Scott or Rochester fuel gauge glass

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Anyone figure out if it is possible to remove and replace the glass from a Scott or Rochester Fuel gauge. I've got one with broken glass and need to use it to replace another that has cracked casting that just started to leak.

If it can be done, how?

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Answered my own question. Took the gauge with the broken glass and carefully broke out the pieces. Doing so let me see inside to find the ring that surrounds the glass in just press fit in to the outer casting.

I made a pry bar out of a small screw driver and very carefully priedit out from the inside so the ring wouldn't get damaged. I used a little heat on the casting which may or may not have helped.

Now all I need is a new piece of 1/8th glass 1-15/16ths round. If I'm lucky the hardware store will have something already cut maybe for a flash light other wise I'll get to be an expert cutting round glass.

[blueldr]

Bruce,

Clear plastic is a lot easier to find in the proper thickness and a whole lot easier to cut round.

[GAHorn]

Most instrument shops can provide you with a replacement lens, and they are not expensive.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

BL I was thinking I might use plexiglass.

George your right about the instrument shops except the two hour round trip flight to the closest at Lockhaven puts the cost at about $62 for just he gas.

This leak is funny in that it only drips in flight. Not sitting static. In fact it's been leaking (I've smelled it) for maybe 3 months. I have no headliner and I happened to see the drop. When I've smelled it before I would inspect the vent lines because I can see them with no headliner and never saw anything. Just attributed the smell to a pesky fuel sump valve which also needs attention.

To be honest I'm not really convinced the gauge is leaking. Anyone think it's possible for the vent line tube at the wing fuselage joint could leak and blow back onto the gauge where I saw the drip? It just can't be it's got to be the gauge.

[GAHorn]

Unless I'm having a sen~or moment (that's an old Mexico term) ....
the dial is a magnetic-movement and sealed from the movement. A broken lens would not allow fuel into the cabin anyway. Es correcto, No?

(I'd call the instrument shop and have them mail the lens to you.)

[pojawis]

Bruce:

Give me the diameter and I'll make you one. Have the tools, technology, and the supplies for same. Provide your address and I'll ship it. When do you want it?

Later == MGP

[BFranke]

Bruce,

If you are ordering lenses put me down for one too. I have one fuel gauge that is cracked.

Let me know if you need my address
{Inside joke, our planes are parked just a few hundred feet apart}

-Buck-

[GAHorn]

Make certain you specify the material, specifications, etc., so it meets the rule on "owner produced parts". Don't want anyone in trouble for making parts that aren't PMA'd.

(And technically, someone else can't just order one "for me too". A seperate letter/request/description for quality-control must be issued from each person. It can be a simple reverse-engineering request.)

(Just dotting the "i", crossing the "t" here in public.)

[blueldr]

George,

I've always considered the FAA to be the true carbuncle on the butt of aviation progress.
Are you in some kind of a contest to overtake them?

[GAHorn]

George,

I've always considered the FAA to be the true carbuncle on the butt of aviation progress.
Are you in some kind of a contest to overtake them?

Ha ha. Nope. I'm in this to see to it that their idiocy is defeated. If a simple letter of request will by-pass their efforts to violate a fellow aviator, then I want everyone to know it.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Well thanks for the offer to make a lense MGP, but I was successful in truly producing my own part.

Went to the Stinkworks (a friends place with a lot of stuff) and picked up a pain of 1/8 glass and came home to get good at cutting round glass circles. Brought a big a 2'x3' piece of 1/8 plexiglass he had as a backup as well

Cut the first one to big but learned a bit about cutting glass. Cut the next one just right. That's when I noticed the glass was a bit worn on one side probably from years of wear in a barn or house some where.

Now that I was getting good at cutting these I figured I could splurge and spend some money on glass. Of to the local glass house. Once there the lady was about to charge me some unknown amount for the minimum size they would cut when another person with more authority told her to just go get a piece out of the trash. When she returned she had a 12"x14" piece and gave it to me and said good luck. I said free and she said it's trash and your probably going to through most of it away as well.

So of I went off with a fresh piece of 1/8 glass. First one I cut had a minor flaw and since I was really getting good at this I cut another. Perfect.

So while it may not be as nice a cut as MGB could do I now have the know how and enough glass to repair about 15 more of these.

So Buck your in luck. Not only can I show you how to fix your very own gauge, the Stinkworks mentioned above has two other original serviceable 170 Scott gauges in stock, which I'm sure you could trade your repaired gauge for if you just wanted to swap it.

BTW I measured the lens at 1/8th thick by 1-7/8 round for anyone else who wants to make one.

[170C]

AH HA Now we know two sources for those pesky fuel gauge glasses. That is what is so neat about this forum & association. Problems we run across, maybe once in a blue moon, someone else has "been there and done that" so their experience can be shared with the rest of us and help us keep our planes flying and hopefully saving the much needed $$.

Bruce's Fuel Gauge Glass Works

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Bruce's Fuel Gauge Glass Works

Actually most of my work comes under the Stinkworks previously mentioned. Lots of one-of and prototype stuff still in the R&D stages. It's a long story

[pojawis]

I was successful in truly producing my own part.

Good stuff Bruce. I knew you'd figure out this procedure. I once saw a lens made for an airpath compass. I heard that that the supply houses wanted about $25 - $30 USD for a new one. I think I made -er-ummm - saw it made for about $0.05 worth of glass and about 10 minutes to cut and smooth the edges with a glass router.

If your homemade lens is a tight fit, you can use a glass file or a mill file to tailor the fit.