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Well, George, I would not take the
conclusion that far. We have folks flying with several hundred more hours
than I have with no apex seal failures. In fact to the best of my
knowledge, I am the only one I am aware of other than Chuck Dunlap who's rotary
engine swallowed a 1/4" dia steel bolt (it was retained - so we know) to have an
apex seal failure in an aircraft. However, I do believe that folks need to
be more aware of the true condition of their used engine components - I know all
probably did was look at it and not seeing any obviously defects or dings said -
"good to go!"
As you know, Leon is convinced my apex
seal failure was also due to foreign object ingestion - I certainly can
not prove it was something else (like the apex seal slop) although I
don't believe a foreign object to be the case - belief is not a fact
{:>).
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 9:44
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: All Parts have
arrived, Whew!
Ed,
Good thinking and good to get the
feed-back.
I do believe we are starting to see a trend, in
regard to apex seal slot wear. I believe the problem is that it's
starting to give the rotary, for Aviation use, a bad name, and it's the sort
of thing that could easily do it.
When you think about it, too much slop is going
to aggravate the apex seal side wear, which could have resulted in
those chatter marks.
George ( down under)
George, the rotor housings had some wear - but
no gouges or groves, no missing chrome - so they were probably OK to reuse
again. However, there was what appeared to be "chatter" wear - strips
across the chrome at regular intervals. When you rubbed your fingers
along them I could detect a faint wave like pattern (valleys and
peaks). So decided with new rotors and seals to go with new rotor
housings. Those were used ones and who knows how many miles they might
have had.
Well, I was quite surprised at the amount of
wear on the seals - they were brand new 150 hours ago but the seals
were badly grooved and worn - now I am certain that wear was greatly
accelerated by the poor condition of the seal slots - but still. In
any case, new stronger seals are going to be used next - as well as
additional of an air filter. I personally don't think an airfilter
would have made any difference in the apex seal breaking - but, I also
noticed that the rotor metal oil rings were worn outside the specs and they
were new 150 hours ago. So I do believe I have had some accelerated
wear due to the dust in and around my hangar over the past two years.
Since a filter is cheap, I'm going to stick one on.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 6:23
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: All Parts
have arrived, Whew!
Ed,
Were the old housing junked because you spat
the apex seals?
I just got a report that one bloke in
Victoria Aust is only getting 200 hrs out of new seals before they break -
I wonder if it's the same problem? I'm pretty sure it
is!
George ( down under)
Ok, folks, the fun begins. Got the
last of the parts in today, so can start the assembly
tomorrow. Waited for UPS to deliver the oil control rings all day
- so was down in the dumps when 1600 rolled around and no UPS
truck. So maundered down to the mail box and their wedged
into its opening was a USPS package - not UPS!
Going to sit down tonight with a bowl of
pop corn and watch Bruce T perform the assembly part. I
noticed that the transcript did not have anything on the reassembly - so
assume that I either got tired of listening to Bruce, figured that the
assembly was just the reverse of the disassembly - or lost that
part.
Got all the rotor parts in plastic sandwich
bags marked for which rotor, which side of rotor and which apex.
For most parts it really doesn't matter but, for instance, is very
important when replacing the oil control seals to put the springs back
correctly according to direction of rotation and side of the
rotor. Also important on the side seals to get them in the right
slot or else all that work trimming the side seals to get that precision
fit is lost.
First time I've actually had new rotors and
housings - I like the looks - though not necessarily what they
cost. But, Bruce gave the best price out of three quotes I
got. Just wanted you to know.
Ed
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