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David d.
Joined: 04 Jul 2011
Posts: 60
Location: Fitzgerald Ga.
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 Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 4:29 pm Post subject: Cable Tightness |
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Greetings,
My rudder and elevator cables are adjusted with turnbuckles. What tightness are they adjusted to?
Is there a way to test or measure this tightness.
I think they should be tight, but I don't want to pull the tail-feathers up the tube.
Please, How did you do yours?
Thanks,
David d.
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Kolb Mark IIIX 582 Blue head |
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racerjerry
Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 202
Location: Deer Park, NY
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:58 am Post subject: Re: Cable Tightness |
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David, I do not know which airplane you have, but don’t get too up tight about cable tension. On my Firestar II, rudder tension is determined solely by the springs attached forward of the rudder pedals. The cables are loose and normally slap the boom tube on taxi in grass.
Elevator cable tension is adjusted by the turnbuckles and could be set accurately with the use of an expensive cable tensiometer; however, Kolb provides no specifications. You don’t want the darned things too tight for bind and wear reasons. Kolb only specifies that the elevator cables be rigged “with no slack.”
Set cable tension on a warm day so that tension will not be excessive with boom expansion. You don’t want the cables so loose that they try to hop off a pulley, but freedom from binding is much more important. You don’t want the cables to be ‘drum tight’. You should be to be able to easily deflect the cable with one finger.
Turnbuckles:
Make sure that the turnbuckle forks have plenty of thread engagement within the barrel; measure and record overall fork length beforehand so that you will be able later determine where the fork end lies within the barrel. It is very important to make sure that the forward turnbuckle forks do not bind or ‘bottom out’ at the extremes of full travel; grind the pivot for plenty of clearance (not the fork). You do not want to set up any condition where the forks could start to bend – very dangerous. Make sure that turnbuckles are safety wired after adjustment.
.
It is important to see that the cables are not twisted (wrapped over one another) within the boom tube.
It is very important to see that the cables are not REVERSED. Make sure that when you pull back on the stick, that the elevator goes UP and when you push right pedal, that the rudder goes right, or you will have a very bad day.
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Jerry King |
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pj.ladd(at)btinternet.com
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 9:45 am Post subject: Cable Tightness |
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David,
do not set the cables up too tight. There should be slack in the system and
there should be noise from the slapping cables in the boom tube when you
taxi..
I remember in my gliding club someone set the rudder cables on a glider too
tight and when the pilot hit a bump during the landing run the extra `g`
imparted to the pilots feet pulled the horns off the rudder.
Good job it didn`t happen on take off.
Pat
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David d.
Joined: 04 Jul 2011
Posts: 60
Location: Fitzgerald Ga.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 5:19 pm Post subject: Re: Cable Tightness |
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Thanks, Jerry and Pat
I plan to increase the up elevator cable size by 1/32" to a 1/8.
My Kolb is a Mk III extra. The newer ones have a 1/8 which is suspose to reduce stretch.
David d.
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Kolb Mark IIIX 582 Blue head |
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Eugene Zimmerman
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 392
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:28 pm Post subject: Cable Tightness |
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David,
I'd suggest you not worry too much about rudder cable tension, but I'd advise you to forget about all the advise you heard about elevator cables.
Just block your elevators so they will not move up or down, or have a buddy hold them in a fixed straight position, and then adjust your elevator cable tension to the amount of stick "slop" that you are willing to put up with, and still feel will give you the control authority you wish to have in an emergency situation.
Most Kolb pilots will be surprised at the amount of sloppy stick travel they have with almost no movement in the elevator when the elevator is under load.
I'd strongly recommend that all kolb pilots do this check out periodically.
Gene Z
On Mar 7, 2012, at 7:29 PM, David d. wrote:
[quote]Greetings,
My rudder and elevator cables are adjusted with turnbuckles. What tightness are they adjusted to?
Is there a way to test or measure this tightness.
