S5, S6, S7 Yes
S5, S6, S7 No
IV or Earlier Yes
IV or Earlier No
interesting, looks like you have it to put one on the left side of the rudder. sorry to say, mine needed it on the right side of the rudder
steve
slyfox
model IV 1200-flying
912uls
IVO medium in-flight
RV7A-flying
IO-360
constant speed prop
I did something very similar to what Esser shows, but I did one on each side with just two nut plates per fitting. I will determine what is needed once I finally get flying.
- Gary
S7 SuperSport Tri-gear
w/Rotax 912, Oratex, Dynon
I followed Jim's simple design of a 6" aluminum tab attached with a double sided tape. Simple and fast, easy to adjust, light and cheap. Took about an hour to make and attach.
cheers
r
Ross
Mt Beauty, Vic
OZ
Sold to Richard and Scott Taubman in OZ, 2019. Kitfox SS7,Rotax 912is Sport, Airmaster CSP 75" blades.
Landcruiser and Cub off road camper (doesn't get any kudos on this forum!)
Ross,
Your's really sounds easy-peasy.......would you be willing to share some details? How far up the rudder is your tab? You mentioned 6" tab - what is the other dimension sticking out past the back of the rudder? Do you have the tab stuck on the port or starboard side?
Thanks, Appreciate your comments
Dave S
Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN
Sure Steve - I'll take a photo when shortly and post it with dimensions. Be a couple of hours. But I basically followed Jim Otts advice posted elsewhere on this forum that goes like this.....
"I used a piece of aluminum 6" long by 2" sticking out & 2" taped down with heavy duty doublestick automotive trim tape. No sign of coming loose after 2-1/2 years. About 25-30 degrees of bend. Just use thin enough aluminum (~0.020) so you can experiment and change the bend without removing it."
cheers
r
Ross
Mt Beauty, Vic
OZ
Sold to Richard and Scott Taubman in OZ, 2019. Kitfox SS7,Rotax 912is Sport, Airmaster CSP 75" blades.
Landcruiser and Cub off road camper (doesn't get any kudos on this forum!)
Here you go Steve. Dimensions as per Jim in my last post. I measured the deflection angle at 18'. I set it at 25' first and the ball was out the other side! Easy to just do small adjustments until you get it just right.
cheers
ross
Ross
Mt Beauty, Vic
OZ
Sold to Richard and Scott Taubman in OZ, 2019. Kitfox SS7,Rotax 912is Sport, Airmaster CSP 75" blades.
Landcruiser and Cub off road camper (doesn't get any kudos on this forum!)
Hey Ross,
Thanks for the details and the photo...makes it very clear.
Dave S
Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN
First off, I want to thank the list members for sharing what they had done for rudder trim. I spent a lot of time trying to decided which way would work best (and easiest)....your contributions helped a lot. Admittedly, a kitfox does not take a lot of rudder pressure to keep it in line and a person can fly it just fine without, but I have to admit to getting butt-itus on the right side from holding right rudder on a cruise flight.
I had not considered rudder trim at the time of construction so there was not much chance to put something together attached to the structure of the rudder directly. So it had to be something attached to the skin.
I'd like to thank Rosslr for sharing the photo and measurements as an outside stick on is pretty much what I could do considering the plane was complete before I thought about rudder trim.
Also looked at some non experimental aircraft and found some with a tube trailing edge had the tab attached to the right side of the rudder and curved to the left behind the rudder - experimented with the size and vertical placement Ross used except attached it to the right side. Also used the 3M high strength auto trim tape with 4 1/2" strips to make up a 2" attachment surface.
The first trial had a little too much of a bend in the tab resulting in a slight need for holding left rudder in cruise. Ended up with a bend as indicated in the attached photos.
Works so well that I can't believe I flew so many hours without getting this done earlier! Now cruises hands off an feet off.
Dave S
Kitfox 7 Trigear (Flying since 2009)
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN
Dave,
Looks really nice, and effective by your report.
I guess I am the only one who has a servo adjusting the trim. It was more of an experiment due to some ideas from long ago. I guess the important thing it suggested is that for the most part, variable trim in not really necessary. My experiment was to determine if creating an airfoil shape on the rudder - flat on one side airfoil on the other - would create sufficient lift to act as trim. In short - Yes it Does.