I am building an Ultra Stick 60 and have a question re the Nylon Wing Bolts. The right one goes in well and will tighten down and hold the wing against the fuselage. However, the left one will tighten to a point then let go. Nothing wrong with the threads on either the nylon bolt, or the metal blind nut that it screws into. Is there any way to get the threads to catch without trying to replace the blind nut? Not sure why the bolt is slipping, the threads are OK.

Did you try swapping the nylon bolts to see if the bolt that tightens in the right side will tighten in the left side. If it "strips" then there must be something wrong with the blind nut. Vice/versa if the bolt that was in the left side will tighten in the right side then there is nothing wrong with the bolt. If both the blind nut and the bolt are alright, as you say they, shouldn't "strip".
The other question is "what do you call tight"? It is possible to snap the head off of the nylon bolt in flight if it is overtightened. Also, the wing saddle may be misaligned causing the wing to make contact with the right side before the left side, leaving a gap that your are trying to eliminate by overtightening.

You know the drill, Tighten it up until it strips and then back off 1/2 turn. Just joking about that!

I plan to reverse the bolts tomorrow and will check the fuselage alignment. I have a 4*60 and am used to using the wing bolts without over tightening. (Well at least I think so.) I use the small blue 4 way tightening tool available off of Tower Website. Like the comment about backing off 1/2 turn, except it's pretty lose already. Made only 2 tries to get it to stay tight, both times the threads slipped. When trying the bolts by them selves without the wing, the bolts seem somewhat loose in the threads already.

The tighten until it strips and then back off 1/2 turn is a joke and I DO hope you didn't take me literally. HA

As to the nylon bolts and the blind nuts, I am assuming that the blind nuts you mention are the metal type and not just a treaded piece of wood block that many kit makers use. I usually install the metal blind nut if that is the case because threaded wood blocks wear and chip off the threads. The other thing you should note is that metal blind nuts are machined (use that word loosely) and the nylon bolts are molded to loose tolerances so my best guess is that you may have a nylon bolt that has changed shape since manufacture.

Some folks don't like nylon bolts for wing hold downs because of the possiblity of the bolts breaking off (over tightened), they still like to use rubber bands. Personally, I like the bolts for a cleaner look. I guess if I were really concerned I would switch to a metal bolt, smaller in size (for weight consideration) and put a washer under the head for larger surface contact on the wing. How bout that! Then tighten away.

Hooked,

Try a washer, or two. If the bolt threads are good, and the blind nut threads are good, the only other possibility is the bolt goes in, bottoms out, and goes beyond the threads.

Jetts

Tippie, I got to looking at the nylon bolts themselves after I found them loose in the metal threads without the wing in place. I found the bolts to be brittle, and as you say, they were of poor quality. Don't know if the bolt size is metric or sae because the docs with the ARF dont specify. So I took a chance, went to Lowe's this morning and bought two 1/4 bolts. They work perfectly. A little thicker than the ones in the kit and have better defined threads. Thanks to you and jettstarblue for the suggestions. I am sure that I will need them all again.

I still think nylon bolts[ they shear rather than tear up the fuse] are the best bet. I use smaller bolts than most[10-24]for standerd sized models[60 size down]. Steel bolts will never shear and tear up the plane.

Ah, Lowe's, my SECOND hobby shop.
Did you get the nylon bolts at Lowe's? They have several sizes. The steel bolts will work, but they won't break like the nylon ones.
Just a note, if you break them, and can't get them out, use a hacksaw blade, or dremel, and make a new "slot". If it's broken off inside, and you can't do this, then heat up a screwdriver, and make a new slot,- carefully,let it cool, then use a screwdriver to remove.

Jetts

Actually, I bought Nylon Bolts 1/4 X 2 1/2 just like the ones that came in the kit. Not sure why the big difference except the one's at Lowe's just seem to be better quality. I figured that using the metal ones whould tear up the plane. Just what I am trying to avoid. Yep...Lowe's and Home Depot are my second home Hobby Shop. Here in Tulsa they are just one store apart. Makes for looking at both in the same trip very easy. Again thanks for the input. OH by the way Tippie, I did not take you seriously on backing off 1/2 turn, did laugh though.

