Owner maintenance screw-ups

[Viperdoc]

As a follow on to Jay's previous post, has anyone attempted an "easy" or
"obvious" repair project, only to do something that really screwed up the
job and made it more expensive or time consuming to recover?

[Jack Allison]

Viperdoc wrote:
> As a follow on to Jay's previous post, has anyone attempted an "easy" or
> "obvious" repair project, only to do something that really screwed up the
> job and made it more expensive or time consuming to recover?
>
>
Well...not (yet) in aviation...but I'm sure my turn will come. If the
topic was expanded to home or auto repair, YES!!! :-)


--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-Instrument Airplane

"To become a Jedi knight, you must master a single force. To become
a private pilot you must strive to master four of them"
- Rod Machado

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

[Robert M. Gary]

On Oct 27, 8:25 am, "Viperdoc" > wrote:
> As a follow on to Jay's previous post, has anyone attempted an "easy" or
> "obvious" repair project, only to do something that really screwed up the
> job and made it more expensive or time consuming to recover?

Many times. That "something" was to take it to a mechanic. It always
takes longer and almost always more expensive.

-Robert

[Jay Honeck]

> As a follow on to Jay's previous post, has anyone attempted an "easy" or
> "obvious" repair project, only to do something that really screwed up the
> job and made it more expensive or time consuming to recover?

I am coining a new law, and -- since I've not seen it mentioned
anywhere -- I'm giving it my own moniker, "Honeck's Law".

Honeck's Law dictates that "Any work done under any aircraft panel
shall result in the need for further work to be done under the
panel." As this dictum is self-sustaining, the avionics industry has
a bright future.

In my particular recent case, the installation of the Pulsar and
reinstallation of my repaired EDM-700 meant moving wires out of the
way in order to drop down a bank of switches behind the panel. This
obviously disturbed things, as it always does (see Honeck's Law)
because now my right main fuel indicator is reading "Empty" all the
time.

I have never, ever, EVER had work done under the panel that did not
result in the need for further work....
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Montblack]

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
Honeck's Law dictates that "Any work done under any aircraft panel shall
result in the need for further [UNRELATED] work to be done under the panel."


Montblack

[Jay Honeck]

> Honeck's Law dictates that "Any work done under any aircraft panel shall
> result in the need for further [UNRELATED] work to be done under the panel."

A good caveat, although it's not necessarily unrelated.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[RST Engineering]

Weir's Corrolary to Honeck's Law:

"If you've got an airplane more than twenty years old, gut the wiring and
start from scratch."

In the case of a blueonblue182 that last saw the inside of a Wichita
aluminum tinkerhouse in 1958, the wiring was the original double-cotton
covered wire that cracked and split at the slightest touch. Fortunately (or
not, your call) the airplane was a total wreck salvaged (literally) from a
chicken ranch in the California central valley. It needed gutting anyway.

If you are going to do it, take a tip from Boeing. Get yourself several
DOZEN terminal strips

http://www.radioshack.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=274-670&origkw=274-670&sr=1

and a couple of large sheets (or a few small sheets) of relatively thin
(0.025 or so) aluminum. Mount the terminal strips on the aluminum and mount
the aluminum "conveniently" under the panel where each of the terminal
strips is accessible. NO wire goes from point A to point B without stopping
by one of the terminal strips.

Go down to Wichita to one of the surplus houses and buy a few rolls of #18
and #22 aircraft wire. If you can talk your aircraft fixer into it, get a
few rolls of MIL-W-16878 (#24, the small thin PVC colored stuff) and use it
for all half-an-amp or less wiring. You'd be surprised at the weight
savings PLUS the capability of color-coding the wire. Buy a roll of RG-174
to use on the shielded stuff and a few feet of heavy duty shielded for the
mag wiring.

Boxes and boxes of crimp terminals.

Wiring isn't so much an art than lots of planning and forethought followed
by months of dangling upside down in your machine. Excel (or even better,
Access) is your friend in the planning process.

Tip ... Sharpie indelible pens come in all the 8 colors of the RETMA color
code ... (black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and gray,
less white). The "aircraft wire" will almost universally be white. Gin
yourself up a logical color scheme (fuel is the 200 series, lights are the
300 series, and so on) and mark both ends of the same wire with the wire
number ... hint, a double black mark shows you which stripe is the first
digit ... and then a clear shrink-sleeve over the markings will number the
wire for the next fifty years or so. Use gray sparingly...on white wire it
is nearly invisible.

All this stuff is in a Kitplanes series that I started nearly 12 years ago
but were done before I started putting them up on my website. Perhaps an
update in next year's KP is in order.

Jim


--
"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right."
--Henry Ford



"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>> As a follow on to Jay's previous post, has anyone attempted an "easy" or
>> "obvious" repair project, only to do something that really screwed up the
>> job and made it more expensive or time consuming to recover?
>
> I am coining a new law, and -- since I've not seen it mentioned
> anywhere -- I'm giving it my own moniker, "Honeck's Law".
>
> Honeck's Law dictates that "Any work done under any aircraft panel
> shall result in the need for further work to be done under the
> panel."

