When owner produced parts save the day.

[bcg]

Keeping an antique flying requires some creativity and skill at times. There are a couple of brackets from the nose gear doors to the linkage to close them on my 1963 C. One of them looks to have been welded at some point in the past and my guess is the heat weakened it since it broke at one of the bends. This is the sort of part that is often unobtanium if you can't salvage it off another airplane. Instead of going on a nationwide hunt, I decided to take make a new one myself. Took a picture with a ruler, imported it into CAD, scaled it, traced it and sent it to the plasma table. A couple of bends and we're back in business.

 

I made the first one out of some 20ga I had laying around so I could test the fit and make any adjustments if needed, it was perfect so I'm going to cut one for each side out of 16ga and powder coat them. The other side is still good but, there's no harm in doing them both at the same time.

[hammdo]

When ya gotta, ya gotta!

Nice…

-Don

[EricJ]

Nicely done!   Looks good.

[PT20J]

Very nice.

[MikeOH]

Well done!

[Mark942]

Agree.  Well Done!

[N201MKTurbo]

Is it steel or aluminum?

 

[bcg]

Is it steel or aluminum?
 

Steel., same as the original. It's just been through the blast cabinet, so it's white metal.

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[Yetti]

Nice If you had one of those ink serial number machines.     I always say if it is as good or better than factory then How would they know.

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, Yetti said:

Nice If you had one of those ink serial number machines.     I always say if it is as good or better than factory then How would they know.

Just use a cheap rubber stamp, and don't align the letters & numbers very well.

[Yetti]

2 minutes ago, Hank said:

Just use a cheap rubber stamp, and don't align the letters & numbers very well.

LOL nailed it.    Don't want to be able to read them in a couple years

[bcg]

Nice If you had one of those ink serial number machines.     I always say if it is as good or better than factory then How would they know.

There no serial number or part number on the original part.

I figure if it meets the OPP guidelines and my IA is willing to sign it off, then I'm all good in the eyes of the FAA.

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[Pinecone]

Since that is a fabricated part, are you sure that Mooney cannot supply?

That said, I am a big fan of OPP.

[Fly Boomer]

19 hours ago, bcg said:

A couple of bends and we're back in business.

That's some beautiful fabrication.  Any idea why there are two holes where the linkage could attach?

[bcg]

That's some beautiful fabrication.  Any idea why there are two holes where the linkage could attach?

No idea. I asked David and JD, both of which worked at Mooney, and they don't know either.

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[MikeOH]

4 hours ago, bcg said:

No idea. I asked David and JD, both of which worked at Mooney, and they don't know either.

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Hmm, I would have thought the two holes would allow the part to perhaps be used in different applications/models.

[bcg]

Hmm, I would have thought the two holes would allow the part to perhaps be used in different applications/models.

That's as good a guess as any. I thought maybe for different linkage lengths or possibly some kind of strain relief for the metal?

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[A64Pilot]

12 hours ago, bcg said:

There no serial number or part number on the original part.

I figure if it meets the OPP guidelines and my IA is willing to sign it off, then I'm all good in the eyes of the FAA.

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You can certainly go that way and as an owner it’s likely best.

But to just further muddle the pond an A&P can fabricate simple parts like this, for example wing ribs and skins etc are done all of the time.

Then for example I’m allowed to have others work under my supervision, for example I believe the FAA would rather have me take a broken engine mount to a professional welder and Tig weld the repair under my supervision as opposed to me lighting the welding torch and gas welding it as I’ve not done that in a looong time.

So in my option it could be done either way, as an OPP or a fabbed part by an A&P or above, either way if properly documented you wont get any grief. Just looking at the part it’s likely if an FAA inspector sees it, you would be congratulated not admonished, another opinion.

Now I know it was purely in jest, but attempting to pass off a part as a factory part gets you into counterfeit / unapproved parts and that is a very big possible problem.

Just one part for personal use surely just a stern talking to, but Counterfeit / unapproved parts is as bad as printing your own money. 

 

Edited November 28, 2024 by A64Pilot

[bcg]

I got the final part powder coated this morning and we installed it. I went ahead and did the other side as well the original bracket was bent and showing some wear so I figured why not. I beefed it up a little and went with 16ga cold roll instead of the 18ga used in the original part. Ignore the greasy fingerprints, they got cleaned up. I think it turned out nicely.

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[bcg]

You can certainly go that way and as an owner it’s likely best.
But to just further muddle the pond an A&P can fabricate simple parts like this, for example wing ribs and skins etc are done all of the time.
Then for example I’m allowed to have others work under my supervision, for example I believe the FAA would rather have me take a broken engine mount to a professional welder and Tig weld the repair under my supervision as opposed to me lighting the welding torch and gas welding it as I’ve not done that in a looong time.
So in my option it could be done either way, as an OPP or a fabbed part by an A&P or above, either way if properly documented you wont get any grief. Just looking at the part it’s likely if an FAA inspector sees it, you would be congratulated not admonished, another opinion.
Now I know it was purely in jest, but attempting to pass off a part as a factory part gets you into counterfeit / unapproved parts and that is a very big possible problem.
Just one part for personal use surely just a stern talking to, but Counterfeit / unapproved parts is as bad as printing your own money. 
 

I wouldn't ever try to pass off something I made as an original part. I'm proud of my work and will brag about it to everyone that sees it.

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[jamesm]

Now you are going to have to powder coat the gear doors and linkage to make them  match . Looks great. !!! may it out last the original + 61 years.

[bcg]

Now you are going to have to powder coat the gear doors and linkage to make them  match . Looks great. !!! may it out last the original + 61 years.

I did do the nose gear since we had it out anyway to replace some wear parts. It had a bit of play in it from wear to the bolts.

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[jamesm]

looks great

[cliffy]

Was it just ordinary 1024 steel or could it have been aircraft 4130 steel? 

Just one of the many things to consider in making OPP parts.

I'm jealous of those who can do the CAD stuff. I'm stuck in the slide rule era! 

[bcg]

Was it just ordinary 1024 steel or could it have been aircraft 4130 steel? 
Just one of the many things to consider in making OPP parts.
I'm jealous of those who can do the CAD stuff. I'm stuck in the slide rule era! 

The way it bent and flexed, I doubt it was 4130, it definitely seemed more 1018. The replacement part is stiffer than what came off.

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