MikeOH

Hmm, if you are lucky enough to get a call back from the 'customer' perhaps they'd give authorization to Avon Gear so you could purchase. Of course, then Avon could have liability concerns.... tell 'em "it's an actuator for my house boat"

Ugh! That actually makes sense from a liability viewpoint, I'm afraid.

I get the COI issues, kind of, but I don't understand why they won't give you their customer's contact info?? Pretty frustrating, for sure!

Thanks! That makes sense for the wear I've seen in the SB photo (which are pretty poor quality); the worm was worn which I would not have expected had the worm wheel been bronze. What I've found is the design 'standard' is soft (bronze) for the worm wheel and case-hardened for the worm...so, just as you said, the wheel wears and the worm does not.

That's why I'm very curious to see what @Matthew P finds out about their material; the wear doesn't quite make sense. Maybe both are steel in our actuators? I've not had much success finding any standard gear sets. The small size combined with the reduction ratio is looking unusual (high loading). I bought my own moly and grease so that I can perform the next gear inspection with my A&Ps supervision (hope he hasn't read the Moss' interpretation). I want to measure rpms, verify the gear ratio (I've always ass-u-me-d it is 20:1), look at material (bronze should be pretty obvious), and measure cycle time ground vs. in air. Knowing accurate torque is what I'm after. And measure center-center distance; not sure exactly how to go about that accurately. This dimension is very critical and needs to be accurate within a couple of thousandths.

Well, damn! That was "entertaining" for sure People seemed north/south and left/right challenged; good thing nobody was stopped on the runway

That's the approach I'm working on; defining the key parameters and letting the vendor perform the detail design. Still educating myself on gear design (I was an EE), but things like material and hardness are pretty well pre-defined from what I am learning. For our application, speed/load, it looks like the worm wheels are typically NOT hardened and are either phosphor-bronze (CAC502), or aluminum-bronze (CAC702) while the worm screw is case-hardened (45-55 HRC) steel (several alloy choices). One of the key dimensions that I'm missing is the center-center distance between the two perpendicular gear axes. It is looking like these are a pretty highly loaded design, hence the need for the moly in the grease.

At this point, do you need certification paperwork, or just want to know the number? If the later, I'd just find a machine shop nearby and drop by and ask; the 'machine' is a pretty standard item in many shops:

Months later, in a courtroom, you have the luxury of analyzing every last detail to 'prove' the threat was nonexistent. Not so much at the moment the decision needed to be made.

Which is both why we learn go-arounds and get sued if we rear end the guy in front of us...even if 5 planes have to go-around or 100 cars are behind someone stopped. We're back to unprofessional and not knowing the AIM. Stopping because you perceive a threat is not foolish.

One word: WIFE

THAT is exactly my point! You need to make the best call YOU feel for safety at that moment...we seem to have a culture that discourages that by pointing out the Hell you'll go through if you're wrong! This poor guy stopped at a runway intersection because he was concerned for safety but was WRONG! He was excoriated by the controller, another pilot, and here!

I said, "That position taken to its logical conclusion is that it's only okay to ignore ATC instructions when you are 100% CERTAIN that a potentially dangerous situation will be avoided as analyzed AFTER the fact." To which you responded, as above. So, which is it, I'm confused?

Your argument is that it's okay to use your 'gut' to save yourself and potentially others by breaking a rule that you may or may not know, but only if you turn out to be right. Since you are okay with 'gut' as a valid reason but NOT okay with 'feelings', it would appear the only difference between 'gut' and 'feel' is that, AFTER the fact, it's whether you were right (gut) or wrong (feel) That position taken to its logical conclusion is that it's only okay to ignore ATC instructions when you are 100% CERTAIN that a potentially dangerous situation will be avoided as analyzed AFTER the fact. "Gut feelings" don't work that way. To suppress those 'gut feelings' when they arise out of fear of ATC repercussions breeds the opposite of a safety culture, IMHO. To be clear, I'm not advocating for wanton disregard for ATC!

@midlifeflyer A clever argument counselor, but the situation is NOT commutative! This is an analogous situation where the guy stopped for a GREEN light because he thought it was RED; that is objectively always safe (let's not stretch this hypo to say that will get him rear-ended)