Trim Indicators

[Hank Jarrett]

Marty had asked me for drawings of the trim indicator. I am posting a copy of the drawings for anyone who wants a copy. I HAVE NOT built a whole one from these drawings yet so there are a few things that need to be added. If someone knows what the offset on the wire indicator is I can update the drawing, if not we will need to experiment a little. I wish I had measured it when I was messing with the 45 to make the drawing.
Make sure you put the little cut into the hole in the thread nut so it will thread onto the screw. The hole in the thread nut should be the minor diameter of the threads. The sheet metal thread nut is a fairly loose fit over the threads so it can ride up and down the threads smoothly. The wire Support nails (I would use screws) to the back of the wood above the cross tube where the compass goes. There was a little plate on the front of the wood, but I saw a plane with the core of a steel pop rivet on the front and it worked better. He had just tapped the core into the wood as a bearing for the wire.

Hank

[Larry Lyons]

Re: Trim Indicators

Thanks Hank I do have one on my 41. If it warms up a bit I may try to get it out to the hanger and measure it up to compare for us. I saved this pic in my T rebuild file. L

[Dick Smith]

Re: Trim Indicators

Hank, I measured the offset on a NOS trim indicator (bracket with wire) that I have in my stash...it was offset 3/8 of an inch. Dick

(I've been out of the loop for a while...been down in Spokane area with my wife, as her mother was in hospice situation and passed away.)

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Trim Indicators

Thanks Dick. I just added that to the drawing. Anything anyone sees on any of my drawings that they can make suggestions to make them clearer please let me know. They ain't pretty (I'm not spending the kind of time I would for professional drafting). They are supposed to be utilitarian and allow us to make parts. Some of this stuff is just not available any more. If we don't document it, it could be gone, or hidden inside of a plane no one wants to open up.
Hopefully a lot of these can be signed off as checked when they have been put on a plane and confirmed the drawing is right.
If you want to do an owner produced part you have to do part of the work (it's specified what you need to do in the regs). One way is to do the QA on the drawing. When I send the drawing, the QA check is blank. YOU get to be the QA. ;-)
I just finished the 41 and 45 "D" drawings and will be opening a new thread on those. Keep the suggestions and corrections coming!
Hank

[cvavon]

Re: Trim Indicators

tribe

here is a drawing of the trim system that is in my planes records

[M Towsley]

Re: Trim Indicators

Chuck,

I have that one too, but it is not full-sized as Hank's is. That drawing also confuses me as it really doesn't show how the end of that long arm is attached. I've looked at pictures of a couple of other trim systems and the end is connected in different ways. In fact that whole drawing is too busy for me. Unless you had a stock trim system in place it would be difficult to make heads or tails of it. It is like the factory only had one piece of paper left and had to put all of the trim indicator information on that one piece. Thanks for posting it, though.

[cvavon]

Re: Trim Indicators

Marty
that was my same thought it took me a long time to sort out what i was looking at.With hank's and this one the picture is complete I think i could build one Chuck

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Trim Indicators

Chuck,
THAT'S GREAT! I have that drawing, but not NEARLY as clear as yours is. My drawing is for exactly what Marty said, to let you make all the parts. Your drawing is what is needed to put the whole mess together.
Marty, the end of the long arm opposite the crank hole on my planes goes through a a loose slot in the stringer. The arm pivots around the slotted end as the sheet metal "nut" rides up and down the threaded shaft the handle turns. The crank slot on the opposite end of the arm rises up and down as the arm pivots so that the crank wire can turn the rise and fall into a turning motion that moves the end of the wire on the display card.
It is a little "fiddly" to set up, but as long as you don't turn the crank till the nut bottoms on the threads or falls off it works really well. When you set it up you need to be certain that the nut is in the middle of the threads when the trim cable is centered between the stops and the tab is in line with the elevator. Remember that the elevator needs to be in neutral when all of this is done too so tie a couple of sticks to the elevator/stab to keep them straight. AFTER all of this is set up you can bend the end of the indicator wire down to point at neutral on the indicator card.
See? Simple!

Hank

Now do it upside down through a tiny hole in a headliner in the dark by feel. What could be simpler?

[M Towsley]

Re: Trim Indicators

My hope is to replace the headliner this year and replace all of the trim parts with correct parts. My indicator wire and placard may be ok, but the rest is homemade as shown in my pictures I posted a couple of days ago.

Hank, your description is the first clear explanation of where that long 'twisted' end goes. I have never seen a picture of it riding in a slot in a stringer. Interesting.....

[Robert Lees]

Re: Trim Indicators

Here's the drawing I drew to have my new front trim pulley made.

I also enclose a template for the trim indicator placard (I printed mine on self-adhesive silver-coloured paper).

[M Towsley]

Re: Trim Indicators

Rob,

I even noted on your pictures, as I refer to them when thinking of trim indicators, that your long arm opposite the actual trim screw is mounted differently.

I also found this picture somewhere on the Internet and it is mounted differently, too. The picture nomenclature indicted an F19 Trim system.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Trim Indicators

Neat, now we know how to do it when there is a full skylight and no stringer!
Hank

[Robert Lees]

Re: Trim Indicators

Rob,

I even noted on your pictures, as I refer to them when thinking of trim indicators, that your long arm opposite the actual trim screw is mounted differently.

I also found this picture somewhere on the Internet and it is mounted differently, too. The picture nomenclature indicted an F19 Trim system.

Not my picture, Marty, and not my aeroplane. I don't think it matters how the mechanism operates, as long as the crank direction is correct and the needle sense is correct. What pilot would be able to tell the difference?

Edit: here you can see that the mounting of the threaded arm on my Taylorcraft is opposite to Marty's F19 picture, but that makes no difference to the actuation of the mechanism...my indicator wire that goes through the skylight former is on the other side too!

[M Towsley]

Re: Trim Indicators

Rob,

I was indicating your pictures on your website that I refer to, (G-BREY). I found this one above while searching awhile back.

EDIT: Rob,

Who's pictures are on the taylorcraft.org uk website of the trim system? Those were the pictures I was referring to. Thanks for the additional edit pic.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Trim Indicators

Thought this would be a good place to show what the original crank handles looked like. These were the same on my 41 and 45 and the first picture is what they looked like when I got them.
They DO clean up nice as seen is the second and third picture. Little Windex and a cotton diaper added to some elbow grease......

OK, I had them re plated with Nickel. The plating shop said that was what was on them when I took them in. Chrome is more of a mirror finish, Nickel has a really nice luster to it and was really popular around the time of the war.

Hank