NOA solar panel fittings - 1" into 25mm won't go

Could you clarify a little?

At a first reading it sounds as though perhaps you are trying to attach rail clamps with (hopefully slightly compressible) plastic inner inserts for a 25mm rail to a 1inch rail.

If so... then given 1inch is only 0.4mm bigger than 25mm... I'd expect it to probably work. Perhaps a silly question but are you sure it is 1inch rail and not 30mm?
 
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jamesjeffrey said:
Could you clarify a little?

At a first reading it sounds as though perhaps you are trying to attach rail clamps with (hopefully slightly compressible) plastic inner inserts for a 25mm rail to a 1inch rail.

If so... then given 1inch is only 0.4mm bigger than 25mm... I'd expect it to probably work. Perhaps a silly question but are you sure it is 1inch rail and not 30mm?
Click to expand...

Yes - that's what I am trying to do. Tube is only 1", not 30mm. I thought plastic insert would compress, too, but it's definitely not going to fit. One thought is to do away with insert and just build up a replacement with some rubber tape.
 
Your question has baffled me :)
. Are to try to push 25 mm into a 1" hole? If so this would just fall in as 25mm is smaller than 1". If you're try to push 25mm into a tube with 1"" Outside diameter you're going to struggle as the hole diameter would be smaller than the OD by twice the wall the thickness.
 
dgadee said:
Yes - that's what I am trying to do. Tube is only 1", not 30mm. I thought plastic insert would compress, too, but it's definitely not going to fit. One thought is to do away with insert and just build up a replacement with some rubber tape.
Click to expand...

The additional circumference of an accurate 1inch rail over that of an accurate 25mm rail should be 1.26mm - not much. How far out were the clamps? What stopped closing and locking? Did they not fit at all or could you not get the bolt to line up enough to get it through? Were the inserts intended for reduction for a smaller tube size? (Perhaps 20mm)?

Other than that you've had the only idea I can think of (though perhaps someone else will have another). Self amalgamating tape....

Good luck!
 
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dgadee said:
I have solar panel fittings from NOA (http://www.noa.se/en/battillbehor/battillbehor) but have just found out that the 25mm plastic inserts won't fit the 1" tubing on the pushpit. Anyone found any way to make these fit or another workaround? Spent an hour in the freezing cold trying to work out what was wrong ...
Click to expand...

dgadee said:
One thought is to do away with insert and just build up a replacement with some rubber tape.
Click to expand...

Not possible to thin the inserts to increase their internal diameter ?

I think the rubber ( self amalgamating) tape will be unsatisfactory in the longer term ..... based on my experience of using it in a similar situation .... but if you are prepared to renew it periodically perhaps it will be a solution, albeit a bit of a bodge
 
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I think I might have to thin the plastic inserts - as Vics suggests. The panel will only be held by two of these clamps, so really does need to be a tight fit,

Bit of a b****er, though, since they are advertised as fitting either 25mm or 1" tubing. But there's no way I can get them compressed sufficiently.

This is the item:View attachment 29726 which is basically two half sections of the insert and an outer aluminium clamping device.

ps: how do they sell these in the US if they only do metric inserts?
 
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If your tube is galvanised 1" then it is likely to be greater than 1" in reality. So 25mm will be even more difficult. It maybe has just enough clearance to fit 1" stainless.
 
dgadee said:
Spent an hour in the freezing cold trying to work out what was wrong ...
Click to expand...

It could be temperature related. How freezing cold was it? Some polymers /synthetic rubbers /plastics really do harden up in the cold.
Might be worth trying a bucket of hot water for the clamps and a hot air gun to warm the pulpit rail?
 
John the kiwi said:
It could be temperature related. How freezing cold was it? Some polymers /synthetic rubbers /plastics really do harden up in the cold.
Might be worth trying a bucket of hot water for the clamps and a hot air gun to warm the pulpit rail?
Click to expand...

Will give that a go - perhaps even put them in boiling water and fix to a test piece. Tubes are stainless not galvanized.
 
dgadee said:
I think I might have to thin the plastic inserts - as Vics suggests. The panel will only be held by two of these clamps, so really does need to be a tight fit,

Bit of a b****er, though, since they are advertised as fitting either 25mm or 1" tubing. But there's no way I can get them compressed sufficiently.

This is the item:View attachment 29726 which is basically two half sections of the insert and an outer aluminium clamping device.

ps: how do they sell these in the US if they only do metric inserts?
Click to expand...


