talon58

My Feedback: (125)

How do you guys tighten wing or stab tubes that have devleoped some play in the fuse and or wings?

Thanks!

Albatross

My Feedback: (7)

The vendor of the last CF tube that I bought suggested to me to apply some scotch tape to the CF tube if the OD (outer diameter) of the CF wing tube came to small for the existing phenolic wing sockets.
Fortunately the CF tube fitted OK in my plane; nevertheless the scotch tape seemed to me not a bad idea in case of needing to adjust any wing tube looseness or to adjust the OD of the tube against the ID of the wing tube sockets. Of course, this approach will have some limitations since the fixed thickness of the scotch tape.
This approach assumes an uniform diameter adjustment, no sure how wuld work if only some areas are affected and how the vibration factor would work against this remedy.
I hope this helps.

vypr

My Feedback: (6)

Tape of some sort is the idea my father and I came up with for our spacewalker. The tubes are belling out over time in it and were unsure of what to do... guess I shouldnt do waterfalls with a 25lb sport plane meant for touch 'n go's...

I havent tried the tape yet so I cant report on how well it works, but the theory sounds good! Go for it, and report back.

-Ian

Chris300s

My Feedback: (1)

I bought replacement stab tubes that were a little undersized, so I wrapped them with 3 layers of the lightest fiberglass that I could find and vacuum bagged it. On my wing tube that got a little sloppy, I wrapped it with 2 layers of Monokote in my colors and it fits like a glove again.

Chris

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

If the outer tube has loosened up in the fuselage, try to carefully chip a couple of pieces of the glue away from the fuse to tube joint. Wick some thin CA around the tube at the fuse, being careful not to get any glue in the tube. Then re-apply some epoxy slightly thickened with micro ballons or cabisil around the joint as a final fill.

Another alternative is to use some 3/4 oz fiberglass cloth and epoxy to bond the tube to the fuse. If it's a tail tube, you're going to have to open something up somewhere to gain access to the inside of the fuse.

furloughed ual

My Feedback: (31)

Tape is a tempoary fix at best and is sticky and a pain over time.....the fiberglassing seems like WAY too much work.....get out some MonoKote (works better than Ultracoat if you have it) and wrap it once around the tube and overlap it 1/16' so it can stick to itself.....shrink with your heat gun and go fly......if it's really sloppy, use 2 layers....takes about 15 minutes and will last forever.....by far the best thing I've used....trust me....just do it and go fly......

BBW Walt

My Feedback: (11)

Its good to here that monokote does something well

matus777

Simpler yet, just brush some thin CA around the phenolic tube with a Q-tip....let it dry completely before you slide the tube in for a test fittting!