Tach repair

[MMsuper21]

Greetings,

Does anyone have a shop that repairs mechanical tachs?

I am upgrading to the CGR 30c which will display RPM MP and such, however I would like to keep the old mechanical one as backup and don't want to spend 1k for a new one. 

My generator just went out and I would like to keep my mechanical gauges for just in case. 

I will fly the G2 with CGR 30c. The G2 already saved me a headache by showing red voltage 11.7 instead of the usual 14 in red. My old AMP gauge always hovers around 0 and barely moves the low voltage light did not come on either, I would have not noticed. Reset breaker, reset master cranked up RPM still nothing. 

Love the modern engine monitors accuracy and announciators but there is also something to be said about the 50 year old gauges just starting to fail. 

[RobertGary1]

Give Faeth  aircraft a call. They always repair mine. pretty inexpensive too 

 

Faeth Aircraft

5954 Bradshaw Rd
Sacramento, CA 95829
United States

+1 (916) 368-1832
faethaircraft.com

 

[Igor_U]

6 hours ago, MMsuper21 said:

Greetings,

Does anyone have a shop that repairs mechanical tachs?

I am upgrading to the CGR 30c which will display RPM MP and such, however I would like to keep the old mechanical one as backup and don't want to spend 1k for a new one. 

My generator just went out and I would like to keep my mechanical gauges for just in case. 

I will fly the G2 with CGR 30c. The G2 already saved me a headache by showing red voltage 11.7 instead of the usual 14 in red. My old AMP gauge always hovers around 0 and barely moves the low voltage light did not come on either, I would have not noticed. Reset breaker, reset master cranked up RPM still nothing. 

Love the modern engine monitors accuracy and announciators but there is also something to be said about the 50 year old gauges just starting to fail. 

OK, I'll bite:

Why? 

Your CGR30 should be accurate (with +/- 10 rpm resolution) and is getting signals from two magnetos (connected to L/R mag P-leads) while your mechanical tach will be off. The only information you'll have by keeping your mechanical tach is how much that is in off. 

I would use this opportunity to dump all the mechanical engine gages (cluster gage included), waterjet the new co-pilot panel, do the clean install and gain 5+ lb of useful load. Not to mention, not to warry of failure of tach, cable and other mechanical instruments you have...

[RobertGary1]

1 hour ago, Igor_U said:

OK, I'll bite:

Why? 

Your CGR30 should be accurate (with +/- 10 rpm resolution) and is getting signals from two magnetos (connected to L/R mag P-leads) while your mechanical tach will be off. The only information you'll have by keeping your mechanical tach is how much that is in off. 

I would use this opportunity to dump all the mechanical engine gages (cluster gage included), waterjet the new co-pilot panel, do the clean install and gain 5+ lb of useful load. Not to mention, not to warry of failure of tach, cable and other mechanical instruments you have...

I’ve had less trouble with mechanical gauges. 

[MMsuper21]

2 hours ago, Igor_U said:

OK, I'll bite:

Why? 

Your CGR30 should be accurate (with +/- 10 rpm resolution) and is getting signals from two magnetos (connected to L/R mag P-leads) while your mechanical tach will be off. The only information you'll have by keeping your mechanical tach is how much that is in off. 

I would use this opportunity to dump all the mechanical engine gages (cluster gage included), waterjet the new co-pilot panel, do the clean install and gain 5+ lb of useful load. Not to mention, not to warry of failure of tach, cable and other mechanical instruments you have...

 No doubt digital is more accurate and will be used to fly the numbers. But I have not seen a digital unit last 50 years especially in a plane. Gem 602 failed after 20 years, read about several screens from Garmin, Ei, jpi going blank and needing service. Also having Tomato Flames  backed up I should be less likely to be grounded. With the chip shortage going on you might be waiting several months  for replacements.  
 

If anyone cares I can explain the chip shortage. The chips used in cars at least are based on iPhone 1 technology and are produced in low cost countries. Automotive due to liability, proven technology and certification does not want to switch to the new microchip architecture. The US is perfectly capable to produce it but nobody wants to build an expensive factory to produce outdated tech that will be obsolete in the next decade. I am not certain what chips Garmin uses but EI and JPI use pretty old tech. 

