Hi Gang,
I have 2 trainers that developed aileron problems on just 1 wing.
The rod that sticks out can move 1/8th of an inch before the aileron moves.
Just enough to mess up my in flight trim. The regular full throws are OK.
Any fast fixes for this problem?
Thanks
Vegas/

Find the slop and fix it. Either your servo arm has slop in it, the servo is loose, the hole the rod in the servo arm is too big, the bend in the rod is flexing, the hinges are loose, or the control horn in the surface is loose. Not too many other things can cause it. Move the surface and see where the give is and fix that.

Hope that helps some

Hi FlyBoy,
It's in the aileron itself.
So far I have not installed the servo,linkage,etc.
When I hold that short rod that comes out of the bottom I can still move the aileron up & down appx 1/8th inch.
TH wants $110.00 for a new wing.
For a bit more then that price I can buy the full package TX RX Servos,etc but I have to many planes here now

sounds like the torque rod is loose in the aileron, try injecting some ca or better yet some epoxy in the hole and see if that fixes it, also check to make sure that the aileron hinges are not binding, this will cause excess stress on the torque rod and the soft balsa, the soft balsa can be cured by poking holes in the covering on the bottom and drop some thin ca to harden up the wood. Hope this helps.

Chris

SURE DID HELP!!
Big thanks Chris.
You know just what is wrong because I have already put a fix on the short rod comes out the bottom near the root of the wing and that took care of a lot of excessive play in that area.
Diane is a Nurse and can get me a fine needle.
I was thinking of holding the wing vertican and use a full bottle of CA and saturate the aileron hole.
The hinges are fine and no binding.
Again thanks for the input.
Appreciate it.

Any time!

Chris

I don't think that's a good idea. It won't take more than a half dozen drops at most to harden that whole area.

BUT, before you do that! If there's slop in the aileron that's allowing the torque rod to move, then the hole for the torque rod is already enlarged. Adding CA will NOT fix the problem. You're going to have to inject epoxy in there to fill that void.

Now, you're also going to have to be extremely careful where the epoxy ends up. If you're not careful, you may eliminate the slop, but you'll also eliminate all movement.
Dennis-

I've had that kind of problem happen a few times, and I've never been able to fix it with out taking the aileron off. It's just too hard to inject enough epoxy in there with out gluing the aileron solid. It's not that hard to cut the hinges and reinstall with new hinges and a nice dose of epoxy in the torque rod hole to prevent the movement. Taking the aileron off also allows you to scuff up the torque rod so the epoxy sticks better, and clean the area up nicely if the plane has been flown. It's not uncommon to have oil or dirt in there.

I just cut a small hole in the bottom of the aileron to get to the torque rod. About 1/2" from the hinge line. I usually make the hole square so I can cut a "plug" from balsa.

Then fill the hole with epoxy and fill with balsa.

If I am lazy and I don't care baout looks, I just fill the hole with epoxy and leave it.

This is much easier to get the epoxy in and less chance of the epoxy getting into the hinge area.

i know that problem. It happened on my cap 232. what happens is the rod has to go through the wing to get to the aileron. the hole in which it lives has worn into an oval. that means that it can be pushed farward a lot before the ailerons respond. there are 2 solutions. #1. on the bottom, cut the covering and the wood out where the rod runs through. disconnect it from the servo. slip a tube over the rod to act as a bushing, and fill the outsides in with wood filler. #2. take the aileron off and stuff wood filler in from the side. you will have to replace the hinges so while you are at it, you may want to put biger ailerons on for a bit more responsiveness and better response at ow speed.

I wouldn't recommend using wood filler. Epoxy is a better choice. Wood filler doesn't have much bonding strength, so you'd be relying on the covering or whatever wood was left to hold things together. Depending on how thick the aileron is and how ovaled out the hole is and how you fly, you may or may not have troubles with it later on.

Space Clam,
The first part I already put a fix on last night.
That keeps the rod from moning in and out and now it more or less PIVOTS like it should.
I slid fuel tubing over the rod and then made up a small ball of Sevon epoxy and pushed in in and worked it under the rod so now the rod where it makes the bend to go straight sits in a rock hard groove.
Now when I hold that rod still I can move the aileron appx 1/8th inch.
That tells me the rod going through the long aileron came loose where it goes through the hinges.
That was my reason for giving several applications of CA then a follow up with elmers to help harden up the wood around that area.
I'm going to try the CA now and see if it grabs and holds on to something.
I'll post the results tonight.
Thanks for the tips

Hi Montague,
I already put a fix on a part of the problem.
I think the wood filler would be OK if mixed with slow drying CA.
Right now I want to avoid tearing the wing apart just to get rid of that small amount of play.
Thanks for the input

SHenion,
I saw some really ugly planes fly like a champ.
Looks don't bother me with a trainer.
Heck, I have one wing here covered with thin masking tape and clear packaging tape over that to give more strength and it seems to fly better the the other 4 I have

wood filler will be as hard or harder than the wood that is already in there. the less messy way to do it is to take the aileron off and do it. as montague stated, you can put fuel tubing in there, that will work. but i would still reccomend wood filler.

trainers usually don't look very gooed anyway.

Wood filler is hard, sure. But it doesn't adhere to the wood very well at all. Try this in your spare time. Take two bits of wood, apply wood filler to them, and clamp them together until dry. do the same with another two scraps and use expoxy. Now try to pull them apart. What do you suppose will happen to the parts held together with wood filler? Do you think there will be a noticeale difference between the wood filler and the epoxy?

That's good that you have the first part of your problem fixed. I'm not sure I understand what you mean with the second part though.

Wood filler would not be the best solution. Add Baking soda/powder or micro ballons to the epoxy if you want to thicken it. However Post #9 is the best solution IMHO

the idea of wood filler is not to bond really well, it just needs to bond well enough that it sticls to the sides.

change it to a two servo set up and do away with the rods altogether. good luck, loren