Armstrong Foil is junk

[jatem]

Armstrong use a taper fit for the front wing, but not a true taper fit as the assembly bottoms from new so any wear will result in slop, rather than the taper moving further in and remaining tight.
The black paste you are seeing is worn carbon, coming from the movement of the worn front wing. It is actually quite an easy fix, and if caught quickly won’t further damage your fuselage.
You need to wax and apply release agent (PVA) to your fuselage and assembly hardware. You need to perfectly clean the inside of the worn wing. You then assembly with epoxy/araldite (not 5 minute), allow to cure for the full 24 hours or more. Disassemble, clean off any dags and your good to go. It’s a process called liquid shimming and used in many applications when a perfect fit is required.

I've done the same to a couple of my GoFoil wings. Alex Aguera, the ownder/designer of the GoFoils has a good video on youtube about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkU6xGuPOOM

That's a good trick. I'm going to be buying a new sup foil setup, and I was unimpressed with the loose fit on a used armstrong setup the other day. The design of a slide on mandrel with bolts from the underside seems like it's always going to wear, particularly if it's taken on and off every time it's used, and you'll end up with an annoying wobble. I guess it's fine if you always leave it assembled, but I don't. I'm leaning towards axis now. All this expensive foil gear seems prone to damage, wear and breakage. Some carbon repairs seem to be required as it goes out of warranty.

[stevez]

I had a gofoil setup for a while.
It was extremely tight when I got it, couldn't extract the wing from the fuselage without a mallet.
Six months later it was just not as tight, could easily remove wing by hand. The trend was clear
After that I decided there was only one type of connection I was interested in, and that's two flat surfaces bolted together. Nothing else makes sense to me in the long run.

[atomic-chomik]

from what ive seen and experienced it is nearly inpossible to have interchangeable precision machined (or molded) all carbon parts fit perfect. there will be or will soon enough be some wiggle and can be taken care of with a small amount of epoxy slurry.
The approach on "warning people" is a bit tasteless from where i come from- you had the owner online on an international public forumn address you and try to fix the issue. Sounds to me like you want revenge not a solution.

[bigwave]

from what ive seen and experienced it is nearly inpossible to have interchangeable precision machined (or molded) all carbon parts fit perfect. there will be or will soon enough be some wiggle and can be taken care of with a small amount of epoxy slurry.
The approach on "warning people" is a bit tasteless from where i come from- you had the owner online on an international public forumn address you and try to fix the issue. Sounds to me like you want revenge not a solution.

You have hit the nail on head. The OP is not looking for a solution which was clearly presented to him. When I posted earlier , He (OP) sent me an insulting private message. I realized then ,this thread is nothing to do about the quality of the Armstrong Foil.

I have been riding Armstrong Foils this season. I have about 150 Hrs on it. No issues , wiggles ,wobbles ,nada, nothing. In fact we have not had one issue from our Armstrong customers. I'm sure someone will have an issue and it will be dealt with, Professionally .
If I wanted to start a thread with the word JUNK screaming out at the reader, Armstrong would be no where near the top of the list for sure.

On a side note, I had a Go Foil years ago and received excellent support from Alex when the issue of my wings got a little loose. The quick fix(it will work if your Armstrong is loose) is simply using some HVAC tape(aluminum tape). Tightens it up right away.
Manufacturing tolerances will change with use on any product. This design type (Armstrong,Go Foil)is prone to that . I like the design and I will do the maintenance if required.

[patrelsa]

I was not dealt with in a professional manner,I was blown off immediately.Armies comment was wear and tear and they offered me 10% discount on new product.The so called warranty offer came later,I didnt not want to waste anymore of my time or money with armstrong.Obviuosly other people are having the same problem with armstrong.bigwave is affiliated with silent sports which sells armstrong so maybe this thread is hurting his sales.Its tasteless to warn people of problems with an expensive foil?Where im from its tasteless not to warm people!I could have tried to fix it with epoxy, microballoons,and colloidial silica.But why should I have, it was under warranty.They said wear and tear.

[grigorib]

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[patrelsa]

I ask any armstrong owner,IS THIS WEAR AND TEAR?and yes it did cause the fuselage to rock inside the mast ,even when the 6mm bolts were tight,and also as mr armstrong suggested. I did not do this damage on purpose to this foil.

[BreckVT]

Does anybody that has experience working with carbon products have a preventative solution for this? ... i.e. something we could coat these internal surfaces with where the carbon pieces are up against one another, something along the lines of like how polyurethane is used to seal/protect wood?

I have Armstrong products and love them, they're a brilliant design and the quality really does look/feel/perform in a league of its own, second to none, but if there is something to this in the long term then I'd certainly like to try and prevent it from happening in the first place. This issue does appear to be extremely rare, perhaps it could have something to do with the water chemistry in some local spots... something in the water that just doesn't jive so well with carbon fiber pieces that fit together and the water stays trapped within these carbon fittings for days on end before drying out?

[Dwight]

Manufacturing defect in my opinion. Wild guess, but looks like not enough mold release when the pulled core at the factory.

[atomic-chomik]

Manufacturing defect in my opinion. Wild guess, but looks like not enough mold release when the pulled core at the factory.

agreed