After years of looking, I recently obtained a pair of the old Piper
Cherokee logos from the center of the old style bow tie yokes. They
are in fine condition and really jazz up the cockpit

I am unsure of what to use to mount them in the semicircular recess in
the yoke. I would not want to use an adhesive that will react in some
way with the "plastic" yoke and weaken them. There is already a
recurrent AD to check these yokes for cracks, so these pot metal
emblems will need to be removed from time to time for inspection.

Bruce McFadden Birmingham, AL
PA32-260

> I am unsure of what to use to mount them in the semicircular recess in
> the yoke. I would not want to use an adhesive that will react in some
> way with the "plastic" yoke and weaken them. There is already a
> recurrent AD to check these yokes for cracks, so these pot metal
> emblems will need to be removed from time to time for inspection.

I used RTV silicone to mount the emblems in our old Warrior. Easy to
use, strong as hell, "cushy" to provide a little "give" when pushed,
and removeable with an Exacto knife if need be.

It works great.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

UNAUTHORIZED MODIFICATION

UNAPPROVED SUBSTANCE

MY GOD THE AIRPLANE IS GOING TO FALL OUT OF THE SKY.

{;-)

Jim


"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>> I am unsure of what to use to mount them in the semicircular recess in
>> the yoke. I would not want to use an adhesive that will react in some
>> way with the "plastic" yoke and weaken them. There is already a
>> recurrent AD to check these yokes for cracks, so these pot metal
>> emblems will need to be removed from time to time for inspection.
>
> I used RTV silicone to mount the emblems in our old Warrior. Easy to
> use, strong as hell, "cushy" to provide a little "give" when pushed,
> and removeable with an Exacto knife if need be.

> UNAUTHORIZED MODIFICATION
>
> UNAPPROVED SUBSTANCE
>
> MY GOD THE AIRPLANE IS GOING TO FALL OUT OF THE SKY.
>
> {;-)

I know you're joking, but now I'm curious: What IS the approved
substance for holding Piper emblems on the yoke, if not RTV?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

When I replaced the bow ties to ram's horns, I also wanted something
nicer than the disco looking Piper plastic emblems. I ordered the
Warren-Gregoire leather wraps that velcro seal to the yokes. W-G also
offers (for no additional charge) leather wrapped center buttons. When
they arrived, they had 2 sided foam tape on them. However, I positioned
the buttons on the yokes and saw that they would not fit flush to the
yoke because the tape and the wrapped leather (even though it was thin
soft lambskin) would make them stick out some. Also, the buttons were
not cut too precisely and had a slight warp from the tension of the
leather. The base material was some bendable plastic/fiber material.

Well, picky one that I am, I HAD to improve on this. I had also ordered
a couple of square feet of extra leather to do just this sort of thing.
I found some rather stiff thick plastic around the house (the lid to a
cat litter bucket). Cutting those precisely was quite a challenge. The
curves are irregular and it is tough to cut stiff material precisely. I
wound up rough cutting them and doing the final on my shop belt sander.
I rough cut the leather patch about 1 inch oversize (this size was done
specifically at the request of the embroidery shop). After rough cutting
and before wrapping the emblems, I took the leather scraps to a local
embroidery shop and picked out the official aviation script font and
asked the to embroider "Piper" on the both scraps in a gray thread that
matches the seat/sidewall upholstery. Once done (for the grand total of
$22), I cut a new piece of thin foam (found in the storage box of my
Wahl hair clippers) to fit right to the edges of the buttons. I
carefully wrapped them using a hot glue gun. My goal was to minimize the
thick "bulk" on the back side and to have the "Piper" centered
perfectly. Once the hot glue hardens, you can use a new razor blade to
"shave off" the wrapped wrinkles. Centering was not as easy as I
thought. But, persistence paid off.

After the buttons were done, I then traced and cut out 2 pieces of 1/4
inch aviation plywood to just fit inside the yoke openings. My plan was
to hot glue a strip of aviation velcro (the fuzzy kind) around the
perimeter of the plywood and then hot glue the buttons to these plywood
pieces. Once done, the entire assemblies would be a snug press fit onto
the yoke which would leave the top buttons acting as a "stop" on the
yoke. The goals here were to precisely center the buttons on the backing
pieces before the hot glue solidified and to get the plywood pieces
shaped so that, once the velcro was added, the fit would be tight enough
to snug down the top button and close any gap created by the wrapped
leather.

I also wanted them to be loose enough to actually come out to do PTT
switch and wiring repairs. I did not want to pry them out by the top
buttons and risk tearing them off their backings, so I looked around for
another answer. I have an 8" screwdriver in the toolbox that I had bent
90 degrees for some reason or another. I found that I could insert it
into the PTT/wiring hole in the yoke and pop the assembly out from the
back without stressing anything.

The finished product looks like many GA jet yokes I have seen. Too bad
the GPS hides the one on the pilot's side. I have a picture if anyone is
interested. I think I remember taking a few pictures during the process,
but I have not stumbled on them lately (so it may have all happened in a
dream).

I actually did review all this with my mechanic and he did not feel it
warranted a log book entry. He did make an entry when we swapped the
yokes (as I would expect).

Have fun.
Mike

> Have fun.

Wow, Mike -- that's almost as crazy as when I spent a day hand cutting,
fitting, and stitching the gray leather on my throttle "t-shift", cuz
the original Piper black plastic looked cheesy next to my new leather
interior...

It sounds GREAT. You should post some pix...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

>
> Wow, Mike -- that's almost as crazy as when I spent a day hand cutting,
> fitting, and stitching the gray leather on my throttle "t-shift", cuz
> the original Piper black plastic looked cheesy next to my new leather
> interior...
>
> It sounds GREAT. You should post some pix...


NOW you did it. I just HAVE to do that too. Any pics or blow by blow on
how you did it? How about a pattern?????????

> > Wow, Mike -- that's almost as crazy as when I spent a day hand cutting,
> > fitting, and stitching the gray leather on my throttle "t-shift", cuz
> > the original Piper black plastic looked cheesy next to my new leather
> > interior...
> >
> > It sounds GREAT. You should post some pix...
>
> NOW you did it. I just HAVE to do that too. Any pics or blow by blow on
> how you did it? How about a pattern?????????

Well, here are some pix:

http://alexisparkinn.com/new_interior.htm

Hard to believe that was three years ago already. The interior --
including the T-shift leather cover -- still looks brand new!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"