What do YOU want for Xmas?

Jay Honeck wrote:
As usual, that's the question I'm hearing from relatives. Also as usual, I
have no friggin' clue what to tell them -- I need nothing.

Nothing except the following items?

1. XM weather for my Lowrance 2000c (According to Lowrance, this is
supposedly "in the works" and "to be ready to roll out at Sun N Fun '06")

Is this official? I have been holding up upgrading to the 2000c
awaiting XM weather capability. Appoach plates display will be another
nice item to have.

2. A new faceplate for my Narco CP-136M audio panel (yes, I'm STILL looking
for one...)

If the faceplate is plastic, you can repair it yourself. We
repaired all the interior cracks in our Cardinal with ABS plastic
(Royalite is ABS plastic) and cement then spray-painted with SEM vinyl
paint. The panels looked almost like new (one has to look real hard to
find the repaired area).

3. A DVD recorder that will let me quickly and easily transfer 15 years of
home movies onto DVD....

You must have flying movies to include this item in your
aviation-related wish list ;-)
The DVD recorder is easy to operate but extremely limited. I
transferred all old home movies and tapes to DVD using a video capture
card (for something like $20 with nice video editing software - just
got another card for another pc for free after rebate). The software
allows me to mix slide show with movies with editing, music addition
etc. or just straight converting avi, mpeg files to DVD file format.
For the last two years, I have been sending these DVDs as Christmas
presents showing both old and new movies and pictures which are greatly
enjoyed by recipients.

Can you add to the list? What do *you* want for Christmas?

Good health!


Hai Longworth

1. XM weather for my Lowrance 2000c (According to Lowrance, this is
supposedly "in the works" and "to be ready to roll out at Sun N Fun '06")

Is this official? I have been holding up upgrading to the 2000c
awaiting XM weather capability. Appoach plates display will be another
nice item to have.

It's "official scuttlebutt" off the Cherokee Pilots Association "Cherokee
Chat". Take that for what it's worth...

2. A new faceplate for my Narco CP-136M audio panel (yes, I'm STILL
looking
for one...)

If the faceplate is plastic, you can repair it yourself. We
repaired all the interior cracks in our Cardinal with ABS plastic

I've repaired it -- twice. When the temperature gets down to near zero, it
just cracks again...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote

I've repaired it -- twice. When the temperature gets down to near zero,
it
just cracks again...

You are having a problem with different coefficients of expansion.

I don't know exactly how the face mounts, so this suggestion may not be
exactly right. You need to fix it again, the enlarge the mounting holes and
not tighten them up so tight, so when the metal of the radio vs the plastic
gets cold, the can shrink how much they want to, without putting pressure on
the faceplate.
--
Jim in NC

You need to fix it again, the enlarge the mounting holes and
not tighten them up so tight, so when the metal of the radio vs the
plastic
gets cold, the can shrink how much they want to, without putting pressure
on
the faceplate.

Yeah, that's what I tried last time. Trouble is, the screws come through
from the *sides* of the audio panel, meaning that they are necessarily too
small for the job, and the plastic that they must go through is too thin.

Worse, one side (where the screws go through) of the faceplate is completely
gone, after breaking numerous times. I have replaced this entire missing
side by building up successive layers of JB Weld (a 2-part epoxy-like
product that is drillable, sandable, and just about indestructible) and then
carving/cutting it to the proper dimensions with a Dremel tool. It was
painstaking work.

It lasted six months or so, until it got cold. The push-buttons for the
audio panel are slightly smaller than the tip of your index finger, which
means when you push them in turbulence, you tend to jam the plastic
faceplate, too. This, of course, puts stress on those four little side
screws, which is what broke the thing in the first place. Add cold
weather, and *pink!* -- it breaks pretty easily.

It's a dumb design, and Narco (incredibly) wants $200 just for the
faceplate!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Have you thought of taking 'it' to a machine shop at your local high
school or tech school and paying the teacher or one of his best kids to
make you one(douplicate) in aluminum? Probably cost you $50.00.

The Monk

Have you thought of taking 'it' to a machine shop at your local high
school or tech school and paying the teacher or one of his best kids to
make you one(douplicate) in aluminum? Probably cost you $50.00.

Been down this road. It's got the marker beacons (itsy bitsy colored
lenses) in the faceplate. Pretty tough to machine those.

Somebody here offered to try and make me one, but I lost track of them... I
don't think it would be possible, sadly...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

The lenses in the face plates are no problem, ever seen how stained
glass is made? Machine the plate with holes for where the lights will
go and drip colored acrylic in the holes and buff them flush.

That was me who offered to make you a faceplate.

Still open. Just need to get your faceplate for dimensions.

John

Jay Honeck wrote:
If the faceplate is plastic, you can repair it yourself. We
repaired all the interior cracks in our Cardinal with ABS plastic

I've repaired it -- twice. When the temperature gets down to near zero, it
just cracks again...


Hmm, did you reinforce the cracked area with fiberglass fabric? It is
needed to provide structural strength.

Hai Longworth

Hmm, did you reinforce the cracked area with fiberglass fabric? It is
needed to provide structural strength.

No. We're talking about an area the size and thickness of two quarters, in
spots.

I might try laying in a few strands (if I ever try this again), just to see
if it helps. Maybe I'll try embedding a couple of reinforcing strands
taken from a piece of heavy duty packing tape...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"