Carlson Skunk Works

November 16th, 2015

AMF 14H MARANDA SN:1026 Making Sawdust November 16, 2015

Posted by Roger in AMF 14H Maranda SN1026, news

Another week and I am doing another blog post! Well, last week I ended needing to make some new brackets for the cabin end of the aileron control cables. The original brackets looked like this:

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They were simply two inch wide pieces of two inch aluminum angle. The new brackets are made from 4130 steel. I marked out the locations of the required holes for mounting the brackets to the fuselage and for the control cables. Then I drilled the holes, cut the steel and bent it to shape. After welding the joint where the top of the bracket meets the side, I painted the brackets with self etching primer. The result looks like this:

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When the bolts and cables were properly tightened and the stick was positioned in the neutral position, the ailerons were held in the proper neutral position.

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The full deflection of the ailerons appears to be about equal up and down.

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The only thing that I am questioning at this point is whether I should modify the brackets slightly so that instead of having holes for the aileron cables to go through, I should cut the area forward of those holes to make slots instead of holes. The advantage of doing this is that removing the wings would be slightly easier. However, I only expect to remove the wings once in the lifetime of the plane. Well, maybe twice if I live long enough to need to recover it.

The DAR that inspected Fred’s plane (Fred used these same type of cables) suggested securing them to the ribs so they do not flop around and cause damage in rough weather. I am planning to use zip ties to secure the cables to the compression ribs. Currently it is fairly easy to move the cables into and out of the wings from the inside of the cabin. Securing them to the compression ribs should eliminate that tendency.

Once the cables are secured I will remove the ailerons and cover them. Then it will be on to finishing the tail surfaces.

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