Actually, on an aircraft almost every bolt and fitting
is safety wired because it is not only the fastener
failing that is bad, it is the damage a bolt can cause
by seating itself in, say, an engine core, an
actuator, a fan, etc. (this is known as FOD, "Foreign
Object Debris or Damage"). When I worked on JSTARS at
Northrop Grumman, we would FOD an engine every few
months to the tune of $1 million of your tax dollars,
despite daily "FOD Walks" where we would line up and
walk the taxiway picking up debris. Bolts are also
installed in orientations so that if a nut works loose
the bolt has a chance of staying put. Drives the
wrench turners crazy cause the heads are usually in
extremely unaccessible areas.
Ron
--- richard.arnold@juno.com wrote:
> > Another alternative, if you have a drill press, is
> > to cross-drill a small hole through the hex head
> > and safety wire it in place. You can run the wire
> > between the two bolts.
>
> >> Your joking, right!!!!??
>
> He's not joking. Safety wiring is normally used in
> applications were a
> failed fastener will have extreme consequences (such
> as the aircraft will
> fall out of the sky....). I've done it to a
> small-block Chevy with
> header bolts that kept vibrating loose (V8 Vega).
>
> Most difficult thing, other than drilling the holes,
> is spiral wrapping
> the wire; I used a set of pliers designed for that
> task. These pull the
> wire through a pair of guides and twist the wire.
> After that, you only
> need to remember to secure the wire so that its
> 'tightening' the bolt
> head when secured.
>
> Rich
>
>
|