Chris,
Actually, I made my alignment testing jig using your copper pipe idea. That's how I found out what the problem was.
I really didn't feel comfortable just bolting that assembly in, even with aligned bearing blocks. The middle of that assembly had about a 3/16" radius "orbit", and would really stiffen up when the outboard bearings were tightened in place. It seemed like I was setting up a four-way fight between 1) the flap motor, 2) the torque tube flanges and bolts holding them together, 3) the bearings themselves, and 4) the structures holding the bearings in place.
Between drilling the holes out and using Tim's pressure realigment method, I just may get this to work. Thanks to everybody for the ideas.
Gary
I used a copper pipe as a guide to get the bearings straight. After that almost anything with good compressive strength can be used as a filler to take up the unevenness between the flanges. I used aluminum spacers. If the holes happen to not align, simply drill them out. |