Welding fairlead holders

[Shay King]

Hi again guys, I’m about to weld on those 12 fairlead holders and I’m not really looking forward to it. I’ve been experimenting on scrap pieces to try to find an easy way of attaching them. Using the plans method of tube to tube I’m having to put in a lot of heat to fill the gaps. The inside of the thinner tube gets a bit blobby.
I had some box steel spare and I’ve split some 1/2” pieces of it to make mounts for the fairlead rings. The welding is easier. Photos below.

[Dan_]

There is a welding trick that works for these short pieces of tubing for failrleads or hinges.  One can take a stack of washers with a nut stacked between each fender washer. Thread the stack onto a bolt and turn this down on a lathe until it barley slides inside the fairlead or bearing tube.  Now weld it and the washers are a good heat sink to keep the blobs and crust away.  There was an article on this is Sport Aviation years ago...

[Shay King]

Thanks Dan, I’ll have a look for that article. It’s the thinner fuselage tubing I’m trying not to overheat.

[Dan_]

Attached...  See figures 3 and 4.

[Shay King]

Thanks Dan, that's a good article.