably find it hard to believe the difference
it makes to the whole operation of the flaps and outriggers.
Expected advantage achieved:-
Only that the outrigger leg would be fully supported by the gas strut when
the leg is up (no force required by the flap at all)
Unexpected advantages achieved:-
When the wing is removed, because the outrigger is held up by the gas
strut, the flap does not want to fall down and is in fact quite positively
held up. Have you never removed a wing and had the flap fall down?
When the outrigger leg extends, the gas strut goes slightly over centre
and to a small degree assists the leg to lock down.
The force required to extend or retract the outrigger leg seems to be
about the same in both directions. It needs a slight force to start it on
its way down and likewise, a small force to start it on its way up again.
Disadvantage:-
The only one I can see is the extra weight of the two gas struts
which I am prepared to wear.
The only caveat is that I have not flight tested it yet unfortunately
but I have a high degree of confidence it will be every bit as good as the
standard set-up if not better. One thing that will be better for sure is
that the outriggers will not hang down resembling a lame duck!
Cheers
Kingsley in Oz
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