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Speaking of Adel clamps, I have been unable to find any that are fuel resistant. Do they exist?
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When two materials rub against each other the softer of the two is the one that erodes, so it is difficult to accept the wear was caused by the tie. However, what ever was held in contact (steel braid, bracket, etc.) may have worn through the engine mount tube.
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Not necessarily!
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Mel,
That's surprising. Can you give a personal example? Rich |
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I'm not Mel but I can tell you without a doubt, I've seen plenty of structure, aluminum lines, stainless steel lines and steel mounts worn from loose tie wraps. I'm not talking a little wear either, I'm talking worn completely through the line or nearly so. I can almost guarantee you if you go out and look at your airplane right now where the lower baffle retainer rods (the ones that the plans have you cover with plastic tube) that run under the oil drain back lines you will find that the plastic tube has worn a nice wear spot into your aluminum drain line. I have to install chafe protection on these lines on practically every RV I inspect and I've had to replace a number of tubes that were worn more than half way through. I've also seen numerous stainless prop gov lines worn from loose tie wraps (maybe this is why the AD on this line says its not acceptable to attach anything to this line). PS: Above was written based on Lycoming, not Rotax |
Walt,
I'm not familiar with the configuration you describe. I've seen shiny spots where the oxide layer has been worn away, but never experienced any loss of base metal. Are you sure the wear wasn't due to the part-to-part contact as opposed to the tie-to-part contact? Rich |
cable ties and wear on metal parts
The working hypothesis is that dirt or grit of some kind gets into the gap between the cable tie and the metal part. With vibration, the grit embeds itself into the soft material, and that combination acts like an abrasive tool that will slowly cut through steel.
I have a stainless steel bicycle water bottle cage that was filed all the way through by a water bottle over a period of 5 years. Its the grime between the plastic and the metal that does the damage. |
Adel clamps
Adel clamps are made in a wide variety of cushion materials, with various chemical resistances. That's why they are color coded, black, black with red stripe, black with yellow stripe, solid yellow, solid white, probably many other colors. Each color means something, and if you note the MS numbers are different, and the MS specification will tell you about the chemical resistance, temperature resistance, etc.
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Cable Tie Wrap Cutters
I removed the tie wraps and adel clamped the majority of my FWF wiring on my recently purchased RV-12.
FWIW, for those who prefer to use tie wraps, there is a useful tool used for installing cable tie wraps. The cable tie wrap cutters have adjustable tension and will cleanly snip the end of the tie wrap so that you won't scrape your hands when working around tie wrapped wire bundles. I purchased a good quality cutter on e-bay several years ago. Below is a link to a company that sells a variety of cutters. http://www.cableorganizer.com/cable-tie-guns/ Regards, |
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