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Butterfingers

Davea320

Well Known Member
Anyone drop a screw, nut, washer or screw bit into this engine black hole, especially when working on the baffles? I’ve done it several times. Gotten all but one washer out after much gnashing of teeth and bad words. I have a magnetic probe but couldn’t find it so I fashioned this telescoping retrieval stick from my poor man’s borescope camera holder.
Fortunately was able to remove the screw bit before it slipped away from access/sight.
 

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Anyone drop a screw, nut, washer or screw bit into this engine black hole, especially when working on the baffles? I’ve done it several times. Gotten all but one washer out after much gnashing of teeth and bad words. I have a magnetic probe but couldn’t find it so I fashioned this telescoping retrieval stick from my poor man’s borescope camera holder.
Fortunately was able to remove the screw bit before it slipped away from access/sight.

Yep. Magnetic probe to the rescue (and a lesson to cover things like that, openings to the engine interior, etc., with towels or other items in the future :).
 
The compressor air hose up through the fins does a good job and just moving things around so you can see them and retrieve with the magnet.
 
It's a rite of passage...

Stuff a layer of old t-shirt under where you are working to catch the inevitable dropped parts.
 
Just wait till you drop a magneto cushion into the sump….
Phil
RV10, flying
Bountiful, UT
 
We were building up an IO-360. Stood on it's nose on the stand. I said to my Nephew - be careful with the nuts for the magn...... tinkle, tinkle tinkle :eek: All the way down into the motor.

Kettle on, cup of tea.

I said - we probably have 1 chance here, so we unbolted it and with a bit of heaving turned it over....... tinkle, tinkle, plop - it came out !

Bolted back on, shut up the shop and went to the pub for a celebratory beer :D
 
Mag bushings

I found the alignment ears (2) for an old style mag bushing in the oil suction screen on my 540. I had no idea what they were and took them to every engine builder at S-n-F to help identify. The one guy that identified them was Don George. I pulled the mags and he was right. No harm done.



Just wait till you drop a magneto cushion into the sump….
Phil
RV10, flying
Bountiful, UT
 
Non-Magnetic

Helping a buddy calibrate his fuel senders using a few 5 gallon plastic cans.
Whilst pouring using both hands, I also held onto the small end cap with a couple of fingers. Readjusting my grip, the cap pops lose, bounces once on the wing, and does a perfect entry into the partially filled fuel tank. Looking in using a (very tightly gripped) flashlight, we could barely see the cap as it had sunk and slid toward the fuselage. Small crowd soon assembled and fortunately, someone came thru with the biggest forceps I’ve ever seen. Used a modified pouring technique as we completed calibration.
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
 
Just wait till you drop a magneto cushion into the sump….
Phil
RV10, flying
Bountiful, UT

I dropped a nut into the mag hole when I was pulling them to install my pmags.

luckily I was able to get it out with a magnet-on-a-stick, but I was sweating pretty hard there for a minute!
 
I was removing the oil filter, and just cut the safety wire near the engine and left a "tail" on the little hole on the engine block, then removed the filter. Then cut the tail loose and...****. Where'd it go? Fortunately located it after a frantic search, on the hangar floor and thankfully NOT into the opening for the filter...

Lesson learned...remove ALL the pieces of safety wire *before* removing the filter! DOH!
 
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