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Gary's RV8 Construction Log
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Date: 10-29-2009
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Number of Hours: 1.50
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: R-Elev Tip: Glass in counterweight -Part 1-
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I spent the last two days doing a *serious* amount of research as to how others have gone about glassing in their respective counterweights and, I must be honest, I found any info to be very few and far between with most builders logs just touching on the subject with few or no photo's. I didn't really find a solution where I though "That's it! That'll work for me!" Having absolutely ZERO experience with fiberglass ain't really helping much either as I don't really know what I can/cannot or should/shouldn't do.
All of this was solved by friend (don't tell him I said so ;) ) and fellow builder, Dawie van Staden. A call to Dawie and he came over to lend a hand and guide me through the process for the first elevator tip. His RV8 (already flying) still has the old style counterweights and as such, he doesn't have any experience with the new ones. I explained my concerns and we quickly agreed on a way forward and got stuck in.
To start with, I filed a fair amount of the counterweight off, shaping it and making sure that there was about a 1mm-2mm gap between it and the profile of the existing tip. I also removed a fair amount from the front face of the weight, resulting in a recess of about 1.5mm-2mm from the leading edge of the counterbalance skin.
Then, with a rotary sanding tip on the dremel tool, we removed the gelcoat on the existing tip, a distance equal to about 1.25 times that of the counterweight itself. We also shaped the "leading edge" of the tip such that it aligned with and sat just aft of the counterweight.
We then covered the counterweight and parts of the counterbalance skin in packaging tape (has a very shiny plastic surface) to assist in later release of the fiberglass. We cleco'ed the tip into place, mixed up some epoxy resin and applied it to the fron face of the counterweight and the exposed glass on the existing tip. We roughly cut a few peices of glass cloth to shape with a few "slits" to assist the cloth in bending over the outboard/rounded end of the tip.
>>>Part 2
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Counterweight shaped and gelcoat removed appropriately from tip to assist bonding
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Counterweight and part of skin covered with "Packaging Tape" to allow "easy release"
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My first glass layup - 3 layups now being left to cure
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