If you look closely, you can see little ball bearings in the shaft of the tool.
After hanging the wings for the final time, we will make the connection at the wing root from wing to fuselage. The connection between the wing and fuselage involve flexible hoses clamped to the aluminum tubes, from the fuselage and wing tanks. It's easier to prepare the fuel lines from the tanks to wing root now rather than wait until the wings are mounted.
The hose slips over the aluminum tubes and a hose clamp is used to secure the hose to the tube. To prevent any slippage, a bead is made in the tube. I found a nifty tool at Wick's Aircraft. Its about $30 but does a nice job. Pat Fagan also shared the plans for making your own bead tool in the May 2001 Bear-Tracks newsletter.
Here is the tool (from Wicks) and the 3/8" tube ready for bead
forming:
If you look closely, you can see little ball bearings in the shaft of the
tool.
Here is the tool inserted in the
tube:
The outer bolt was then tightened forcing the ball bearings outward, and
the tool was rotated around forming the bead. The outer bolt
was then loosened and the tool
removed:
As you can see a nice bead has been formed.
Here is a view of the root end of the wing showing the fuel line coming from
the tank to the root
rib:
As you can see, I had to slightly modify the lightening hole in the rib nearest
the fuel tank. I also drilled a hole and used a rubber grommet in the
root ribs to help stabilize the tube against vibration. The same thing
was done on the front end of the tank.
Once the wings are mounted, I'll show the connection between the wing and fuselage tubes with a rubber hose and clamps.
This
page under construction. Come back later for more . . . Late
updated October 26, 2007