JonathanMilbank
Joined: 14 Apr 2012
Posts: 391
Location: Aberdeen area
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 Posted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:53 am Post subject: Tailplane jammed on with corrosion. |
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On behalf of another Europa builder/pilot who is a good friend, I appeal for help. To put it mildly, we're getting desperate. Water found its way down one of the pip-pins and corrosion has spread several millimetres around the lower hole through torque-tube and bush, if the corrosion on the pin itself is anything to judge by.
I first drilled and enlarged two holes through the flange underneath the tailplane, large enough to pass a screwdriver through and levered initially between the drive pins and rib to ensure that they weren't stuck.
Then I enlarged the holes sufficiently to allow a foot-long screwdriver through, pressed its tip between the inboard rib and drive plate, clamped mole grips to the screwdriver shaft and proceeded to twist the tip each way. No luck.
After blocking the drain hole underneath with tape, we drenched inside the pip-pin hole with ACF50 and using the advice given by Neville Eyre drove ever more tongue depressers into the gap between the flange of the tailplane and the side of the fuselage. This creates considerable outwards force.
We left it for several days and returned to find that nothing had moved. Using a wooden block and hammer, we hit repeatedly against the exposed end of the torque tube in the vain hope that shock waves might get things moving.
Finally we drenched the area again, this time with WD40 in the hope that it might penetrate the corrosion more effectively and left it again with tongue depressers in place and our fingers crossed.
Our great fear is that the corrosion has taken hold under the nickel plating on the torque tube and caused it to bulge against the inside of the bush, in which case everything we're doing and have done probably won't work. We know that local heating isn't an option and I've even contemplated sliding a small piece of dry ice along the inside of the tube (past the 4 pins), but don't know what extreme cold might do to the foam/resin.
Before we resort to cutting open the bottom of the tailplane and doing major surgery, please could someone tell us of any other trick to try. It's amazing that seemingly no-one else has ever had to deal with this problem in the Europa family. Is there some other fluid we haven't heard of which definitely won't cause harm to the surrounding materials?
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