August 8, 2010
Now it's time to fit the aileron and flap to the wing. This part of the build process must be approached carefully and thoughtfully. Proper alignment and positioning of the flaps and ailerons in the wing will not only affect the fit and finish of your airplane, but will also affect the flight characteristics. Take your time and get this part as perfect as possible.
Wife Michelle, came out to hang out with me, so I put her to work removing
the paint from the insides of the hinges, so the bearings could be installed.
Here she is using the dremmel with a small drum sander to remove the
paint and open the hole a bit to get the bearings in:
The holes need to be opened enough that the bearing will almost go in but
not quite go in all the way. Note the rubber mallet that Michelle used
to tap them a bit.
Looking at the plans (drawing 13) you will see that these bearings should
be a "press fit". This means they should be snug enough that you cannot
just press them in with your fingers, but will need to press them in with
something like a hydraulic or arbor press. If you can simply slide them in
with your fingers, they are too loose.
A "press fit" will prevent the bearings from spinning or being loose in the
hole. If you have a hydraulic press, that's fine, but since we are trying
to build this airplane with minimal tools, we used a "redneck press" to install
our bearings. Here it is:
As you can see, this involves a couple of sockets and a "C" clamp and four
or five hands to hold it all aligned while you tighten it. The one socket
is not aligned properly. It slipped just as I took the picture.
You could also do this on a bench vise. One socket should be small enough
that it will slide inside the aileron mount hole and the other one large
enough that it won't slide inside. The hole is opened up enough that the
bearing will not slide in with your fingers but will slide in part-way.
There should be some resistance. Once it's to that point, use a press
or a set-up like we did in the photo above to "press" the bearing the rest
of the way into the aileron or flap mount. Here is what it looks like pressing
the bearing in using a bench vise:
Here is the bearing after being pressed into the mount. Note that it should
be centered side-to-side in the mount:
We also temporarily installed the rod end bearings in the aileron drive
push rod.
Next drill out the aileron and flap hinge mounts in the location shown on
drawing 13. Clamp two of the hinges pieces together and match drill them.
Start with a small drill bit and gradually open up the hole to 3/16":
One note of Caution: - When measuring for these holes, don't rely on
just the radius from the curved/rounded edge of the hinge to the hole. The
radius is given, but should not be the primary way to locate the
hole.
Once you have the holes drilled out, temporarily install these hinge pieces to the aileron and flap mounts on the wing.
If you want to, you can drill out the pop rivets that hold the braces on the aileron/flap and then use some "C" clamps to clamp the aileron to the hinge pieces. Mark them for location so you can reinstall them correctly later.
I opted to use some large slide clamps with blocks of wood as spacers, to clamp the aileron to the wing hinge mounts.
Now try rotating the aileron up and down to check for clearance. When I mounted
mine, I found that the sharp edge part of aileron nose skin actually comes
into contact with the bottom wing skin and cannot rotate up, as you can see
here:
I was able to trim the wing skin about 1/8" and still have good edge distance
for the rivets, but still found that the aileron was almost touching the
wing skin.
The final solution was to make some .125" thick aluminum spacers (3/4" outside
diameter, with a 3/16" hole in the center) and place one of them between
each hinge mount leg and the rear wing spar
capstrip:
That spaced the aileron outward an additional 1/8", giving me enough clearance
between the wing skin and aileron nose skin. You need a minimum of 1/8"
clearance. (Note: on the newer wing
kits from Avipro, this issue has been fixed and no spacers are
needed)
There are two adjustments that can be made while installing the aileron hinge
mounts to the aileron spar You can slide the aileron side-to-side and you
can slide it up or down on the mounts. Start by clamping or bracing the aileron
in the flight neutral position, with the trailing edge of the aileron aligned
with the trailing edge of the tip rib. I simply clamped a paint stir stick
to the tip rib and let the aileron rest on the stir stick:
The correct spacing between the aileron and the wing tip rib is approximately.
1/2":
Once you have the proper clearance between tip rib and aileron, you will need to adjust the aileron up or down to create a smooth blend with the wing. Again, make sure your aileron is braced up to be level with the tip rib and in the flight neutral position.
To adjust height, I used a 6' long metal ruler, laying it on the wing and
allowing the end to hang over the aileron. Laying this ruler flat, it conforms
to and matches the wing shape. Its easy to see if the aileron is too high
or too low by looking at it's relationship to the metal ruler:
Check the aileron positioning at both ends to assure that you have a smooth
flow from wing to aileron and that the aileron is a continuation of the wing
shape.
Once you have the position correct on the bottom of the wing (remember, this
wing is laying on the table, bottom side up), check it on the top side of
the wing as well. I used a shorter metal ruler for this:
Again - note how we have a smooth transition from wing to
aileron.
Now stand back and look at the gap full length. Make sure it is even and the aileron is not tilted one way or the other.
Click here to go to Fitting the Flap and Aileron to
Wing page 2
