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Posted

Any suggestions for a replacement, maybe an elf? Mooney 201, serial #24-3114

LASAR shows no stock. ($185)  I emailed LPAero Plastics. 
 

IMG_0237.png

Posted

I went to the Home Depot and got a piece of polycarbonate and cut it out to match. Then I heated it with a heat gun and bent it over the side of a Home Depot bucket until the curvature matched. $5 of parts and about an hour of labor.

  • Like 4
Posted

Any suggestions on preventing cracking at the screw holes? Has anyone used rubber washers or grommets to reduce stress cracks? (I know: don’t tightened the screws so much.)

Posted
14 hours ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I went to the Home Depot and got a piece of polycarbonate and cut it out to match. Then I heated it with a heat gun and bent it over the side of a Home Depot bucket until the curvature matched. $5 of parts and about an hour of labor.

Please do this for the wingtip lens as well and show me how :D

$385 for those. Jesus.

Posted
1 hour ago, PeytonM said:

Any suggestions on preventing cracking at the screw holes? Has anyone used rubber washers or grommets to reduce stress cracks? (I know: don’t tightened the screws so much.)

The landing light lens is polycarbonate and doesn’t crack as easily as acrylic. The lens on the cowl doesn’t have screw holes. If you have the wing landing lights, just don’t overtighten the screws. 

Posted
5 hours ago, natdm said:

Please do this for the wingtip lens as well and show me how :D

$385 for those. Jesus.

For those we would need to build a plug to slump them over, a hot box to soften the plastic sheet and a vacuum box to suck them down. It can all be built with stuff from the Home Depot. 
 

You could 3D print the plug.

Posted
4 hours ago, PeytonM said:

Mine does. 

Maybe it’s not original. My 1978 J lens was retained by the metal trim which attached with screws, but there were no holes in the plastic except for the three drain holes. GLAP lists two cowl lenses depending on serial number, but the pictures for both show no holes. 

Anyone else have a cowl landing light lens with holes in the plastic?

Posted
9 minutes ago, PeytonM said:

Hmm. Its original. 1989 J. I guess I’ll have to drill the holes. 

I notice the LASAR picture shows holes and LASAR gets them from GLAP so maybe the difference between the two GLAP part numbers is holes or no holes and the GLAP photo is wrong. You could call GLAP or I believe Gallagher is now a GLAP distributer and he may know.

Posted
10 hours ago, PeytonM said:

Any suggestions on preventing cracking at the screw holes? Has anyone used rubber washers or grommets to reduce stress cracks? (I know: don’t tightened the screws so much.)

Sharp edges tend to propagate cracks so bevel all of the edges - holes and circumference.   Eventually it will crack as it ages but it will reduce the likelihood of cracks.  
 

I also made my own from Lexan (Polycarbonate).  I used my old one as the template.  It was a very easy job.  

Posted
On 6/28/2025 at 2:45 PM, N201MKTurbo said:

For those we would need to build a plug to slump them over, a hot box to soften the plastic sheet and a vacuum box to suck them down. It can all be built with stuff from the Home Depot. 
 

You could 3D print the plug.

I made a jig with a small 1/8” sheet of stainless steel I had laying around. I bent the steel around a pipe with a similar curve to what I needed, put the jig in my kitchen oven at 250f with a piece of polycarbonate on it waited 15 minutes it came out great. Trimmed it to shape drilled the holes and done. 

  • Like 3
Posted

@DonMuncy makes some landing light lenses.

He damaged his mold trying to make one for my 1986 252.  So I had to go with GLAP for the cowl mounted landing and taxi light (one lens).

It came drilled and fit perfectly.

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