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| Everything you'll need to complete this task |
The hatch lock down screws have slowly been getting harder and harder to tighten. I'm not sure whether I failed to align them correctly when building the Skywalker X5 or not. Anyway it seems that the screw is made of a harder steel than the bolt/nut and what is happening is the bolt/nut is slowly getting crossed threaded. I think I'd prefer that is was the other way around, the screw broke before the nut as the nut is the one that is cast/glued into the airframe!
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| The old system with bolt/nut glued under the plywood bulkhead |
So I cut the plywood bulkheads off the base of the hatch and took the stock bolt/nut out. I then got a couple of M3 screws and nuts from the hardware store, re-aligned and glued them into place.
I used longer screws and put a nut at the right length along the screw as to tighten the hatch properly. Hopefully this will also help with me not loosing the screws in the field as this time they are longer and therefore easier to find in the grass.
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| The new system with longer screw, locking nut and double bolt glued to the plywood bulkhead |
