Wings

I am in the middle of setting up my flaps. The build manual suggests you have between 42 and 44 degrees flap movement on the ground which should give you about 40 in the air under load. See p 8-10. I have been struggling to get more than 35 or 36. Then I noticed the wording on Dwg. EF4-4. (Double click the picture if you want a larger copy.) Here is the conversation I had with VANS.

My question:
When I finished for today I was having a problem getting the full 44 deg flap movement the build book suggests when unloaded. I am probably 10 deg short. All the dimensions/geometry are to plan as far as I can see. However, I have just noticed that at the top LH of Dwg. EF4-4 it sais "Approx 2 3/16th as required". Is this an acknowledgement that this length will have to be adjusted to get the full movement? If I drill a new hole about 3/8th over I would think I will be nearly there. Stresses in the system / motor will increase of course. Thoughts?

VANS response:
Seems curious - the copy of EF4-4 I have shows the dim on the EF-401 as "approx 3". Obviously someone changed it to 2 3/16 for some reason; my guess is that builders said 3" is too long. 2 3/16 is too little, apparently. I'd just move the flaps to see what movement is required at the actuator arm, and drill a new hole accordingly.

I suggest you therefore you drill that hole after you have set up the flap push rods. If you are luckier than I,you had the 3" version of the plan, though I would think that is too long.

I started a thread on VANSAIRFORCE which you may want to review. It has some useful pictures. See http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=15409

Postscript By adjusting the 2 3/16th dimension to 2 5/8th I have achieved a full 44 deg of movement.

I started to set up the flaps today. The first puzzle was how to get the hinge pin in since one end is blocked by the fuselage, the other by the aileron bracket, and VANS make no comment in the build book that I can find. One very helpful suggestion from a previous builder was to divide the hinge in half and remove some hinge 'ears' from the centre of the hinge. This would clearly work, but somehow to me it seemed a shame to break the continuity of the pin. What I have done is drilled a hole just large enough for the pin to pass through, in the aileron bracket as you can see in the picture. My idea is then to fill the hole with a small c/s bolt with a Nylok. Probably a #4, but I have not looked into that yet. The hinge will then be floating, with neither end secure, but nowhere for it to migrate to. I might well put a small circle of UHM on the fuselage to stop the paint being damaged.

If anyone can think of a reason why this will not work please let me know.

The rear attachments are finally drilled to full size. The 5/8" distance is exceeded. The wing incidence is as close as a digital level can measure.