Have you created anything "home-made" for your plane? (or a low cost alternative?)

Hey guys, take a piece of cardboard big enough to cover the bottom of your
baggage compartment and make a stencil of the floor. Then design your
plywood pieces to cover the floor of the baggage compartment completely and
snuggly. If you want to get fancy, rabbit joint the edges so they lay on
top of each other. It'll make a great support platform for the baggage and
spread the load out over the entire floor area.

When we pulled the floor out of the rear baggage compartment of our Aztec,
we found two support stringers that were broken at the ends (where they
rivet to the side stringers). That piece of plywood is now a permanent
member of our W&B, in fact, I even upholstered it and it blends right in.

Jim

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
("john smith" wrote)
Do you use grass airstrips? Are you going to AirVenture?
Cut three 1-foot x 1-foot squares of marine plywood (not particle board)
of one-inch thickness. Stop just short of where you park the airplane.
Climb out, pull out the boards, place them ahead of each wheel. With
help, pull the airplanes wheels onto the plywood. When you are ready to
leave, pull the airplane off the plywood and stow them away for the next
use. This prevents yours wheels form sinking into the ground and
requiring high engine power to pull the airplane free from the ruts.
Montblanc may be selling them at the R.A.P gathering this summer at
AirVenture.


1-ft x 1-ft square was found to be somewhat ...ungood. I would recommend
at
least 1-ft x 18 inches.

I'll have to start saving scraps of plywood. For long term use, marine
plyw$$d is great! For one week at OSH ...we'll see what I find.

Cost? Free.


Montblack

I got this one off of the Cessna Pilot's Association forum. When I got
tired of cold air leaking in around the "juice cans" on my 172, instead
of the $800 Sporty's replacement vents, I applied $5 worth of the fuzzy
part of sticky backed velcro to the existing "juice cans." Makes great
weather stripping to keep my cockpit nice and warm.

I have a home-made tie down kit. It consists of three appropriately
sized ropes, professional sized tent pegs, a rubber hammer, and
carabeners. The carabeners came from a kayak store and the rest came
from Lowes. The carabeners are permanently tied to the bottoms of the
ropes. They clip on to tie down rings at an airport. If I'm at an
airport with short or tattered ropes, I loop the existing ropes near the
ground and clip my ropes to them with the carbeners. If there is
nothing at all at the airport to attach to, I park in the grass, thread
the rope through the tent pegs (the knot at the end with the carabener
stops the peg at the end), and hammer the pegs into the ground.

Most of my other pilots supplies for my plane, while not home-made, come
from Walmart. They have some $7 clip on LED lights which are awesome
for the cockpit. Not only are they a great back-up source of lighting,
but they are indispensable when you have the master off and are trying
to clean out the plane after a night flight.

My oil box, survival kit and contents (you could consider that
home-made), life jacket box, Marvel Mystery Oil, MMO funnel, and
cleaning supplies all come from WalMart as well.

Helen


Andy wrote:
As a new pilot and new owner of a cessna 172, I've noticed the
seeimingly unlimited amount of accessories available for my plane. Most
seem to have one thing in common - a high price tag.

I was wondering if anyone reading this thread would share information
on any devices that are perhaps homemade or are low cost alternatives
to items available in aviation catalogs.

I guess this would include anything from pilot -assist devices to low
cost alternatives to lighting, interior upholstery, and the like.

Thanks in advance for any input you may offer.

Andy.

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...
Use two different diameters, say a 2 1/2" and a 3", cut in half
lengthwise.
Use one of each per set, they'll stack inside each other that way. As far
as friction, the tire should put enough down pressure against the top of
the
arch so that the cut edges dig in sufficiently, if not, a smaller diameter
may work better.

I think he may be missing the part where you use only 1/2 of the pipe?
--
Jim in NC

"Jose" wrote in message
om...
If I were you, I would get a patent pending on that idea, right away.

Don't a lot of cellphone earbuds work that way?


The ones I have seen have a short boom, with the mic out on it.

It seems (from the conversations here) that this is not a new idea, or
application, though. I had never heard of it, before now.
--
Jim in NC

A prop lock.

Got one of those 'security cables' from Home Depot and a good Master lock.

It got stolen.....



Actually, a friend of mine thanked me for 'letting him' use it. He had to
drop his plane off at a nearby airport that requires prop locks on all
planes. He knew it was in my plane, and knew where the spare keys were.