I understand now and have thought of a simple solution. At the moment it is basically a bush cut into 2, if you cut it into 4 ie at 90 degrees to the original cut this should allow it to fit. You may find you don't have to cut it all the way, but deep enough to allow the width of the hacksaw to give the bush enough give.
 
dgadee said:
I think I might have to thin the plastic inserts - as Vics suggests. The panel will only be held by two of these clamps, so really does need to be a tight fit,

Bit of a b****er, though, since they are advertised as fitting either 25mm or 1" tubing. But there's no way I can get them compressed sufficiently.

This is the item:View attachment 29726 which is basically two half sections of the insert and an outer aluminium clamping device.

ps: how do they sell these in the US if they only do metric inserts?
Click to expand...

I suspect that they sell the clamps with two different sizes of insert, one for 25mm, another for 25.4mm.
It appears to me that you have a Trade Description situation on your hands and the seller has got to make good your problem by supplying the correct inserts.

Just get in touch with them and tell them they've boobed and you want THEM to sort it out ASAP.
 
charles_reed said:
I suspect that they sell the clamps with two different sizes of insert, one for 25mm, another for 25.4mm.
It appears to me that you have a Trade Description situation on your hands and the seller has got to make good your problem by supplying the correct inserts.

Just get in touch with them and tell them they've boobed and you want THEM to sort it out ASAP.
Click to expand...

Their catalogue doesn't list 25.4mm inserts, and not sure why not. It must mean the US market can't be open to them. I have emailed NOA directly, so will wait for a response before I take up the heat, then cutting options. There isn't much sun here at the moment anyway ...

Thanks for the advice, all.
 
Have you aligned the male and female guides on the inserts correctly? This can cause a
misfit.

I have installed the pole mounted NOA bi-axial version on my Ben. First 285.

I tried instalation on both the guard rail and stanchion sections of the pushpit, which has 25mm.
tubing, with no problem.

By mounting the main post horizontally using the stanchions, my panel folds vertically behind
the transom. This results in low windage storage.

I was never able to describe a swiss role without using my hands!
 
tokoloshe said:
I tried instalation on both the guard rail and stanchion sections of the pushpit, which has 25mm.
tubing, with no problem.
Click to expand...

The fittings are for 25mm tube, so I am not surprised you had no problem! My tube is 1". Or did you mistype?
 
Haha!
I've just gone through your exact problem. Getting the blasted Noa clamps onto the 1" rail for the solar panels.

You don't need to modify the clamps at all. What we did was buy slightly longer bolts than the ones on there, can't recall the exact length but I think it was the next size up from what's on there. We then used those to get the clamps on and compress the black insert bits. We tightened them up nice and tight and the inserts compressed round the rail. We left them like that for a week then took the longer bolts out and put the original ones back on. No problem.
 
colhel said:
Your question has baffled me :)
. Are to try to push 25 mm into a 1" hole? If so this would just fall in as 25mm is smaller than 1". If you're try to push 25mm into a tube with 1"" Outside diameter you're going to struggle as the hole diameter would be smaller than the OD by twice the wall the thickness.
Click to expand...

Agree, it's only 22mm ID
 
Cardo said:
Haha!
I've just gone through your exact problem. Getting the blasted Noa clamps onto the 1" rail for the solar panels.

You don't need to modify the clamps at all. What we did was buy slightly longer bolts than the ones on there, can't recall the exact length but I think it was the next size up from what's on there. We then used those to get the clamps on and compress the black insert bits. We tightened them up nice and tight and the inserts compressed round the rail. We left them like that for a week then took the longer bolts out and put the original ones back on. No problem.
Click to expand...

Brilliant! Thanks.
 
These are the 25mm ones I used to mount my aluminium-framed panels onto a 1" aft bimini frame:
clamp.png

They use plastic half-bushes and I had a struggle getting them to go over the tube far enough for the machine screw to get enough thread to pull on.
I resorted to using a pair of vice grips to compress the jaws and the clamps snapped into place. The screw could then be fitted no problem.
 
My emails to suppliers and NOA came back pretty quickly, though I still prefer Cardo's suggestion. However, fyi, they say:

UK Suppliers: 2 possible soloutions ... He puts the 25mm inserts on a milling machine and makes them smaller. He use a round file gently on these inserts and makes them smaller.

NOA, Sweden: It is only 0,4 mm different so use a bit of sand paper to sand the sleeve, then it will fit perfectly.
 
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