REFLECTOR: Aileron Tube Seal
David Scharfenberg
dave at winco.net
Sat Feb 19 23:37:09 CST 2005
That's what I did too. Works very well in flight.
Dave Scharfenberg
N424DS std/rg
on 2/18/05 7:10 PM, Joe at jewen at comporium.net wrote:
> If anyone looking for another approach, this is how I created mine. I made
> the clearance around the torque tube about 1/4 inch. Then assembled the
> elevators, torque tube etc and put 1 wrap of duct tape around the torque
> tube where it crosses the fuselage. Then the canard was set in place, fully
> fasted to attach points. The 1/4" clearance was then filled with microglass
> and allowed to cure (follow normal micro guideline like groving the foam.)
> Remove the canard and dress up the microglass. The same technique was then
> used on the upper surface (in my case the really big hatch.) It gives me
> seal the thickness of 1 layer of duct tape all the way around the torque
> tube. Since I am not yet flying I can't confirm this works, but if it does
> leak it will not be much.
>
> Joe
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alex Balic" <alex157 at direcway.com>
> To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 12:36 AM
> Subject: RE: REFLECTOR: Aileron Tube Seal
>
>
>> Chuck- do you mean "elevator" torque tube? that sounds like a good
> solution-
>> others have used the soft side of Velcro to seal this gap as well, but I
>> think that your method would have less drag.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
>> Behalf Of Chuck Jensen
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 6:36 PM
>> To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
>> Subject: REFLECTOR: Aileron Tube Seal
>>
>>
>> If my Velo is typical, air intrusion around the aileron torque tubes
>> penetrations thru the side of the hull is a primary location of cold air
>> infiltration. This is apparently a high pressure area. Ronnie Brown had
> a
>> fix of building a kind of air-dam ahead to reduce the air pressure in that
>> area. Better, but not quite what I needed for flying in <32F weather.
>>
>> After multiple attempts at fixing this problem, I've come up with a
>> near-perfect solution. I took some 1 1/4" diameter, very thin walled
> clear
>> rigid plastic tubing (from Aquarium shop) and cut off a chuck 3" long. I
>> then used a scissor split the side of this short tube, so I'm left with a
>> split tube much like the foam pipe insulation you can put around your
> water
>> pipes.
>>
>> I then snapped this over the 1" aileron torque tube. You will note, the
>> extra 1/4" overlap come into play--later. The plastic sleeve is slid
>> outboard so it is situated in the circular notch where the torque tube
> goes
>> thru the side wall. You will be able to see one end of the sleeve in the
>> cockpit (standing on your head) and the other end outside and under the
>> canard.
>>
>> The plastic tube now acts as a sleeve around the torque such that when you
>> move the elevator up/down, the torque tube rotates inside the plastic
> sleeve
>> which is stationary against the hull. Then, using silastic or other good
>> caulk/adhesive, fill in all the gaps/clearances between the hull and the
>> plastic sleeve. You now have a perfect fit with zero in leakage and the
>> torque tube moves without resistance. If you remove the canard, just pull
>> away the caulk and replace when the canard is reinstalled.
>>
>> If you were too fine of a craftsman when you were forming your notch in
> the
>> side wall for the torque tube, there may not be enough clearance between
> the
>> hull and the torque tube for the plastic sleeve to slide past, so you may
>> have to open the hole up a little bit to let the plastic tube slide in
>> between the torque tube and the hull. Now, you'll notice that the
> oversized
>> plastic tube overlaps on itself on the smaller 1" torque tube so when you
>> caulk it up, the overlap ensures to caulk can not contact the tube. Total
>> cost: About $10 for the rigid plastic tube and a little caulk.
>>
>> Add heated seat pads, and its almost tolerable during a trip thru Iowa in
>> January.
>>
>> Chuck
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>
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