Elevator or Elevator skin for a M20M Bravo

[jfdez]

I am on the hunt for an elevator or elevator top skin for my Bravo. Factory does not have any and told my A&P that their stamping machine is broken. Any Idea who might have one?

[jetdriven]

I am on the hunt for an elevator or elevator top skin for my Bravo. Factory does not have any and told my A&P that their stamping machine is broken. Any Idea who might have one?

get in line, rumor is those stampings will never be available again.

[AndyFromCB]

Byron,

So basically we are all screwed in the long run?

Andy

[John Pleisse]

Wait a second...that would be the same machine that would stamp elevators for all mid and long bodies? If so, well to do, responsible individuals need to make a play for what is left at the factory...form a consortium of some sort? Seriously, this is not good.

[thinwing]

so how much to fix the machine???KPC

[N601RX]

There are a couple on ebay that are advertised as no damage.

[John Pursell]

Here's the biggest fear I see in owning a Mooney. Lack of factory only parts.

John

[Hank]

KSMooniac bought a damaged J that he's about to part out. Look in the Parts forum. Aren't the tail feathers all the same except for counterweights?

[Saltaire]

I’m not as familiar with the Bravo as the 201/231 tails but I imagine they are the same. The skins are formed on a one sided tool (mold) using a hydroforming process.

For the industrious owner, you can replicate the tool from a good skin on your airplane (you don’t have to de-skin a good elevator, just take the whole assembly off the airplane). There are epoxy tool molding compounds that you can cast and produce a “master” of the skin. This master will need to be filled where the rivet indentations are and smoothed and extended beyond the skin edge. You’ll need the formed skin to be oversized.

You can now use the master to make a new mold (composite material would be the easiest). And if you now own the mold you also own the ability to make those skins. So, where to take the mold to get the skins made? Contact Cessna and see if they are willing to press out 100 or so skins.

This is the exact method we used when I worked at Mooney to produce inboard P-51 main landing gear door skins. We had a P-51 owner bring us a skin. We built the tool as described above. We then pressed 100 of them for him and he sold them to other P-51 owners.

It can be done without buying the whole Moony factory.

[KSMooniac]

I'd be interested in such a venture like Saltaire just outlined. I have a good empennage on my salvage J with some very, very faint/isolated hail damage. It is certainly not bad enough to prevent me from using it on my own plane if I had a need. The former owner of my plane owns a machine shop and does most of his business making aircraft parts, so he might be willing to stamp some skins if we can work up a tool. Or perhaps Mooney would be willing to send the tooling to him...

[jetdriven]

I think Mooney could stamp it, but the salt bath heat treater is bad, or something like that.

[carusoam]

I have made thermoforming tooling from existing parts in the same fashion as described here.

Unfortunately, I can't say anything about hydro forming sheet metals...

Best regards,

-a-