Having now used the Tracy/Bruce seals (I bought
them from Tracy, but I know they are Bruce's baby), I can see the
best way to assemble them is to superglue them, just like I have always
done with the factory stuff. The earlier 1202-11-300A 3mm apex seals
come with a little piece of rubber to take the spring pressure off the end
piece. However, if they are second hand, and you don't have
the little bits of rubber, so there is no other option but to glue
them.
Same principle as the factory two piece 2mm
N35-11-C00C seals for the REW engines. They come factory glued! So
do the 12A RX7 seals, as well as the 3 piece early model 2mm
seals. If they are not glued, the problem is when you are putting
the centre housing on, the end pieces can pop out as the shaft is
lifted. Not nice!! The end pices then become "devil
bits" . You end up down on your hands & knees saying "where the
devil did that bit go??"
The trick is to scrupulously clean the
surfaces with some carby cleaner/alcohol/MEK/Acetone (whatever liver poison
takes your fancy!). Then lightly scuff the ends of the apex seal and
the end piece with some 400 - 600 wet&dry. Then glue the end piece
just ever so SLIGHTLY up from the top of the main seal. This puts it
out a bit as well. Not much superglue is needed. Just ONE drop is
sufficient!!
I normally lay the seals down on a piece of
plastic. A LIGHT mist of WD-40 or similar will act as a release compound
on the plastic. The superglue doesn't seem to stick real well to
polythene, and if one is careful, none gets on the plastic
anyway.. Only a SMALL drop is needed. Saves getting it on your
claws too!! You will only get it on your claws if you are a messy
child and use too much!! As the housings are torqued, the glue will
break. As George remembers when I showed him, if it's done
correctly, you can actually hear the end pieces click loose as
the bolts are tightened.
To insert the apex seal, I normally remove
the corner seal, slide the apex seal down about half way, then
install the spring(s). Then slide the whole box & dice
down, being careful not to notch the apex seal on the edge of the
trochoid. The spring(s) need to be compressed and the seal held off the
trochoid a bit (The factory seals are really soft - Bruce's seals are like
glass in comparison). I then re-install the corner seal and rubber
plug, and make sure it rides up and down on the spring, checking
that it depresses below the side of the rotor face.
Anyway guys, that's my little canvas bag full
of pesos for today.
Cheers,
Leon
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 12:45
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Engine
assembled
Jesse,
Yep it can be messy alright. That's why I asked
the question.
The real question is how do you get the apex seal
in that tiny slot when your finger's stuck permanently to it?
George ( down under)
Oh yeah; this reminds, how do you get the damn
stuff safely off your finger when you get too much glue on in too much a
hurry ?
jofarr
What I have been shown is to superglue the
end piece to the apex seal, with spring place under it, and with the
corner seal in place, gently but firmly slide the apex seal ( one piece
now) and spring into
place.