Dome light for a 64C model ?

[ShuRugal]

Anyone got a lead on where I can get a rear dome light for my C model?  She came without it, and i'd kind of like to fill the hole.  Worst-case scenario, I can 3D print a housing and get an LED bulb that won't get hot enough to melt it, but I'd like the original part, if I can find it.

[Hank]

You have a dome light? My 1970 C never did . . . Other than the red canon heaters aimed at the panel.

Got a pitcher? I'm jealous!

[tigers2007]

My 64D came with a nice dome light. I’ll snap a photo next time I’m at the hangar.


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[ShuRugal]

31 minutes ago, Hank said:

You have a dome light? My 1970 C never did . . . Other than the red canon heaters aimed at the panel.

Got a pitcher? I'm jealous!

Well, I've got a hole and a wire.  Between the rear overhead air nozzles.  I'll grab a picture next time I'm at the airport.

[RLCarter]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

You have a dome light? My 1970 C never did . . . Other than the red canon heaters aimed at the panel.

Got a pitcher? I'm jealous!

My 65 E has a dome light also, it gets hotter than hell so its not used much at all

[MIm20c]

Mine does not have the light either. @ragedracer1977 Was nice enough to provide this picture to me last year. I’ve been casually looking for one ever since. 

[Hank]

Surely those eyeball ceiling vents weren't original to the 60s? My 1970 has the 5" flat round ones . . . .

[Andy95W]

My 64 has the exact same ones.

[ShuRugal]

11 hours ago, MIm20c said:

Mine does not have the light either. @ragedracer1977 Was nice enough to provide this picture to me last year. I’ve been casually looking for one ever since. 

Thank you for the picture.  If i end up needing to fab one up, this will help!

[ShuRugal]

Alright, got those pictures I promised:

 

1: Das Hole

 

2: The original trim plate:

 

Newly-minted trim plate, fresh off the 3D printer:

 

 

Brand-spanking new insert housing.  Need to clean off the support material, fix the BA15 sockets and the LED driver (still waiting on the components for the driver)

 

 

Still need to make a cover for it.

[MIm20c]

@ShuRugal Looks really nice.  Can you print off another one or can I buy your broken one?  I’m not really sure what I’m looking at in the last picture.  Does the trim piece mount on the top of that?

[Raptor05121]

A.) I can't believe Mooney was so cheap to cut a freaking dome light to save $$

B.) That 3D print model looks BADASS

[ShuRugal]

1 hour ago, MIm20c said:

@ShuRugal Looks really nice.  Can you print off another one or can I buy your broken one?  I’m not really sure what I’m looking at in the last picture.  Does the trim piece mount on the top of that?

The final image object is intended to be the receptacle.  Imagine a light-switch housing, like what goes inside your wall, but shaped specifically for that hole in the ceiling.  It needed re-printing, the layer adhesion was shit and it sort of crumbled apart.  I've taken a picture of it inserted into the trim plate, you can see the sides (which i intended to be squeeze-type lock tabs) have broken due to shit layer adhesion:

 

 

Once I get the model tuned decently, I will make it available for downloading.  I do not wish to run off copies for people, but I have no problem making the means to print your own available, so that it will qualify as "owner produced parts"

 

1 hour ago, Raptor05121 said:

A.) I can't believe Mooney was so cheap to cut a freaking dome light to save $$

B.) That 3D print model looks BADASS

 

thank you   I still need to tweak the print settings, but once i'm satisfied with it, I will be posting it Thingiverse.

[carusoam]

Really interesting use of 3D printing...

Thanks for sharing the details, Shu!

How much space do you design in so the pieces fit together without interference?

Are you familiar with interference fitting, beveled edges so they get tighter as you fit them together?

Did you plan on sanding or other method for fitting the parts together? From here they look great!

Best regards,

-a-

[ShuRugal]

8 minutes ago, carusoam said:

Really interesting use of 3D printing...

