Hi Chris:
In building my tailplanes I had found I was also getting a good deal of
scraping or galling that no amount of lubing or sanding of burrs would
alleviate. Upon careful inspection and measurement I had found that the
bushings were out of round by a small amuount. This was confirmed by other
members on the board as their's were out also. It doesn't take much .010 -
.016" to spoil one's party. It took some time and patience with the vice
and a pair of calipers to get things round again.
I wasn't too concerned about having the pins exactly level as tail fins
will fall where ever you get your little bushings positioned in the roots
of the horizontal stabs. I used a digital "smart level to get each sided
within a tenth of a degree of one another. The trick I used was to finish
up one side and get it all cured. I then got it anchored to the table nice
and tight after using several of those little machinest's jacks to crank
it to a datum. The other side is now floating as the holes for the
opposite side little bushings have some small amount of play. These have
the flox taking up the small play and machinest's jacks are used to dial
the opposite side stab to the same datum point as the fist. Checks after
completion could find no discernable difference between both sides.
The gaps you mentioned may not neccessarily need the extra work. I noted
that Kim Prout's super smooth plane has all of the gaps covered with some
sort of plastic fairing tape. Attached to the non-movable flying surface
and just flapped back over the moving section. The gaps aren't even
visible.
> [Original Message]
> From: Chris and Susan Beck <n9zes@execpc.com>
> Date: 7/30/00 7:13:08 PM
> Subject: Tailplane questions.
>
> Hi gang,
>
> Got a few questions regarding the final assembly of our tailplanes.
> I've been putting this step off, but it's time to get it out of the way.
>
> 1) When checking the drive pins for level, the left side is a degree or
> so out with respect to the right side, i.e. the plane of the pins are
> not parallel to each other. I don't think this is a concern as long as
> the tailplanes are level with respect to each other before drilling the
> holes for the bushings, correct????
>
> 2) I've noticed a disturbing tendency for the tailplane bushings to gall
> the torque tube, even with light lubrication. Is there a trick to
> this? I can see this becoming a real problem down the road as we rig
> and de-rig the plane repeatedly.
>
> 3) I'm not happy with my hinge fitup on the tabs. The gaps are too
> large and slightly uneven. I plan to drill the rivets out carefully and
> use a hairdryer to soften the epoxy to pop them off. I'll then get some
> fresh hinge stock and try again, using the existing holes in the glass.
> I followed the manual to the letter, but ended up with 1/8" to 3/16"
> gap. Is there a trick? Now that I know what to look for the second
> time, I'm sure I'll do better.
>
> Otherwise, it's going great. I'm amazed at how much "stuff" we have to
> inventory between the fuse and wing kits. Impressive job of packaging
> and labelling, tho. Hat's off to Europa.
>
> We tried to get a Europa demo flight today up at Appleton.
> Unfortunately, this was the first flyable day for demos so far, so they
> had a good list of flights to do. Add that on top of some BIG delays
> trying to get the factory planes out of Oshkosh put it all WAY behind
> schedule. We elected to pass and head home and give the folks that do
> not yet have the joy of a Europa in their home more opportunity to go up
> today and get hooked. We will plan a weekend trip to Lakeland this
> winter and go up and fly. One day we'll actually fly in one!
>
> That's about it for now. Thanks for any help on our questions!
>
> Chris
> A159
>
>
>
--- Steve Hagar
--- hagargs@earthlink.net
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