Suggestions for cleaning critters out of spars???

[C5Engineer 1170]

I am finishing the cleanup of my barn find this weekend. One wing was invaded by mice and both spars have nests way down toward the tip. When I redid my wings I used a round toilet brush on a pole to clean them out but they were in waaaay better condition than these ones. I am looking for suggestions on how to get the actual best material out of the spar and clean them up so I can evaluate the corrosion level inside the spar. Hoping the one wing is okay but I am not real optimistic at this point. Jet of water or compressed air with the wingtip up in the air maybe??

[EZFlap 12]

I have to put on my a**-hole hat here and be the bad guy. Hang up my picture on the wall and start throwing darts at it, I can take it.

 

Sorry, but IMHO the best way is going to be removing the fiberglass tip altogether. I'm sure it's a PITA. If the wingtip is epoxy bonded on you can carefully pry it off the aluminum tubes with a chisel or a piece of scrap aluminum sharpened on a sander, and tap it into the joint with a mallet. Aluminum hates being glued, it shouldn't be that much effort to pop the glue joint. Unless they alodined and chem-filmed the aluminum before gluing, at which point you will put down the darts and pick up an M-60.

 

Considering that this is primary life-death structure, and you already know that you have some amount of mouse pee/poo in there, I believe it is definitely the right thing to do to remove anything and everything that is in the way of 100% full clear access to both ends of the tube.

 

I hate to be the a**-hole that puts this picture into your head, but you need to imagine how it will feel when the wife and kids (of the guy you sell this airplane to) call you and say that a wing spar tube gave way and that someone got hurt or killed. At that moment, the time you saved by not removing the fiberglass tip, or the covering, or whatever... won't amount to much.

 

Once you have this access, EVERYTHING gets easier... it will be much easier to remove the nests, see and quantify the damage/corrosion, clean out the corrosion with 100% confidence you got all of it out, do any repairs that are needed, re-treat the aluminum, etc.

 

OK, now where's that Kevlar vest I had laying around...

[Guest]

Yeah...after I read your post but before I read EZFlap's I was going to suggest emoving the wingtip too. Just seems like the best idea to me.

 

Chris

[akflyer 1427]

Cut a hole in the fabric at the wing tip.  You can then blow air through to the open end.  plug the hole with a rag and the air hose and let it rip.  If the spars were coated as well as they looked in the pics, I am thinking there may not be as much if any corrosion in there.

 

Best case you have to put a patch on the fabric on the tip, worst case your still scraping the wing. 

 

[allonsye 85]

Mouse piss  - oh my! A flush with air and water sound like good idea to me Joey as you suggested.  What are you thoughts a good visual inspection - borescope might be in order for the areas beyond eye sight. I'd be concered about intergraular corrosion in the aluminum; that's where stress cracking could occur. But as Lenny points out, hopfully it was coated really well.  Speaking of coating, I've had great success fogging exposed metal with a 50/50 blend of Linseed Oil and WD-40.

[6320012s 12]

I would get a piece of 1/2 pvc, plug the end with epoxy putty and drill about 4   1/16 holes angled away from the plugged end.  Insert it full length and then use compressed air to sweep the junk back out the fuselage end as you withdraw the pipe.  Repeat until clean.  Could also use water if air is not vigorous enough.  Could also use a sewer jetter tip on the end of an air hose. 

[C5Engineer 1170]

Gentlemen whoa whoa whoa......first off Thank You for voicing your concerns. EZflap if anyone thinks you are an asshole for trying to keep them safe tell them to run into your fist. Let me clarify my intentions!

 

These wings are ROUGH. They for sure need stripped down bare and restored before they would be anywhere near airworthy. My intentions for right now are to clean them up and get the crap out of the spars so that no further corrosion or deterioration occurs. These wings will be going to a good home at my Dads place with all of other Avid parts to be stored for a while longer. If and when we decide to use them it will be a total restoration project. I would not even sell them without stripping the fabric off first and ensuring the buyer knew EXACTLY what they were getting. Fingers crossed that the spars are good but if there ANY question I will be scrapping them and trying to save anything I can to build another set of wings. Again Thank You all for voicing your concerns. Communication breakdown is my biggest complaint of online communities.

 

With that said I like your ideas. One wing has a hole already cut in the bottom of the tip and there is a wood plug on the end of the forward spar that I can see and it's hysoled in. Wonder if I could drill a hole in the wood and plug my air hose into that. At this point I have no issues cutting fabric. The only reason I'm not going to strip them now is to try and preserve the ribs.

 

166NFlyer I like your idea but if I shove a tube down the spar it's going to just pack the junk in tighter at the end when it gets down there. I got the wings on sawhorses in the back yard tonight before it got dark after work. Hoping to work on them tomorrow for a while and get the fuse hosed out.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Rear spar. I don't remember this wood plug on my wing. The front spar is obscured by the foam in the tip for now.

[RDavidson 183]

Joey,

At Home Depot you can buy fiberglass rods that screw into each other and they are used for fishing wires down walls or through attics, you could tape a hook on the end and fish the materials out that way.

However, with that plug in there I think I would just use a waterhose with a good spray nozzle and angle the fuselage end low. Then you can try fishing stuff out if that doesn't get it all.

Sounds like a good parts plane...cool find!

Good luck,

Ron

[C5Engineer 1170]

Despite being sick as a dog this weekend I went out and dinked around with one wing for a bit today. I ended up inserting a long piece of 1/2" PVC pipe and blowing 80 psi up in there. Nothing came out so I said screw it and dropped the inboard edge of the wing onto the ground with the tip on a sawhorse, put on my good spray nozzle and gave it hell. No water got inside the wing with those caps.

 

The crap that was in there more closely resembled bird crap than mouse poo. Either way the one wing is definitely junk. Both spars are heavily corroded. Man I wish those guys would have thought to stick a rag in the end of those spars when they hung them on the wall. The other wing looks a lot better. I guess if the ribs are in good shape it could be rebuilt. Someday I'd like build another wing with some mods done to it.

 

Here is the plastic leading edge cuff that is one this one.

 

 

 

 

Couldn't get the camera to focus with the flashlight in there but you get the idea.

 

 

[akflyer 1427]

do you know anyone with a borecope in the area?  I know you said the pictures are fuzzy, but from what I see, I don't see any condemning evidence.  I see a drag line top and bottom that was probly put in there when the shoved the web spar stiffener in. 

 

[C5Engineer 1170]

In the pic the corrosion would be on the right side since the wings were hanging on the wall. I Will try and get some better pics.

[akflyer 1427]

I got ya.  The pics you texted me show it better.  Truly sucks.  You still got one hell of a score.  The paperwork alone is worth the money you paid for it.  Everything else is gravy. 

 

[C5Engineer 1170]

Boo!

[RDavidson 183]

Wow! Good thing you looked in there! That is crazy!