Trio Pro Pilot install

I am busy working on the wings of my 9 and have been contemplating servo installation for the auto pilot. I am wanting to use the Trio Pro Pilot and would like to do the servo mount now while I have complete access to mount the servo. Anyone have any pictures of their install of the "Gold Series" servo? Thanks as always!

Don,
Do a search on trio servo, or gold servo, or trio installation, or any combination. I found a ton of installation pictures with a simple search.
Best,

My Bad!

Been reading everything here so much lately, plain forgot the basics.
Thanks

SafeAir Install Kit

Don,

Recommend the SafeAir install kit - I didn't see it on their website right now, but am sure they still offer it. It is a great kit for a nice quick install of the roll servo.

http://www.safeair1.com/index.htm

Here is how I did it

Don,
I fabricated some doublers and a plate for the servo and installed it in the rib just outboard of the aileron drive. Here is a link with photos: http://www.mykitlog.com/users/displ...rashby&project=5&category=751&log=20978&row=8

I am not sure the Safeair kit is better, because it is installed out on the wing tip, which might leave some room for mechanical flexing and potential boogers later (See, Jamie Painter's woes). I hope this helps.

RV-7 Trio Roll Servo Mount

Here's the approach I took to mounting a Trio "Gold Standard" roll servo. I built a servo mock up first from the drawings on the Trio website (Jerry assures me the drawings are accurate). The mount puts the servo in the same bay as the aileron bell crank and keeps the servo push rod down to only about 5" long.

Here's a few photos of the mount under construction - there are more details if anyone needs to see some.

Steve Ashby said:

Don,
I fabricated some doublers and a plate for the servo and installed it in the rib just outboard of the aileron drive. Here is a link with photos: http://www.mykitlog.com/users/displ...rashby&project=5&category=751&log=20978&row=8

I am not sure the Safeair kit is better, because it is installed out on the wing tip, which might leave some room for mechanical flexing and potential boogers later (See, Jamie Painter's woes). I hope this helps.

Click to expand...

A servo wing tip installation, unless executed poorly, is no more apt to suffer from "mechanical flexing and potential boogers" than any other method of mounting. Wing tip installs are working great in many aircraft. Good construction practice will prevent problems regardless of where the servo is mounted.

Why the Safeair kit?

I see many using the Safeair kit which appears to be bolted into the spar web. If you are going to drill holes in the spar why not just bolt the servo to it and be done? I know the kit comes with the long tubing for the rod, but I have easy access to all of that. I don't particularly like the idea of bolting it to a rib, even tho if properly done is probably strong enough. Any issues just bolting the thing to the spar web out near the tip? Or for that matter in the bay outboard of the belcrank?

Doubler

Don,

It acts as a reinforcement and doubler as well as a very solid mount so that there is no possible flex. Moreover, because of the lightening holes in the spar it may be challenging to get proper edge distance, servo height (in relation to the top and bottom of the spar), etc.

Why reinvent the wheel. Their kit comes with a pushrod ready to install and the plate drilled and ready to match drill to your spar. Virtual no brainer.

Not knocking what these other guys have done (because those are very nice installs), but I decided to do this after I built my -8 and it made it so very easy to install vs. a lot of geometry and educated guessing. Very difficult to work inside of the inspection hole because the pushrods and the bellcrank, so they really need to come out. I had one weekend to install it before a big trip, so I spent the bucks in the interests of a trouble free install so that I could spend my time adjusting the unit and not the servo out in the wing.

If the wing is in unbuilt form, you can pretty much do anything, but the SafeAir kit is such a nice install that I'd do it again even if I was doing it while building a new wing, etc. I've since upgraded from a Navaid servo to the Trio servo. That was completely painless because it was out in the last bay of ribs near the tip that I could easily access and see everything. Minimal strong language involved.

YMMV.

Rob