"Andy" wrote in message
ups.com...
As a new pilot and new owner of a cessna 172, I've noticed the
seeimingly unlimited amount of accessories available for my plane. Most
seem to have one thing in common - a high price tag.

I was wondering if anyone reading this thread would share information
on any devices that are perhaps homemade or are low cost alternatives
to items available in aviation catalogs.

I guess this would include anything from pilot -assist devices to low
cost alternatives to lighting, interior upholstery, and the like.

Thanks in advance for any input you may offer.

Andy.

I made a couple of custom leather flight bags to fit the
available space in the airplanes I was flying. I also made
some pitot covers from leather, that were a wet molded fit,
that would not blow off.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.
some support
http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/secondamendment2.htm
See http://www.fija.org/ more about your rights and duties.


"Steve Foley" wrote in message
news:qts_f.6292$_T5.527@trndny08...
|A prop lock.
|
| Got one of those 'security cables' from Home Depot and a
good Master lock.
|
| It got stolen.....
|
|
|
| Actually, a friend of mine thanked me for 'letting him'
use it. He had to
| drop his plane off at a nearby airport that requires prop
locks on all
| planes. He knew it was in my plane, and knew where the
spare keys were.
|
|
| "Andy" wrote in message
|
ups.com...
| As a new pilot and new owner of a cessna 172, I've
noticed the
| seeimingly unlimited amount of accessories available for
my plane. Most
| seem to have one thing in common - a high price tag.
|
| I was wondering if anyone reading this thread would
share information
| on any devices that are perhaps homemade or are low cost
alternatives
| to items available in aviation catalogs.
|
| I guess this would include anything from pilot -assist
devices to low
| cost alternatives to lighting, interior upholstery, and
the like.
|
| Thanks in advance for any input you may offer.
|
| Andy.
|
|
|

Howdy!

In article . com,
Jay Honeck wrote:

3. Throttle Cover. This is one I've not seen in catalogs, so I made it
myself. The plastic "T-shift" throttle on our Pathfinder always struck
me as cheap and cheesy. When we had the interior re-done in light gray
leather, I fashioned a stitch-on leather cover for it. Looks and feels
great.

....did you stamp "Hurst" on it in gold letters?

yours,
Michael


--
Michael and MJ Houghton | Herveus d'Ormonde and Megan O'Donnelly
| White Wolf and the Phoenix narrowwares
Bowie, MD, USA | http://whitewolfandphoenix.com
Proud member of the SCA Internet Whitewash Squad

I am a musician, and have some custom-fitted isolation
headphones. They work very well, and made an audio
transformer that allows me to use those as my headphones.
Comfortable in-ear and nice sound.

However, I had then to find a microphone to use with them,
and that's harder to find (cheap). . .which I am. Ha!

Regarding in-the-ear microphone/ earphones....

Someone in the thread mentioned in-ear headphone/mics for cell phones
being simular. The cheap ones you get for free from your cell dealer
are just a cheap ear-bud and a omnidirectional mic inline with the cord
a few inches down from the earbud. They perform poorly on the ground
with a cell phone, I doubt they would be even worth trying in an
aircraft (think of the opposite of "noise cancelling" microphone....)

A better unit is the Jabra in-ear headset - it looked like a small
black, corded version of the earpiece that Lt. Uhra (sp?) used in the
original Star Trek. It didn't actually use bone-conduction for the
microphone, but had a tiny microphone opening in the black part that
stuck out, popinting towards the lower front of your face. There were
semi-form fitting "ear gels" that came with (Small, Medium and Large)
that you chose to match your ear size. They worked pretty well,
although you had to be careful so the mic hole pointed correctly. The
ear gel idea was ok, if you had "Small" "Medium" or "Large" ears. Those
of us that fell in between, compromised. I will say that once you got
the fit right, they worked well and sounded good, both tx and rx. They
also had a cheaper version with a stubby boom microphone. I just went
to the Jabra website (www.jabra.com) to see what the model number was
and see that the ones described above are nowhere to be found. Progress
(?) I guess. (I did find an example he
http://makeashorterlink.com/?R106620FC and
http://makeashorterlink.com/?W326430FC - looks like they are
clearancing them out, considering the prices....)

Randy

And you need 33 pieces for 11 tricycle gear airplanes.
Now what are you going to do???

Yes, but how many do the taildragers really need?
http://www.airminded.net/fokD8/fokD8.jpg

I use three. The small diameter tailwheel will really dig in. Depending
on the taildragger, you may not be able to lift or push the tail out of
the hole.