PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Balancing Control Surfaces
View Single Post
Old 20th September 2000 | 17:40
  #5 (permalink)  
rightstuffer
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Unhappy

Wow - there's encouragement for you....! Tinstaafl - I'm afraid you're in the realms of airframe design here. Poor old lowNslow has already had Mr Piper design his ailerons, he just needs a steer on the trimming!

lowNslow, if its any help, I can bring many years of trimming out R/C model aircraft for you.

First, with the ailerons off the wing, weigh each one and try to get them as close as poss. Second, weigh the ends to check that they're both similar.

Next, put them back on the aircraft and, (having checked for warps of course) clip them parallel to the TE and re-set the control runs to match. There should be something in your manual about whether they are set level, or with wash-in or wash-out pre-set. Washout is safest if there's any doubt, but 'drooping ailerons' were a feature of many very early designs; airflow picked them up once under way. (My AA-5 for example, has the flaps pre-set with a 3 degree droop which is picked up by the air flow in flight to give them zero degrees under load.)

Everything else should have been designed in for you including mass-balance (best anti-flutter device). Taking any slop out of the control runs is also good practice, but again your rigging instructions should specify that because it can be quite critical.

Here endeth the lesson....

BTW, when are we going to see this magnificent silver bird in flight ....?

[This message has been edited by rightstuffer (edited 20 September 2000).]