ibmagman

I have 2 Long-EZ's and 5 children. Will Trade the one flying Long-EZ for your flying or near flying Cozy. I need more seats. Thanks Steve Morse ibmagman@yahoo.com

I just rebuilt my tail heavy ailerons. here is the tale of my adventure: I removed the ailerons and weighed them at 5.5 lbs. I have not yet been able to find the max acceptable weight for ailerons from any source including an inquiry to "da man". The first thing I did was to add lead tire weights stacked on top of the bass balance rod. I had them stacked 4 high the entire length of the aileron! At this point, the ailerons balanced to "top surface level". I needed 5 lbs of lead. What now? So I sanded the crap out of the ailerons until I was 1/2 way through the first layer of glass as described in the CP's as the standard RAF method to balance control surfaces. Well, I was able to shave the weight down to only needing 2 lbs of lead required and bringing my max weight up to 7.5 lbs prior to final finish. This was not going to cut it. It was time for aileron surgery. Get a totally flat surface. I used a new 36" door from Home Depot on top another table. Lay your aileron down with flat bottom down and stake some small finish nails down along the trailing and leading edge and a few on one end. This marks the profile of the aileron. Put both ailerons side by side and do both together. Remove the aileron and cut off the old 3/8 dia mass balance rod. Put the aileron back in the profile tool after cutting off the 3/8 rod. Add a new carbon steel 7/16 dia mass balance rod and bump the rod to the FWD nail stops and flox in place. After cure, sand the new floxed in place leading edge nice and round and add 1 ply bid. You have not changed the length of the aileron and no additional work will be required to the wing trailing edge. Additionally, you have not changed the effective length of the effective snatch angle (relative to the hinge line) of the lower aileron leading edge. Be sure to use peel ply for final finish blending purposes and be positive that the bottom of the aileron is dead flat and NOT bowed! Next, use the Cory bird finish technique and add 3 coats of pure structural epoxy. Sand this down untill the aileron is flat. Sand progressively starting with 36 grit knocking down the high epoxy spots and finishing with 320 grit. Do not cut through all the way to the old finish or you will get some nagging pin holes to finish. Prime lightly and paint. Mine are not that pretty up close but they balance perfectly and the total weight is 5.2lbs per aileron with paint. A side note: There are several Canards flying with 7/16 dia mass balance weights. I know of one Long-EZ that is painted silver and has an 0-360. Fly safe Steve Morse magman

help! I am ready for first flight after extensive modifications and repairs to a Long-EZ I purchased. I rebuilt the aileron controls AFT of the firewall using steel and rebuilt the ailerons using 7/16 mass balance rods. I got the aileron controls all rigged over the weekend and I have aileron control system slop. One aileron can be moved up and down (travel) at the trailing edge almost 1/16" - 1/8" (total up/down travel) before the other aileron begins to move. If I wiggle the stick left/right agressively I can hear the aileron torque tube knock and rattle in the phenolic bearing. There is not much play when wiggling the torque tube in the phenolic locally but there is obviously enough slop to compound this to the condition described. Has any one else noticed this level of control system slop? I am hoping to find a way to fix this by removing the aileron and torque tube but NOT removing the wings if possible. Any input or suggestions welcome. Thanks Steve