Brodhead Pietenpol Association

Original Posted By: "James Dallas"
Subject: Pietenpol-List: Fuel Gauge, Houston... we have a problemGroup:I hope you all are experiencing the same weather that Jim Markle and myself are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, and are outside flying.Rochester gauges of Dallas made a sample of the inverted center section fuel gauge for me and it looks, and will work, great! That was the good news. Thebad news is that they said it would not pass tooling, and it would not pass quality...I've said more than my share of curse words this week. At this point, they will not make them for me, stating, that they cannot mass produce thisitem and get the quality that they demand at the same time. I suggested that maybe they could sell them to me as a novelty or paper weight, to no avail.I showed it to Jim Markle and he also said it looks great. I have some pictures and even a clip I could send you, if you want to be as disgusted as weare. I truly think that in the event of an accident, this is an item that cankeep an airplane from burning up, a person from getting burned or in the extreme, save someone's life.I am now looking at the possibility of producing the gauge, as well as marketing it, myself, to the homebuilding community.I am sorry for getting everyone excited about this, I did not understand, when the computer says it can't be done, the production engineers agree. Sorry guys, I'll keep you posted. Max DavisArlington, TX.________________________________________________________________________________

Original Posted By: Andimaxd(at)aol.com
Max, I would love to see some pictures of it.Jim Dallas ----- Original Message -----

Original Posted By: Andimaxd(at)aol.com
Max, Did they know it was for an airplane? Maybe thats where they got cold feet. Something for a plane sends up red liability flags.walt evansNX140DL ----- Original Message -----

Original Posted By: rhartwig11(at)juno.com
Subject: Subject: Pietenpol-List: Fuel Gauge, Houston... we have a problem

Original Posted By: Andimaxd(at)aol.com
Andy,If you are going to make them elsewhere, consider having them done in BRASS ratherthan Aluminum as most would LOVE to shine them up BRIGHT ! Consider thatanybody with a modern Aluminum plane is going to go electronic gauge anyway, youhave a potential to capture the market for the more rustic aircraft with highwings or biplane wings with a tank or tanks in them.Also, it may be desireable if the card (the gizmo with the F and E letters on it)has a more antique looking font on it. If you would like to change it to lookmore '20s, let me know and I will see what I can do with people I know. Wewould need the flat layout of what you have to start with.Theoretically, if you changed the design just enough, you could have parts madefor different lengths and a top mount or a bottom mount. I have a gauge similarto this that I used in my Taylorcraft although it was part of the gas cap.The bottom line is that most people would want matching gauges. The parts couldalso be assembled by the builder to keep the cost and liability down.Make sure the float is compatible with ALL the fuels we use. Some might be usingregular oxygenated gasahol in whatever they are flying way out in the future.A soldered brass float is always compatible.BTW, ask Jim Markle about his sandblasting cabinet that he built from my plans!Chris ----- Original Message -----