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Elevator Installation (Completion)
Team,
I have finished the installation of the control horn assembly now we are ready to install the left elevator half. I'll begin by removing the tape that is temporarily holding the left elevator in place, but you will notice that the tape holding the right elevator in a neutral position is still in place. Check it to see that the tape has not come loose and that the elevator counterweight is perfectly level with the horizontal stabilizer. This will be important for the installation of the left side. I removed all the hinges and applied Vaseline as we did on the right side and then filled all the holes with 30 min epoxy. Then I applied the epoxy to the hinges and placed them in the elevator holes. The last epoxy applied was into the slot for the joiner. I was a little more generous here because the joiner will move a little and we need to fill the small gaps when we true the counterweight and the stabilizer with the popcicle and the tape. RCMC ImagesView all Images in thread
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What is your thought on this tip I heard a while back. When putting the vasoline on the hinge, take a lighter and put a little flame on it. It melts the vasoline and gets it into the middle of the joint, then you put one more dab on the hinge.
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Quote:
I have heard of guys heating up the Vaseline so that is flows into the hinges and it seems like a good idea to me as long as you are careful with the flame. I don't use the technique only because I haven't had the need. I bend the hinge to full lock in one direction and apply the Vaseline to the hinge joint with a small flat screwdriver and sort of force it into the joint. Then I move the hinge to the other lock position and repeat the process. So far I haven't had an bound hinges due to epoxy. Here are a few facts: The flame of a match is between 1100 and 1500 degrees (F), Vaseline will melt at around 99 degrees (F) and the fumes of Vaseline will ignite when the Vaseline turns to a liquid. It seems that the match is overkill for getting the Vaseline into the hinge joint I was wondering and haven't tried it; could you use the heat gun? Most heat guns we have for appling covering and taking out wrinkles will get into the 300 degree (F) range. I know the air is not as focused as the flame but you could stand the hinges in a block of wood for the procedure. RCMC |
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Great job, I'm sure this will really help people especially someone that's never done it.
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Okay guys, since this is titled the Build and Repair thread, I though we could have some fun looking at my landing gear on my 70" Slick.
This is my original 70" Slick and she has been thoroughly abused. To give a quick brief history, I cracked the landing gear plate a couple of years ago, and fixed it, and need to throw a smaller carbon fiber tube inside the original one, as the original one got cracked (these are the two tubes that start at the first full former where the cowl joins the fuse, all the way back through the landing gear formers and stops a few formers later). Then, last summer, I ripped the gear out, as well as the block. I repaired it then by digging out part of the remaining landing gear plate, and replacing it with another piece of ply. I put the blind nuts into the piece of ply and then glued that piece of ply to the remnants still in the slot and finished filling in as necessary (thus the blind nuts were sandwiched between the new and old piece of ply). Well, that worked fine until I did it one more time. This time, there was no damage to the surrounding area, so I was simply able to re-epoxy the plate back into place (still with the blind nuts there). Well, two flights later (and really on a relatively smooth landing) it ripped out again, and again with no damage to the surrounding area. FYI, the landing gear itself isn't even cracked. So, my thought is that either (a) my epoxy has gone bad, or (b) I should find a better way to fix this. My current though is that I will cut the covering on the side of the fuse and build a new plywood block, predrilled and with blind nuts already installed that I will place on top of the gorilla glue on the inside of the fuse. I will then get longer bolts, and drill through the gorilla glue. I will then re-epoxy the remnants of the landing gear plate back in place. Then using the longer bolts, I will reattach the landing gear. I would think it would now be very strong as the two plates would compress on the gorilla glue and one would think it would take a large amount or torque to rip the plate out again. Thoughts anyone? Good idea / bad idea? Other solutions? ImagesView all Images in thread
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I posted this over in the PA Bandit thread but thought it appropriate to post in here for those who have wreacked a set of wheel pants before and like the look of wheel pants but don't want to ruin another set.
Just some pics showing my shock absorbing wheel pants that I mentioned earlier. I can't lay claim to the idea as one of the guys at my local field showed me a very similar setup on his model and no doubt some of you may have seen similar yourself. I think the pics are fairly self explanatory. The basic idea is to use some music wire that is stiff enough to hold the pant steady under normal conditions, but allow it to move under load. I've used a wire bender to bend the wire in a small circle to go over the Dubro axle threads. You could put the wire on outside of the LG leg, you could also drill a hole through the axle thread instead of having the wire wrap around. The wire at the end where it goes into the pant is actually a Z bend so it doesn't pop out. All the timber build up on the inside of the pant is there for me to have a hole to run the axle through so as to ensure a nice pivot point. What I haven't done yet though is trim done the axle end so it doesn't stick out so far. But what you could do is place some material on the inside of the pant and just drill into that but not out through the pant wall to keep a clean exterior finish. As you can tell the strip was a bit damp and freshly mowed at the last visit. |
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CrashesAlot
You have a fairly common repair problem that really a little dicey to fix without taking the whole bottom of the plane apart. The first thing I see is a lot of gorilla glue inside the plane and on top of the landing gear plate. I wouldn't do that in the future for the reason we have now; it makes access to the plate hard or impossible. My quick fix would be: 1. Clean the original plate as smooth and as flat as you can get it. 2. Clean your new plate the same way. 3. Re-glue your plate back on with 30 minute epoxy. 4. Install 5 or 6 small countersink screws through your plate into the original plate. Note: These screws need to have 1/2" of thread. 5. Reinstall the landing gear. I think adding the screws will help to do the work that the original blind nuts were doing when they went all the way through the landing gear plate. The glue was doing all the work since the new blind nuts were "sandwiched" between the two plates. I don't think the screws will add any weight to speak of. RCMC |
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Newbie to balsa planes and first built. After having assembled the ail flaps, I discovered that both flaps are not perfectly straight. Any trick to straight them out with the flaps installed to the wing. Slow heat with heat gun or monokote iron and twisting? Thanks.
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Team,
The project shown on post #28 was canceled. After removing the red covering from the bottom of the wings we discovered a need for the original color scheme. I reapplied the red covering and returned the wing set to 3DHS. We will provide information on this type of project in the futrue. RCMC |
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