Alan,
I have done the Loctite over Loctite.
Just get the cleaning agent sold and recommended by Loctite and it will
work if properly cleaned and prepped. It is necessary to allow the
Loctite to wick in. Use the activator to speed setup if the weather is
cool. I once tried to blow the Loctite into the gap with compressed
air. However that air pushed the Loctite into the stab bearing. The
next day I can say the stabs were very rigid. I glued the whole thing
solid. Other tricks are after a very good cleaning, tape off the stab
and use a vacuum cleaner to suck air and Loctite from the tube junction
into the pin holes and help the wicking process... I also put the
Loctite into the outside of the tube slip joint (outside of the TP12 to
TP4 tube) as well as the inside. Be sure to clean up any leftover
Loctite. It will stay wet for a while in free air, and you will glue
your stabs on if you don't use Loctite activator. Even if the tube is
lubed with oil/grease.
The thing is to do the SB first and see if that works. If you decide to
do your own fix, heat the tube (See the Loctite Product sheets )to just
too hot to touch (about 100C) and the Loctite will release and allow
disassembly if you want to do that...
You must do what makes you feel the best about the fix.
I prefer to take out the whole assembly and fix it mechanically and use
the Loctite on top of that. As far as clamping, I am aware of a person
in Australia who machined a piece of steel to the inner contour and
reamed the existing hole to the bolt diameter and clamped the assembly
that way. Bob and others have machined clamps as well that work also.
But don't go into those without knowing your dimensions of your tube.
There are to my knowledge minor variations in the older Classic tube,
the early XS and now our latest XS stab parts and each vary by a small
amount. Should you decide to make a clamping fixture, measure first
please so they are sized properly and don't crush the tube.
I have worked on many aircraft and made, and corrected, many mistakes
(including my own). Many of the jobs are just nasty time consuming
tasks. It takes 3-5 times longer to do the job over, rather than doing
it right the first time... The Loctite will work unless your pins spin
like tops in the hole. How do I know, I removed a set of 1/4 inch pins
and replaced them with 5/16 pins. In my haste I tried to do the job
with the mechanism in the tail through a 4 inch access hole. I really
plumbered the job bad as the pins were under 5/16 inch. Then I had the
opportunity to remove the whole stab mechanism and decided to remake not
only the holes in the stab tube to a P size (0.323 inches) and machined
pins to match, I also made the access holes larger and added another to
the bottom on the opposite side. Total time to pull the stab and remake
the access holes was three days. The machine shop took a week to make
new holes and pins to spec. Install was another day. Now it's perfect.
Like I said, I am anal at times.
Regards,
Bud
----- Original Message -----
From: Alan Carter<mailto:alancarteresq@onetel.net>
To: europa-list@matronics.com<mailto:europa-list@matronics.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2012 8:19 PM
Subject: Europa-List: Re: Mod 73
<alancarteresq@onetel.net<mailto:alancarteresq@onetel.net>>
Hi Bud,
Glad to see you back on the forum.
Mod 73 has been done on my Europa, but the Loctite repair has failed.
Movement is at the moment within Europa guide lines.
So what happens when Loctite is applied over Loctite ??
this would be a very quick and very easy fix, would it work.??
I have seen clamps with 3/8" pins going through the tube also grips
the joint.
They look well made and will hold all firmly together so removing all
play.
But will obviously be a pig of a job to do properly, as the tube has
to be removed the the hole re drilled ( Reamed) by machine to zero
tolerance. All this will cost quite a bit of money,
I purchased the aircraft about 3 months age, it has 350 hours on the
airframe, One should not be having to do this, and i am not blaming the
builder he made a good job of the aircraft, but many many Europa,s are
or will be having to do this.
Its just not good enough, that we should be expected to accept this as
the norm.
Its got to be repaired, i will feel a lot happier with zero play, so
when i have it inspected i get a
:D Inspector
Alan
PS i also note that there is a Mod on the Drive Pins, 1/4"pins
increased to 3/8" pins locating into the Stabs.
No good having re enforced one bit , and get a failure here,
Is 1/4" OK , it does not appear to be Mandatory
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=385330#385330<http://forums
.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=385330#385330>
http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Europa-List<http://www.matronics.com/N
avigator?Europa-List>
http://www.matronics.com/contribution<http://www.matronics.com/contributi
on>
|