Thanks for sharing the details, Shu!

How much space do you design in so the pieces fit together without interference?

Are you familiar with interference fitting, beveled edges so they get tighter as you fit them together?

Did you plan on sanding or other method for fitting the parts together? From here they look great!

Best regards,

-a-

My printer is not precise enough for such things as beveled interference fit parts (just a little $100 cheapo kit printer i picked up last year to see how it suited me), but I am familiar with the technique.  I'm actually amazed that the fixture fit into the trim plate with no cutting needed:  Usually i end up with ODs a hair too big and IDs a hair too small on printed parts.  I just made these a one-to-one fit:  The polygon object i used to cut the center hole in the plate model became the fixture model.

 

As for additional finishing:  I may sand the plate.  It's very thinly printed, though.  Not much material I can take off it.

[carusoam]

For additional smoothing and finishing ideas.  There is a thread where people discussed the plastic fillers, sanding and paint ideas they use for ABS plastic parts for fixing Mooney interiors.  A solvent gluing excercise... they use a solvent, mix in some of the polymer, make a paste, smooth it on, let it dry, sand it smooth, paint it with the particular plastics paint...

Best regards,

-a-

 

[Dale Logsdon]

Plane plastics has the cover so you don't have to sand and finish it.

[ShuRugal]

Plane plastics has the cover so you don't have to sand and finish it.

Where's the fun in that?

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[ShuRugal]

Status update: got the fixture itself wired up: 2 BA15S sockets, one constant-current LED driver with one 0-20k pot driving the dimmer input.

 

test-fitted together:

 

 

Twist-N-Tape for now, once my bulbs arrive and i have stress-tested everything (run it on max output inside a small box with no air to breath, make sure it won't overheat and melt) I will clip the wires shorter, then do proper lineman splices, solder, and wrap them (as well as capping the socket bases)

 

got the lid printing now.  Pot will mount through the hole in the flat bit.  Doing a bit of an experiment: the "lenses" are going to be the same material as the rest, printed at .1mm thickness.  Not sure how well that will turn out, may end up punching them out and gluing in smoked lexan or something.

 

EDIT: also, close-up of the snap-tabs where the fixture will mount in its alumunium box:

 

 

[ShuRugal]

Got the cover printed.  Gonna have to get some translucent sheet to cut and fill the lenses.  My idea with thin printing failed hard.  Also, discovered that the USB regulator was NFG, so that's going back for a replacement.

 

 

[ShuRugal]

Finished product.  I ended up pouring epoxy in for the lenses.  Aerated the shit out of it so it would have a "frosted" effect, does a good job of scattering the light.

 

Link to album if images aren't loading here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/vNeY0Ik22SxdQu362

 

 

Running on Minimum power:

 

Full chooch:

 

Still full chooch, but lower exposure to show emission details:

 

 

 

[Hank]

If only my C had an overhead light besides the two red cannons aimed at the panel . . . .

[ShuRugal]

4 minutes ago, Hank said:

If only my C had an overhead light besides the two red cannons aimed at the panel . . . .

what's your rear vent situation look like? I've made this to fill a hole and crimped-off wire that's sitting between mine.

[Hank]

6 minutes ago, ShuRugal said:

what's your rear vent situation look like? I've made this to fill a hole and crimped-off wire that's sitting between mine.

Two of the enormous round twist-things. I'll try to remember to take a picture when I get home next weekend. Pretty sure there's no wire there, but my memory of taking down the ceiling is a little fuzzy, we were running new coax for the WAAS upgrade when I first bought the plane back in '07.

[ShuRugal]

1 minute ago, Hank said:

Two of the enormous round twist-things. I'll try to remember to take a picture when I get home next weekend. Pretty sure there's no wire there, but my memory of taking down the ceiling is a little fuzzy, we were running new coax for the WAAS upgrade when I first bought the plane back in '07.

Gotcha.  Maybe they deleted the rear dome when they went with the large circle vents.