Wind Wings

SSsssteamer said:
Probably I should have said SAE fasteners rather than US fasteners. The reproduction import wind wing clamps that we get have metric fasteners that are tapped too shallow and are poorly fitted to the wind wing clamps. The wind wing clamps have to clamp parallel and tightly to the glass to work properly. Properly fitting fasteners are a must and that is why I now always replace them with proper fitting fasteners. Having SAE taps and dies handy, is why I replace the metric fasteners with SAE fasteners. Nothing much more to it than that. Using proper fitting fasteners makes a big improvement.
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Ii agree that the fasteners that come with the WW sets are crappy. That's nothing to do with them being metric, just made on the cheap. The soft metal used in the clamps won't hold a fine thread as well as a coarse one, then there is the fact that they are made sloppy in the first place. The coarser SAE (or Whitworth) thread is much better.
FWIW, the softer the metal, the coarser the thread that should be used. That's why the end of the head studs that go in the soft cast iron block are coarser than the thread in the harder nuts.
 
I have always had wind wing troubles. I've changed rubber, glued rubber, changed to s.a.e. screws and still had them to slide down and lost one. Someone on here years back said to mark your glass and then take them off of car and drill a hole in glass where you can drill a hole in clamp part way into it on each clamp but not always through. I hope I explained that right. It makes a dowel so to speak that want let the glass fall all the way out. It has worked for a long time but still have to tighten screws once in awhile but never have lost one yet.
 
There are perspex wings at the lower scale of cheap and nasty that you can drill.

Then laminate which also look cheap as you can see the plastic core that you can drill.

BUT you cannot drill tempered glass.
 
Gold Digger said:
..............drill a hole in glass where you can drill a hole in clamp part way into it on each clamp but not always through. I hope I explained that right. It makes a dowel so to speak that won't let the glass fall all the way out. It has worked for a long time but still have to tighten screws once in awhile but never have lost one yet.
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Beware. The wind wing glass that we have today is mandated by law to be made of tempered glass. Drilling a divot, notch, or a hole will usually make the tempered glass shatter into a pile of glass crystals. Roughing up the tempered glass in the right place with sand paper should be enough to get a good grip. I had a 1922 Stanley that I had some custom made beveled glass wind wings made for it. After they were finally tempered, my bill came to $600. If I could have bypassed the tempering, I could have got them done for about half that. I accidentally broke one of the custom wind wings. In the end, I hung model A Ford roadster wind wings on the Stanley steam car.
 
My glass is tempered and it didn't shatter. Maybe I was lucky. I put them in the sink and ran water on them as I drilled the holes with a dremel with a diamond dust bit.
 
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