Moving elevator inspection hole

[FredHoffman]

I am having trouble getting my elevators lined up. One thing looks like I'll may have to do is re-drill the holes. One problem is to do this on the airplane my inspection hole is not in a position to allow me to do this. Is it possible to move an inspection hole after the airplane is covered and primed? I was thinking of adding half of an inspection ring to have an oval shaped access to the elevator linkages. Or would it work better cutting the entire ring out, adding fabric, shrinking that area again and adding another inspection ring? For those still building I would put that ring in a position to cover the full length of the elevator bell crank.

Fred

[FlyerChief]

Hi Fred,

If you search some of the earlier threads there was a lot of discussion about trying to line up the elevators, but the end result was that they are designed to have a little bit of offset to prevent flutter. If they are only out by a degree or so on each side, I wouldn't mess with it. If it's a lot more than that, you may want to call the factory before you cut things apart.

Here's the thread... http://www.wingsforum.com/viewtopic.php ... ent#p17794

A friend of mine put in larger oval rings at the elevator for access, but I found that I was able to get a nice fit and full access using the round ring and trimming the hole to allow full deflection of the elevators.

Merry Christmas,
Dan

Elevator Ring.jpg

[FredHoffman]

Dan,
Wow that is a low drag solution, very well done!

I was able to test fit mine today and get it all together with the access ring provided but it was difficult, really felt I needed more room to work with. But your picture really shows me a 4 5/8" inspection ring gives plenty of room!

The elevators really are floppy and it doesn't take much pressure to move things. It is hard to tell what the alignment is. After a lot of messing with flying wires I was able to get the stabs dead level and true but still have the elevator horns in slight misalignment to the stabs. Funny thing is there is so much flex in the elevators if I clamp the left horn flush the right one is dead level to the right stab, but if I clamp the right horn flush the left one pops up 3/4". The elevators were drilled off airplane in a jig that was level and true with the horns both clamped flush to the stab leading edge.

Now on airplane with everything clamped level I can just barely see a variation in the trailing edges that measures about 1/2". I am now leaning to the idea of putting some pressure on the offending elevator horn and cranking up the heat on the iron a bit.

I'll move on to covering the wings and get back to it later.

Merry Christmas !

Fred