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Old 08-29-2017, 01:48 PM   #13
kirkdavis
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: SD County
Posts: 360
Flawed Part

Quote:
Originally Posted by ful-rac View Post
The mast was pretty hard, but like Shane said low speed, and also taking your time to get your drill centered as close as possible really helps. Starting with a small bit and stepping it up to a larger bit several times takes time so you have to be patient. At least it wasn't as bad as an exhaust stud...compared to one of those this one was a piece of cake...

...another thing that made this project challenging, is that the broken piece was recessed back into the sprocket about an 1" or 1 1/2...

Makes me wonder if Hobie were to score the mast an inch or so below the end of the sprocket to make a point where if the mast were to fail it would fail in a manner in which you could replace it without the use of special tools....Of course that would make a weak point...but that is the point...just a thought. It's alot cheaper replacing a mast as opposed to replacing complete spine assemblies...
If the threads start that deep in the sprocket, it should reduce the cyclic stress where it broke, so I agree that there was something wrong with the part from the factory.
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