How to relieve very tight wing tubes??

[dunny]

Silicon spray works well for me- wing tube slides in much easier!

Dunny

[rdgood]

Yes Dunny,

Silicon spray helped mine too!


Ronster

[TrojanMan]

I worked on my wings with a brake hone today and now I have a satisfactory fit!

Jim

[TonyThomasian]

I have the same problem w/ the same yak, and what i did is wraped sandpaper around a broom handle, and sanded the socket all around untill i got it to fit in easier...

[Temptation]

I would not recomend ever sanding a wing tube, wether it's aluminum or carbon. You are messing with the structural integrity. First apply baby powder to the tube and install it. If it is workable then keep doing that, after awhile the tube will fit itself to the socket. If that doesn't work, then sand the wing tube socket. If you need to sand enough material from the wing tube socket, that you are worried about it's structural integritey, then I would get a new set of wings, or try another wing tube. It's just not worth it to be messing with the tube itself.

Mike Darr

[bryan01601]

Bernie, I have had the same problem on a number of Arf's Jtec edge, great planes extra PW, and my new 40% 3W. What I have always done and it works great it to use a piece of pvc pipe and wrap it with 1 layer of 1/4" thick foam and secure it with tape. Then I take some great planes sandpaper (the kind that is self adhesive) that is used on thier aluminum sanders. I wrap a few layers of this around the pvc. The foam alows you to get a really snug fit into the phenilic tube w/o being too much. I twisk the tube by hand while moving it in and out of the socket. When I feel that there is less resistance on the pvc pipe I take it out and insert the wingtube. If it is still too tight I add another layer of sandpaper and reapeat this until the tube fits well. I too would never ever try to sand the tube itself. Alot of times in the manufacturing process 1 of two things happen. the glue seeps into the phenolic socket making it tight at all the ribs. Or they use some sort of plastic on the inside of the tubewhen making it that needs to be worn away to get a proper fit (this is the way the 3w was) It is almost like the inside of the tube had saran wrap bonded to it. Let me know how you make out.

Bryan (fellow windingbrook member)

[dunny]

	Quote: Originally Posted by rdgood
	Yes Dunny, Silicon spray helped mine too! Ronster

Yeah Ron- sprayed it twice and that was it!! Slides on easy now!!

[GremlinX]

Some very neat ideas about using a hone... But honestly, I had a Funtana 90 that was not gonna happen. I scuffed the very first part of the wing sleeve and it was better. I used baby powder and it was very close. I used baby powder again and just continued to work the tube in and out and spin the wing on the tube. I am glad I did not remove any material. It was snug and worked great until I sold it. Same thing on my 87" EF Yak. I got a new tube, and baby powdered and worked in the tube/sleeve with time and patience. I am shocked at the amount of people here who said to sand or remove material from the tube... I just can't believe it!

[Dennis C]

	Quote: Originally Posted by exeter_acres
	have you tried just putting a bit of vasaline on it?

Thats what she said

[Dennis C]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Flyinrazrback
	I had a similar problem, I ended up using a cylinder brake hone attached to a drill to sand the phenolic tube in the wings and fuse, then I took my stock aluminum wingtube (non-anodized) and wetsanded with 1500 grit for a while, then waxed the tube a few times, and that helped a ton. A little baby powder helps too.

that was a pretty good idea...hey charles

[Barney Liftoff]

Since I have a lathe, I gently clamped the tube in with a large OD live center at the other end. I had previously used The brake hone, the Carden wing tube with filler and sand paper outside of that, a large dowel with a slit in the end and sandpaper slid into the slot and spun it with a drill. I believe that the glue they used caused the fiberglass tube to deflect inward at the ribs along with the fact that the improved wings have the ribs doubled up. So too much honing/sanding of the tube would have resulted in destroying the tube. I used 80 grit all the way up to 1500 grit then used isoprople alcohol to remove the debris from both the tube and the socket. I then used a cleaner wax to polish the tube. It is now only a 2 man job to remove. I found that sanding the tube removes a very small amount of material. I did a lot of sanding and probably took off a little over .001". Thanks again for the help.

Barney Liftoff