[Chrisw]

Need some guidance. Ive got what appears to be a 6/32 machine screw not tightening on the lense cover. I havent removed it yet. Im thinking a plate nut became un bonded? I dont want to remove wing tip. Im thinking of trying to get leverage under it hoping whatever it tightens into i can put upward pressure on it and get it to re tighten. Otherwise it will simply back out if no backing nut is attached. What would typically be backing this screw? Any advice on a fix? I really dont want to blind rivet or something like that as removal would be more of a pain. Only two screws hold this cover. One on top in the corner and exact location underneath.

 

[Bavafa]

Out of curiosity, any reason you don't want to remove the wingtip? I know there are a number of screws but that way you get to fix it once and for all. The lens is held up by two 6-32 screw as you mentioned and the nut plate typically is riveted and not glued. You might be able to get your hand thru the landing light hole, if you have a very skinny arm to reach and hold the nut plate while someone tighten it but that is only a band aid.

 

[Chrisw]

Out of curiosity, any reason you don't want to remove the wingtip? I know there are a number of screws but that way you get to fix it once and for all. The lens is held up by two 6-32 screw as you mentioned and the nut plate typically is riveted and not glued. You might be able to get your hand thru the landing light hole, if you have a very skinny arm to reach and hold the nut plate while someone tighten it but that is only a band aid.

No real reason other than not wanting to open any other can of worms. New to me plane, paint is close to perfect, I dont know if wingtips were painted separately or while attached… if the backing plate was riveted and is now released, I think I would see more evidence of that. I really think it was bonded. I dont see any evidence of rivets. But… I suppose off comes the wingtip. I will purchase some backing nuts and epoxy a new one. Thank you

 

[Bavafa]

No real reason other than not wanting to open any other can of worms. New to me plane, paint is close to perfect, I dont know if wingtips were painted separately or while attached… if the backing plate was riveted and is now released, I think I would see more evidence of that. I really think it was bonded. I dont see any evidence of rivets. But… I suppose off comes the wingtip. I will purchase some backing nuts and epoxy a new one. Thank you

With airplanes, if there are any can of worms, it is best to be found early but don't worry not much is there.
when you go to put the thing together, go very easy on the screws that hold the wingtip to the wing. Tightening them too much will mess up your paint, especially if it was painted recently.

 

[Chrisw]

With airplanes, if there are any can of worms, it is best to be found early but don't worry not much is there.
when you go to put the thing together, go very easy on the screws that hold the wingtip to the wing. Tightening them too much will mess up your paint, especially if it was painted recently.

Yes, I will take care. I found the lense issue when I was washing the plane and went through and tightened all screws. Most were tight but surprisingly I found a few loose. I was very cognizant and careful not to excessively tighten. I’m sure this has been there for hours and just hasn’t been discovered. With those two small screws there must not be much force placed on that cover. At 160 kts i’m surprised it hasn’t departed the plane.

 

[wnplt]

Put in a rivnut...

 

[Chrisw]

Put in a rivnut...

I was thinking the same thing. I was just worried because I knew to the whole rivet process and I did not want to do anything to structurally weekend the fiberglass wingtip. I think I’ll order a set ofrivnuts. They have to come in handy anyway.

 

[Desert Rat]

I was thinking the same thing. I was just worried because I knew to the whole rivet process and I did not want to do anything to structurally weekend the fiberglass wingtip. I think I’ll order a set ofrivnuts. They have to come in handy anyway.

If I had the wingtip off anyway I'd just do it right and put in a nutplate.

If you do't want to use solid rivets, cherry makes some non-structural pull rivets that are small enough for nutplates and soft enough that you can pull them with a hardware store pop rivet puller without damaging your fiberglass wingtip

 

[Richard Connell]

I agree that taking the wingtip off (or alternatively below) and installing a #6 nut plate is the way to go.
Rivnuts are the devils work and if you put one into fiberglass you’re just asking for trouble.
Have you tried removing the screw?
Plans call for a nutplate there but I have seen all manner of shoddy work on non structural parts in my time. Wouldn’t surprise me if someone’s been lazy and used a self tapping screw.

An alternative thought - If you can get whatever’s there out:
-Drill for a plate nut from the outside.
-Remove the landing light lens in the outboard leading edge.
-use a combination of fishing line, magnets and a vacuum cleaner to pull a nutplate up to the back of the wingtip and blind rivet it on.

You’d be amazed at where you can get nutplates to with a bit of planning and fiddling.

 

[jrs14855]

Rivnuts are not a good idea for this application. They don't work well in fiberglas and the hole is likely to be too large for a 6-32 rivnut. Remove the wingtip and do it right.

 

[MV-RVer]

What about drilling out one of the rivets, then rotate the lug into place and install a CS flush pop rivet an MK I think. Then do the other one.

 

[Chrisw]

I agree that taking the wingtip off (or alternatively below) and installing a #6 nut plate is the way to go.
Rivnuts are the devils work and if you put one into fiberglass you’re just asking for trouble.
Have you tried removing the screw?
Plans call for a nutplate there but I have seen all manner of shoddy work on non structural parts in my time. Wouldn’t surprise me if someone’s been lazy and used a self tapping screw.

An alternative thought - If you can get whatever’s there out:
-Drill for a plate nut from the outside.
-Remove the landing light lens in the outboard leading edge.
-use a combination of fishing line, magnets and a vacuum cleaner to pull a nutplate up to the back of the wingtip and blind rivet it on.

You’d be amazed at where you can get nutplates to with a bit of planning and fiddling.

Im going to try and put back pressure on the screw tomorrow like with a feeler gauge or jewelers screwdriver and see if i can stop the spinning nutplate. It feels like there is a spinning something there. It just wont tighten. If I can’t get it to tighten, I will hit it with a magnet or super glue to unscrew. If it doesn’t come out, wing tip comes off. I just want to fly and this is the first weekend with good weather and i dont want to spend time jacking with nut plates all weekend. I get it with the magnets etc but with all that effort, I may as well remove wingtip and fix it. I just dont want to get into fixing more nutplates after removing.

 

[Chrisw]

What about drilling out one of the rivets, then rotate the lug into place and install a CS flush pop rivet an MK I think. Then do the other one.

I’m not sure I see any evidence of rivets in a nutplate. I see the plans, but unless the paint shop faired this spot, there are no rivets. I really feel like nutplates were epoxied on. Ill let you know tomorrow.