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
trickyto 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 and paper 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, chord,
 and surface area. 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!