Duncan McFadyean
Joined: 18 Jan 2011
Posts: 220
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 Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2023 3:50 pm Post subject: CS04 expansion (again) |
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Previous postings have noted how the Tufnol material of CS04 (the bearing at the bottom of the control stick) expands when oiled. The effect wears off over a couple of years as the oil evaporates.
Recently my CS04 was inundated with flood water and expanded to the point that the aileron control was almost locked (Tufnol technical literature notes a 3% expansion at right angles to the grain). I wasn't prepared to wait 2 years for it to dry out, if ever.
Neither packing with desiccant bags nor blowing with warm air made any difference. Apparently cotton (the fibre present in this type of Tufnol) needs 55 to 60 deg C in order to give up its moisture.
Accordingly repeated cycles of heating to about that temperature with a hair drier (and protection of the surrounding composite to prevent distortion) was found to be slowly effective. It took a couple of dozen cycles of heating up to that temperature then immediately allowing to cool, rather than maintaining the temperature for a longer period.
Hope this helps anyone in similar circumstances.
Duncan McF.
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