Wing Tube Help!!!!!!

[sweetpea]

Ok.....so if you checked out my build thread for the WH SU-26 here's the deal.

The wing tube is Carbon Fibre. The pheonics in the plane and wings are cardboard.

I can get the tube through the pheonlic in the plane (its tight but possible).

The wings though......not a chance! I can only get about 1 inch into the wing and then it simply stops. I managed to get one wing but you have to really fight it and I don't think its going all the way down yet.

Anybody have a good suggestion??????

-Sand the tube
-Oil the tube
-Sand the cardboard
-baby powder on the cardboard

Let me know what you have done ASAP!!!!!!!!!!

[eagle1]

is there ca inside the phenolic wing tubes?sand a bevel on the tube?

[DA2000]

Sam,

Ran into this before. Find a dowel, longer than the socket. A dowel about a quarter inch smaller in diameter is about right. Center drill one end for a screw or bolt, put it in, cut off the head.

Wrap sandpaper around the dowel until it just fits in the socket. Chuck it up, spin it, work it in and out. (sound familiar?)

Do a little at a time and check your progress. You will have to sand more than you think, but you don't want to take out too much.

For me, it worked great and took very little time.

Daniel

[sweetpea]

NO CA in the tube, on the tube etc.....

From what it feels like......the wing is a foam core so I suspect that it was weighted down to when sheeted and it compressed the pheonlic in the center.


Daniel---that is going to take quite a bit of sandpaper wrapped around the dowl or I'm going to have to find quite a large dowl.

[eagle1]

have you measured to see if the tube is egged? inside calipers?

[sweetpea]

Tube is fine.

I checked with calipers......its the same size from top to bottom

[3ddd]

sam i took a 3/8 dowl and cut a 4 inch slot in it and then cut some sandpaper strips about 4 inchs long and centered then in the slots i put in my drill and spun it to take alittle out at a time.the sandpaper strips fan out when you turn it with a drill.the faster the harder they sand.if you need it let me know and i will snap you a picture.oh and make sure the dowl is long to reach the bottom of the wing tube

[DA2000]

	Quote: Originally Posted by sweetpea
	NO CA in the tube, on the tube etc..... From what it feels like......the wing is a foam core so I suspect that it was weighted down to when sheeted and it compressed the pheonlic in the center. Daniel---that is going to take quite a bit of sandpaper wrapped around the dowl or I'm going to have to find quite a large dowl.

Some dowels are bigger than others, thats life.

I used one that used to be a closet hanger pole. You can get them up to two inches in diameter at HD and such.

[eagle1]

if that don't work, find a piece of pvc,plug one end with a piece of 1x4,then put the sandpaper on it

[Flyinrazrback]

I had the same problem with my WH 260. I used a cylinder/brake hone attached to a drill and it fixed the problem.

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-10000-Br.../dp/B0002SQUG8

[DA2000]

Hey Charles,

I tried the hone and didn't have very much luck.

I had to take more than Sam by the sound of it.

[eagle1]

sounds like it would be a good idea when sheeting the wings to put the wing tube in when adding weights to hold down the sheeting

[Flyinrazrback]

I took the fine paper off the hone and glued on paper with more grit. Still, on my WH plane it was snug until I got several flights on it.

[sweetpea]

	Quote: Originally Posted by 3ddd
	sam i took a 3/8 dowl and cut a 4 inch slot in it and then cut some sandpaper strips about 4 inchs long and centered then in the slots i put in my drill and spun it to take alittle out at a time.the sandpaper strips fan out when you turn it with a drill.the faster the harder they sand.if you need it let me know and i will snap you a picture.oh and make sure the dowl is long to reach the bottom of the wing tube

Picture please.


I also tried the brake hone with no luck on the wings. It worked on the fuse.

I'll have to look for these "Larger" type dowels or pvc pipe.


I'm good with snug......right now its a 5 person team to get them on and off I imagine. I have not actually tried to put it all together because its so tight I was afraid it would get stuck and with just me at home that would suck

Thanks for the ideas!

[OverTemp]

I have 2 "identical" carbon tubes from WH. I think they have a quality control problem when making them because one of the them is loose in everything and the other can't be fit without really forcing it into the same wings.

Is your tube very slightly over-sized when you measure it? You might be better off spending the bucks you thought you were saving and getting a correctly sized tube. It'd be a shame the sand out your wings and find when you one day need a new tube that it's horribly loose in your wings (though I guess the tube should out-last the plane).