Ok, glad you got the joke. Sometimes you can't judge the response when you can't see someone roll their eyes. HA

I know what you mean. I used to work in Airport Operations and we always sent the newbie out to look for a bucket of "propwash." Made for a good initiation for new personnel.

How strange, hookedonrc, but I just ran into the same problem yesterday building a Goldberg Protege for my grandson.

This is a .60 size trainer that usually uses rubber bands but had the option for bolt-on wing. They suggested using 8-32 bolts which I felt were too small for a 6' wingspan, so I changed to 10-32 (should have used 1/4-20 in retrospect).

Anyway, epoxied in the metal blind nuts and went on to other things. Well, yesterday I installed the wing to set the H-stab center and one of the nylon bolts went in fine, the second would pop a thread when only tightened about 1/2 of the other one. Tried others and metal....same thing. So I figured the blind nut is oversize.

Here is how I fixed it (you guys will probably tell me I shouldn't do it!).

I inserted the nylon bolts backward -- with the bolt head facing down and the shaft facing the top of the wing. Placed the wing on, installed two nylon flat washers over the bolt ends and two nuts.

Looks a little strange and not as smooth a set-up as two bolt heads showing on the top of the wing, but I know the bolts won't come out!

Before I did this, I looked seriously at removing the bad blind nut but there is just no way without tearing up the saddle.

I've built about 10 planes and never ran into this before, but I can tell you that I'll check the bolt fit on the next plane before I epoxy the blind nuts down!

Crash_N_Burn: Actually to me that is an option even though it is not as neat as the bolt pointing down option. However, I am lucky that the bolts from Lowe's provided the solution. On the Ultra Stick I would not have had a problem with the nuts being on top of the wing. Thanks for the suggestion.

A slightly different topic, my 1/4 scale Sig Extra 300 ARF, like many arfs, made overseas, used a mix of metric and SAE hardward. The plane came set up with 2 metal blind nuts tapped for some really small metic nylon bolts, I forget the size, but similar to 10-32. There was no way I was going to put this bird up, 2 grand before the transmitter with those 2 little nylon bolts, and it would have been a bit harder finding spares to carry with me. Ever lose a screw and not been able to fly? I swapped out the nylon ones for some steel allen head screws, running through a large fender washer and a dubro nylon washer between. The nylon washer has a small amount of give, to keep tension on it to prevent it loosening, without crushing all the wood. It has worked flawlessly. I just put flight #31 on it yesterday.
The instruction manual also said to mount the engine with 0 degrees thrust. I followed their instructions, and the pland tracked like crap on the vertical lines and loops. Maybe they got their test plane to fly straight with a 1.50 size engine and 16 inch prop, but with my 2.4 gas turning a 20 inch prop, I believe this added much more prop thrust/wash, making it track sideways. After making about 3 degrees of right thrust adjustments, it flew better, but now the engine was almost a half an inch off centerline. I never tried to remove blindnuts before, and I didn't want to mess up the firewall.......but I had to try. I unbolted the engine, and put a spare bolt into the blindnut. I found that if I pushed and wiggled the bolt, I could break it free from the epoxy. One I had to gently tap and squeeze with a pair of big pliers, but I got them all out. After I moved them all, I plugged the holes with some dowel, glued in and sawed off flush. Yesterdays flight showed the effort was worth the few hours it took me. Sorry if I rambled on, I hope others will benefit from the whole experience. Last thing, with nylon bolts, do not overtighten!!!!Think of them as rubber bands, too tight and when any more "stretch" is applied, they will snap, then your plane turns into a missle. It's got to have a little room. Thats all.

Red7fifty, if you can get to the blind nuts with a soldering iron to apply some heat it will help break the epoxy loose and make them easier to remove.
Ed M.