Flap Switch
Jabiru supplies a big clunky switch for placement on the dash. The Teckair builder put a switch on his joystick, together with a second lock switch to prevent inadvertent activation. This has some merit but also risk.
I chose to use just the supplied one. The only problem I had was I couldn't get the big paddle onto the switch post because it was too big. I rang Jabiru and they suggest grinding off one side of it to make a flat section. Then fill the hole half up with 5 minute epoxy and squeeze the paddle on. The flat section reduces the size enough to get it on. Also it then serves to stop the paddle rotating. To further stop it rotating there is a small hole in the post and the threaded surround. If you can find a piece of wire or a pin to fit this it will further stop the paddle rotating.
The Flaps.
The flaps were fairly straight forward in construction as per the instructions. There were a couple of things I found that were not in the instructions.
1. There were four small stepped aluminium washers on the flap card. Again there was nothing written about them. Another phone call to Jabiru. These washers go one on either side of the very inboard flap arms. Drill out the hole big enough to seat the inner stepped bit. The outer rim sits on the surface of the arm. Apparently they need more load spreading than the outer arms.
2.The instructions show two completely different models of how the push rod from the cross tube actually connects to the flap. One set of diagrams (in fact ALL but one hidden diagram) show an arm protruding out of the upper surface of the flap and the push rod attaching to it. When I found those diagrams, and that my flaps had no arm just a slot where it looked like an arm should be I was livid. I was convinced Jabiru had sent me some partially completed flaps. After much hunting around I found another single diagram in some other part of the technical manual (not in the construction manual) that shows a push rod going through the slot in the flap like I had. Careful examination with a small LED light on a probe showed a predrilled hole inside the flap to take an AN3 bolt, with some difficulty. The slots needed a bit of trimming and grinding to get the bearing to fit but eventually I got it to fit.
In addition I did not have the correct length AN3 bolts for the push rod attachments so I had to order them as extras from Jabiru. The inner rear corner of the flap requires quite a lot trimmed off to give clearance in full down, but this fairly easy to measure and trim.
The trimmed back inner end of the flap is pretty ugly when seen from inside the cabin. I filled the inner end with Styrofoam and put a thin layered glass and epoxy over it to tidy it up. In retrospect, if I were doing it again I would also do it to the ends of the ailerons. The filled in ends do look a lot more finished.
Flap Rigging:
The flaps have two rigging concerns.
Rigging the "neutral" position and measuring the first stage and full flap positions.
Neutral Position
Late Addition: In speaking to Jabiru about something they mentioned they have gone back to the old rigging of having a 4mm gap.
Essentially the instructions state that you should lay a long straight edge across the lower surface and then lower the flap such that there is a 4 mm gap between the straight edge and the wing trailing edge.
Now (as of my call to the factory in September 2007) the factory rigging is for a complete straight edge across both wing and flap without the 4mm gap. They did not explain to me why they have reverted to a straight line.
Full Flap and First Stage Positions:
Despite this being a fairly significant set of numbers to know, there is no where at all in the whole set of manuals where the numbers are written down.
The Technical manual in the rigging section says to consult the template in Appendix 3 (figure 7.6) Sadly the appendix named does not apply to the flaps but is a blank page for insertion of the engine manual. The diagram 7.6 does not exist. I again phoned Jabiru and got the following figures.
First stage (Take Off) 22 degrees
Full Flap 35 degrees
Full Flap
This is limited by the range of motion of the motor arm. You only really have to check it gets full deflection of 35 degrees. Mine did so I didn't have to wonder what to do if it didn't get the full range.
