REFLECTOR:Saved by the Relector!

[Pat Shea]

 Armed w/ the manual, my notes from Scott Baker, and a
few reflector post on the subject, I finally went
after balancing my ailerons.
 I was leaning toward following Scott's advice
(balance the ailerons to be in-trail) over my manual
since those balancing directions seems to have
suspiciously been dropped from the new on-line manual.
 I at least wanted to compare my manual's directions
(balance to cord-line level) to Scott's. Since the
hinges were too stiff for the ailerons to float freely
enough for balancing while on the plane, I decided to
level the plane, put the ailerons in-trial, and
recorded the slope of each ailerons top and bottom
surface using an inclinometer. I removed the ailerons
and suspended them w/ wire, using stick on weights to
recreate the in-trail surface positions using the
inclinometer. This all would have made me feel pretty
good if I was balancing say a garage door...
 I then tried the "cord line level" technique. After
reading in the manual on how to determine the cord
line, I quickly decided 10 different builders would
draw at least 10 different cord lines... Depression
was quickly setting in. 
 Finally I remembered Nolan's post about using coat
hanger wire to suspend the ailerons. I don't think it
clicked when I read it the first time, but it made
sense now: replace the tight fitting hinge pins w/ the
slightly smaller hanger wire and reinstall the
ailerons. Now they float freely so you can see exactly
where they balance. Using this method, the ailerons
consistently snapped back into the same position. I
had to add 7-10oz. per side to get them to balance
perfectly in-trail. I re-weighed the ailerons to
verify they were both under the 9 1/2 lbs limit. All
is well. Thanks Nolan.

Pat   


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