- Joined
- Oct 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,953
- Reaction score
- 1,309
I know some aspects of this have been discussed before, but I don't have a good handle on it. When I'm flying my Parrakeet (level flight), I'm seeing some vibration in the right front landing wire (there are 2 landing wires and 3 flying wires on each side; all are #10 (3/16)). I'm also seeing more significant vibration in the flying wires in a hard slip on the down-wing side. Are vibrating wires (within reason, of course) a big deal that must be fixed or just a minor annoyance? I never saw any significant vibration in the wires of my Hatz (which had round cables) or Starduster.
Because my plane is one of a kind, there's no manual to give the appropriate tensions. When I reassembled the plane I set all the wires to the same measured length as they were originally, then added a bit more tension until they sounded right when plucked. I've been gradually adding tension a half turn at a time as I see vibration, but I'm not clear how much is "good enough" and I don't want to make them too tight.
Do any other small biplanes use #10 wires? If so then their recommended tension would be a good start.
Because my plane is one of a kind, there's no manual to give the appropriate tensions. When I reassembled the plane I set all the wires to the same measured length as they were originally, then added a bit more tension until they sounded right when plucked. I've been gradually adding tension a half turn at a time as I see vibration, but I'm not clear how much is "good enough" and I don't want to make them too tight.
Do any other small biplanes use #10 wires? If so then their recommended tension would be a good start.
