Hey guys,
I'm working on a design for tailwheel spring. What kind of spring constant should it have for best shock absorbtion? Should the tail wheel easily give? Heres a picture of test rig. This setup is for both compression and tension. Thanks in advance. Stoene

and here.

If you want springs then use springs for the tail wheel via pull/pull cables. You can attach the springs to the tail wheel horns and the pull/pull to the springs. That will give you streering and shock prevention, if that's what your after.

Hello Bobh,
Yeah, I started out with that in mind when I built up fuse. I ran the pull pulls back to tailwheel (tiny cable type with plastic sheath). I kept them farily straight but they have lots of friction. I want to use a single servo for both the rudder and tailwheel. The plans show (Brian Taylor 109F) a push rod for controll. I read a forum where some guy linked his tailwheel to the rudder via short rod. I am trying this but have made a small push pull linear spring for damping but didn't know how much give/stiffness was needed in the spring. I'm going to have it asseciable for future maintance if spring is too weak. Heres a pic of work so far.

SR,
Run pull-pull with springs to the tail wheel like Bob said and run the pushrod to the rudder from the same servo arm. That's the set up I have in my Brian Taylor SPit. Or you can run another set of pull-pull to the rudder. That way you would keep weight and clutter away from the tail.
JG

JG,
The pull pull is the best route for simplicity and weight. I wasn't too thrilled with the linkages, a push-rod with ball on bottom of control horn and shock absorber with ball on top of same horn. That set-up puts alot of strain on the control horn hinge point and I was having to compensate for that and it turns into a slippery slope. The pull-pull is the best but now I'll have to find a way to punch holes in the right places of the sealed fuse to replace the original cables. Thanx for all the infos, Stoene