REFLECTOR: FINALLY SOME TRUE DATA -- NOW WHAT [heur]

Tue May 17 07:40:53 CDT 2005

Tom,

Don't judge the amount of shimming required by the amount of pedal pressure it takes to center the ball.  The rudders become 'very hard' at cruise.  Go to home supplies and junk section of Walgreens/Home Depot/Lowes, et al.  There a little sheets of clear semi-soft round plastic tabs that you use as feet under a radio or counter appliance.  About half way down the rudder, stack two of these and mount between the rudder and the wing surface.  

The adhesive backing on the buttons hold them nicely in place.  If that's too much rudder input, you can move them further back on the rudder so the buttons don't push the rudder out as far...or you can take one of the buttons off.  In a couple hours and 2-3 flights, you'll have many questions answered and it will feel so good when you see the ball centered.  Later, you can be shave/shim the opposing rudder inboard, which will reduce the amount of button-shimming you need on the first rudder.  But, as Scott says, don't shim in the opposing rudder in beyond the trailing edge line.

You're WAY closer to solving the problem than you think!

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
Behalf Of Tom Martino
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 10:11 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: RE: REFLECTOR: FINALLY SOME TRUE DATA -- NOW WHAT [heur]

My fear is how much rudder shim I will need ... it takes a lot of rudder
to get it to fly straight.  I the winglets are screwed up (which I did
not build ... it will be a major reconstruction.

Does the factory have measurements for the angle of the winglets?

-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Scott Derrick
Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 7:56 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: FINALLY SOME TRUE DATA -- NOW WHAT [heur]

Tom,

You have figured it out. Your winglet/rudders are out of rig.

Of course the ball is centered on the ground when taxing straight, thats

what it is telling you, your taxing straight down the runway. Its not 
until your wheels leave the ground that your flying surfaces(wings, 
winglets, rudders, etc)  take over that function. 

You need to shim the rudder your stepping on outboard to center the 
ball.  You can shim the other rudder in but not past the trailing edge 
of the winglet. NEVER NEVER shim a rudder inboard of the winglet 
trailing edge line!  Dragons live there.

Once you have the ball centered with rudder shims you can check your 
wing incidence by how straight(no wing drop) she flys hands off.  If you

have to rotate a wing by inserting washers in between the spars on the 
wing attach bolts you may need to re shim a rudder to compensate.

Scott

Tom Martino wrote:

>Ok ... if I let my plane fly the way it wants, with wings level ... the
>"ball" is way off to the left (on the ground it is neutral) and the
left
>wing wants to bank ... making a slight turn to the right.
>
> 
>
>To get the nose perfectly straight it requires a LOT of left rudder.
>Then the plane flees without any turning or banking tendencies.
>
>
>
>I don't think any vertical surfaces (winglets or rudders) are out of
rig
>because at high speed ground roll (landing and taking off) the plane
>tracks perfectly.  It is only when lift is developed that the "ball out
>of center" phenomenon starts.
>
> 
>
>The trim tab did not help much and was removed.
>
> 
>
>I believe I need to decrease the angle of attack on my left wing to
>correct the problem.
>
> 
>
>When I checked incidence ... they were right on.
>
> 
>
>By the way ... does "P" factor cause some of this problem?  If the left
>side of my prop (as viewed from behind) develop more thrust ...
wouldn't
>that cause the plane to fly off to the right?
>
> 
>
>I examined my engine mount and it is not canted to cancel out the "P"
>factor.  
>
> 
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>  
>
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