Chapter 11      Elevators                                                                                                 Next   Home  Previous
   

 In this chapter we build and install the elevators. This was a fun chapter all in all, however  the cores were a little tricky to cut and I had to do it over a few  times before I got good cores.  I also tried the Cozy girls  "Low-Vac method. This works very well at removing excess epoxy. I weighed my peel-ply andpaper towels before and after cure. These materials weighed nearly an ounce more after removal from the cured part. The Peel-ply would normally have soaked up some  but still a nice savings.,    

                                                                                           
This is a cool shot of the assembled
elevator and canard. You can see the
elevator and torque tube. The hole
near the bottom of the tube is the
hinge point, making this an offset
hinge, ergo, Fowler Flap! That is it
hinges backward and downward
increasing both camber and chord,
The slot between  the two parts also
opens allowing  high pressure air to
slip through,  increasing flow across
the upper surface. Pretty smart huh?
                                       

                                      
                                       Cutting the cores with my son Eric                         Thats me wearing another new shirt in the shop!


                                                                           

                                                        The cores are assembled onto the torque tube with micro, and placed on a very flat surface for cure.

                        

Here the "Low-Vac" method is seen. I used Peel-Ply, 2 layers of paper towels, Pallet wrap, 7~8" vacuum. A little heat          from the hair dryer will help the epoxy flow into the materials. I also clamped the trailing edge flat to guarantee a true           edge. Note also the depression for the mass balance weights in pic 2. The epoxy trap (fruit jar) in pic 3 proved to be                 unnecessary, I barely got epoxy to the hose. Maybe on a very large layup it might be needed. Not seen here, I usualy use         the table as a "caul plate" to form the part against. So I seal the pallet wrap with duct tape to the table. Also the hose is         just wraped in pallet wrap as a seal. Not too reliable but I can usually get a seal. 

                                               

                                                    Here you see the 2 elevators are assembled and timed to each other. they must have the same angle of
                                                    incidence else you will fly in circles!  In the 2nd pic the elevator travel is verified. It's very important to
                                                    have sufficient elevator authority on these canards.  The elevators also must be balanced correctly to
                                                    prevent aerodynamic flutter, I didn't get any pics of that.



              
                Here we can get a little "artsy",  Go to any Canard line up and you will a lot of different ideas on the this. I just
             followed the plans  and made them as symmetrical as possible.  The 3rd shot shows the ice shields over the mass balance weights.

                                                         So, I finally get a visit from a Tech counselor, Jay Skovbjerg (right) and Cozy builder Ted Davis
                                                        who came with him. He told me I’m doing fine but sand those damn ice guards of the canard!

Well, he said it nicely….

                                                            
                                                                                                                  Thanks Jay!        

                    

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                                                                                                                             Thanks Jay!