Lift strut brackets

[jeffbock]

Have a little concern about the mating of the lift strut brackets to the spars. Pretty much on with the sweep, dihedral, and washout, but even after all the clamping the lift strut brackets still don't bed down completely on the spar. Any advice on how to open up the bracket so that it will snug up to the spar and be able to drill the last 4 holes and get rivets in.

[jiott]

I had to bend mine to open them up a little. They still fit snug, but don't dig into the spar when I slipped them on. As far as a perfect fit, that's what the Hysol is for.

Jim

[jtpitkin06]

Yep, my brackets were a bit tight right out of the box.

I opened the brackets for more clearance using a woodworker’s vise and a piece of PVC as a sizing plug. Once I got a bracket opened enough I was able to slip it over the end of the spar and slide it along to the correct position. Then I could clamp it in position. By opening the bracket larger than the spar I could move it laterally without gouging the spar tubing. Then I was able to hold the brackets in position with hose clamps.

The radius of the curved bracket sides didn’t quite match the spar diameter. It took a bit of mallet-izing to get a good fit. The PVC wasn’t hard enough to use as an internal dolly for the mallet, so I used a 2 1/2 inch rigid EMT pipe as a pounding form. It worked great. I got a nice curve on the bracket to fit the spar. The bracket was now a tad loose but the hose clamps brought things together quite nicely. When I got the rigging set, the Hysol and rivets took care of the rest.

John Pitkin

[jiott]

IMHO I doubt all that pounding is really necessary. It probably breaks a lot of the powder coat off. I just bent mine a little more open in a vise so they were still a little tight but would snap on over the spars without gouging. The Hysol fills in any imperfections in the contour match very well.

Jim

[jeffbock]

After reading the other posts I came up with a solution that has worked nicely. Took an empty GUMOUT CARB&CHOKE cleaner can which is just larger than the spar O.D.. Remove the top of can and fill with two cartons of Rock Hard water putty. When hardened can use to put bracket on which has a nice enamel surface for protection. Place horizontally in a vise and use a piece of wood to protect opposite side. Pressed mine and then they fit nicely with clamping.

[Dave S]

I think the notion of using an object similar to the spar to work the bracket over is a great way to go.......I worked my brackets over a piece of discarded spar tubing

(no need to ask how the spar tubing ended up as "discarded" :o)

I also clamped the bracket over the spar tube for initial marking and drilling of the rivet holes in the bracket.

Dave S