King Silver Crown lens

Has anyone found a reasonably priced source for lenses
for the King Silver Crown series of radios? In particular,
I'm looking for lenes for a KX 155 NavCom and a KNS 80
RNAV unit. Chieft Aircraft has these listed, but they are
way over the top cost wise, even for airplane parts.

KX 155 lens is $85.95 each and 2 are needed per radio
KNS 80 lens is $115.95

This is for a couple of pieces of clear & tinted plastic that are fused
or glued together. Seems very high to me, although maybe
I should be thankful that they are even available. Mine have
become very crazed and with very little probing, came apart
into two halves. It looks like the glue between the clear front
piece and the rear tinted piece just dryed out, leaving a crazed
residue.

Chief also lists a KX 155 face plate assy for $243.95, but
no details as to what this includes (bezel, both lens, knobs?).
Has anyone bought these?

I checked the Aircraft Engravers web site which has the
KX 155 lens listed as "in the works", for $40 each, but no
word back yet on if these are now available.

I have not checked with my local avionics company, which
I will do tomorrow.

Has anyone found a cheaper way to replace these, short of
buying a sheet of plactic from an industial supplier and making
them yourself?

A releated question; Anyone know how the knobs are held in place
on these radios? There are no set screws and they don't budge
with gentle prying as press fit knobs would. It looks like they might
be glued onto the shafts.

R. Hughes
Austin, TX

Ronnie D. Hughes wrote:

: A releated question; Anyone know how the knobs are held in place
: on these radios? There are no set screws and they don't budge
: with gentle prying as press fit knobs would. It looks like they might
: be glued onto the shafts.

R: The knobs are permanently attached to the shafts. The faceplate can be
(and must be) removed without disturbing the knobs. The holes in the
faceplate are large enough to allow the knobs to fit through.

--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)

Thanks,

I already had the faceplates off, but wanted to take the knobs
off also to clean them without getting any cleaning residue into
the radios. It appeared to me that they were permanently
attached to the shafts.

Concerning the lens, I stopped by a local industrial / commercial
plastics dealer and got them to cut clear blanks out of the proper
thickness stock for a grand total of $8.00. I still have to do a bit
of filing to trim the piece for the KNS 80, and a bit of drilling, notching
and filing to make the lenses for the KX 155. However, it looks quite
doable and will save a bunch of money. I'll post an update on how this
works out when I'm done.


"Aaron Coolidge" wrote in message
...
Ronnie D. Hughes wrote:

: A releated question; Anyone know how the knobs are held in place
: on these radios? There are no set screws and they don't budge
: with gentle prying as press fit knobs would. It looks like they might
: be glued onto the shafts.

R: The knobs are permanently attached to the shafts. The faceplate can be
(and must be) removed without disturbing the knobs. The holes in the
faceplate are large enough to allow the knobs to fit through.

--
Aaron Coolidge (N9376J)