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Rudder Covering

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Posted

OK, I am getting ready to cover my rudder for the third time and I am looking for suggestions. The problem I am having is that the leading edge is distorting when I shrink the fabric, pulling the center hindge point to the rear. I do the shrinking with the rudder pinned to the VS but no joy. I have put a pre-bend in the rudder to counteract this for my next go at this but... I am using medium weight fabric and starting to think that maybe I should try some light weight instead.

Paul

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Posted

OK, I am getting ready to cover my rudder for the third time and I am looking for suggestions. The problem I am having is that the leading edge is distorting when I shrink the fabric, pulling the center hindge point to the rear. I do the shrinking with the rudder pinned to the VS but no joy. I have put a pre-bend in the rudder to counteract this for my next go at this but... I am using medium weight fabric and starting to think that maybe I should try some light weight instead.

Paul

either you are putting the covering on too tight to begin with, or you are shrinking it at too high of a temp. I never went over 275 on mine. My entire plane is covered in medium weight fabric. It holds up to rocks and alders much better!

:BC:

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Posted

either you are putting the covering on too tight to begin with, or you are shrinking it at too high of a temp. I never went over 275 on mine. My entire plane is covered in medium weight fabric. It holds up to rocks and alders much better!

:BC:

Yeah, in the process of repairing my wingtip, I have recently read the polyfiber manual. They state that there should be slack in the fabric before shrinking. If you left enough slack before shrinking, that the fabric hung down 1-2 inches in the middle if you were to turn it upside down, I think that would be about right (from memory from the manual, you might want to look it up on-line). Also I think there tends to be a bit of deformation no matter what. You just want a tolerable amount. The fabric has a lot of shrink strength and the tubing is pretty wimpy!

Chris

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Posted

Thanks fellas, I have it covered again and it is good this time.

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