Looking for tips on cowl holes. lol
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Looking for tips on cowl holes. lol
Not the greatest title.
I mounted the cowl on my UCD and after a flying season the holes in the fiberglass seem to enlarge themselves I guess due to vibration. I trashed that cowl in a small crash and I'll be getting another one. I also need to mount the cowl on My Phoenix Sukhoi. I'm looking for advice or ideas that I can use to get the best possible mount. What can I do to keep the holes from enlarging? Both setups use hardwood backing with self tapping screws. I've never had any issues with the screws backing out or anything, just the fiberglass and it's tendency to get worn out. The problem with this is that the cowl ends up loose because it slide arounds around
Ideas?
I mounted the cowl on my UCD and after a flying season the holes in the fiberglass seem to enlarge themselves I guess due to vibration. I trashed that cowl in a small crash and I'll be getting another one. I also need to mount the cowl on My Phoenix Sukhoi. I'm looking for advice or ideas that I can use to get the best possible mount. What can I do to keep the holes from enlarging? Both setups use hardwood backing with self tapping screws. I've never had any issues with the screws backing out or anything, just the fiberglass and it's tendency to get worn out. The problem with this is that the cowl ends up loose because it slide arounds around
Ideas?
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RE: Looking for tips on cowl holes. lol
use small rubber gromets, drill holes to fit rubber gromets inside. screw down with screws & washers, the gromets absorb the vibration & prevent the holes from wearing.
Gil
Gil
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RE: Looking for tips on cowl holes. lol
I glue metal washers to the inside of the cowl using thick CA. I then epoxy fiberglass cloth or nylon reinforcing tape on top of the washers using either 30-minute or 45-minute epoxy. Those screw holes will never enlarge themselves, not even in the event of a crash.
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RE: Looking for tips on cowl holes. lol
I ( on my UCD and other planes ) I bought a small block of wood...( balsa) and I cut 4 one by one blockes out....in the center of the 1 by 1 block I drilled a a 4-40 hole in it.....took a 4-40 blind nut and installed it.....I clued( epoxy) them sortof were I wanted them ...... Then took a sheet of paper and marked were the hole is and put the cowl over and put the paper back over it and drilled a little lager then 4-40 holes in those 4 spots on the cowl......then I got 4 . 4-40 bolts with washers and A small or medium fuel tubing I cut 4 small 1/4 inch strips of fuel tubing and put them all the way to the bottom ( towards the top of head) of the washer...the put the cowl on and put the bolts on with the fuel tubing in the cowl holes for no vibration.....it works all the time.....tell me if it works
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RE: Looking for tips on cowl holes. lol
Gil's tip about using rubber grommets works well. If you can't find grommets of the correct size, just cut slices of fuel tubing and use these instead. Works for me!