aa1a

My Feedback: (4)

Hello All,
I'd like to put a servo in my floats for the water rudder. This is to make it easier to swap from the floats to landing gear and back. I'd like to use a micro servo. How much torque do I need? Are metal gears required?
Thanks,
Jim

JimCasey

My Feedback: (1)

You don't need a lot of torque but it would be a good idea to use springs in the linkage. Either a servo-saver on a pushrod, or coil springs in a pull-pull. Micro servo gears are usually made with something about as strong as potato chips.

The water rudder should not touch the water unless you're in slow "displacement" taxi anyway.

jamesg33

I used a regular servo on my Duelist's float and it works well. I have it actuating a rudder on one float only, and it provides enough control to do the job. I just cut a servo sized hole in the top of the float, added a little reinforcement for mounting the servo and then enclosed the servo in a balsa wood enclosure. I brushed on some release agent then put silicone sealant between the enclosure and the float prior to screwing it on. I used a rubber boot (normally used for boats) to keep water from getting into the pushrod opening.

This setup really makes it easy to convert the plane from wheels to floats