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Posted for "Ian B. Crowe" <ian.crowe@sympatico.ca>:

I was the guy who asked the original question and I never got a specific
answer to the question of whether to balance with the bolts in place or
just on the assembly pins I used.  I was hoping that there would be a stock
answer to the question.

I asked Orin at Neico and as far as I remember he said to balance it as I
had done on the pins, paint it and then recheck it. Slightly heavy was
better than light.  Give him a call, he is always helpful.

When you think about it, any frictional forces that that you build into the
balancing process, will probably change over time resulting in an inbalance
down the road.

The same problem arises with the ailerons although the hinges are easier to
adjust on the initial installation to approach zero friction.  My ailerons
were much easier to balance.

I suppose that you could measure the amount of apparent out of balance with
the bolts fully installed by using a good spring balance and calculating
the moments.

I tried my elevators out for balance indivdually with the bolts in and
together with the two coupled together.  In my case it was the act of
bolting the two elevators together that introduced the friction.  It is
unrealistic to expect that using the low tech techniques available to us
and given the type of materials that we could achieve an almost
frictionless environment.  The alignment would have to be within very high
tolerances.  I think that  in the abscence of defined standards and given
our relative lack of experience we often fall into the trap of trying to
achieve perfection.

Ian Crowe


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