Tail & Controls testing

Testing the tail sections, tail mounts and control system

On Monday we finished putting together the test rig for the tail surfaces and control system, mounted it all on an SUV and did the first tests of the setup at 15 mph to verify that everything worked.  This helped us verify the geometry and location of the servos, control rods et cetera and verified that the servo and control horn setup worked, along with the V-bracket mounts for the horizontal and vertical tails.

The next test during the daytime will be to do a higher speed test to verify that these components still work properly and hold up under the full force expected with full-sized tail surfaces at flight speed.  (These test tail surfaces are 1 m span for both horizontal and vertical tail sections, but the real tail surfaces will be 4.5 m and 3 m long, respectively.  So the force will 4.5 and 3 X what these test sections see at flight speed -- thus we will increase the speed to give roughly equivalent force so the mounts, servos and control rods will get tested under real flight loads -- meanwhile the test tail surfaces themselves will get a workout at much higher than normal load per meter...).  We don't anticipate problems since these components are used on model aircraft that fly much faster and at much higher loads, but it's always good to test to make sure.

On these first tests, everything performed quite well.  We didn't see any problems.  Since we didn't have the right connectors to run everything off of the batteries that we will use in flight, we used an inverter on the car battery, to a transformer with 6 V DC output, wired to the controller.

Programming the Servos (for speed, max angle etc.)

Trying everything out on the bench before installing

Gluing the horizontal tail servo box in place

Attaching the control rod to the horizontal tail control horn

Tightening the rod end

Closeup of control rod ball end attached to control rod (through Mylar)

Control rod hook up complete

Setting up the vertical tail control rod/rod ends (everything is on its side during the installation)

The final setup (with controller in place, power cord not shown)

Test rig on the truck, hooking up the power

Prepping the racks to hold the test rig

Our power supply (12 V DC to 120 V AC inverter using car battery).  Joystick and phone cord visible on left.

Test setup almost ready to go -- final clamping and testing the joystick

The test rig setup with power and joystick connection

The view from inside the truck

Testing the tail surfaces, mounts, servos and control rod setup

Video of first tests of the tail surfaces & control system, 10/21/13

Moving the test rig back inside after the test (a tight squeeze)