During my last building session, I was able to get the center elevator hinge bolted on the rear spar. However, at the time I was not able to torque the bolts because I didn’t have any torque seal to identify that this bolt task was complete.
In my years of training as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, it’s been beat into me that you alway step away from a task at a point that you will know where to pick up again when you return. Best practices here would dictate that you make a note on your instructions so that you document where you stopped and what is required to finish the task. Needless to say, this time I didn’t do that, but I did know that I needed torque seal, so it was obvious to me, and there is no one else working on the project, so I felt that this was reasonable.
Getting back to the torque seal. I did have 3 tubes of the stuff, however it’s been years since I’ve used it. As you can see in the picture below, it’s was pretty dried and crispy, and well beyond it’s useful life.
Okay, so these tubes are done. No biggie, I have to order some stuff from Aircraft Spruce (Canada) anyway. So I ordered a sheet of aluminum, some rivet sets and a couple tubes of the torque seal.
Are you sure you wanna do that?
Later that afternoon, I receive a call from one of the nice ladies at Aircraft Spruce, and she asked if I was aware that the torque seal was considered Hazardous Materials, and said that the shipping cost for those alone will be $90.00! … “Are you sure you wanna order these?”
HECK NO! was my response! There’s no way I’m paying that shipping cost for 2 tubes of $6.00 torque seal.
If you want to do your own research about the issues, there are many posts on the Van’s Air Force forum about it, so I won’t rehash all that here. What I will do however, is provide you builders here in Canada with some other options that I was able to source locally here in Edmonton, AB. These should be similar to your local Canadian cities as well.
Locally sourced
I was able to find 2 suppliers locally here in Edmonton that carried torque seal in stock. There were a few others that could order it, but if I wanted to do that I could do the same…and pay the HAZMAT shipping fees.
I found that both FastenAll and Acklands-Granger both had supply in stock. For me, I chose to go with Acklands because it was closer. The cost was $9.95 per tube, and I ordered 2 tubes. The brand is DYKEM – Cross Check Torque Seal.
Task Complete
With the torque seal in hand, I was then able to finish torquing the center elevator hinge assembly bolts and then applied the torque seal.
Please comment. I love to hear from my readers. Thanks again for coming along for this ride, you make my work worthwhile.
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