---------------------------------------------------------- Europa-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Mon 10/05/20: 2 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 03:42 AM - Re: Stabilator play (JohnFrance) 2. 07:38 AM - Re: Stabilator play (JonathanMilbank) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 03:42:48 AM PST US Subject: Europa-List: Re: Stabilator play From: "JohnFrance" <77alembert@gmail.com> Hi Erik, I am following the evolution of the play in my tailplane and this is what I have observed. In my case the play is between TP5 and TP4 almost certainly due to play in the clevis pin on the starboard side. You can check this by marking the junction between TP5/TP4 with a marker pen. The edge of TP5 is just visible in your photo exiting the nylon bush TP10. The movement will be very small but should be visible. Check both sides and the same thing for the junction TP4/TP9. The good news is there are several modifications available to fix this, one being to use Loctite between TP4/5/9 and various clamping methods are available too which are fine. As Pete pointed out however, the bolts in yours (appear to) clamp directly on the Nylon TP10 and that is not good. If Loctite has already been used but failed to hold on one of the components you will have to find a way to dis-bond the others to remove TP4 from the aircraft to carry out the mod! I have a theory on that but not yet put it into practice! If anyone has done that please share your experience? Here is a text written by the late Nigel Graham on the subject. Firstly, please find attached, the details of the tailplane clamp arrangement I developed (and you requested) ...... it could be relevant to your problem. I have also attached another mod that I developed to prevent the possibility of a dis-bonded TP5 or TP6 bush (these are built into the tailpanes refer to the online manual for details) . and on that note There are two possible reasons for slop in the tailplanes, one is benign and relatively easy to fix and the other is a lot more serious and could kill you if not addressed immediately. First, an overview of the pitch drive train; the pitch pushrod transfers pitch linear motion into the TP9 arm, this rotates the TP4 (torque tube) via the TP14C pins. The rotating shaft transmits the motion back out to the TP12 drive plates via the TP14D pins and hence to the tailplanes. The first thing to check is the cumulative play in the TP14 drive pins. This is a well-documented issue and was addressed by the factory by increasing the diameter of the pins. This was not a good engineering solution as it only delayed the eventual re-occurrence of the problem. Pat Tunneys clamp block mode (that you commented on), my clamp mod (attached) and squirting Locktite into the gap were all far better solutions designed to solve the problem of relative movement. You can test if this is your problem by sliding the tailplanes off the torque tube and placing two long lever bars (gently) against each drive plate (TP12) pin and the torque tube and trying to rotate port and starboard in opposite directions. There should be NO movement. If there is, this is your problem. This is non-critical and can be solved by any of the above mentioned solutions. If you detect no movement here, then the problem lies in the tailplanes and this IS serious and the A/C should be grounded immediately until repairs are made. The problem lies in the way the tailplanes were built. The build instructions called for the two supporting stainless steel bushes to be bonded into the soft blue foam of the TP cores. If you read the attached mod document 070625 Tail-plane drive pin mod there is a fuller description of the problem and solution. Very little supports these bushes laterally, and if they should become dis-bonded, the tailplane can slide laterally until, in extreme cases, it disengages from the two drive pins on the TP12 plate. At this point one tailplane will rotate/flutter with ferocious force and the back of the fuselage will most likely break away the aircraft will break up in flight. This happened to G-HOFC in 2007, I passed my information on to the LAA and who subsequently issued mandatory Mod 73 (attached). -------- Europa mono Nr 192 Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=498675#498675 Attachments: http://forums.matronics.com//files/tail_plane_drive_pin_mod_196.pdf ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 07:38:34 AM PST US Subject: Europa-List: Re: Stabilator play From: "JonathanMilbank" Disbonding of the bushes from the wooden ribs inside the tail planes can have fatal consequences. Potentially it could allow the tail plane to migrate sideways (outboard) along the torque tube until disengaging from the drive pins and the tail plane would whip up and down destructively. Some builders make the recess around the pip-pin head too large, so that the distance between the inboard side of the pip-pin head and the side wall of the recess is greater than the length of the drive pins. Therefore if the bush through which the pip-pin passes was to disbond (as one of mine did), nothing could stop the tail plane from drifting sideways. I favour "belt and braces" back-up solutions to such problems and I also like solutions to be simple. So I bonded a little piece of plywood into each pip-pin recess on the inboard side, to fill the gap between the pip-pin head and the inboard sidewall of each recess. This was done in addition to other modification instructions to beef up the joints in the tail plane torque tube assembly. I have no free play up and down at the trailing edge of either tail plane. Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=498677#498677 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message europa-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/Europa-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/europa-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/europa-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.