Have you built any aviation related items?

[Artimas]

I was thinking it would be cool to DIY or build some aviation related items on those rainy days I can't fly. Have you built anything cool that's aviation related?

 

[Tarheelpilot]

Tow bars, power carts, chocks, tools, trailers, aircraft parts.

One day an airplane ....

 

[BigBadLou]

"Aviation related items" is a very very vague term, be careful.
You mean quilt a blanket with an aviation theme? Or build an O-320 in your garage?
Specificity is your friend, especially here on PoA.

I myself build aviation items for fun, such as toys that help me out in the cockpit etc. Finishing up an altitude reminder device right now which will help me keeping my altitude in check, especially during busy phases of flight, such as single-pilot approaches in IMC etc.

What do you build?

 

[SkyDog58]

You didn’t build that!

 

[Shepherd]

Model planes?

 

[tspear]

I helped pay for my flight instructors car. Does that count?

Tim

 

[Skid]

I built a Stratux

 

[mscard88]

Model planes?

That what I was gonna say.

 

[Eric Gleason]

I built a cooling fan into my RAM mount.

 

[steingar]

I wrote and published two books on paper airplanes.

 

[kyleb]

Does building an airplane count?

 

[SkyDog58]

Model planes?

That what I was gonna say.

Yeah but we know what you ended up doing with the glue.

 

[nrpetersen]

Designed and built the cowl and baffling system fire wall forward on my 1941 Piper J4A.

 

[JonH]

I would, but I never finish anyth

 

[MauleSkinner]

I built a battery pack that I could plug into the aux power output jack of my Maule to power the avionics bus in the event of an aircraft electrical failure.

Oops...did I type that out loud?

 

[kgruber]

Garmin 496 battery charger.............

 

[A1Topgun]

Stratux is best bang for your buck. I built a few. stratux.me on the web.

 

[asicer]

I took some scissors to an old t-shirt and made an oil rag. Does that count?

 

[cgrab]

I built a statux, a stand for spark plugs, a tool for the really large nuts on my wheels, I cut a 1 inch wrench for the oil filter and a 3/4 inch wrench for the spark plugs and welded them together to save space in my tool box. I'm getting my KX and MX 170's replaced and will have a hole in my panel. I'm making a glove box for the hole that will hold my statux and cell phone and the door will have a mount for a tablet. It will have a four way USB outlet.

 

[wanttaja]

I've built headsets, two new seats, re-upholstered one of them, various external camera mounts, a couple iterations of the instrument panel, etc.

Ron Wanttaja

 

[Pilawt]

I once made a desk lamp out of a Cessna 150G prop spinner ...

Model planes?

If you ever saw any of my model airplanes, you would tell me to just back away slowly from a Vans kit ...

 

[donjohnston]

An airplane

 

[Pilawt]

An airplane

That counts, I think.

 

[Jim Rosenow]

Put this sim together, starting with a bunch of computer components... The touchscreen GTN750/650 fly instrument approaches virtually the same as our 182. Great for currency.

 

[Wrench978]

I built this and donated it to my airport. live flight conditions.

 

[zaitcev]

I wrote and published two books on paper airplanes.

Did you see this
http://josephpalmer.com/planes/Airplane.shtml

 

[zaitcev]

I've built headsets, two new seats, re-upholstered one of them, various external camera mounts, a couple iterations of the instrument panel, etc.

Your most famous invention is the FlyBaby ejection seat, I think

 

[zaitcev]

I designed and printed a bezel for a light on my panel, under the authority of FAR 21.303 b(2).
https://github.com/zaitcev/models/blob/master/mooney_anun_1.stl
https://github.com/zaitcev/models/blob/master/mooney_anun_1.scad

 

[N3368K]

Two Stearmans worth of ribs. Stinson Junior ribs. Radio mounts, GPS mounts. ELT bracket. New tailwheel springs. Antenna mounts.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

I made a wall clock using a Williams FJ44-1A titanium fan blade.

 

[wanttaja]

Your most famous invention is the FlyBaby ejection seat, I think

That was one of the two seats I mentioned.

Construction detail: http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/eject.html

Actually, my knees are much better lately. Been contemplating putting the old seat back in.

Ron Wanttaja

 

[Sundancer]

I helped (assisted) building some armrests and a battery box for a 172. I think we did some baffling, too, but it was a long while back. . .

 

[Jay Honeck]

I've built two aviation themed hotels...

 

[woodchucker]

When I was in training I made an electronic flight planner in Excel, formatted similar to a XC paper planner, just to see if I could replicate the numbers FF kicked out.

 

[steingar]

Did you see this
http://josephpalmer.com/planes/Airplane.shtml

Mine are more better.

 

[flyingron]

I just finished building a house looking out over a 3000' grass runway. Does that count?

 

[tawood]

Stratux, portable engine pre-heater for my Cherokee, custom dash mount for my iPad (Velcro attached to stay legal).

Next projects: portable air conditioner for the back seat, and I'm going to turn an old kx-170 into a base station for the hangar (for just listening of course )

 

[FastEddieB]

Early Cirrus’s had issues with water intruding into the static ports.

I came up with Fast Eddie Static Port Water Incursion Prevention Devices.

Offered them for free on COPA and sent out nearly 100 over the years.

 

[FastEddieB]

Could not see spending a lot of money on a spark plug tray, so made one out of an old battery box.

Later sleeved down 8 slots for ROTAX use.

 

[Checkout_my_Six]

Yup....just finished this lil project.