Torque Tube Fitting
Tonight was all about tweaking and adjusting. First off, Dean and I heated and flattened the insides of the fairings against the longerons with a mallet. Looks better this way. Also then installed the torque tube to see how it fitted now that the base has been straightened.
This took ages. The torque tube itself takes quite a bit of time to install in the blocks. First was the need to straighten and adjust the bushings that hold the blocks in place. After welding the bushings they had moved slightly at the top so that the bolts were real tight inside the torque blocks – shear force. We heated and carefully tapped the bushings, not expecting much of a difference, but it worked well. Then after installing the torque tube again, found that the rear bushings/washers somehow were aligned in the horizontal slightly off, and so the blocks clamped the forward part of the torque tube more than the rear. We again heated and tapped the bushings, this time not to space them, but to align them in the perfect vertical by tapping themto the rear. After endless adjustment, the bolts then seemed to slide inside more easily.
We then drilled down through the bushings with the blocks installed to clear open the hole for the bolts. Didn’t have a reamer of the right size, but a drill bit seemed to do the job just fine. After this the bolts fitted fairly easily inside the blocks and bushings.
After tightening up the bolts, the torque tube now still slides around easily, so I am now pretty comfortable that the torque tube is aligned and will not wear against the blocks.
At the end of the night, I noticed that the when the control stick reaches the bottom right most position (without the stops) the idler lug that holds the two push/pull rods up seems to be bind, almost as if the idler lug is not in alignment correctly. Checking it again and again, it seems to be fine. I even heated and malletted the idler left and right a bit to see if it would improve things. It didn’t, and all that happened was that the push/pull rods now rub up against the fuselage diagonal. I reheated and straightened it again, but continue to have a twisting resistence at the stops – almost as if the bearings don’t turn enough in – although they do. Something not quite right, and I’ll have to check this later.
For now at least, the torque tube slides around beautifully inside the blocks, so one thing out of the way.
Time expended: 4 hours. Total time: 449 hours.
