09-03-2012: 1.5 hrs
Installed the rudder assembly to fuselage today. I paid specially attention to the angle of the installation. The rudder block bearing holes are drilled with an angle to compensate the side skin to firewall angle, so the rudder bar will be parallel to the firewall when installed.
If I need to do it again, I will not trim the rudder tube to the length per plan. I will fit the tube first, then trim. Right now, the tube can move slightly in lateral direction, about 3/32" for the left. This should be no big deal since the tube and bearing block still have plenty engaging length.
However, when I rotate the rudder padel after installed onto fuse, the midspan of the rudder bar will have deflection about 3/32" max. (probably 2/32" in opertion range) due to the fact that the rudder bar tube is not perfectly straight. I am not sure this will be a problem, because after the midspan is constrained by the support bracket, the deflection will be converted to a load to the bracket. I did a search on van's airforce site, only one post regarding this issue, and van's disposition was this is normal.
I went ahead and did some estimate on the load maginitude the deflection will cause, it will be only about 10lbs at the 3/32" deflection. This is not high to me, and the bracket should be able to handle it easily. After all, the control load from foot will be higher than this. The calculation detail is here.
Rudder assembly is installed to fuselage
Rudder assembly looks pretty good, operation is smooth
I used a hardware nut for now to secure the bearing block
The center bearing block is fitted
Another view
The rudder tube has an built-in angle with the bearing block
If I need to do it again, I will not trim the rudder tube to the length per plan. I will fit the tube first, then trim. Right now, the tube can move slightly in lateral direction, about 3/32" for the left. This should be no big deal since the tube and bearing block still have plenty engaging length.
However, when I rotate the rudder padel after installed onto fuse, the midspan of the rudder bar will have deflection about 3/32" max. (probably 2/32" in opertion range) due to the fact that the rudder bar tube is not perfectly straight. I am not sure this will be a problem, because after the midspan is constrained by the support bracket, the deflection will be converted to a load to the bracket. I did a search on van's airforce site, only one post regarding this issue, and van's disposition was this is normal.
I went ahead and did some estimate on the load maginitude the deflection will cause, it will be only about 10lbs at the 3/32" deflection. This is not high to me, and the bracket should be able to handle it easily. After all, the control load from foot will be higher than this. The calculation detail is here.
Rudder assembly is installed to fuselage
Rudder assembly looks pretty good, operation is smooth
I used a hardware nut for now to secure the bearing block
The center bearing block is fitted
Another view
The rudder tube has an built-in angle with the bearing block
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