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Kupe's Zodiac 650B
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Date: 4-14-2013
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Number of Hours: 2.00
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Manual Reference: 6-PH-1
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Brief Description: Left Aileron Hinge Mod - Part 1
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The baseline Zodiac aileron design connects to the aft edge of each wing using an extension of the top skin of the aileron. I have heard that the piano hinge configuration feels more responsive, but not until I already had the skin-as-a-hinge parts delivered. I spoke with Caleb, Zenith chief engineer, about a mod idea I had to convert my ailerons to the piano hinge version, which he approved.
According to the plans (Image 1), the piano hinge aileron skin differs from the skin-as-a-hinge version in two ways. First, the top skin extends 50 mm forward of the aileron's face in the skin-as-a-hinge design and only 20 mm in the piano hinge design. Second, the flange at the top of the aileron face is bent inward (aft) on the skin-as-a-hinge model while the same bend is outward (forward) on the piano hinge model to strengthen the hinge attachment.
My design was to trim 30 mm off of the leading edge of the top skin and attach an L angle the full width of the aileron face which replaces the outward (forward) flange of the piano hinge aileron skin. Today, I attached the L angle to the top, face of the aileron with the flange facing forward. With the wing upside down, I was able to use the edge of the L angle as my edge guide for an Olfa knife cut. Phase one complete.
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Original (annotated) plan on top. Piano hinge plan on the bottom. My annotations in red.
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Upside-down aileron with the leading 30 mm cut off the full width of the aileron top skin.
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Olfa knife. Requires mutiple (~15) strokes along a straight edge to score aluminum skin to split it.
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