europa-list
[Top] [All Lists]

Europa-List: Mass Balance Arm Cable Attach

Subject: Europa-List: Mass Balance Arm Cable Attach
From: Tony Renshaw <tonyrenshaw@optusnet.com.au>
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 13:29:45

Gidday,
I am studying my tailplane setup and wondering if it is normal to have the 
cables that stabilise the mass balance arm wrapped around the white plastic 
tubes in such a fashion that the looping creates an overlap on the back 
edge of the plastic sleeve, held in position under tension only by the 
small protrudence of the pin base? Now I am unsure which way the pins 
should be, but I have decided that I want the heads of my pins forwards, as 
I have little holes adjacent in the rear tail bulkhead that will be 
accessible from another hole in the sternpost, so that I can use a long rod 
to tap them out again in the future, plus also drive them home from within 
the tail. This is probably the normal way anyway, to have the heads facing 
forwards, but I haven't reviewed the manual on this as I have my own 
intentions anyway. So, I do however have the problem that if the cable was 
to flex on one side, it could enable the slack side to slip inboard over 
the tail of the pin. Whether this would ever  happen is probably the 
question to ask, as it would mean that the other cable under tension would 
have to stretch to allow the other to go slack. I suppose this then begs 
another question which is how tight to make these cables. I have 
turnbuckles, so I can tweak them until they are tight as I like. Is there 
any advice as to how tight is enough an not too much. I suppose the tighter 
the less likelihood of further stretching which is what I am trying to 
negate with a lateral load, which is of itself a questionable load anyway. 
How am I going to fly my plane in such a fashion that I get a lateral load 
of sufficient strength that it allows one cable to stretch and the other to 
go slack and slip over the tail of the pin. My aircraft probably would 
break elsewhere. I am simply seeing the length of my pins as being 
apparently inadaquate to also act as a containment




<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>