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Fw: Aligning Vertical Tail

Subject: Fw: Aligning Vertical Tail
From: Nobody <foo@bar.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 11:02:34
The following was sent to the wrong adress. Here it goes again.


----- Original Message -----
From: Hans J=F8rgen Danielsen
Subject: Aligning Vertical Tail


Hi all.

As many of you have experienced aligning things can be timeconsuming and 
frustrating!
I have problems in adjusting the fin to a perfect vertical position, after
fitting top module. The mould is clecoed in placed (with screws actually),
but when fastening a plumb-bob string to the inside top center of the fin 
leading
edge, the weight indicates quite a few mm to the right of center line in
the lower mould.

I think I know why. There is a built-in twist in the lower moulding which went
unnoticed when installing the Stabilizer torque tube and aft bulkhead. The 
manual
didn't warn about this possibility. So to recapitulate: The torque tube was
installed as per manual with horizontal alignment with the forward part of the
mould (straight edge between bolts in wing pin holes). In other words the hole
for the left bronze bushing had to be widened slightly to obtain correct 
alignment
before fastening the bushings - thus building in the twist.

The question is: What do I do? By grabbing the top of the fin and forceing it to
the left and cleco it in this position I'm still left with the weight pointing
5-6 mm to the right of the centerline. I'm able to force it a bit further to
the side, but am reluctant to do so as not to introduce unacceptable stress
to the top moulding. Are there any others out there who have experienced such
annoying misalignment (who did not check twist and corrected it before going 
ahead
with torque tube installation)? Would a slightly tilted fin be noticed at
all - or affect flying to any degree??

Hans.



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