Hello Europa Forum Members,
I am reaching you today about a question I have regarding the construction of my
Europa.
I am making good progress in the kit A291 construction, having completed the
skins
for the ailerons and flaps (at least considering I only have Saturday's to
do skin layups due to work and family obligations). And since my goal is to
finish
these layup jobs during the summer, I think I am in good shape to reach
it.
So I now started working on the tailplanes. These components were completed, to
a point right before applying the skins, by the previous kit owner.
I began work on the tailplanes by inspecting all previous work and it has been
found to be satisfactory. The only problem I found is that although the fit of
the TP4 torque tube is excellent in the Port tailplane, it is a little too tight
on the Starboard side (probably due to having sat for a long time in a position
that caused a little creep of the parts). By tight I mean that if in the
port side, the TP4 tube can be slid into the tailplane just by sliding it in
axially, in the starboard side, a back and forth rotation motion is needed to
slide it in. It's not necessarily excessive, but it could be an issue when the
last few centimeters that engage the torque pin and bushings is reached. I did
lubricate the TP4 tube lightly.
Something I noticed if that if I reverse the torque tube (insert the port side
into the starboard tailplane) the insertion is much easier, so there is a
difference
in diameter (or concentricity) of the tube from one side to the other.
Tomorrow I will pull out my micrometers and will check.
In any case, I have decided that the friction is not excessive enough to tear
things
apart, particularly considering that these tailplanes have the mod 10672
so I fear that any attempt to remove and realign the bushings will end up
destroying
the cores badly.
So, what options do I have. For now I have inserted the TP4 tube in the
tailplane
to let it sit there until time comes to skin that tailplane. It may not do
anything but in the hot Florida summer I am hoping the few parts holding the
bushings
together will creep a little 9or maybe they wont). I guess the other two
possible options are to lap the tube into the bushings lightly or somehow bring
the starboard side of a tube in similar diameter size as the port side (as
long as the issue is not concentricity).
Well, in any case, just tapping into the collective knowledge base to see what
you guys have gone through regarding this issue.
One last thing that maybe worth mentioning is that the TP4 tube assembly has
been
modified with large aluminum clamps, components such as the TP12 welded to
the TP4 tube and large brass and plastic knurled bearings to be attached to the
fuselage. It is quite a nice job, although it does look a bit heavy (which will
be the subject of another posting in the near future).
Best Regards,
Chris Martin
7FL6, USA
Long-EZ "Race 25"
Kolb Firestar II
Europa XS A291
Cozy MKIV (that will probably never be finished)
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http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=471895#471895
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