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Elevator Horn and Rigging

bkervaski

Hellloooooooo!
Testing
We finished rigging the elevators and the manual says there will be some offset with the horns, ours are off about 1/4 inch.

Everything seemed to rig well and we get the minimum 25 degrees of negative deflection and at least 30 positive, but the left elevator has considerably more negative deflection (almost 5 degrees) than the right, guessing due to where I drilled the hole.

Any thoughts? Just leave and "build on"?

Assuming that the final rigging will not be full deflection .. haven't read that far ahead.

If I did want to get them more consistent I guess I would need to have someone weld the hole and re-drill, not sure how that's going to look.
 
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The deflection is dependent on the angle traveled when the horns hit the travel stops.
When two elevators are properly aligned with each other (and bolted together at the push rod connection point), they should move with the same amount of deflection angle when the horns hit the travel stops.
 
The deflection is dependent on the angle traveled when the horns hit the travel stops.
When two elevators are properly aligned with each other (and bolted together at the push rod connection point), they should move with the same amount of deflection angle when the horns hit the travel stops.

They do, the difference is just when observing independently, not bolted.

Edit: Clarification, the forward most offset horn hits, but the elevators deflect the same amount when bolted together.
 
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They do, the difference is just when observing independently, not bolted.

Edit: Clarification, the forward most offset horn hits, but the elevators deflect the same amount when bolted together.

BEFORE drilling the horns - you can adjust the rod ends on the side with more deflection to make the deflection equal, assuming you have good clearance from the spar - I adjusted each of mine away from spar slowly until I had the right amount of travel. Now that you've drilled horns, and as long as both elevators as a unit have good travel, you should be good to go. Probably not worth welding/re-drilling to make them "perfect".
 
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BEFORE drilling the horns - you can adjust the rod ends on the side with more deflection to make the deflection equal, assuming you have good clearance from the spar - I adjusted each of mine away from spar slowly until I had the right amount of travel. Now that you've drilled horns, and as long as both elevators as a unit have good travel, you should be good to go. Probably not worth welding/re-drilling to make them "perfect".

Adjusting the rod end (elevator hinge points) lengths to vary the amount of deflection relative to the elevator stops is not recommended.
 
Adjusting the rod end (elevator hinge points) lengths to vary the amount of deflection relative to the elevator stops is not recommended.

Understood - I was actually describing adjustments to get full deflection without binding. My bad in not making that clear. Also:

1. It's REALLY hard to get the center of the rod end exactly 13/16" away from the spar since you are measuring to the middle of a hole AND there is 180 degrees of travel between options.

2. If one of the two for each elevator is off a bit, the elevator is more prone to bind

3. On first try one of my elevators bound enough that I had to let each rod end on that side out a tiny bit (like 1/2 turn on one side, 1 on the other). 13/16" still fell within a small range of error given the difficulty of measuring.

4. What other option does a builder have if there is binding, assuming adjustments to the rolled leading edge have been made to a reasonable extent?

5. I was describing the adjustments made to relieve binding, not in relation to the stops (range was adequate if taken to stops, binding was the problem)

6. After adjustments, distance from torque tube to spar was within specs as described on plans page 11-03.

Finally - I walked through everything I did with a DAR/A&P/EAA Tech Counselor who has built multiple Vans aircraft and he saw nothing wrong with this approach.

I should have been more clear in my description.
 
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This is what mine looks like .. considering plug welding and re-drilling to get it to align better, even though I'm getting 25 degrees.

oVC.jpg
 
Hmmm ... I read Scott's reply and did not think it was judgmental or critical. It seemed like just a statement.

BTW, I think Scott is pretty helpful here. Sometimes his reponses are short, but that may be because he replies to a lot of posts, and I assume he has a life away from RV's and this Forum. :D

I stand corrected, but terse statements sometimes lead to confusion and - in their very brevity - can convey a dogmatic rather than instructive tone. FYI not only do I agree with you regarding Scott's being helpful - I said virtually the same thing in post #36 of this thread: http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?p=1190276#post1190276

I edited my post in fairness to Scott - the last thing I'd want is for him to be inhibited from contributing to this forum!
 
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This is what mine looks like .. considering plug welding and re-drilling to get it to align better, even though I'm getting 25 degrees.

oVC.jpg

I'd run it by someone with more experience than me (i.e. DAR/EAA tech counselor, Van's) BUT I think you're well within the range of normal deviation of horn position and if you have good range of movement, why fix what's not broken?
 
5. I was describing the adjustments made to relieve binding, not in relation to the stops (range was adequate if taken to stops, binding was the problem)

Then that is what caused my confusion and the reason I gave the response I did.

If I'm not mistaken, the OP was asking about elevator deflection travel and never said anything about resolving a binding problem, so my (incorrect) assumption was that you were promoting changing the rod end insertion dimension to make changes in elevator travel.....
 
BTW, I think Scott is pretty helpful here. Sometimes his reponses are short, but that may be because he replies to a lot of posts (sometimes with folks who seem to just want to argue), and I assume he has a life away from RV's and this Forum. :D

Correct.
And a lot of my participation here is during a break (lunch or otherwise) from my normal work so I don't always have a lot of time.

The other reason a lot of my responses are short is because it is simply meant as info for the masses (do you know there are 10,000 + lurkers here that read but never post), but lacking the time to explain "why" for every post I make.

I.E., people are free to build, do, and modify how ever they wish, but there are times when things they post can literally change they whole dynamic for our tech support staff for a couple of days when people start calling or e-mailing with the "I saw it on VAF" tag line......
I don't mean to imply that is the case with this thread..... just stating what my motivation is at times.........
 
... I think you're well within the range of normal deviation of horn position and if you have good range of movement, why fix what's not broken?

Barely in range .. and it's bugging me .. if I could replace that horn effectively I would do it ..

You're right though, should probably let it go, it's the perfectionist in me. This build is definitely helping with my OCD! :D :D :D
 
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Then that is what caused my confusion and the reason I gave the response I did.

If I'm not mistaken, the OP was asking about elevator deflection travel and never said anything about resolving a binding problem, so my (incorrect) assumption was that you were promoting changing the rod end insertion dimension to make changes in elevator travel.....

Bad on me for not being clear - we all benefit from taking care to be precise. I appreciated your taking time to respond.
 
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