Today I was able to get the small aileron pushrods (W-818) TIG welded. I was planning to make a trip about an hour north to someone I knew to get this done but had not made it up that way. When my EAA Technical Counselor was here the other day he offered to TIG weld them for me. He now teaches welding, so today I took him up on his offer, in return I bucked from the inside of his tail section on his project.
This is the educational part of the build. I had never welded a thing or been very close to someone who had. I did not do the welding but was the rotisserie that turned the tubes as they were welded. It is quite a site to see. The initial ends are a little rough and large; I did not realize how fast I needed to turn to keep up with Doug. But the last couple we had it just right. While the welds cooled to normalize the metal I helped Doug with some tough rivets on the underside of his Zenair project. I have never bucked for someone, so this was a learning experience as well.
The weld will enclose the steel tube, but I had not primed them since this would have burned off during the weld. I have read where some have added some oil before welding on the final end. When I mentioned this to Doug he suggested waiting till the welds had cooled and then drill a hole to add something then just plug the hole with a pop rivet; he has seen the oil in the tube during the weld cause problems. So later in the afternoon I drilled a #40 hole and attempted to spray Corrosion-X into the tube. Well there is air in the tube and the spray can is adding more air and the fluid so with no place for the air to go it tries to come out the same hole. So I added a second hole and this solved my problem. I then pulled some cherry stainless rivets into the hole then mixed up some JB Weld to try and plug the center of the rivets. Pictures are after priming done the next day.
Ends primed where coating was removed
Close up I will try to get a clearer picture
Holes used to add Corrosion-X to the inside of the tube.