[Jon Woellhaf]

I agree with Honeck's Law and believe it is a corrolary to Wright's Law,
which is: "Any work done on an aircraft shall result in the need for further
work to be done on the aircraft."

Jon

"Jay Honeck" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>> As a follow on to Jay's previous post, has anyone attempted an "easy" or
>> "obvious" repair project, only to do something that really screwed up the
>> job and made it more expensive or time consuming to recover?
>
> I am coining a new law, and -- since I've not seen it mentioned
> anywhere -- I'm giving it my own moniker, "Honeck's Law".
>
> Honeck's Law dictates that "Any work done under any aircraft panel
> shall result in the need for further work to be done under the
> panel." As this dictum is self-sustaining, the avionics industry has
> a bright future.
>
> In my particular recent case, the installation of the Pulsar and
> reinstallation of my repaired EDM-700 meant moving wires out of the
> way in order to drop down a bank of switches behind the panel. This
> obviously disturbed things, as it always does (see Honeck's Law)
> because now my right main fuel indicator is reading "Empty" all the
> time.
>
> I have never, ever, EVER had work done under the panel that did not
> result in the need for further work....
> --
> Jay Honeck
> Iowa City, IA
> Pathfinder N56993
> www.AlexisParkInn.com
> "Your Aviation Destination"
>

[Kloudy via AviationKB.com]

Viperdoc wrote:
>As a follow on to Jay's previous post, has anyone attempted an "easy" or
>"obvious" repair project, only to do something that really screwed up the
>job and made it more expensive or time consuming to recover?

Not in aviation but I was witness to a minor miracle as a youth.
We were both 'round 16 y/o. Just got our driver's licenses.

My buddy owned this 'ol Nova with three spd trans on the "tree". An otherwise
not-so-clever fellow, he commented how he thought the trans was acting up and
that on this fine Saturday morn, we were gonna go in, find out whats wrong
and fix it. I asked if he had ever done it before. He kinda cocked his head
and said, "Nope. Can't be too hard to figger out."
That was sheer madness AFA I was concerned b/c to me, ( another often no-so-
clever fellow but who knows better ) transmissions are a strange mix of
mechanics, random probability and voodoo.
He busted out his tool kit, jacked the front end, dropped the case, laid it
out on the bench and cracked it open.
For me, looking inside that thing was like looking into some angry, many-
toothed beast that would spitefully decide that it's soul had been violated
and no matter how expert or precise the hand touching it...it will never
drive again.

By the gods, my pal reached in there unclipping bearings, un-keying splines
and piling up little helical gears until he found one had a jaggedy, missing
tooth.
In about an hour, he secured a new one from a shop in downtown Detroit.
Believe it? A tiny, third-order helical gear off the shelf. Guess that was
livin' in the motor-city.

He busied me with helping re-order the gears on their shafts, clipping
bearings and giving everything a good lube before we locked the case.
Trans fluid kinda looked like old, venous blood. Like we were giving a
transfusion, we poured some into the thing and hooked up the rods that fit on
the side of the case.

I couldn't believe there were no bits left on the bench as he climbed into
the car and started up. All done in about 7 hours.

The thing ran flawlessly.

It was Unbelievable.
The kid went on to be a hugely successful plumber and plumbing contractor.

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/aviation/200710/1

[David Lesher]

Jay Honeck > writes:


>I have never, ever, EVER had work done under the panel that did not
>result in the need for further work....

Hence my dream to move as much as possible out of there.
Icom/Kenwood/etc make 2mtr ARS/VHF commercial radios with a detachable
~0.5" thick panel, and simple connecting cable.

I'd make it a fiber, and move the bigger boxes to under the rear seat
where cooling and access are both easy. Little box with mike/earphone
jacks going back there.

Then some instruments as well; LCD/glasspanel. That leaves lots of room
for the backup, deep ASI/AH/whatever.

Then I wake up and realize: these are the folks with external regulators
on their generators....and magneto ignitions.
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

[Dave[_5_]]

Hence my dream to move as much as possible out of there.
> Icom/Kenwood/etc make 2mtr ARS/VHF commercial radios with a detachable
> ~0.5" thick panel, and simple connecting cable.
>
> I'd make it a fiber, and move the bigger boxes to under the rear seat
> where cooling and access are both easy. Little box with mike/earphone
> jacks going back there.

Not exactly a new idea. Most WWII aircraft radios had a control box
and a remotely-mounted main chassis. My first airplane had a Narco
Omnigator "coffee grinder" with that arrangement. The remote part too
up a fair percentage of the baggage compartment. It sort of worked,
but you had to speed up the engine (and stand on the brakes) on the
ground so the generator would kick in and bring the voltage up to
where the transmitter would work. I don't miss it. BTW: it had vacuum
tubes and a vibrator power supply. Anyone remember those?

David Johnson

[David Lesher]

Dave > writes:

>> I'd make it a fiber, and move the bigger boxes to under the rear seat
>> where cooling and access are both easy. Little box with mike/earphone
>> jacks going back there.

>Not exactly a new idea.

Yep. Back Then, you needed a place for the dynamotor.

But while we don't need one any longer, and adding the fiber connection;
I think the cooling and accessability would offer real advantages. I'd
likely throw in a small Gel-Cell for backup power as well.

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433