-- Ailerons







As you can see from the picture above, I received a good right aileron and most of the left aileron. The right was actually usable and the left wasn’t repairable. Since I had to make a new left aileron I decided to make a new right one while I was at it. 


The finished new ailerons are shown alongside the originals. 


I got one aileron bellcrank in very good shape and gave it to George Evans at Evans Aviation to use as a pattern to make another one. 


First task was to make a really flat and true jig table large enough to layout each aileron. I then used the originals to layout a pattern on the table. Hardest part was to make the trailing edge. It has a compound shape which took multiple passes on the table saw to get the correct original
profile. The jig had plenty of wood blocks screwed in place as needed to hold everything really well. 


Right aileron about ready to come out of the jig, just need to cut off the extra trailing edge. 


Plastic wrap taped to the jig table surface protects the jig, allows you to see the lines marked on the jig and any excess glue won’t stick. The ailerons were a fun part of the project. Manageable in size, and easy to see progress and reasonably short time to finish up. The trailing edge piece was steamed in the tip bow steamer to facilitate the bending to shape. 


An original hinge on the aileron false spar. I replaced these with mil-spec extruded hinge. 


This is what the corresponding hinge looks like on the aileron. The notch in the top piece, right in the center, is for the aileron horn. I couldn’t find the orginal center piece, the long one that goes vertical (it’s in a box somewhere), so I simulated it to give the idea. The long vertical piece is captured by AN4 bolts that hold the aileron horn on. One of the pictures higher up on this page, shows this hinge on an original aileron before I took it apart. 



Final installation of ailerons, including drilling for 8-32 countersunk machine screw used to attach hinges to structure. 

The aileron cables cross in the bay just in board of the pulleys. Need to make sure they do not rub against each other. 



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