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

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.

crossposting-snipped

In rec.aviation.piloting, "Andy" wrote in message
ups.com...
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.

One of the side seat brackets on my aircraft failed right after takeoff and
the seat fell backwards... I was up around Ft Worth at the time and headed
for Houston... Figured that I would need to do one more landing no matter
what and I might as well do it back home where I can fix the problem...
Fabricated a new bracket once I got home...

Here's the right bracket that *didn't* break...
http://i1.tinypic.com/v62jdi.jpg

Here's the broken left bracket and the inital blank for the new bracket...
http://i1.tinypic.com/v62jpk.jpg

Here's my fabricated left bracket to replace the one that *did* break...
http://i1.tinypic.com/v62hr4.jpg

Tools required -- hammer, vise, drill, bit, file, electric jig saw with
bimetal blade...

When in doubt, get a bigger hammer...

Also had a problem with a lot of small cracks in the dorsal fin of my
aircraft... I reinforced the underside of the entire dorsal fin with
fiberglass and repaint it with Rustoleum enamel... Also had to fabricate a
replacement bracket for the dorsal fin and rivet it to the aircraft since
one of them was broken... Not sure exactly *what* was holding it on the
aircraft, but surprisingly, it would stay attached during flight...

http://i1.tinypic.com/v62l2h.jpg

Of course, not everything is easily fixable... Here's a photo of my gyro
after it's last flight... BTW, I have a broken rib and foot in that photo...

http://i1.tinypic.com/v62mww.jpg

Three LED (red, amber, green) over/under/just-right voltage indicator
which tells me if the alternator is on line. It takes up just 0.005
square inches of panel space.

A home-brew auto-muting stereo music switcher which added MP3/CD inputs
and stereo headphone jacks to my otherwise mono audio panel/mono
intercom. Auto mutes when there is activity on the aircraft radios or
intercom. Cost about $50 in parts, vs $1000 for the high end PS
engineering audio system.

A home-built airplane, since you can't install parts in the
panel that are not approved. Now if it is a cigarette
lighter plug-in you can do what you want since it is not
part of the airplane.



--
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.


"mikem" wrote in message
oups.com...
| Three LED (red, amber, green) over/under/just-right
voltage indicator
| which tells me if the alternator is on line. It takes up
just 0.005
| square inches of panel space.
|
| A home-brew auto-muting stereo music switcher which added
MP3/CD inputs
| and stereo headphone jacks to my otherwise mono audio
panel/mono
| intercom. Auto mutes when there is activity on the
aircraft radios or
| intercom. Cost about $50 in parts, vs $1000 for the high
end PS
| engineering audio system.
|

Of course, not everything is easily fixable... Here's a photo of my gyro
after it's last flight... BTW, I have a broken rib and foot in that photo...

http://i1.tinypic.com/v62mww.jpg

Wow -- that must've been a nice landing...not. What happened?

And, dang, you've lost a bunch of girth since that picture was taken!
Or is that the broken rib pushing your shirt out?

;-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination".

In rec.aviation.owning mikem wrote:
: Three LED (red, amber, green) over/under/just-right voltage indicator
: which tells me if the alternator is on line. It takes up just 0.005
: square inches of panel space.

I've been thinking of doing this, but haven't had time to design the circuit.
Do you have yours available to share?

: A home-brew auto-muting stereo music switcher which added MP3/CD inputs
: and stereo headphone jacks to my otherwise mono audio panel/mono
: intercom. Auto mutes when there is activity on the aircraft radios or
: intercom. Cost about $50 in parts, vs $1000 for the high end PS
: engineering audio system.

I've had non-muting (where I simply tapped a music jack into the audio panel),
partial-muting (10-20dB down), and full-muting iterations on my plane. My comment is
that partial muting is probably about the best option, but it's still not great. It
really discourages conversation among others in the plane that are listening. If you
say something, the music goes away, so most people don't say much. I usually fly long
distances solo, so I use the direct input to my headsets. It does full-muting, but I
get higher fidelity and stereo than running it through the intercom (PC-4 IIRC).

Doesn't seem like it should cost $50 for the parts on that.

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************

("Grumman-581" wrote)
Of course, not everything is easily fixable... Here's a photo of my gyro
after it's last flight... BTW, I have a broken rib and foot in that
photo...

http://i1.tinypic.com/v62mww.jpg

I see Chuck Yeager's broken ribs and raise him one broken foot.


Montblacking-out
"Hurry, take the #^$%^&* picture!"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ps.com...
Wow -- that must've been a nice landing...not. What happened?

Coming in for my last landing of the day, pitched the nose down, fuel went
of the fuel pickup line and engine quit... Should not have been a problem...
Pitched nose down at 60 degree angle, 60 mph descent, right before hitting,
pulled back on the stick, but it wouldn't flare... Hit the concrete /
asphalt of the runway doing the gyro version of a lawn dart... The W&B was
off on the gyro -- I had bought it from a guy south of Miami who was quite a
bit smaller than I and didn't do a "hang test" like I was *supposed* to...
It flew and landed well with the power on, but with the power off, it
wouldn't flare...

And, dang, you've lost a bunch of girth since that picture was taken!
Or is that the broken rib pushing your shirt out?

Nawh, the shirt if probably just a bit baggy and coming out and the wind is
filling it out... I suspect that I probably weighed a couple pounds less
back then... Here's what the gyro looked like a bit earlier that day...
http://i1.tinypic.com/v6m813.jpg

"Montblack" wrote in message
...
I see Chuck Yeager's broken ribs and raise him one broken foot.


Montblacking-out
"Hurry, take the #^$%^&* picture!"

Especially since I was having to hold the aircraft up at that time... The
mast would not stand upright on it's own after the crash... To make it even
more fun, I then had the privilege of loading the pieces on my utility
trailer for the trip home -- broken rib and all... Went to the doctor the
next day to check things out and found out that they don't do anything for
broken ribs, just tell you you're an idiot and don't do it again... The bone
that broke in the foot didn't require a cast either, so I just hobbled
around for a couple of weeks... On a positive note, Grace said that I should
switch from rotary wing aircraft to fixed wing and soon thereafter, I bought
my Grumman...

Sorry if I have not read every previous post, I used the
"catch up" command and purge old posts regularly, so I would
suggest that such posts about making and installing
equipment should indicate that they are making parts for
their home-built or experimental airplane. Some people may
not understand and might make and install non-certified
parts on their production airplane. It isn't an argument,
it is a caution.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P
also an EAA life member
--
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.


"RST Engineering" wrote in message
.. .
| Come on, Jim. We've had this argument/discussion about
"can't install
| parts..." subject in these newsgroups before, and I
thought we agreed to
| disagree but to let it drop. You wanna start the
argument/discussion again?
|
| Jim
|
|
|
| "Jim Macklin" wrote
in message
| news:ycN_f.1347$8q.564@dukeread08...
|
| A home-built airplane, since you can't install parts in
the
| panel that are not approved. Now if it is a cigarette
| lighter plug-in you can do what you want since it is not
| part of the airplane.
|
|