Ailerons fine tuned
The first task for today was to make and install the fuel tank vent lines. They’re a little tricky, but not too bad. I tie wrapped the tank sender wires to them.
I was never happy about the method I used previously to set the aileron neutral position. I decided today to use the established method of lining up the wing rib tooling holes with the aileron tip. I secured both ailerons in that position and then modified the push tube length until the stick was straight up and down. (The picture looks strange, but that’s just the wing tip sitting upside down on top of the wing.)
I then altered the flaps to match the aileron position. The flaps were hitting the fuselage, so it was not possible to get them exactly the same as the ailerons, but the top surfaces line up. The flap trailing edges have a slightly larger radius, so the bottom skins are slightly off (like 1/32″). Close enough. In that process, I noticed that I needed to enlarge the hole in the fuselage some more. The flap push rod bearing ends can swivel a bit, and in some positions they were catching on the fuselage side and bottom skins. A little filing took care of that.
Going back to the ailerons, I installed and tightened all of the bellcrank and stick hardware. The ailerons are now rock solid. There was a slight amount of play before I tightened everything up, but there is absolutely zero play now. Also figured out that I need to adjust the springs for the aileron trim. There’s not enough centering action with the current set up.
I measured the aileron deflection as 31 degrees up and 17 down on both sides. The max is 32 and 17, so these values are perfect.
This picture didn’t really turn out that well, but it shows condensation forming on the tanks. The temp and humidity both went up about 15-20 units over the course of an hour. Everything that was cold in the hangar, including the fuel tanks, tools, even the floor, formed condensation. Quite yukky. I’m going to make a homemade engine dryer after seeing this.
Just before I was about to leave, I decided to play pilot with the stick, and a strange thing happened. The stick wouldn’t go all the way forward. I checked all of the control mechanisms and surfaces. Couldn’t find a problem. It finally dawned on me that the aileron push tube was causing the problem. I had it tightened in such a position that it was preventing full elevator deflection. I adjusted the angles on the push tube bearings until it was fixed.
One of my candidates for DAR finally called back. I set up an appointment for next week. He’s not cheap, but at least he’s available. We’ll see if the MIDO can process the paperwork in time. Guess I should get that mailed in. And I confirmed that the MIDO does process the paperwork, at least for him.