OR Spaced Needle Build, Part 5, Coupling The Tubes Together - The Better Way!

The coupler is slid halfway into the tube. A pencil line is traced around the tube.

The coupler is removed. After sanding the coupler for a better fit in the tubes the outside surface is a bit rough. The lower half (below the pencil line) get a wipe of medium CA glue and smooth sanding.
The sanded CA glue makes a very smooth surface for an easier ejection.

Kevlar is fed through the holes and tied off. The loop at the bottom gives a tie-off point for the elastic shock cord or snap swivel.

The end of the loop was taped to the side of the coupler to tighten the knot on the top of the reinforcement piece.
A drop of glue was applied to each side of the knot.

Before gluing in the coupler assembly, some CA glue was wiped on with a Q-tip.

Left: This tube is shown upside down. The low end of the upper tube will have the coupler glued in. It got CA glue on just the edge of the tube. Inside the tube get wood glue.
I marked the inside of the tube with a "C" to keep track. This "C" end gets the coupler glued in halfway with the capped end facing up.

Right: The low end of the low tube (engine area) got more CA, this isn't a wood glue area.



The coupler is glued halfway into the upper tube with the loop down.

The lower tube is on the right. Both tubes have already had the seams filled and primer/filler applied and sanded smooth.