My teflon tubes are coiled too. When I saw this my immediate thought was that its going to bind up.

I think I'll try to straighten the tubes by inserting the carbon and hiting it with the hot air gun. In theory this should soften the tube and allow it to form to the carbon pushrod. At least that's what I think will happen....

Cheers
Jason.

yeah, I bought that stuff and it was all coiled up...on one of the carbon rods it slid just fine, on the other it was tight right from the beginning....I tried sanding it...


As it turns out I am just going to redo the DEPS by buying a new DEPS kit and new teflon sheathing...I couldnt sleep at night knowing it was half-*****ed.


Will be busy in the shop in the evenings this week for sure!

CST has obviously changed the teflon sheathing. I just installed a DEPS in my new plane using a set from CST that I had purchased a couple of years ago.
The sheathing was a white color , straight in the package ( not coiled up) and what I received when I reordered, to have more on hand for the future, is transparent and came coiled like you guys are saying.
I didn't check the ID but the new stuff's OD is defiitely thinner than the old.
Eddie

Eddie, any recommendations for what tubing to run to solve the problem?

Not yet, I was hoping someone else had the answer , I just found the problem and thought it was an isolated one. NOW I see I'm not the only person to receive the "new" sheathing. Dissapointing.

I am very happy I had a set of the older white stuff left to use this time
Eddie

I was going to order some sheathing over the weekend for my V3 and am glad I saw this. Guess I'll just use the stuff that came in the DEPS kit.

Has anyone called and asked if you can get it without it being coiled?

I was thinking of asking if they could change back to the white stuff. Of course I already know that answer is gonna be no
Kinda like when I complained to my pharmacy computer vendor about how the system worked and was told they wouldn't rewrite the entire program just for me.
Eddie

I just wanted to throw in that Arch's VF3 on the cover of the K-factor looks amazing.

Thanks Joe. That's because my wife is in the pic. She actually did the covering on the wings and stabs.

Arch

...might as well display it...

Didn't she cover her cell phone as well?

Yep, she sure did. Rusty even did a short inverview with her about it.

Hold on, Where are the bubbles Arch?

I put in one hard point in my left aileron. I put it back far enough to put the piviot of my MK control horn right over the hinge line. Thats how its done, right? Anyways, this hard point is so far forward that I am worried it will get a lot weaker when I sand my bevel. The back of the bevel is right at the hole for my control horn bolt. What am I doing wrong?

Chris,

Just looked on my wings built by Mike and you are basically in the same place. His may have been just a shade back from yours, but my MK horn is right over the hinge line. The hard point is definitely beveled though. I've never had a problem with mine.

Arch

Arch do you run a straight M3 bolt or do you use the fancy aluminum post style control horns? I think I have to run a bolt since it would interfere with the movement.

Mine is the straight bolt. I think mine is 6-32 though. With the plastic in the MK horn, doesnt really matter, it makes its own threads.

Chris,

My hard points are set the same way Arch described. I noticed your bevel line passing right through the bolt hole, you may want to reset the bevel amount you are putting in the ailerons. Maybe let the bevel line pass in front of the bolt hole about a 1/16th inch. This will shorten your aileron deflection a little, but you don't need a tremendous of aileron deflection anyway. As Arch said that you will sand into the hard point some making the bevel but it's ok. I also use the 6x32 bolts for control arms and the MK style adjusters. I use small 6x32 blind nut put on upside down with the barbs removed as jam nuts. This set up makes for a good solid control arm assembly.

Larry

G'day Dean,

Have started to jig up my fuse and make sure everything is aligned before hitting it with Zap.

One thing i've noticed on my kit is that the stab socket holes in the fuse sides and doublers are 1mm too big. The stab root rib socket hole is spot on. Is there an error in the laser file or have I just missed something?

I think I'll have to wrap some glass around the stab socket to build up the diameter...

Cheers
Jason.

Jason,

In your kit there should be some lite ply donuts for the stab. They glue to the inside the fuse and the stab housing goes through them and the donuts should fit tight to the stab housing. The loose holes on the fuse is so you can properly align the stab to the wing and fuse and the donuts hold the housing in the correct position. Once everything is dry I would make sure all gaps between the fuse and stab housing was filled with epoxy. Just a side note the wing tube housing is done in a similar fashion.
I hope this info helps


Larry

Hi Jason,

what you actually do is trim the outside stab tube so it extends about 1/16 out on both sides of the fuse. once you align and spot glue the stab tube in place. lay the fuse on it's side and with 5 min epoxy fill the gap flowing the epoxy against the tube, once dry sand flush with a block and your done....

If you built a jig like mine, you can align the wing and stab tubes in the jig,

sounds like your making progress....

dean

G'day Larry and Dean,

Progress has been slow due to other distractions.

The doughnuts are the same oversize diameter as the fuse sides so that makes them a loose fit on the tube socket. The hole in the root rib is a nice snug fit over the socket.

I might make some new snug doughnuts and jig things so the stab and wing tubes are square to the fuse centre line. A little more procrastinating required.. :-)

Cheers Guys,

Jason.

Grrrrr....[:@][:@]

Found this out the hard way last night, after spending about an hour fabricating the whole stick/sheath thing for a Focus II. VERY annoying.

Got me thinking, when one looks at the weight of the whole tedious stick/sheath/CF rod rigamarole, one could just use some slightly heavier, stiffer CF tube to make the split portion, support it at the fuse exit with some sort of sheath, then use the small CF rod glued into the CF tube where it exits the fuse to complete the run to the elevator horn, using the supplied titanium bits, which are excellent. Probably end up lighter than the stick/sheath arrangement and definitely a heckuva lot easier!

Hi All,
As of today, I am the proud new owner of a Black Magic VF3 in the bones with a full YS 170 dingo and Hatori header + Short Pipe. I am an expreinced pilot, but new to pattern and have admired the looks of this plane for a while now, so I jumped at the chance to buy one. It will take me a while to get to finishing it off, as I have 2 other projects ahead of it, but I would like to ask the group a few questions

1) Has anyone covered thier VF3's purley with covering rather than the paint route? - I have painted before (WWII scale), so it does not scare me. but I would still like to cover this plane rather than paint if possible. I am concerned about the "crunch" factor with covering only when the wing is picked up by someone not familliar with the fragility of this structure against crush - I would think covering would be
lighter as well - Any opinions here?

2) The ship has a DEPS setup using clear tubing and I am quite concerend about how stiff the setup is by hand. I was considering using two low profile servoes in the horizontal tail with short direct linkage, but am wondering if this is possible, given the significant distance the tail is behind the CG - anyone try this and get the CG OK ?( Keep in mind, powerplant will be the YS 170 and I may also use dual A123 lfight packs up front) - Otherwise, I am going to be stuck trying to figure out how to get the DEPS setup to be much smoother

3) I am also considering using 2 A123 packs for reiever power, as I have dual batteries, switches, and wiring to my reciver in all my planes tthat will take the setup - never had a problem with this setup and I trust it - I am wondering if I can use the A123's to help offset the possible dual elevator servo idea from #2 above

AS of now, I do not intend to compete for a season or two, and then it would only be in the lower classes. I bought this ship also to be a regualr flyer at the field, as I am getting tired of aimlessley boring hoels in the sky with YAKs, extras, etc. and have always admired how a pattern ship flies

I fly with and am an instructor with Skymasters RC club of Troy, MI. -any help or opinions would be greatly appreciated


THanks in advance

Joe F.