[b]
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John Hauck
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 4639
Location: Titus, Alabama (hauck's holler)
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:37 pm Post subject: Cable Tightness |
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Most Kolb pilots will be surprised at the amount of sloppy
stick travel they have with almost no movement in the
elevator when the elevator is under load.
I'd strongly recommend that all kolb pilots do this check
out periodically.
Gene Z
Gene Z/Kolbers:
I like my elevator cables tight.
Rudder cables tighten automatically when I get scared
enough. 
We made a new flying airplane out of Larry Cottrell's FSII a
few years back. I flew it with the cables loose. It was a
bear to get comfortable with. Being new to VG's thought it
was maybe the VG's that were causing it until I got back on
the ground and we checked elevator cable tension. Larry
snugged them up and went flying. He discovered an airplane
he had never experienced before, since he had only flown it
with loose elevator cables.
Since my memory is getting worse each day, Larry can correct
me if my recollection of this is a bit off.
john h
MKIII
Destin, FL
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John Hauck
MKIII/912ULS
hauck's holler
Titus, Alabama |
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lcottrell
Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 1494
Location: Jordan Valley, Or
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:49 pm Post subject: Cable Tightness |
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Nothing wrong with your memory, Can't speak to the rest of you. :=)
Larry
On Fri, Mar 9, 2012 at 1:37 PM, John Hauck <jhauck(at)elmore.rr.com (jhauck(at)elmore.rr.com)> wrote:
| Quote: | --> Kolb-List message posted by: "John Hauck" <jhauck(at)elmore.rr.com (jhauck(at)elmore.rr.com)>
Most Kolb pilots will be surprised at the amount of sloppy
stick travel they have with almost no movement in the
elevator when the elevator is under load.
I'd strongly recommend that all kolb pilots do this check
out periodically.
Gene Z
Gene Z/Kolbers:
I like my elevator cables tight.
Rudder cables tighten automatically when I get scared
enough.
We made a new flying airplane out of Larry Cottrell's FSII a
few years back. I flew it with the cables loose. It was a
bear to get comfortable with. Being new to VG's thought it
was maybe the VG's that were causing it until I got back on
the ground and we checked elevator cable tension. Larry
snugged them up and went flying. He discovered an airplane
he had never experienced before, since he had only flown it
with loose elevator cables.
Since my memory is getting worse each day, Larry can correct
me if my recollection of this is a bit off.
john h
MKIII
Destin, FL
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David d.
Joined: 04 Jul 2011
Posts: 60
Location: Fitzgerald Ga.
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| Posted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 4:22 pm Post subject: Re: Cable Tightness |
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An update on my elevator problem.
I got a new larger cable with new clamps and thimbles. The larger (1/8 inch) will help with stretch.
However when I took off the old cable, it was twisted or wound up about 5 to 8 turns. On checking the turnbuckle it was unevenly threaded. The safety wire was good and tight and in place. The most thread showing was on the cable end of the the t.b. I would guess that whom ever installed the cable and turnbuckle, allowed the cable end to rotate as they tightened. Upon checking further there was only one thread holding the turnbuckle at the cable end. One thread is not much to be flying around with. Needless to say my thumper skipped a few.
The factory build manual may warn of this, but if not check your buckles.
A small tool can be inserted in the cable end to prevent it from rotating as you tighten. At least check your buckles for even threads on each end.
David d.
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John Hauck
Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 4639
Location: Titus, Alabama (hauck's holler)
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| Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 4:48 pm Post subject: Cable Tightness |
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Upon checking further there was only one thread holding the turnbuckle at
the cable end. One thread is not much to be flying around with. Needless to
say my thumper skipped a few.
David d.
Folks:
There is a lot to buying an airplane someone else built.
This is the first time I have heard of the turn buckle problem. One
thread!!! That is very frightening.
What else is there that you can't see when you buy and fly another's Kolb?
john h
mkIII
Titus, Alabama
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John Hauck
MKIII/912ULS
hauck's holler
Titus, Alabama |
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