REFLECTOR: Repairs

Burrall L Sanders craftsman at freeflightcomposites.com
Sun Sep 23 10:09:10 CDT 2012


Hi Lou,
I missed your post about this.   If the bell-horn is just embedded in flox you should be able to remove it using the method we have used several times to remove  elevator hinges from a canard.

We  for the hinges we heat up a piece of steel flat bar(about 2”x2”x1/4”) with a map-gas torch and then clamp it to the hinge (in your case the rudder bell-horn) with vise-grips to heat soak the hinge and begin to pull and work the piece out...something like pulling teeth but we have never seen any damage to the surrounding foam or glass but the heats softens the epoxy enough to remove the piece.   The hinges have several holes for the epoxy but it softens enough to come out any way. After it cools we go in the void left by the hinge and clean it up with a dremel then re-pot the new part in flox.  Good as new.  Never tried it on a rudder bell-horn, but I think it will work.

Burrall

www.freeflightcomposites.com






From: Lou Stedman 
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 6:58 AM
To: Velocity Reflector 
Subject: REFLECTOR: Repairs

Thanks to all who replied to my repair question on exhaust. After reading your suggestions, I decided to cut an inch off my cowl extensions, exposing about 1/4” of my pipe. At the same time I enlarged the hole so I have better clearance. Hope this does the trick. I’ll will keep you informed.

No one responded to my rudder control horn repair question. Does that mean I am the only one who has had to do this repair? Since I didn’t build this plane, I don’t know what the control horn looks like inside the rudder. I am assuming it is just a straight piece of aluminum with a couple of holes to hold the epoxy. My plan is to use a hacksaw blade and try to remove the epoxy inside the rudder. Once I can remove the control horn, I’ll open up the hole a bit, fill it with epoxy and insert the control horn. Duct tape should hold in the proper position for curing. Any other suggestions are welcome. Thanks
Lou Stedman
Velocity SEFG
N7044Q
Olean, NY


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