Poking Along . . .

I can not fly, the weather is not cooperating in that way for me.  Today, the winds are down but the rain is up.  Well the rain is over and the wind has returned.  We need the moisture so that is a good thing but it leaves me with the continuing saga of the Escapade model airplane.

I had installed a servo, a TS-69, a ball bearing servo only to find it was not working correctly.  I over hauled the gear train as I found a couple of teeth missing in the nylon gears.  The servo has a small three pole motor that drives the gear train.  The gear train is composed of five gears.  They are arranged on three axles and really can only be put together one way, so it is not a big deal to replace one or all them.  The last gear is larger and has a splined shaft that sticks out of the case.  That is where one installs the servo arm that will move back and forth about 180 degrees of movement. 

So I got the gears installed and decided to check things out with my small handy dandy servo checker.   Actually I have two of them, one American made and one from China.  The Chinese one has a nice container and knob to turn along with a tiny little button switch.  It is a $7 bargain.   The American one is compose of three switches and two LEDs, one green and one red.   Both of the checkers require power of four double A batteries that plug in to a three pin port.  So I use the same power set for both of them.

I set it up and plugged in the servo and the American one came one with a red and green light, that is not good.  I got the servo to swing the arm from extreme to extreme but it would not stop in the middle (or as we say will not center). Different switches led to  different red light conditions meaning things are not working correctly.  So then I tried the Chinese checker and got similar results (well duh?).  So that made the servo a no go device  - junk box special.

I pulled out another old servo and checked it.  It worked just fine, no red lights, etc.  But the case was damaged.  Humm, I thought, maybe I can do some cross matching, old servo with new case.  It worked.  Checked it out after swapping gears, and case tops, and it worked just fine.  It is in the throttle application, so there is no great risk in using it.  It is now installed.

Then I took on the rudder servo.  The  original installer had used collets on the ends of the servo arms to attach the control rods.  That is a  no no, collects come lose and one loses control of the airplane.  You make a 90 degree bend and put the end up through the servo arm and use a nylon keeper to hold the rod on the servo arm.  Simple but no screws to come lose, hence much more reliable.  Even if the nylon keeper comes off, the configuration tends to keep the rod installed, so that makes it safer.

I had to remove the control rod, make the bend and reinstall same.  It is just time consuming but has to be done.  All of that is done.  Now to install the control rod to the engine carburetter or carb  Got to install a battery and the receiver and check out the trim.  After that I have to do weight and balance, that is make sure the center of gravity is in the right place.  Not hard but has to be done out of balanced aircraft can fly but usually are not controllable at low speeds such as during landing.

The engine change led to a heavier engine although a bigger more powerful engine.  I may have to add some lead to the back end to balance the machine with that heavy engine up front.

Oh the things you must do to get it to fly right.  But that is the fun of it all.  Soon it will be a goer.

Oh,yes, why am I writing this.  It is to give my eye sight and back a rest.  Close work bent over a work bench in the garage.