Aerosport Products' R&D Team reduces costs thanks to HP: discover how they do it

Aerosport Products spun off from sister company Aerosport Modeling & Design in 2009 to develop products for experimental aircraft, the first of which was the RV-10 Carbon Fiber Instrument Panel. Aerosport Products’ goals are to continue the traditions of Aerosport Modeling & Design: to deliver innovative products and help experimental aircraft builders by providing high-quality, high-value products to assist them in completing their builds.

Some planes are equipped with small tabs on the control surfaces (e.g., rudder trim tabs, aileron tabs, elevator tabs) so the pilot can make minute adjustments to pitch, yaw, and roll to keep the airplane flying a true, clean line through the air. This improves speed by reducing drag from the larger, constant movements of the full rudder, aileron, and elevator. Many airplanes also have rudder and/or aileron trim systems. On some, the rudder trim tab is rigid but adjustable on the ground by bending: It is angled slightly to the left (when viewed from behind) to lessen the need for the pilot to push the rudder pedal constantly in order to overcome the left-turning tendencies of many propdriven aircraft. Some aircrafts have hinged rudder trim tabs that the pilot can adjust in flight. When a servo tab is employed, it is moved into the slipstream opposite of the control surface’s desired deflection. For example, in order to trim an elevator to hold the nose down, the elevator’s trim tab will actually rise up into the slipstream.

Aerosport Modeling redesigned the rudder trim system to reduce the need to manufacture different parts and to shorten the assembly time. They converted the entire system from a machined and standard assembly of 26 parts to a four-part assembly that is 3D printed on demand without the need to buy or machine long-run productions of each metallic part. This rudder trim system is a spring bias system that holds the entire rudder surface to the right or left and still allows for complete movement.

Material:  HP 3D HR PA 12

Post-processing: Bead blasting and then Dyed in black