Autopilot Servo Installation

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Blue Mountain Avionics Autopilot Servo Installation

I asked a couple of other builders who were putting Blue Mountain Autopilot servos in their RVs for any servo mounting information that they had, and I received the following detailed photos and information.. 

 

From Scott Hutchinson:

This is the Aileron servo mounting plans and information.

(click for larger photo)

I also received a CAD drawing from Dave Nicholson:

These are photos of Dave's Elevator install in his 9A:

horizontal rule

I just received my AP servos, and Blue Mountain has changed the servos by adding a protective "cage" around the servos.  These could be dropped out of the plane now without any risk of damage!

The wiring harness is also included, and these HUGE connectors are already in place.  Since removing a connector and reattaching it is out of the question, I'll just cut the wires about a foot from one connector, pull the wire through the bulkheads and ribs, and then splice the wire back together.

Since the autopilot design had changed, I started to think about how to mount these new servos in my plane.  I was afraid that using the small pre-tapped screw holes in the front of the autopilot case wouldn't be secure, so I started working on a different way to mount them.

I designed mounting bracket using aluminum angle to hold the servos in place.  There are no screws going into the AP servo that can come loose.  The servo is held firmly in place by two AN4 bolts which squeeze the servo between the angles and keep it in place.  I'm going to put my elevator servo on the rear fuselage bottom skin, and the aileron servo will be attached to a rib in the wing.

Aileron Servo mounting pictures            Elevator Servo mounting pictures