Carlson Skunk Works

Little things are happening, but progress is being made. Having help is a good thing, too. Here is my crew helping with a couple of the little jobs.

Emmett was tasked with taking out four bolts so that I could remove the control torque tube. Uncle Jeremiah was tasked with helping him. They made a pretty good team.

I needed to have the torque tube removed so that I could take it home and make the aileron cable actuation plate. With the aileron cables close to being attached to the ailerons, I need to design and build something for the other end of the cable that will push and pull on the cables. The last post showed how the cables were threaded through the wing and met the aileron control horns. What I needed to do next was to make some mounting brackets that would allow the cables to be secured to the wing. Here is what I came up with.

The bracket is mounted to the front of the rear spar. I had to move it forward an inch to get the right length. I went to Menards and got a three foot length of square aluminum tubing. I cut the tubing to length and drilled the holes. The mounting plate was made from the same aluminum plate that was used for the aileron control horns. The cable required a 5/8 inch hole for the threaded mounting area of the cable to go through. Even that hole was a bit snug, but once it is in place it should never need to be moved again.

Of course I didn’t have the required bolts on hand, so a quick Aircraft Spruce order was required.

Once the brackets were in place and the cables were properly secured I pulled and pushed on the other end of the cable to verify that aileron movement was about equal up and down.

I thought I might be able to get by without making a notch in the upper trailing edge of the aileron opening, but it looks like the notch will be needed. That is a minor issue.

The aileron ends of the cables are now secured, so the focus of my effort will now return to the control stick end of things. Here are the pieces that will now be installed.

On the left is the plate that I made to attach the input end of the cables to. The torque tube has been built according to the plans with a plate where the aileron cables are intended to be attached. However, using the push pull cables requires these cable connection points be moved out horizontally. Therefore the new plate bolts to the torque tube using the cable attach holes. I should be able to provide more pictures and detail in my next post.

All of the steel parts are being painted as I go. Once each part is finished I am using a self etching primer to paint them before I install them for the final time. At least I am hoping that this will be the final time.