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Re: Rudder pedal return springs
There was a type of metal coating I saw years ago that was supposedly used on heavy springs (car shock struts and springs) that might be of some interest here - to keep the correct OEM spring in good shape forever and a day.
One of the manufacturers was Kal-Gard, now KG industries. There was another one or two back then which I cannot remember... but I distinctly remember something about coating springs so they will never rust, but the coating was so thin that it would not crack due to flexure of the spring. I had a T-craft tailwheel leaf spring done in this material and was very pleased with it.
The point being that it is now much more desirable and important to protect these old parts as well as can be done. Way back in the good old days, a lot of stuff was considered "consumables" that are now well worth taking care of. 50 years ago nobody would have thought twice about protecting a rudder pedal spring, it was probably 50 cents factory direct. Today there are five people who jumped on the opportunity to get them from Mike or Forrest.
So IMHO the KG coatings, or whatever else is the next greatest thing that is .0005 thick and baked into the metal forever, should be considered as a worthwhile investment of time and money, perhaps even on little things like springs. The epoxy primer is shown to be well worth the effort on the fuselage tube structure... what about all the other stuff (like springs) that the epoxy won't work on, or is too thick?
Especially since our modern covering materials are putting 30 years between restorations;
There was a type of metal coating I saw years ago that was supposedly used on heavy springs (car shock struts and springs) that might be of some interest here - to keep the correct OEM spring in good shape forever and a day.
One of the manufacturers was Kal-Gard, now KG industries. There was another one or two back then which I cannot remember... but I distinctly remember something about coating springs so they will never rust, but the coating was so thin that it would not crack due to flexure of the spring. I had a T-craft tailwheel leaf spring done in this material and was very pleased with it.
The point being that it is now much more desirable and important to protect these old parts as well as can be done. Way back in the good old days, a lot of stuff was considered "consumables" that are now well worth taking care of. 50 years ago nobody would have thought twice about protecting a rudder pedal spring, it was probably 50 cents factory direct. Today there are five people who jumped on the opportunity to get them from Mike or Forrest.
So IMHO the KG coatings, or whatever else is the next greatest thing that is .0005 thick and baked into the metal forever, should be considered as a worthwhile investment of time and money, perhaps even on little things like springs. The epoxy primer is shown to be well worth the effort on the fuselage tube structure... what about all the other stuff (like springs) that the epoxy won't work on, or is too thick?
Especially since our modern covering materials are putting 30 years between restorations;
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