Hi Folks! Looking for some advice on a snapped threaded bolt in the bridle rig. not a lot of info out there it seems and can't find a replacement so far. The male threaded bolt appears to have been welded to the eye post the bridle rod goes through at the top of the kingpost. it snapped right under this eye post at the point where the nut would be snug to this top post. Seems to me this is a simple weld a new SS male bolt on tot he eye post scenario? Appreciate the advice.Â
Sounds like you're a hang glider pilot by using the term 'king post.'
Are you referring to the 'dolphin striker' that supports the mast's compression?
Pictures are worth a thousands words.
I believe I saw your post on FB... It's a threaded rod that you can reattach the top guide or build another one. I would personally build all new. There is a lot of load on that foil.ÂHi Folks! Looking for some advice on a snapped threaded bolt in the bridle rig. not a lot of info out there it seems and can't find a replacement so far. The male threaded bolt appears to have been welded to the eye post the bridle rod goes through at the top of the kingpost. it snapped right under this eye post at the point where the nut would be snug to this top post. Seems to me this is a simple weld a new SS male bolt on tot he eye post scenario? Appreciate the advice.Â
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I would disassemble the 'pelican striker' and it's rod stay (martingale), remove the nuts, shorten the smooth shank part of the threaded rod a bit for welding so that the nuts can be re-positioned at the correct compression (correct tension of the stay). Grind the mating parts of the rod into frustums for good weld penetration. TIG weld them together with the ER316L tig rod. Be sure to use plenty of Argon gas to keep the weld and HAZ (heat affected zone) from 'sugaring' (precipitating carbon). TIG welding SS is a walk in the park for any half-way decent TIG weldor.
The foil is in pure linear compression from the martingale stay. So is the snapped threaded bolt in pure compression. The bolt likely snapped because the SS wasn't getting any oxygen between the nuts to replenish it's naturally occurring oxide layers, and rusted, weakening the material enough to snap it.