Also I will continue to use the mechanical tach hours for maintenance and plane value. 

[Igor_U]

13 hours ago, MMsuper21 said:

 No doubt digital is more accurate and will be used to fly the numbers. But I have not seen a digital unit last 50 years especially in a plane. Gem 602 failed after 20 years, read about several screens from Garmin, Ei, jpi going blank and needing service. Also having Tomato Flames  backed up I should be less likely to be grounded. With the chip shortage going on you might be waiting several months  for replacements.  
 

If anyone cares I can explain the chip shortage. The chips used in cars at least are based on iPhone 1 technology and are produced in low cost countries. Automotive due to liability, proven technology and certification does not want to switch to the new microchip architecture. The US is perfectly capable to produce it but nobody wants to build an expensive factory to produce outdated tech that will be obsolete in the next decade. I am not certain what chips Garmin uses but EI and JPI use pretty old tech. 

Also I will continue to use the mechanical tach hours for maintenance and plane value. 

Yes,

it is well known that avionics manufactures as well as OEMs are using old tech chips in planes. Reason is of course certification especially if you think that both Airbus and Boeing are mainly recycling their old designs and try to minimize their certification efforts, training and cost. A lot of that came to general public attention after crashes of 737Max. but it digress....

 

 

 

[bob865]

I may be late to the conversation, but I have a digital tach that was removed when we upgraded to the CGR-30s.  Faster than a repair.   

 

[MMsuper21]

47 minutes ago, bob865 said:

I may be late to the conversation, but I have a digital tach that was removed when we upgraded to the CGR-30s.  Faster than a repair.   

 

Thanks for the offer, after much consideration and pricing I decided to stay old school until I redo my panel with something like the CGR combo. I need to learn and find someone to let me diy. Install costs are just too much for my vintage bird. 
 

Do you care to share some pictures of your CGR setup.

[Igor_U]

yes,

DIY way is the best if you can find IA to work with you. I've done my CGR30 install and with new ADS-B transponder, I cleaned up the copilot panel. It took a couple of weekends.

Attached is the picture

Regards,

 

[MMsuper21]

16 minutes ago, Igor_U said:

yes,

DIY way is the best if you can find IA to work with you. I've done my CGR30 install and with new ADS-B transponder, I cleaned up the copilot panel. It took a couple of weekends.

Attached is the picture

Regards,

 

Nice you did single CGR 30p and looks like fuel level below what is that?

[Igor_U]

6 minutes ago, MMsuper21 said:

Nice you did single CGR 30p and looks like fuel level below what is that?

yes,

Single CGR30P had no enough channels so I've added Aerospace Logic Fuel FL202 gage.

[bob865]

This is what we did.

[jaylw314]

The EI R-1 digital tach is primary and $550 at aircraftspruce.  I suspect that a repair cost is not going to be much less than that, and while it may not last 50 years, it's simple enough that there's much less to go wrong.  At the very least it'd be a quick way to get things back up and running

[MooneyMitch]

On 11/30/2021 at 9:51 AM, MMsuper21 said:

Greetings,

Does anyone have a shop that repairs mechanical tachs?

I am upgrading to the CGR 30c which will display RPM MP and such, however I would like to keep the old mechanical one as backup and don't want to spend 1k for a new one. 

My generator just went out and I would like to keep my mechanical gauges for just in case. 

I will fly the G2 with CGR 30c. The G2 already saved me a headache by showing red voltage 11.7 instead of the usual 14 in red. My old AMP gauge always hovers around 0 and barely moves the low voltage light did not come on either, I would have not noticed. Reset breaker, reset master cranked up RPM still nothing. 

Love the modern engine monitors accuracy and announciators but there is also something to be said about the 50 year old gauges just starting to fail. 

You wanna try this one?  

[MMsuper21]

12 minutes ago, MooneyMitch said:

You wanna try this one?  

PM’d how many hours are on it? Is that a 3?

[MooneyMitch]

9 minutes ago, MMsuper21 said:

PM’d how many hours are on it? Is that a 3?

I have no idea.