Although perhaps overkill for the application, if you really, really,
REALLY don't want bolts to back out, the military and aircraft industry way
is to safety wire them.
Two posts, one mentioning racers keeping their nuts tight, and another
mentioning safety wiring, brought to mind that it IS possible, and fairly
easy, to homebrew drilled bolts for safety wiring. I drilled countless nuts
and bolts in my days of motorcycle racing. Use a hard, 1/16" or smaller
drill bit. A drill press makes it MUCH easier, although I drilled many
bolts with a hand drill. Be prepared to break a few bits despite taking
care. Easy on the pressure, as the bolts are case hardened. It gets easier
once you're past the case hardening, until you get to the other side where
it's case hardened again.
Having drilled the bolts (and here I'm thinking about the rotator mounting
bolts), you can daisy chain the safety wire through one bolt head to
another, all the way around the circle. Twist the two ends together when
they meet after going around the circle of bolt heads. Be sure to thread
the wire through the bolts in such a way as to maintain a tightening
(clockwise) torque on them. The wire will make a zigzag pattern, leaving
the left side of one bolt head and entering the right side of the next (or
vice versa, depending on how you look at it).
You can obtain safety wire at a flight shop or FBO, although for this
application picture hanger wire would probably be fine. Copper hookup wire
is too soft and will stretch and break.
Again, safety wiring is way overkill. Blue Loctite should do fine.
73,
Jeff N0DY
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