Learning from an owner annual

wrote:
You know what? I've been through this one so many times, but it's been
a few years, and I just don't have the energy to fight this fight
again.

There is NO "torque-limiting" power screwdriver-type tool that has both
the ability to prevent over-tightening, and allow sufficient "torque"
to be applied to screws installed into aircraft nutplates.

I guess I should have been more clear. I didn't intend to use the
screwdriver to set the screws to the proper torque, I never trust those
kind of tools for that, just to get it in with out getting them too
tight. On any thing that is important, I always go back over it with a
hand driver to finish the job and get them tight. Also why would anyone
reuse a screw with messed up threads? Just get a new one already. The
nut plate is another story though, those are a bit of work to replace so
I guess it would depend on just how bad the threads were.

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

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CriticalMass wrote:
They get away with it, obviously, because they, like all the rest of
the
aviation "service" industry, are acutely aware that unless you source,
procure, and *PAY THROUGH YOUR *NOSE* FOR" all those items necessary for
"airworthiness", your airplane is GROUNDED. And, they *know* you don't
want to ground your airplane. It's a federally-sanctioned racket.

Could it not also be that there just isn't enough business for them to
justify keeping the same hours that the auto parts stores do?

--
Chris W
KE5GIX

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Kyle Boatright wrote:
Exactly right. If you look through the Aircraft Spruce catalog
you'll find
several different strengths of screws. Some are 30,000 lb/square inch, some
are 55,000/square inch, etc. In some applications (probably the Navion, as
pointed out above), it makes a difference which screw you use. If you go
down to the local hardware store and buy Torx fasteners, you'll probably
never know if the fastener you chose has the correct strength.

That's one of the reasons I get all my hardware for any project form
McMaster.com. They tell you what material is used and what the strength
is. BTW I just looked on their 18-8 stainless steel screws, it looks
like they are 70,000 or 80,000 psi. They don't seem to have any flat
head torx screws in stainless steel for some reason though.


--
Chris W
KE5GIX

Gift Giving Made Easy
Get the gifts you want &
give the gifts they want
One stop wish list for any gift,
from anywhere, for any occasion!
http://thewishzone.com

Its quite depressing to see my plane
in so many pieces. I've also discovered that its extreamly irritating
that the aircraft parts places are closed on weekends.

What I like is when you have everything in neat little tupperware cups
underneath the appropriate parts of the plane -- and then the shop
moves the plane. Or they pull an extension cord under your plane, and
lasso all the parts buckets. Or they get kicked over. THAT is my pet
peeve about doing an annual.


Get your mechanic to come to your hangar.

This worked really well for me, I had the plane all taken apart,
lubricated, etc., by the time Jim came over and did his IA thing.

No parts were lost, the plane wasn't pushed around, etc. Worked really well.

Of course, I'm having one hell of a time finding a Jim Equivalent Person
here in NC now, so I'm slowly starting to fret about this year's annual.

Say Jim, I send you an airline ticket...

-jav

BTIZ wrote:
What I like is when you have everything in neat little tupperware cups
underneath the appropriate parts of the plane -- and then the shop
moves the plane. Or they pull an extension cord under your plane, and
lasso all the parts buckets. Or they get kicked over. THAT is my pet
peeve about doing an annual.


That's why you have all those little cloth "tea" bags, with paper tags and
tie strings, to tie the screws/parts etc to the nearest screw hole, they are
not left lying on the floor in bins to tip over.


Yep. Available at Aircraft Spruce (they call them tobacco bags) for a
very reasonable price.

-jav

RST Engineering wrote:
Do you s'pose a website dedicated to names & contact info for IAs that will
do owner assisted annuals would be a good thing? Maybe with a little info
about the mech like price structure, do it in your own hangar, etc?

That'd be superrific!

How can I help get this online?

-jav

Get your mechanic to come to your hangar.

This worked really well for me, I had the plane all taken apart,
lubricated, etc., by the time Jim came over and did his IA thing.

Great idea, but for one little detail: It's colder than heck here in
March, when my annual is due!

Our hangar is unheated (unless you call our Jet-A powered torpedo
heater "heat". It scorches a 5 square foot area, and everything else
is still freezing!), and my extremities just don't handle the cold very
well anymore. Fine motor skills -- like those required for screwing in
a hundred little screws -- are the first thing to go...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jim Macklin" wrote in message
news:EZF9g.20244$ZW3.18025@dukeread04...
I've heard of owners replacing the standard fasteners with
nice shiny stainless steel screws. Trouble is you can get
dissimilar metal galvanic reactions and then you have to
drill them out.


I am aware of galvanic corrosion, which often corrodes aluminum when it is
in contact with steel, especially if in the presence of moisture and even
more especially moisture with salt. The use of stainless fasteners should
AFAIK greatly reduce corrosion of the fasteners but am unaware of any change
to the galvanic corrosion rates on the aluminum. Are you suggesting an
increase in galvanic action between a stainless fastener and a plain steel
nut? Please expand.

I would also appreciate comment on the use of thread lubricants like
'Nevr-Seize' which IMHO allow increased clamping force and also greatly
reduce thread seizing from corrosion.

So next year do the bulk of the annual on the 31st of March and screw in the
last nutplate on the 1st of April, when the signing takes place. Following
year 30th of April and the 1st of May. Now your annual is due in May. Or
June. Or July. Whatever fires your rocket.

Jim



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
oups.com...
Get your mechanic to come to your hangar.

This worked really well for me, I had the plane all taken apart,
lubricated, etc., by the time Jim came over and did his IA thing.

Great idea, but for one little detail: It's colder than heck here in
March, when my annual is due!

I don't mind setting it up and writing it, but I'd prefer it not be a subset
of the RST webpage (i.e. www.rstengineering.com/ownerannual or something
like that). How can we do this on the cheap, whether it be a standalone or
a subset of some other website?

Jim




"Javier" wrote in message
...
RST Engineering wrote:
Do you s'pose a website dedicated to names & contact info for IAs that
will do owner assisted annuals would be a good thing? Maybe with a
little info about the mech like price structure, do it in your own
hangar, etc?

That'd be superrific!

How can I help get this online?

-jav