Brief Description: Lead fill aileron balance tubes
Lead filled aileron balance tubes with #12 lead shot from Midwest, USA and West Systems epoxy resin with slow hardener. Weighed out #12 shot to get the 5 lbs 4 oz recommended in the Avipro manual. First tube, I was concerned about the tube overfilling before I was able to get all the shot in the tube. Pour in some epoxy then a bit of shot and repeated the sequence. Ended up with about 5" void in the top of the tube.
The second tube I started with some epoxy then pre-mixed the shot with epoxy to make a slurry. Worked OK with a plastic funnel and a little bit of shaking of the funnel. Object was to make sure there was good epoxy to shot contact.
Final tube weights:
Tube 1 = 101 oz = 6.31 lbs = 6 lbs 5 oz Tube 2 = 97 oz = 6.15 lbs = 6 lbs 1 oz (difference attributed to different amount of epoxy used)
There was some emphasis on using the smallest lead shot in the Avipro Manual. I think since the balance tube was changed from 3/4" to 1", this is no longer as much of a concern. # 10 lead shot would work fine. Need to research the recommended final balance tube weight and drill as needed.
