Wing Drag Wires

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

We had a great visit and learned a lot, more soon. They too have many projects, he learned to fly in a Taylorcraft. Son used to ride in the canvas sling.

[Pearson]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

Very interesting thread!!!

I have not torn the wings apart on my project plane, but I am glad to learn about the dangers of messing with CAD dust if I try to sand those drag wires. There has been mention of replacing the CAD with IVD aluminum. What is this?

Also, which is better, rolled or cut threads on the tail wires. Which is most common?

[1938BF50]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

Thanx All for the info! Looks like I will probably glass bead blast and then epoxy prime the drag wires and fittings. Getting the house ready to sell and have not had much time to work on the wings. Hope that changes this winter.

Forrest, Do you have new tail brace wires?

Thanx

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

IVD Aluminum is a coating of pure aluminum put on by vaporizing it in a vacuum chamber with an electric charge on the aluminum and an opposite charge on the part. The pure aluminum coats every surface of the part and pure aluminum is very corrosion resistant. The Navy has almost completely stopped all CAD plate because of the toxicity and cost of disposal of the plating solution.
DO NOT bead blast the CAD on your wires! It will blow the CAD dust into the air and contaminate the beads! If you have CAD in the beads it has to be disposed of as toxic waste. I had several people wanted me to blast some steel parts that had Red Lead on them and the cost of disposal of one bag of sand was HUNDREDS of dollars over ten years ago. (I declined to blast his parts, even though he said he would haul away the sand and put it in his KIDS SAND BOX!!!!! Some people just don’t get it!) You DON’T want your blast media contaminated! If you need to clean the loose CAD from your wires I would use Scotch Bright and collect the pads and all the dust in sealed bags. There should be a hazardous waste pick-up or disposal area in any reasonable size community. They would rather have you turn it in than have you flush it down the toilet or put it in the regular land-fill. They WOULDN’T take any of my blast sand (glad I checked first). They wanted to get paid for that and they wouldn’t let you take it away yourself. They watched me pretty carefully after I asked to be sure I didn’t blast any Red Lead.
On the thread question, rolled threads are a LOT stronger and much less prone to cracking in the base of the threads than cut threads. That said, as far as I know all of the Taylorcraft threads are cut. The wires are over strength and so are the threads so I guess it was a cost benefit problem and bigger wires with cut threads were less expensive than smaller ones with rolled. On MY plane, I didn’t have to remove the CAD but I DID prime and paint them with epoxy to protect the wires where the CAD was breaking down. After the tail wires are adjusted I plan to hand paint primer and epoxy over the end fittings and safety nuts (you DO have the jam nuts and correct washers on your tail wires don’t you? It amazes me how many Taylorcraft I have seen with the nuts missing and the tail springs set up wrong.)
Hank

[Winston L.]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

What CAD what are you talking about?

Winston

[1938BF50]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

Hank,

Thank you for the safety warning! Even though I have an enclosed blast system, I completely agree with you! Sometimes I downplay the health concerns when I know that I should not. I am probably a walking time-bomb anyway...when I did my apprenticeship in the die shop I spent most of a summer painting red and white lead on opposing die sections and then grinding/barbering it back off! You would not be caught dead wearing any personal safety gear back then. I would spit red at the end of the day. In restrospect....what a GREAT job for the apprentice!

[Dick Smith]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

I know this thread is specifically about Wing Drag Wires...however there was mention of Tailbrace Wires a time or two. I thought this might be a good place to interject some info about availability of Tailbrace wires and the related end fittings. In Aug. 2005, the following was posted on the forum:

AV8R2
Registered Forum User Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Chugiak, Alaska
Engineering Design Approval/PMA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have just received (last Friday) Engineering Design Approval to take serviceable tail brace wire nipples for BC-12D, F-19, F-21 and F-22 series airplanes and drill and re-thread to 10-32 as per MIL-S-8879, Class B thread.

We also received PMA to manufacture new 3/16 stainless steel tail brace wires to fit the reworked nipples. The threads on the new wires are rolled, not cut.

The cost of reworking all 8 nipples and the 4 new PMA'd wires (with check nuts) is $264.00 (US) plus postage and ins. We can also export to Canada and other countries and supply the FAA 8130-3 Authorized Release Form.

If you are interested, give us a call at (907) 688-3715 or email your inquiry to [email protected]. We accept Visa and MasterCard (Do not email CC numbers direct. The site is not secure yet). Fax no. is (907) 688-5031.

We don't have much else for the Taylorcraft right now but we can make parts as necessary under 21.303(b)(2), owner produced part. Check the FAR.

You can also check out our website http://www.burlac.com

Thank you for your time to read this.

Burl A.Rogers
Manager/Member
Burl's Aircraft, LLC

(END OF REFERENCED POSTING)

TRIBE: If you go to the web site mentioned above, you will find the following info/price regarding Tailbrace wires and the related end fittings.

A-4029 Upper Tail Brace Wire, Taylorcraft, all $ 44.13
A-461 Lower Tail Brace Wire, Taylorcraft, all $ 40.60
T/C TBWIRE Upper & Lower Tail Brace Wires for T/Craft: BC12D, F-19, F-21, F-22 $ 172.00
Just dredging up some info for your consideration...Dick

[Dick Smith]

Re: Tailbrace Wires

To find the info at the above referenced web site < http://www.burlac.com > , I did this:

Click on "Parts"...scroll down to "Price Schedule for Drawings and 337 forms"...
click on "PMA's"...scroll down to "Taylorcraft" stuff at the bottom. Dick

[rdwater]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

Great discussion on drag wires. Here's a new question: What is the purpose of that last single wire at the wing tip? And does anyone have one that they would like to sell? I twisted the end off trying to remove the nut without getting all of the old paint off first. Now its too short. Help! Bob

[NY86]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

EPA issues not withstanding, cad plating is easily stripped with muriatic acid, available at the hardware store, mixed 1:4 with water. What you do with the solution afterwords is another issue....

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Wing Drag Wires

Last single wire is in place to assist in the prevention of spreading of the spars at the tip while taxiing over rough ground ( negative loads) , maybe find a local wire that will suit yours needs. OR e-mail me direct, I may have them in my "flea market" ....