'Reminds me of a night in Greenland in 1978. I was Director of
Engineering
at Sondrestrom Air Base, now known as Kangerlussuaq. Early evening I was
in
my room reading and listening to classical music; phone rang; Base
Commander
asked me to go over to Officer's Club and talk to a NASA guy about a
problem
with one of their aircraft. They were there with a Cessna Citation and a
Boeing 707 doing high altitude atmospheric research with National Science
Foundation.
At the club, Base Commander introduced me to the NASA guy. Base Commander
knew that I had also been an aircraft and engine mechanic (maintenance
crew
chief) before I was commissioned and went to B-52's. NASA guy had just
discovered a problem with the braking (or steering - can't be sure which
now) system on forward landing gear of their Cessna Citation. A small,
U-shaped piece of stainless steel 3000 psi hydraulic line was cracked and
leaking. They needed to fly one more mission with the Cessna to be
finished
for the season. If they couldn't find or make a replacement for the part
locally, they were going to fly the 707 to Los Angeles and back over the
next coupla days to get a part. After the NASA guy described the problem,
I
told him that I may be able to help - I'd certainly try - I don't give up
very easily.
We jumped in my truck and went to the hanger to look at the leaking part.
It was a U-shaped piece of 1/4 inch stainless steel tubing with each leg
of
the U less than 2 inches long with a flare and a compression nut on each
end. I vaguely remembered that I had seen some 1/4 inch stainless steel
tubing in a hanger that was used by the NY Air National Guard for their
summer C-130 operations on the Greenland ice cap. We removed the
offending
part and took it with us to the National Guard hanger. In the hanger, I
could see a bundle of the appropriate stainless steel tubing several feet
away on the inside of a shop secured by an 8 feet tall chainlink fence
topped by strands of barbed wire. We drug a work table from across the
hanger up to the fence; I jumped up on the table and went over the fence
onto another table inside the fence, walked across the shop, got a piece
of
the tubing and stuck it thru the fence to the NASA guy. 'Back up on the
table inside the shop and back over the fence.
Still not sure we'd be able to make a proper part, I stopped by to ask my
Danish civilian contractor chief engineer if he may like to help. Years
before, he'd been chief engineer on Danish sea-going merchant vessels. He
was VERY enthusiastic as we rushed to our Base Civil Engineering ground
equipment shop, hoping to find the tools to help us make the appropriate
part. When we walked into the shop, we interrupted a card game of several
Danish civilian contractor workmen/mechanics. When they realized what we
were doing, they were all anxious to help and rushed to find three or four
plumbing flaring tools in this shop and the plumbing shop nearby. These
tools were for copper tubing, of course, but we forged ahead.
Soon, there were at least half a dozen well-experienced mechanics in
friendly competion to make, bend, flare, etc., the perfect replacement
part
for the Cessna. Special problems, of course, were: the 180 degree bend in
such a short piece of stainless tubing, short sides of the U leaving
little
room to form the flare on each end and have the compression nut in the
right
place on each side also. The replacement had to be exactly like the
original - couldn't be longer because of landing gear retraction
restrictions (space in the wheel well). After several tries, we had an
acceptable match visually. 'Rushed to the aircraft and installed it for a
PERFECT fit. The aircraft flew its mission the next day and flew home to
Los Angeles the next.
'Just a small part of my very enjoyable foreign relations experience and
an
excellent example of Danish mechanics' innovation and desire to excell.
'Much like our Jim Cathey.
Wilton
> I had a nice snap on that would do normal and double flares. They
> only have double flare dies for us sizes, not metric, but I was able
> to make double flares with practice.
>
> The last time i needed double flares, I used my cheap flare tool and
> just bought the 1/8" double flare die from snappy. it worked to make
> double flares for MB 110 brake lines. I have never seen a tool that
> makes 37degree JIC flares. The only place I have seen the JIC flare
> used is hydraulics, and you don't want to be doing that yourself. At
> least I don't want to be around if you do. For hydraulics, you buy
> the right fittings, especially when you get to 3000 PSI hydraulics.
>
> At 02:08 PM 11/11/2008, you wrote:
> >Can anyone recommend a good all-purpose tubing flare tool that will do
> >45 and 37 (AN) flares, as well as double and metric "bubble" flares I
> >know it will probably be costly but I'd rather have one good tool that
> >can do it all than a bunch of different cheap tools.
> >
> >Allan
> >--
> >1983 300D
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________
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>
> Loren Faeth
>
>
> _______________________________________
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