Customer brought in a Beech A36 with a
recently new MT prop with a “chrome” spinner.
Composite (fiberglass) with a chrome like
plating on it.
And to my regret, I dropped the cone!
Scuffed near the tip and a crack in the plating.
So I fess up to the operator and said I
replace it...
Called the US distributor and talked to John
Neilsen.
He informs It will take until sometime in
January to order one from the mfg, because the Germans go on holiday from now
till then.. (good for them)
Though He can offer a replacement which he
has in stock in his warehouse for $1200.
BUT, he tells me what they do when
accidents happen... is send theirs to a place on the East Coast.
It seems the chrome process is actually an
aluminum vacuum coating process...
Mueller charges $250 to replate. I should
take the cone to a body shop and have them sand off the coating and respray a
perfect coat of primer.. so that all Mueller has to do is wipe down clean and
coat.
Hint is to provide Mueller a perfect
speciman. (Like any chrome shop needs)
Unfortunately, my customer is not willing
to give me ten days for turnaround time...
The MT rep says his own Beech has a
painted spinner! Because he knows the overhead associated with a polished
spinner.
Myself, I think the workmanship with the
original spinner is lacking. It appears someone probably placed circle masks
over the screwholes to block the plating there.
But the mask were lopsided. Also a few of
the screwholes has the coatings wrinkled around the hole. The coating is
corrupted by the wrinkles and my opinion its only a matter of time till it
flakes away more.
$1200 friggin US dollars for a substandard
part!
By the way, AAR
in OKC dynamic balanced the prop after installation... initial readings was
0.72 IPS!!! Way out!! They placed two stacks of washers on the bulkhead.
gee whiz. where is my bourbon?