flyboy2

My Feedback: (1)

Is it possible to straighten a slightly warped aileron without removing the covering or the aileron?

mucksmear

I'm assuming this aileron is covered in some sort of iron on covering:

Typically, you would apply a little more than enough twisting force on your aileron straighten (ie, over corrected) and apply the heat from an iron while holding the twisting force. Let the aileron cool before releasing the twisting force and it should relax to a straight condition.

If it's already on the plane, you might try disconnecting any drive linkages, or pushrods, lock the root of the alieron in the neutral position by clamping it and the fixed portion of your TE between some scap ply, then applying the twisting force to the tip of the aileron, while heating both sides of the aileron.

hope this helps
-Elliot

bob_nj

My Feedback: (62)

Built up, or solid?

flyboy2

My Feedback: (1)

It is solid.

bob_nj

My Feedback: (62)

and let us know. Is it causing you much dismay in the air? What plane?

flyboy2

My Feedback: (1)

I don't know exactly how much of a problem it's causing in the air other than requiring a lot of trim. The plane is a WM Emeraude 60. I haven't tried mucksmear's suggestion, but I plan to give it a try. Thanks to all.

bob_nj

My Feedback: (62)

it's the aileron and not an alignment problem or warp in the wing or stab. Or even all three

flyboy2

My Feedback: (1)

It could be a combination of problems, but the aileron is obviously bowed in the middle and therefore suspect.

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

Bowing alone may not be casing the trim problem. If the warp in the aileron is such that a part of the trailing edge is bent upward or downward, then that could be your problem as this is an unwanted deflection while the aileron is at neutral. If it really isn't warped in this fashion, then I would look at some of the other suggestions from previous posts concerning alignment or warped wing problems.

If the aileron is warped to the point it is giving you the unwanted deflection, the method of heating and reshrinking the covering may work as it does in many cases.

If it does not work, then you must take the covering off, wet the aileron (I recommend a 50 - 50 water to ammonia mix) and set it up with a twist to the opposite side of where the twist is already and block it up somehow to hold that position until the wood is completely dry. When you take the weight off, the opposite twist will spring back somewhat to hopefully a straight position. The tricky part is correctly estimating how much opposite twist is the right amount to produce the required result.

One more thought on the bowing. If the aileron hinge line is not absolutely parallel, when the aileron is attached to the wing it will appear that the aileron is bowed. It is best to make sure a solid stock aileron is straight and true to start out with.

mucksmear

flyboy,

Since it's bowed (I had originally read "warped" to equal "twisted" as is also fairly common) you should still be able to use the same technique, but instead of applying say 110% corrective twist and heating, you would of course apply about 110% corrective bending plus heat. If the bow is in the plane of the aileron (ie, visible in plan view but not from front or back view) then you may have more difficulty. A more invasive procedure for the latter condition is to remove aileron (yuck) and use a straight edge to trim off either the bowed out center span or as the case may be, the bowed out root and tip areas, re-cap the TE with a new strip of wood, sand to match TE taper, re-cover, rehinge.

Bob_nj may be on to something here re other possible alignment prob. Use an incidence meter to check the trueness of your wing, etc. I found that a 1/2 degree diff in the last 6 inches of my twin was enought to require a trim adjustment.

flyboy2

My Feedback: (1)

I'm going to try corrective bending and heat. If that doesn't work, I think I will just leave it as is for fear that I might turn a relatively small problem into a big problem.

Thanks again for your help.