Control torque tube out of round

[Esser]

After sanding the control rod bearing I noticed that the torque tube is out of round. Should I sand the powder coat? Or is out of round from welding the bracket on?

[Geowitz]

Are you referring to the main control tube that he two control sticks attach to with the teflon type block bearing? Sorry, not sure what you should do, but I would definitely want that perfectly in round with powder coat fully intact as it's where all of your constant back and forth rotation for elevator is at.

[Esser]

Yeah it's where the teflon type blocks sit.

[t j]

After sanding the control rod bearing I noticed that the torque tube is out of round. Should I sand the powder coat? Or is out of round from welding the bracket on?

If the out of round is minimal enough that the tube can be made round by sanding the powder coat, that is what I would do. Can you measure the amout of out of round to give us an idea how bad it is?

[High Country]

Another option may be to add a little bit of Hysol to the low spots then sand it back to round once it dries.

[Esser]

I was out flying in my buddies Pitts today so I didnt make it into the shop but I'll take a picture for you tomorrow but it seems about 3/32 wider on the sides than top to bottom.

[jiott]

You will never correct that much out-of-round by sanding. I would try putting a heavy duty C-clamp or vise across the fat area and carefully squeezing it back into round.

Jim

[Dutch]

Cut a short piece of PVC pipe. Slit it & place a piece on either side of your torque tube place it in a vise & carefully sqeeze it back into round.

Dutch.

[Esser]

Hey everyone. Thanks for the tips. It wasn't as bad as I though. It was still about 1/16th though. I gave her a little squeeze and sanded the powder coat and she seems 95% correct now. I have smooth and free movement in the bearing. I sanded her with 220 but im wondering if i should go finer to clean her up so since with the sand marks its a bit louder.

Also, I exposed some bare metal when sanding. What should I do in places when the powder coat is removed? Do you oil it? Or do you cover it with a primer if you can.

[jiott]

If the bare spot is under the plastic bearing I wouldn't worry about it because you will want to put some grease where the plastic contacts the tube. The plastic is just nylon, not Teflon which is self lubricating. Just smooth er up and grease it.

Jim