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Windscreen pillars

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Docdoom45

Freshman Member
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I have a BT7 and when I bought it it was a wreck. I have been getting along with it slowly but have come to a problem regarding the screen pillars. The screws had been drilled out badly so I got out the old bits of screws and tried to get the holes welded up to re drill them but it would seem that the welder is having a **** of a job with the ally castings. He has now given them back to me. What can I do to fill and re drill the pillars?
Dave.
 
Perhaps you could drill a larger blind hole, thread it put a screw in, loctite it, cut it flush with the pillar and drill and tap the right size into it.
 
Like any profession, There are different skill levels people have, and that goes for welders! I suggest finding a welder who has more of a metallurgical background that can choose the proper welding rod for your particular project. I worked with some really sharp tradesman which some have been welders, and the good ones really know there Metalogy, gases and welding techniques.
 
Being that the screw hole area will be covered by the windscreen or paint you could fill the holes with a very hard epoxy such as West Systems here in the states. Then you can drill and tap the epoxy and it will be strong enough to hold. We mount sailboat hardware using this technique and the loads there are tremendously higher than anything you would see here.
 
This year at the Goodwood Revival I bumped into a Swedish Guy demonstrating and selling AL85. It is an aluminium soldering wire and one of the applications is to renew screw threads :- www.al85plus.com

Can be used with a blow lamp and the idea is that you heat up the aluminium until the temperature will melt the wire, then puddle it in the hole scratching the sides with a metal rod (not necessarily stainless) to brake through the oxide layer, then drop the bolt into the hole, when it cools - just unscrew the bolt.

It looked good when he demonstrated it so I bought a 'Swedish meter' - worked out to be 1.5 metres, and used a little to weld/solder an aluminium tube on to the side of my Carb trumpet to receive the oil vent tube from the engine. I have not tried it on threads yet, but it was easy to use.

:cheers:

Bob
 
Thanks Bob,
I have tried to order some but having a little trouble as site is in German and my German is a bit rusty. Have emailed them so hope things turn out OK.
TTFN, Dave
 
When you open up the site there is an option on the left with a British flag on it, click it and it opens in English, you can then register/reply in English and hopefully some one at the other end will be able to sort you out.

:cheers:

Bob

PS. I have just visited the site again and had a good look through, Unfortunately the videos do not show the thread being formed but on some of them, if you look carefully you can see a piece of metal sliced through with the formed cast thread showing. You can get an English translation for the sequence on the RH side just above the picture of the plane and you can order in englis as well. Did not realized that it comes in different thicknesses too.
 
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