I also have just purchased a lancair and had my first flight today,
unfotunatily it ended in a disaster. The right aleron broke loose in the wing. Up to that point it flew great. I built it exactly as book described, epoxying servos in wing well with 6 min. epoxy. I was wondering if anybody has experinsed mounting problems of this nature. I was very lery of greatplanes method of mounting them. I didnt understand why they would use blocks on the flaps and not on the alerons as there is room for blocks in the aleron bay. I've been building for fifty years and never had a problem of this nature.

widhair

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I think i used servo tape on mine but i ca'd the one side to the wood and that has alway's worked great for me. Sorry to hear about your plane. The only problem i have had is the nose wheel tiller arm was flexing too much and i had to solder on a metal one. Tim.

Yea, it was a bad day , I epoxed them in there as per insructions but servo broke loose from tape. Next one I will use goop it holds a lot better than epoxy.Ather than that problem the plane flew great, I recommened it highly.

thanks for reply, wildhair

Sorry to hear about your disaster. However, I am a little confused on how you mounted your servos. When you say "tape", did you mean shrink wrap?

I used "shrink wrap" around the servos before I glued them in with epoxy. I did that for all four servos. I will check to see if mine are loose.

Bummer, Is the plane repairable or is it toast.

The practice of glueing in servos is used successfully alot in Electric planes, to save weight. I do this quite frequently in some pretty large Electrics (up to 14 lb AUW).

Usually I wrap the servos in regular masking tape and use goop, or GE Silicone. If I have to remove a servo I cut the tape and pull it off and remove the servo. If you use the shrink tubing be sure and prep the tube surface to get a good bond. If you have doubts shrink some tubing over a block of balsa and glue it to some scrap wood and test the bond. Personally I would stay away from servo tape as it does not hold the servo as rigid as the above methods.

It is a good idea to check for loose servos periodically, and after hard landings.

Gordon

I used a nylon tape I've always been afraid of plastic type meterial when CAing or epoxying. I think useing goop would have been a better choice rather tha epoxy.

I hate to dig into the details of your aileron problem but I am still not clear on how you mounted your servos and how the "servo broke away from the tape".

Did the tape separate from the wood? Did the servo slip out of the tape? Did the tape break allowing the servo to be disloged? Did the glue joint fail allowing the servo and tape to come out of the wing?

Kind of harsh interogation but it would help if we knew the exact problem you had so that we could correct /prevent the same thing happening to another plane.

Sorry for not bieng more clear . I had nylon tapr between the servo and wing skin , 6 min epoxy held servo to tape and then to wing skin. Nylon tape broke away from wing skin. also it was very easy to peel tape off of servo it self. I belive in time servo would have broke away from top side of tape through viberation.
wildhair

wildhair,

Sorry to hear about you losing your Lancair due to an aileron problem. I must tell you I have over twenty flights on mine already and I haven't had any problems at all with the ailerons. I glued them on with 6 min. epoxy per the instructions, I did not use tape of any kind, I just applied the epoxy to the servo body and glued them permanently to the wood. I did make sure that I had a nice epoxy fillet all around the servo. I recently checked them to see how they're holding up, and again after 20+ flights and plenty of aerobatic stress they're in there solid! The only problem I've had with my Lancair is the stock nose gear wire which was flexing too much in the grass. I have since installed a functional oleo strut and my problems are over. Once again sorry about your mishap, the Lancair is a great flying airplane and I'm sure you would have enjoyed it!

orvel

It's a good thing I signed on just now; I'm about to order a Lancair. I've never liked installing servos perminantly; it will need to be replaces one day!. Looking at the instructions, I'd planned to epoxy velcro to facilitate removal. Has anyone had any experience with this method. I'm ordering it any way. CKS

Why don't you use the "shrink wrap" method?

shrink-wrap still means I'll have to remove IT..........thanks, but I'll reserve judgement until I get the kit; ordered it today. CKS

I just epoxied the servo to the wing as per directions this is a very safe way to do it, if the plastic is prepared properly. You pretty much gurantee a permant joint. As for needing to replace the servo one day, if you use a decent ball bearing servo of 60+ oz of torque you should be old and gray before you wear it out. Of course I could be wrong but we put alot of money and work into a plane and trust it all to the servos, receiver, and battey pack.

If you need to replace the servo, I wouldnt worry about what happens to the servo, just take a dremel to it with a steel cutting bit to carefully "shred" up the servo to your liking and sand it down untill smooth, you proabably wont have to do this too often so it wont be a problem.

OK, thanks for that. I'm just about to order a Hi-Tec flight pack for it. Their standard servos are BB but a little less power-but perfectly adequate. I'm between planes now; just had my SECOND in flight structural failure. You guessed it; it was the V-Mar 40. I DID get less than I paid for. Thanks again. CKS

The shrink wrap method will work fine if prepared properly. Other options I didn't see mentioned here are using side mount servos I think JR 3321 has a side mount and Airtronics has one as well.

Also, BVM and others sell side mounts which look like an "L". This allows you to mount standard size servos in a tight space.

I've used all of the above with great success.

Happy mounting,

Mark

Thanks Mark, I was wondering about those sie mounts; I have some already. CKS

CKS,

If you use the side mounts, make sure the wood blocks are attached to a clean wood surface and not the foam (unless they are supported on 2 or more sides). I sometimes will install a thin ply plate first to strengthen the balsa skin for these mounts.

Mark

Hi Mark, thanks. my Lancair is on the way; can't wait to get startes. I'll post the results of my installation. CKS

I wasn't too sure about installing the aileron servo with shrink wrap and epoxy. First, I didn't know where to get shrink wrap to go around the servo and didn't quite know how to apply it to the servo. So, I came up with a method that I think is going to work well. I bought some Industrial Strength velcro that has a lot more sticking agent to it. I put one piece on the wood in the servo bay and the opposite piece on the servo. I tried it out by putting the two together and it was a really strong bond. For added strength
I epoxied two square wooden dowels vertically on each side of the servo mounting tabs. I did this on both ends of the servo. This acts as a tray for the servo to set down in. Now, if the velcro would happen to come loose, and I doubt very very seriously that it's going to, the wooden dowels I epoxied in are going to keep the servo from moving around. I tested the servo by moving it around by hand with the hatch cover off and it is very secure. I actually had to force the servo out because the velcro bond was so strong, and no, the velcro's sticking agent did not fail. Just a bit of info on how I did it in case you don't want to or don't know how to epoxy your servo in. I did this mainly so I can take the servo out and put it back in with ease without having to re-wrap it and re-glue.


Good luck to all,

John

Hi John, that makes a lot of sense, as far as i can gather, the wing section is rather thin- therefore the non-use of servo trays. I'll get my Lancair earley next week and that's the first thing I'll look at. CKS

Thanks for the info john. G/P sent me a new lancair and this time I put wooden blocks in the sevobay just like the flap bay. I screwed the servo to the blocks then epoxyed the blocks to the wing skin and to the ribs and spars, I feel good about this one.
Happy landings
wildhair