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Easier Way To Measure Stabilator Cable Tension

Mich48041

Well Known Member
Not wanting to crawl into the tail cone to measure stabilator cable tension, I thought of an easier way to check the tension.
Move the control stick full aft until the stabilator hits the stop. Note the fore-aft position of the control stick. Attach a fish scale
to the control stick 1" from the top and pull the scale aft until 5 pounds are displayed. Measure the distance that the top
of the control stick moves. Repeat with the control stick full forward. I do not know how far the stick should move.
I will leave that calculation up to a mechanical engineer. My guess is that the control stick should move somewhere between
1/4" and 1/2" with 5 pounds of force applied.
Is this a valid way to measure stabilator cable tension or am I missing something?
 
Applying a force to the control stick and measuring the deflection is the same principle used by many cable tension meters. The challenge is accurately converting that deflection to tension. It would be interesting to try this test on a RV-12 that previously has had its stabilator cable tension accurately set.
 
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