Fractured Axel

Hi,

I noticed today that one of the rods on my Fazer has managed to go through its end cap and almost through the nose patch (must have been when I was strength-testing the turf!), can anyone recommend a patching material that I can use to fix the nose once I've replaced the end cap please? The nose on this kite seems to be made of some fabric-backed plastic coated material, looks a bit like duct tape, would something like this be appropriate, or will it rip too easily? Also does anyone know where I can get solid end caps rather than those rubbery ones?

Pics showing damage so far:




Thanks,

M.

I've used Gorilla tape before and it should do the job though it isn't very pretty. I found it sticks better if you warm up the cut lengths briefly before appling - I wafted it over a gas ring for a few seconds.

Are you sure it's gone through? That stuff HQ use is pretty strong - the outer black coating does tend to crack but the webbing is ususally ok.

Thanks for the advice. It hasn't gone all the way through yet, but it will probably only be a matter of time unless I do something, as the end cap is definitely some way along the leading edge so there is a sharp edge poking out. I'll give the tape a go, I only get the Fazer out when it's blowing too hard for my other kites and then it can be quite exhilarating, but I don't think a bit of tape is going to have too much impact on its flying characteristics and you can't see much when it's up at the end of the lines. Now I just have to persuade myself that it's worth un-glueing and re-glueing the c clips to put a new end cap on - I much prefer the flying to the fixing

wow I cant believe I am reading this !!! I have found that my new fazer has this exact same problem, packing it away sunday I noticed this and also noticed that the end cap was far up inside the nose and the spar was not as it had slipped out and was trying to push through the nose about 10mm down from the endcap just like in your picture...
And I have definately not been testing the strength of the turf

Not happy

Those soft rubber end caps are no match for the sharp edge of the carbon rod, hence my request for a source of hard plastic end caps. I suppose I could try emailing HQ, they sent me a new pair of standoffs (straight black ones instead of the original curved white ones) when they snapped first time out... Perhaps we got "Friday kites".

Martin
Send me a pm with a contact no
I'm in London Colney
You can pop over and - I have lots of spares and would be happy to have a look at it for you

Regards
Pete

MartinG wrote:

Those soft rubber end caps are no match for the sharp edge of the carbon rod, hence my request for a source of hard plastic end caps.

Soft rubber caps have worked for years with no real problems, I can only think that either the carbon is left very rough or there's an inherent problem with the nose manufacture!

Craig wrote:

MartinG wrote:

Those soft rubber end caps are no match for the sharp edge of the carbon rod, hence my request for a source of hard plastic end caps.

Soft rubber caps have worked for years with no real problems, I can only think that either the carbon is left very rough or there's an inherent problem with the nose manufacture!

completely agree but the problem I have is that the carbon had popped out of the end cap and pierced the nose..
How did it come out in the firstplace? The kite is as new and has never gone nose down or had any kind of bad crash....

Marc moss wrote:

completely agree but the problem I have is that the carbon had popped out of the end cap and pierced the nose..
How did it come out in the firstplace? The kite is as new and has never gone nose down or had any kind of bad crash....

I'm not familiar with that kite, but how much tension are the LE's under?

not enough i'd say
I checked mine again last night to find the other side had also popped out but no damage has been done

Pete and I had a look at it yesterday and the top end of the LE spar was very rough - it's impossible to say whether it was like that originally which caused it to punch through the end cap (which was hard plastic, not soft rubber, BTW) or whether it was the result of subsequent damage once the end cap was broken.

Anyway, we have sorted out a new cap and put the kite back together - the split is not in the very end of the nose pocket so if I can keep good tension on the LE it should keep the end of the spar wedged into the corner and be fine, a bit of tape over the split should prevent further damage. This fabric-backed-plastic material HQ use seems very prone to cracking anyway, Pete had very similar looking samples of his own... Perhaps they should have upped the spec for a kite which only really comes alive in a decent blow, but then it is built to a (relatively modest) price.

Many thanks to Pete for all his help, time and advice - hope to see you at Dunstable some time soon!

I don't know if it will stick properly to that nose material, but I have extended the life of chewed-up noses by dipping them in the "grip dip" stuff you use to add rubberized coatings to metal tool handles.

Though I have never tried it before, I imagine shoe repair adhesive would do a good job of sealing over such problems (similar to what sluggo is suggesting, perhaps harder wearing). If you do that, be frugal - at such extremities of the kite small weight changes will have large effects. But, like others have said, I think there is more of an underlying problem that would recur - the rubber end caps should be helpful.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shoe-Goo-Repair ... 303&sr=8-1