Re: Broken Skytech pinion tooth (Q200)


Kevin Fortin <kfortin@...>
 

Jim,

I know about the motor mount mods that need to be done but haven't heard
about the "magbox" mods you mentioned. What's happening there?

Thanks for you time and I wish I had listened to you earlier (oops).

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want".



Kevin

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Patillo [mailto:logistics_engineering@...]
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 9:24 PM
To: Q-LIST@...
Subject: [Q-LIST] Re: Broken Skytech pinion tooth (Q200)




Kevin,

1. Thank Rich for all his help, send it back and try to get a refund.
Don't waste your time trying to make another Skytec work. I tried
that three times.
2. Buy a B&C, have Bruce Bainbridge upgrade the motor to a 320, no
charge(better for high compression)and install it.
3. Go fly!

The B&C starter has worked perfectly since the install. The
modification to the mag box was simple and the motor mount only
needed to have one corner cut off the pad. About 10 hours work, start
to stop.

As I've said before the B&C starter takes much less power to run it.
Hopefully I've put the starter issue behind me. You can do the same.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. I do understand!


Regards,
Jim P

--- In Q-LIST@..., "Kevin Fortin" <kfortin@p...> wrote:
Brad Olsen and guys,



First off, my apologies to Brad Olsen for not responding to an
offline email
he sent me regarding the following subject. My email was filtering
emails
without attachments and I didn't realize it.



I am responding to his email on list because I think it is of
interest to
many regarding Skytech starters.



Background: I ordered a Skytech starter on the basis of what
Skytech
told me and after discussing what seemed to be the problem with Jim
Patillo's starter aka. "electronic ignition induced kickback". Upon
receiving the new starter I installed it and it seemed to work
well, but had
more of a "grinding" sound in operation than I would have liked.
After a 10
MAXIMUM total starts, in a hurry to get the airplane to an avionics
shop
(onfield), I forgot to turn on the fuel, and, after a very short
taxi, the
obvious happened, I ran out of gas. Duh!!! I turned the gas valve
on,
waited about a minute, then tried starting again. The prop turned
for
somewhere between 6 to 10 seconds before the engine caught and I
taxied on
my merry way. A couple of days later, I picked the airplane up,
jumped in to
start it, and was met with what seemed to be the grinding sound of
gears
with missing teeth (the engine did start, however).



The following weekend I pulled the engine and the starter only to
find a
tooth missing from the Skytech starters drive pinion gear. That was
the bad
news. The good news, I was able to find the tooth. (I thank the Q
god's for
that one.)



On the following Monday, I called Skytech and explained the problem
and they
did all they could to help. I can't complain about their customer
service.



At this point, I have received a replacement starter (new) from
Skytech, but
as of yet, I have not installed it. All my mental alarms are going
off
related to something that can throw of a piece off big enough that
it could
gum up my engine (read off field landing and/or a damaged engine)
or at the
least break off a tooth on the crankshaft gear, which at the least,
is going
to be damn expensive.



Relevant info 1. As far as I know I did not have a
kickback.

2. I was starting on left mag only

3. I believe the real problem is Skytech's
control of the
centerline distance of the pinion/crankshaft gear set. In an effort
to
loosen the tolerances in the manufacture of the starter, Skytech
has allowed
the pinion to get too far away from the main gear on the
crankshaft. This
results in an incredible force trying to separate the gears. This
force than
further deflects the shaft that holds the pinion, which leads to
even higher
forces on the gears, then ultimately to a broken tooth.

4. I am going to try to get some measurements on
the
centerline distances this weekend and I will let you guys know what
I find.

5. Item 3 is only conjecture at this point.
Please take it
as so.

6. I have high compression pistons, but I don't
know the
ratio.

7. I usually don't write well and tonight is even
worse.





If anyone has a better starting system idea, let me know. I am not
feeling
to good with this right now.



Kevin Fortin

N275CH

Except for the starter, damn close to flyin'
















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