Zen 90 stab mistake
11-05-2002 | 05:25 AM
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From: Houston, TX
Zen 90 stab mistake
Hi all,
Okay, I made a very stupid mistake installing the horizontal stab on my Zen 90. In my obsession with making sure the alignment of stab tips to wing tips and stab tips to fuse center line (at the firewall) was equal, as well as ensuring the stab was 100% level with the wing, I forgot to ensure that both stab halves were equidistant from the fuse! I have my left stab half about 4mm further out than the right half (and therefore, the stab is tilted back on the left/longer half since all other measurements like stab tip to wing tip do match up).
My question now is, should I try to remove the stab and redo it right this time (I'm a horrible builder, I mess up ARFs!) or will this amount of error (4mm) not be enough to affect the flight performance so that it would be noticeable? I'm guessing that with more stab out on the left side it would produce more lift on the left, and would adversely impact performance/trimming whenever I moved out of level flight. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Ken
P.S. Any tips on how to remove the stab to refit it properly would be appreciated! Right now the only thing I can think of is to draw a line about 1/8th inc. above the stab at the fuse joint, and use my knife to cut out the stab and wood at the line. I would remove that 1/8th in wood and install a new saddle inside, and reattach with expoxy and filler.
Okay, I made a very stupid mistake installing the horizontal stab on my Zen 90. In my obsession with making sure the alignment of stab tips to wing tips and stab tips to fuse center line (at the firewall) was equal, as well as ensuring the stab was 100% level with the wing, I forgot to ensure that both stab halves were equidistant from the fuse! I have my left stab half about 4mm further out than the right half (and therefore, the stab is tilted back on the left/longer half since all other measurements like stab tip to wing tip do match up).
My question now is, should I try to remove the stab and redo it right this time (I'm a horrible builder, I mess up ARFs!) or will this amount of error (4mm) not be enough to affect the flight performance so that it would be noticeable? I'm guessing that with more stab out on the left side it would produce more lift on the left, and would adversely impact performance/trimming whenever I moved out of level flight. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
Cheers,
Ken
P.S. Any tips on how to remove the stab to refit it properly would be appreciated! Right now the only thing I can think of is to draw a line about 1/8th inc. above the stab at the fuse joint, and use my knife to cut out the stab and wood at the line. I would remove that 1/8th in wood and install a new saddle inside, and reattach with expoxy and filler.
