You know you own an airplane when...

Those switches often use an industrial microswitch. They
quit because dust or water or soap or airplane polish gets into them
and fouls the contacts. Take the microswitch off, immerse it in laquer
thinner or brake & parts cleaner, work it a few times while wet, and
blow it out. Really good chance it will work just fine.

Wish I'd thought of that. I was a fairly new owner, back when that
switch failed on my old Warrior, and I simply went along with the
shop's recommendations.

I wonder what percentage of any corporate shop's income can be
attributed to new owners? I shudder to think of the money I left on
the table, back then -- largely unnecessarily.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
(Presently in Memphis, TN)
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Because if you had immersed that switch in lacquer (sic) thinner or brake
cleaner you would have been out the same money. Either of these solvents
will dissolve the plastic case of the switch quite nicely.

Jim


Take the microswitch off, immerse it in laquer
thinner or brake & parts cleaner, work it a few times while wet, and
blow it out. Really good chance it will work just fine.

Wish I'd thought of that. I was a fairly new owner, back when that
switch failed on my old Warrior, and I simply went along with the
shop's recommendations.

RST Engineering wrote:
Because if you had immersed that switch in lacquer (sic) thinner or brake
cleaner you would have been out the same money. Either of these solvents
will dissolve the plastic case of the switch quite nicely.

Jim


Take the microswitch off, immerse it in laquer

thinner or brake & parts cleaner, work it a few times while wet, and
blow it out. Really good chance it will work just fine.

Wish I'd thought of that. I was a fairly new owner, back when that
switch failed on my old Warrior, and I simply went along with the
shop's recommendations.



I used plain alcohol to clean mine about 4 years ago and it has worked
fine ever since. I put the switch in a small jar with the alcohol and
slosh it around some and repeated it a couple of more times.

--

Regards, Ross
C-172F 180HP
KSWI

On 2007-03-15, Jay Honeck wrote:
Wish I'd thought of that. I was a fairly new owner, back when that
switch failed on my old Warrior, and I simply went along with the
shop's recommendations.

When I was a new owner, one of the early problems we had was the flap
handle not staying put on the C140 - you'd stick the flaps down, and
then usually on short final, the ratchet would disengage and they would
completely retract (even with the rather pathetic flaps on the C140, it
was still disconcerting). Fortunately, the A&P we used wasn't interested
in making us pay for anything unnecessarily. Thinking we'd end up having
to get a new ratchet assembly, I went to him, and he gave me a can of
LPS-2 and said, "Give it a good soaking with this".

The flap handle worked perfectly ever afterwards.

--
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de

When I was a new owner, one of the early problems we had was the flap
handle not staying put on the C140 - you'd stick the flaps down, and
then usually on short final, the ratchet would disengage and they would
completely retract (even with the rather pathetic flaps on the C140, it
was still disconcerting). Fortunately, the A&P we used wasn't interested
in making us pay for anything unnecessarily. Thinking we'd end up having
to get a new ratchet assembly, I went to him, and he gave me a can of
LPS-2 and said, "Give it a good soaking with this".

The flap handle worked perfectly ever afterwards.

That's the way my A&P is now. When I bought my Warrior in '98,
however, I was dealing with a corporate shop. They would have
insisted on dismantling the entire aircraft to "inspect" the flap
mechanism, and THEN soaked it with LPS-2.

The bill would've been in the hundreds, at least.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Mar 15, 9:54 am, "RST Engineering" wrote:
Because if you had immersed that switch in lacquer (sic) thinner or brake
cleaner you would have been out the same money. Either of these solvents
will dissolve the plastic case of the switch quite nicely.

Jim

Not the old ones. They had phenolic (urea-formaldehyde) cases
that tolerated laquer thinner. I suppose the newer switches with cases
made of ABS or something similar might not appreciate it. Isopropyl or
the brake & parts cleaner would be OK. The Brake & parts cleaner is
pretty much the same stuff as no-flash contact cleaner. We haven't had
it attack any plastics.

Dan

wrote:
On Mar 15, 9:54 am, "RST Engineering" wrote:
Because if you had immersed that switch in lacquer (sic) thinner or
brake cleaner you would have been out the same money. Either of these
solvents will dissolve the plastic case of the switch quite nicely.

Not the old ones. They had phenolic (urea-formaldehyde) cases that
tolerated laquer thinner. I suppose the newer switches with cases made
of ABS or something similar might not appreciate it. Isopropyl or
the brake & parts cleaner would be OK.

Brake and parts cleaner (as bought at the auto parts store) can vary
somewhat. You can get chlorinated and non-chlorinated versions, and in
some areas, the recipe varies to meet local air quality regulations.
"CRC Brakleen" comes in at least three different versions: one that's
almost all tetrachloroethylene (PERC), one that's a mixture of toluene,
methanol, and acetone, and one that's mostly acetone with a little
toluene.

With no other information, I'd probably try isopropyl alcohol first,
then electrical contact cleaner. After that I would try to figure out
what the plastic is before using a stronger solvent, and/or use a
stronger solvent with the knowledge that it might eat the housing.

Matt Roberds

Disclaimer: This is based on experience with switches and controls in
fixed installations. I don't have an A&P; I don't even have a TG&Y.
ome of this may not be allowable owner maintenance. Your mileage may
vary.