Danny M2Z Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 I made this incidence meter for about $1.00 and an investment of an hour or two of fun. 1. Scan a school protractor into a graphics program (I used Turbocad) 2. Edit to add a base and pivot point. 3. Print to a convenient size. 4. Paste the image onto 1/16” balsa (Use crap, it's not important). 5. Cut out the outline. 6. Beg, borrow or steal a clothes peg. 7. Epoxy a couple of 1” square pieces of thin plywood to the peg clamp faces. 8. Find a bolt that will slide snug as a bug in a rug through the spring in the peg. I used 8BA; 3/32" or 2mm might do the trick. It all depends where you live I Suppose. (You will need a nut and a few washers to suit btw). 9. My indicator bearing is a Peck Polymer indoor prop bearing, or use similar. 10. Using wire to fit your bearing, bend at 90 deg so that the short leg will pass through the bearing with a bit left over (about 3mm or 1/8". 11. Bind & solder another piece of wire as a pointer to the long leg (see picture). I ground mine to a point but it's not vital. 12. Make a 'Z' bend in the bottom leg away from the face, this is to let the weight swing clear. 13. Crimp a weight into the end of the pointer assembly (I Used a small fishing sinker). 14. Drill a slightly undersize hole at the pivot location and ream it out so that the pivot bearing fits snug. 15. Test the bearing alignment by fitting the pointer and checking that it can swing freely and clear of the face 16. Turn the scale around and put a couple of tiny drops of cyano at the place where the bearing protrudes through the balsa. Use a toothpick or a pin to apply the glue DON'T GET ANY GLUE ON THE WIRE!!! 17. Drill the bottom pivot point to suit your bolt. Harden the hole with a drop of cyano. 18. Bolt the assembly to the clothes peg using a washer on each side of the dial. 19. Tighten the nut gently; you want to be able to rotate the scale to set the pointer to zero. 20. Crimp a tiny piece of tubing to the overhanging pointer wire at the back of the bearing to secure it in place. Finished! In use I find this handy to check wing & stabiliser incidences, D-T angles etc. In the photo it's attached to a HLG wing. When I fly my C/L and r/c models it is great to check control surface deflections. * Danny M * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted April 7, 2015 Share Posted April 7, 2015 I like it, well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 I also made my own in about an hour. I got the instructions from here as well as the template Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Day Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 Thanks Danny. Thanks Cymaz, I've bookmarked that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny M2Z Posted April 8, 2015 Author Share Posted April 8, 2015 G'day guys. I made my first clothes-peg deflection meter over 30 years ago. I was reading in this thread: **LINK** about the little jig for setting the elevon throws and how critical they were and so thought that it may be a useful gadget to simplify the task. I used to fly high performance r/c delta's in front of machine guns so am familiar with their characteristics of a mis-aligned control surface. Because of field repairs, had to have a way to set them up quickly with 40 impatient gunners waiting. Before the delta's we flew these. **LINK** It was fun being paid to fly r/c, although at the State Champs, one 'competitor' complained that I was a 'Pro' pilot. * Danny M * Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.A. Barry Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 very clever Danny...love it Barry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eflightray Posted April 8, 2015 Share Posted April 8, 2015 My version. Slide anywhere along a wing to check twist/washout, also adjustable for different chords. Made from Depron, but could be balsa, cardboard, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Marshall Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Hi all, Just thought l`d add a few photos of the incidence meters l made and how l used them. Get an ordinary protractor from the stationers. Drill a v small hole on intersection of 0 degrees and 90 degrees. Epoxy it to length of wood strip or dowel. Thread cotton or similar through the hole and tie a large knot that can`t pass back through the hole, cut to length and add some blue tack as shown. You simply band this onto the wing, once you`ve set up the fuselage on a datum line, a spirit level on the tailpane seat in my case! And another level across the fuselage. Simples! The photos should show the gist of it all. One photo shows (a very untidy workshop) and the way l rigged up the meters to measure... the incidence and stagger of the wings of my Triplane whilst in the build/set process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Marshall Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Marshall Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Marshall Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Marshall Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 These were of course used on flat bottom, clark Y aerofoil sections. To adapt them to other wing sections would just be a case of measuring the center of the LE and spacing the rear of the meter with packing to match the measurement at the TE. I think?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Marshall Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Sorry about the focus and clarity of these photos but l think you should be able to see enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Pennington Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Great idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn K Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 There are some really useful ideas here. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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