No help for riveting tonight, so I switched gears to work on getting the initial aileron rig done. First item of business was the attach point between the short pushrods and the aileron hinge bracket. Each aileron needs a spacer fabricated from aluminum tubing, which is the main source of work here. So for each aileron, I put the bolt, required washers, and a detached rod end in place, measured the remaining space with calipers, and used that to make a pice of tubing the proper length. This basically just ends up being a lot of trial and error.
Here’s the end product, showing the full washer + spacer stack:
The bellcranks require similar work; the gap in which the long pushrod (to the cockpit) fits is way oversize, and needs a 1+” spacer. Same deal as before, measure, cut, trim, check, trim again, check, trim, etc… Finished product:
Next, I went to work installing both bellcranks. Unfortunately, this is where rigging work stopped. Once the bellcranks were torqued in place, they were very stiff and difficult to move. After doing a touch of research, I realized that my bushings fit way too tightly in the bellcranks. For some reason, despite the manual calling for a “slip fit,” I felt that a fit tight enough to require tapping with a hammer was appropriate. I can only chalk this up to being in a “get this task done” mode that particular night.
Long story short, those bellcranks will be coming off and I’ll be cleaning up the insides some more with emery cloth until I get an actual slip fit. It seems that this is a common spot where builders encounter a lot of trial and error – one guy said that he figured he installed/removed the bellcranks about eight times! Hopefully I can be a little more efficient than that…