Engine Bearer - repair advice

[Chris Gilbert IRL-1638]

Hi Folks,

I recently acquired a preowned Vector 40. It needs some work, most of which is standard repair stuff.

Anyway, when I examined the airframe carefully I noticed that one of the engine bearers was split, just aft of the mounting bolts.

Any advice on how to repair this, or would I be better off salvaging the wings and tail feathers and making a brand new profile fuselage for it? I'm expecting to lawn dart it (I'm coming to terms with the pattern) so I want to do the minimum to get it into the air again and keep it flying.

Thanks in advance

[Sam Laughery]

I had a similar situation and here's what I did.  If you want to do the minimym and depending where and how big the crack is you can force some 30 minute epoxy in the crack using a pin or #11 blade and clamp it together.  If you can't get to it with a clamp drill a small hole in it and put in a small screw to force the crack together while the epoxy sets. 

Good luck!

Sam

[frank carlisle]

Chris,
Since you plan on pounding dirt with it anyway, just squirt some CA in the crack and take it out and do your thing. If you really want to get ambitious drill a hole to fit a 1/8 dowel rod through the side of the plane and glue a oiece of dowel in there.

[Ironbomb]

Yea, what Frank and Sam said. I would drill a small hole and nut and bolt it with  2x56 hardware/epoxy or CA.

If you are pretty sure you are gonna kill worms with it, just do a minimum to get it back up. Here is my Worm Slayer.....the plane had about a doven and a half crashes on it before I made a new fues, I crashed on its first flight after the new fues build....

I did learn the pattern with it

Greg

[Jay]

If the bearer is glued in with epoxy just take your heat gun and a small screwdriver and heat/pry it out.  I did it several times and it works.  Just an idea.

Jay

[Sam Laughery]

Wow Greg.  How deep did you plant that sucker???  Is that a worm in the middle?

[Ironbomb]

Yup, thats a real worm, a bonus I figure     it went in some real soft earth, about8-10 inches I think. I would have flown it again that day, but I could not get all the mud out of the engine.  When I disassembled the engine, the mud had extruded thru the crankshaft, into to case. The engine is fine, it still flys.

Greg

[frank carlisle]

I remember that one Greg.  It made me think about fishing.

Guess what? You don't have to pound dirt anymore! We have a new earthbeater at the circle. His name is Bob. And he can tear up a plane as good as anybody. Only differeance is he does it on the cement so we won't be able to get any bait.

[Ironbomb]

   Yea Frank, I am still laughing, cause I thought about fishing too when I pulled that picture up to post. Thats funny.  I could get a days worth of bait with this airplane, then we could hit a good fishing spot to enjoy the rest of the day. 

Good fun for sure

Glad we have someone else to help you keep your carnage cravings filled. Heck, with others walking on lnes and breaking balsa, you dont need me around anymore

I bet I could still outeat you at the buffet tho

Greg

[Chris Gilbert IRL-1638]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the advice. I forgot to mention one piece of vital info though - the crack is east-west, not north-south - across the bearer, not along it.

Sounds like the heat gun might be the way to go with piece at the front, splice in a replacement piece and maybe a doubler at the top where the blind nuts will be.

Nice picture, I'm not planning on burying mine that deep though!

Chris

[Andrew Hathaway]

If its not cracked all the way across, you could try drilling some very small holes into the crack, and then using a slow cure epoxy (30-minute or longer) apply the epoxy to the crack and along the holes, then heat it with a monokote heat gun.  The heat will cook the epoxy to a more watery consistency which will allow it to flow into the crack and maybe even wick into the wood. 

If the wood is oil or fuel soaked before hand, you can use K2R and the heat gun to boil the castor out of the wood before the repair so it will be more likely to hold together. 

If you're worried about the engine parting the plane, a safety cable aroudn the engine anchored to a solid point would keep it contained in the event of a mount failure.

[Jim Pollock]

I buried by Magnum in the ground up to the leading edge of the wing when I was busily practicing for the 2004 Nats!     Made a great big mess out of that one and killed a bunch of John Simpson's worms too!   

Jim Pollock   

[Chris Gilbert IRL-1638]

Hi Andrew,

That might be the the solution to my problem, thanks for the advice

Chris