Help!!!

One of my outer wing panel alignment pins on my Pike Perfect has been jammed into the tip panel. The head of the pin is now flush with the surface and there is nothing to grab onto to pull it back out.

Any ideas on how to extract it back to its proper position?

I thought I might drill a small hole in the lower skin and try and lever it back out from the inside end. Thoughts?

Thanks, Wayne

Strong RE magnet

Thank goodness there are two pins per side if I remember correctly. Shoot a hole for or aft of the pin (whichever applies) and insert a good piece of music wire with a bend and try to get it caught enough to start it back the other way. Perfects are tough about this.

Marc

I did not have this challenge on my old Pike Perfect, yet, has worked on several other moldies I have had.
Dependent on the spars in the tip panel, the rear and/or front pin could be replaced with the same one.
Open your servo cover.
Push the pin all the way into the panel to dislodge it.
Work at Rocking and Rolling the panel around till the pin is near the servo hatch.
Remove with tweezers or small magnet on a stick.
If this does not work, then just got back to step two, then replace with new. SAE music wire, or if one is a "Perfect-ionist" then McMaster Carr for Metric SS rod.

Good luck and enjoy,

Jared

Never payed with this airframe myself but I would try either a magnet (those real powerful kind like guys use for canopies),or a strong thread,maybe kevlar and use a Tiny drop of CA, glue the thread to the end of the pin and pull it out.
Any adhesion difficulties can be helped with baking soda.
HTH
Jay

If you can find a place that magnetizes and demagnetizes tools, they may have a magnet which is REALLY strong.

An alternative idea is to cut a piece of thick plywood (3/4"????) that is somewhat larger than the rib, with a generous hole where the rod is. Use some kind of glue that you can later remove, and attach the plywood over the end of the wing panel with the hold lined up with the rod. Loosely support the wing panel with a towel or your left hand (assuming you are right handed). Smack the plywood with a rubber mallet, right where the hole is. This is just an idea, so I don't guarantee the results. Particularly if you get really enthusiastic about it. You might want to start with little taps.

If this was a carbon pin you could probably drill a hole in the end, glue in a small carbon rod, and pull on that.

Do it the easy way...get yourself a piece of pine or fir (like a 1x2 from a hardware store) about a foot long or so. A short hunk of regular 2x4 will work too, if you have that laying around. Don't use a hardwood like oak or mahogany. Lay it on a hard immobile surface like a kitchen counter and tape it on the ends so it can't move. Now, hold the tip panel vertically over it, root down, about 1-2" high and with the submerged pin about 1" away from the wood piece. You want the root surface to be more or less parallel to the wood in both axes. Drop the panel squarely onto the wood. You will need to repeat quite a few times, depending on how tight the pin is lodged. You'll get a feel for how high to hold it and such, but this really works. Done it several times.

Once you get it out, I would pull it all the way, rough it slightly, then reinsert and wick in some thin CA. Let it set several hours before reassembling.

Tom

Still suggest you attach something to the root so if your hit is not perfectly square, you don't break it. But perhaps you are a bit more accurate than I am!

That's why a soft wood like pine, and limiting the drop to an inch or two. Still, taping a thin piece of wood to the root as well is probably a good idea too.

Tom

Had the same problem with a Supra. Drilled a smallish hole (3/16") in the tip panel root about 3/8" from the pin, then took a piece of 1/8" music wire and bent an "L" into the end, about 1/2" long. Cut the music wire about 6" long, then put another "L bend into the open end to have something to grab. Now insert the smaller arm into the inside of the wing via the hole, and use the music wire tool to tap on the pin from the inside until it has retreated outside enough to get a hold of with a pair of pliers. Pull it out to its desired spot, then use thin CA to secure it. Go back to the hole in the wing center and gently chamfer it. I use an old case reamer from my reloading days.

JT

Wayne,

If the pin is the rear one push it all the way in and then retrieve it through the servo hole. Put is bad in with a dab of epoxy to hopefully keep it from moving in again.

If the pin is in the front the drill a hole just inside of the location and push it all the way in and retrieve throughout he hole. I have tried to push it our and the hole needed is really pretty large compared to the one to get it out.

Mark

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the advice and hints. Yes it is the front pin and it is in pretty tight.

a) I don't thinking tapping would dislodge it compared to the ill effects of the jarring on everything else.
b) Too tight also for magnets.
c) I would be concerned with gluing it in place if trying to glue a string on it to pull it out.
d) Considered making a hole in the shear web in the servo pocket to retrieve through but think that would introduce a stress riser. (Do you think that would be a problem it the hole was round???)

So far the ideas that seem to be the best are the ones of making a hole in the root rib to either pull through with a wire or to retrieve through depending on the size of the hole.

I think I will go that route and start with a small hole and a wire to push it out from the inside. If I can't get that to work then I will just enlarge the hole followed by pushing in and retrieving through the hole.

Thanks again for all the help,
Wayne

I don't believe making a hole in the shear web can do anything but harm.
Get help but do not put a hole in the shear web.
J

The tapping method really works, even for tightly fitted pins. You're not going to break a Perfect tip root if done correctly.

Tom

This may sound foolish, but why retrieve the pin at all?

I would push the pin into the wing and then stand the wing-tip on end. Using one of the flexible CA glue snouts, reach in and glue the derelict pin in place against the root rib, out of the way. Then just insert a new pin and thin CA it where it belongs.

Don't try to get the pin out of the wing-tip. If it won't come out the servo cover, leave it in there.

Murph