If you need more counter weight here is a
neat trick. I added 1 ˝ inches to the top of the rudder and stab. This
allowed more volume in the rudder forward of the hinge line thus no lead bars
were needed on the rudder leading edge and a greater moment arm on the top of
the rudder allowed for a lighter balanced rudder. An additional benefit was
the additional rudder authority I had which saved our bacon on a 24 knot
crosswind component landing at Jackson
Hole, WY. Beautiful
cross controlled landing, greased landing without any difficulty. I used shaped
foam covered with two bid glass then hollowed out the foam on the rudder then
filled it with lead and drilled to balance.
Bob Smiley
N94RJ
From: Lancair Mailing List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Greenbacks, UnLtd.
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012
7:04 AM
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Subject: [LML] Re: 360 Rudder
Balance
Back in the days when folks at Lancair still knew what a 320/360 was, I
called them to discuss rudder balance since the install manual was not
particularly helpful(understatement). When I suggested there wasn't much
benefit to adding weight along the leading edge between the hinges, they agreed
and recommended that it all go up on top and forward. I ended up extending
forward the notch at the top of the VS to accommodate the weight.
As for the top hinged ailerons, just add enough weight so when at rest,
the trailing edge is 1/8-1/4" above wingtip.