After covering the aileron I was installing the control horn. One of the screws will not tighten down. What is the best way to secure the screw? Relocating is not an option.
Thanks
chopper man

what type of material is the horn made from nylon.is this an arf?you could try a larger screw or add a nut after the plate

It's nylon. It's the TF Piper Arrow. Just screws into a balsa block in the control surface.
chopper man

Take a small wooden dowl & CA a piece of it in the hole. Let dry then redrill your hole.

I would go with the new mini machine screw and bolt idea with a nylon/plastic backing. With a good sharp xacto tip or small drill bit to drill the hole.

If the screw doesn't go all the way through the aileron you just need to fill the hole,& Redrill it .

I would not trust a wood screw in balsa for anything, let alone a primary control.. as advised use a machine screw and nut for all the holes, peferably with a thin plywood on the surface opposite the horn. Are you sure there isn't a nylon plate on one side?

Listen to scratch, screws rip out of balsa blocks. you need to harden the holes of the balsa with ca and have a stronger material like plastic backing or be screwing into plywood because the forces are to great on the horn to trust just balsa and a screw. You will have major flutter problems shortly if you fly like this

You can use wood filler for the hole and redrill, or try gorilla glue since it will expand giving you more coverage area. Always test your control surfaces, linkages, hinges, nuts, etc. prior to flight, they do eventually loosen up in most cases.

Master Chief, or should I say Spartan 117, do you still play HALO 2?? If so are you on X-Box live, and if so, want to get together and play?

And so I am not hijacking the thread, I agree, use a larger screw or plug the hole and re-drill.

I would not use a wood screw into balsa, hardened or otherwise. Use horns with thru bolts and nuts (harden the balsa with CA to avoid compression).

I think I'll go with the through bolt idea. I'm not big on putting a backing plate on the top of the aileron because it's going to ruin the scale apperance but I guess it's better than losing an aileron. Any suggestions on how to drill through the covering without ripping it off? I guess I'll need to do this to the other aileron before I cover that one. Thanks for your help as I've almost completed my first building project.
chopper man

You can use something like this
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXK107&P=ML
and there will be no actual nut. The backer plate is relatively unobtrusive. It says you need an allen wrench to install but I have no idea what for. A small phillips or straight blade is usually all that's required.

Hold the horn in place and poke a T-pin through the covering. Then carefully drill the holes. When you see the drill pressing on the opposite side you can use the T-pin again to break the skin and make it easier for the drill to penetrate. Work slowly and carefully to align the holes correctly. Once the holes are correct, harden with CA and let dry - NO accelerator. Do final attachment.

Thanks. That's what I'm going to do.
chopper man

Ok. Hear is my problem. I just looked at the aileron and if I tried to use the Great Planes long control horn the screw is not long enough to go through the aileron. It needs to be at least 3/4 inch long. The screws in the package are 3mm by 12mm. Can you get 3mm bolts 3/4 inch long. If not, what are my other options?
Thanks
chopper man

Yes you can get them. But properly prepared balsa with 1/2" screws will work fine.

Your hobby shop should have 2-56 machine screws (bolts) in the right length, get allen screws if you can.

Well I screwed it up. The lhs talked me into an Du-Bro adjustable control horn. When it is all said and done I messed up the angle of the hole drilled through the alerion. Now what do I do? Should I try to fill the hole and go back to the great planes contol horn with the backing plate and find longer bolts? Patch the coverig? This first build was coming out really nice until now. Help again please. I'm going to try and get a couple of pictures and them I'll post those so that you can take a look.
Thanks
chopper man

Here they are. Take a look and tell me what you think.
chopper man

My opinion,

Go back with the origional horn. Get it aligned the way you want, redrill the holes if necessary. Then upon assembly, wet all the holes with water, put some Gorilla glue in the holes and assemble. The gorilla glue will expand in the voids and restore the structural integrity of the aileron.

Darren

You can make some balsa dust and pack it in the holes. Once the holes are full and packed, hit it with some CA. Then go back to the GP horns.

If you can't find hardware locally try www.microfasteners.com
great hardware at great prices, regular and stainless. I usually get stainless but that's just me. Some sample stock numbers to look at would be:
MSPPS0216
MSPPS0224
SCA0216
SCA0220
SCA0224
MSPPS3020
MSPPS3025
SCM3020
SCM3025
http://www.microfasteners.com/catalo...cts/TNMBOX.cfm

Thank you. I'm going to give that a try and go back to the GP horn. do you think I should put a small piece of covering over the repaired hole or just let the control horn cover it up?
Again, thanks for your suggestions.
chopper man

IF the horn covers it to your satisfaction, and since the CA will protect/seal the wood,I wouldn't worry about covering. BUT this is YOUR plane and choice.

Again thanks for your help. I hated the fact that I screwed this part up. I'm so close to having this big project complete. I'm headed back upstairs to repair the holes and hopefully I can get back on track.
chopper man