Previous postings have noted how the Tufnol material of CS04 (the bearing at the
bottom of the control stick) expands when oiled. The effect wears off over a
couple of years as the oil evaporates.
Recently my CS04 was inundated with flood water and expanded to the point that
the aileron control was almost locked (Tufnol technical literature notes a 3%
expansion at right angles to the grain). I wasn't prepared to wait 2 years for
it to dry out, if ever.
Neither packing with desiccant bags nor blowing with warm air made any
difference.
Apparently cotton (the fibre present in this type of Tufnol) needs 55 to 60
deg C in order to give up its moisture.
Accordingly repeated cycles of heating to about that temperature with a hair
drier
(and protection of the surrounding composite to prevent distortion) was found
to be slowly effective. It took a couple of dozen cycles of heating up to
that temperature then immediately allowing to cool, rather than maintaining the
temperature for a longer period.
Hope this helps anyone in similar circumstances.
Duncan McF.
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