Rolo-Flair tool gouging my fuel lines

[RV10Rob]

Just a heads up for those of you using the Parker Rolo-Flair tool to do your flares. As Ron pointed out in this post a few months ago, there can be sharp edges on the side away from the flare that cut into the tube when clamped down. Additionally, mine had a sharp edge on the flare side, which produced results like this:



I'd call these fairly significant cuts/gouges in the flare--I can catch my fingernail on them. Not sure whether I didn't notice or just ignored this on the flares I did earlier, but do yourself a favor and save the worry and/or additional work of replacement and keep an eye out. I filed down the sharp edge on the tool, and the problem went away. I'm curious how it got there in the first place.

-Rob

[asav8tor]

Dip the tubing end to be flared in STP oil treatment and a bit on the cone before flaring. Big difference in results.

[clevtool]

I have contacted Parker about their quality control when Ron Sterba pointed this out last spring. This is a serious problem with the stress marks in the tube. The units that we had on the shelf we have disassembled and polished with the 3M deburring wheel. This seems to solve the problem. I don't know if Parker has solved the problem on their end yet. The Parker tool is the best one that we have used for flaring. If someone has experience with a better tool please let us know.

[9GT]

Mine does it also and I solved the problem by not clamping down so hard.

[aturner]

My Parker Roto-flare gave me headaches too. I had to take it apart and clean up the dies with files and deburring wheel. It still seems like the 1/4 die is too small, but as long as you don't use too much clamping pressure it works OK.

[Phil]

Exact same issue with mine. I finally quit driving the male die so hard and that helped. Now I just crank down until I think I'm close to bottoming out - then I stop and take a look at it.

9 times out of 10 it's okay using that method but if I smash the two dies together it causes all kinds of problems.

On the lines that do have the marks, I've managed to polish them out. But the ones that have deep marks like your photo are too deep for my taste.

Can you show us a photo of how you filed the dies down? I'd love to do that too.

Phil

[RV10Rob]

Originally Posted by Phil

Can you show us a photo of how you filed the dies down? I'd love to do that too.

Phil

I just cranked the mail die down directly into the female with nothing inserted, then a light rub with a scotchbrite pad. Flares now look good. Wish I'd done it before I made all my fuel lines. I wonder how many others out there are, like me, new to airplane building and don't know those bad flares are unacceptable.

-Rob

[douglassmt]

was taught to screw it down just until you start to get resistance, never had any trouble with it. As others said, try backing off the pressure. Of course, it could be a QC problem with a new lot. I'll be looking at mine again to make sure they're OK. Thanks for bringing this up.

[The Wizzard]

Would someone point out what lines your actually speaking about? Not the scratches?

[ron sterba]

Gentlemen.
Glad to see you are sharing these concerns. Yes I advised the FAA at the Arlington airshow( July 2010). I took my tool there and showed the FAA gentleman. I was told they would look into the problem. I showed the FAA man my concerns and he understood exactly what I was concerned about since he had a backround in gunsmithing. Now if someone remembers back in the early spring 2010 in ( Texas ) RV 10 having a fuel line problem where he shared a video of his flight (DEAD STICK) on a computer generated flight path in IMC to a "NEAREST" and safely lands VFR at a airport. He showed his broken fuel line. If I remember right it was with-in 1/2" to a inch of the flare where the fuel line BROKE! I have not found that video as of yet but I know it exists. It would be nice to find out WHY it broke where it did.

Ron in Oregon