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tinnerman washer questions

D

dwranda

Well Known Member
I'm planning on vinyl wrapping my plane so I will be using tinnerman washers on the wing tip screws. I've never used tinnermans before so wondering if there's any special procedures like making the dimple larger or anything like that. I'm using number 6 screws so is it okay just to dimple for number 6? I don't have them in hand yet. Order from spruce is coming this week.
 
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I think the only way you will know is to dimple a hole #6 in a scrap piece of .025 aluminum and apply a piece of vinyl wrap to the dimple and see how the washer lays into the dimple?
 
I would wait until you get the washers. The depth would be dependant upon the depth of the chamfer on the washer and the thickness of the wrap.
The chamfer needs to fit the washer, not the screw.
 
Two kinds

Tinnermans are made for both no countersink and for countersink underlying holes. The former are used many times for upholstery. The latter for oversized fiberglass holes.

Also different manufacturers have different profiles. You really need to wait until u have them in. Hand.

GARY Specketer
 
I'm pretty sure that you don't need to oversize the dimple. I used a bunch of those on my fiberglass airplane, and they fit right into the standard countersink. Too late now for you, but Spruce carries them in zinc plated and stainless. You'll want the stainless ones, of course, but Spruce doesn't call them Tinnermans, they call them 100? CSK STAINLESS WASHERS .
 
snopercod said:
I'm pretty sure that you don't need to oversize the dimple. I used a bunch of those on my fiberglass airplane, and they fit right into the standard countersink. Too late now for you, but Spruce carries them in zinc plated and stainless. You'll want the stainless ones, of course, but Spruce doesn't call them Tinnermans, they call them 100? CSK STAINLESS WASHERS .
Click to expand...

+1 IIRC these CSK Stainless Washers would be a better choice in that the dimple is more distinctive and they might lay better into the vinyl covered CS hole?? And they look better than the Tinnermans
 
Vinyl wrap and washers

With the Zenith 750 I built I 100% wrapped the plane, it was a great decision. Easy to clean, light and looks great. I did have issues on the cowl with the tinnerman washers, they would rotate when removing the screws and eventually would pull the vinyl around the hole which caused swirling wrinkles. Applying a little contact cement to the washer helped a little, and using a heat gun to smooth out the wrinkles did help, but never solved the issue. It was minor, not many people noticed.
 
snopercod said:
I'm pretty sure that you don't need to oversize the dimple. I used a bunch of those on my fiberglass airplane, and they fit right into the standard countersink. Too late now for you, but Spruce carries them in zinc plated and stainless. You'll want the stainless ones, of course, but Spruce doesn't call them Tinnermans, they call them 100° CSK STAINLESS WASHERS .
Click to expand...

Shoot, wish I would have posted this before ordering. Didn't even notice them on the Spruce washer page. Looks like I'll be ordering those stainless ones!! Maybe I can return the others??
 
I dearly love Aircraft Spruce and have spent untold thousands of dollars there over the years. Their customer service is excellent. My only complaint is that their website sucks; It's next to impossible to find a lot of things that should be on the same search page - like the stainless vs zinc plated Tinnermans or tin plated vs zinc plated Nicopress sleeves. I ended up having to buy $250 worth of the tin plated sleeves from an aerospace supply house because ACS didn't sell them...or so I thought. Months later, I found that ACS did carry them, only their website listed them as "swages" rather than "sleeves" on their website. (I see that they've fixed that problem now.)
 
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