Torque rod troubles
 

So far, my LT-40 has gone together very nicely. Until last night.....

I glued the torque rods with brass bearing into the grooved piece of balsa. This simply acts as a hinge for the ailerons to eventually pivot on. Well, the first one, after 5 tries to get it right, I finally glued the rod to the bearing and now it won't rotate at all.

I tried the second one and got it relativley quickly. One thing I noticed is that it takes just a little bit more force to rotate the successful torque rod than the other required before it had been glued into the wing. I would imagine that if it can be roated with a small amount of force, even though its not free spinning, it'll be ok.

Anyway, about the frozen torque rod, I am soaking it in acetone for about 24 hours, I am hoping that that will free it up. But if it doesn't free up, where can I buy new prebent airleron torque rods for the LT-40? Also, I might just start completely from scratch, where can I get that wedged and grooved balsa stock as I have described?

Thanks.

RE: Torque rod troubles
 

If you contact the manufacturer and explain what happened, I'd bet they'll send you new ones.

RE: Torque rod troubles
 

great planes make a strip aileron kits that includes every thing you need to set up a complete ailerons. or do like I did and buy some welding rod the same size. I used some of the brass that comes with a fuel tank for the bearing.

RE: Torque rod troubles
 

You can purchase toque rods at your LHS, but it may be easier to eliminate the torque rods completely. You can use one servo for each aileron and mount on the underside of the wing about half way out on the span. This solution is very easy if you have a computer radio to mix the two channels together. Otherwise, you can use a servo y connector and plug both servo's into the same channel

RE: Torque rod troubles
 

Bryris
Once you glue those torque rods they seldom get freed back to a usable state. Your best bet is to cut them out and start over.

When you go to reinstall the torque rods, coat them with vaseline or my favorite chapstick. That way when you glue the bearings in place the glue won't stick to your torque rods.

You want all your control surfaces to be as free as possible. I like mine to fall under the weight of the control surface only but I have had a lot of practice. Another ting any binding at all will eat up battery power and your servos won't center correctly every time. Soshoot for free movment and NO Slop.

DEG