11AC Spinner and Nose Bowl Ring

[Carl Prather]

Charles,

I agree wholeheartedly with Joe. I would hope you reconsider your position. Don't let one bad apple ruin the whole barrel. Anyway, I've been waiting for the day you place spinners on sale and I still want one. I've got a Chief nose bowl that needs its crown and once you were able to sell spinners, I was going to send you the nose bowl for you to clean up, ship back a the nose bowl and spinner for my Champ project. I've a complete McDowell Starter ready to go to mate with the other stuff.

I'm being entirely selfish here, but after all the time you spent making those beautiful spinners and backplates, I would not let one jerk, stand in the way of what you do.

Tx,

Carl Prather

[CptKelly]

Charles,
You have rare and extraordinary skills, and I'm greatly impressed. There are very few who can accomplish what you have, and we value what you do. I too ask that you do not let some jerk have any influence on your pride, and we all see your pride in the quality of your work. In addition, we all see what kid of person you are by how you strive to help others.
Next time your in SC, give me a call. It would be my pleasure to take you for a ride in a L-19, Supercub, Champ, or Cessna 182. Cell # is (704) 619-3397

Mike Kelly
Wagener, SC

[CptKelly]

Charles,
I sent you a PM.

Mike

[skyking3286]

Charles, people are so harsh and quick with opinions now that politeness is almost a lost art. We all are affected by it. At least you don't have to do business with
anyone you don't want to do business with. You have some control over who you do business with, which other professions don't have. The rest of the Aeronca community is very impressed and over joyed that you are spinning metal. Cling to your friends, ignore the jerks in the world, do the good work you're gifted with!
Whatever conversations you had with "the jerk", it's not at all representative of the feelings among Aeronca owners.

[joea]

I have emailed with Charles about this and evidently ONE person is being a jerk and causing all this trouble.

What would you feel like if this individual called your home at 11 PM complaining? Woke up everyone at the house by calling at this time of night? Not posting anything more about it but this is well out of the bounds of what gentlemen do.

Frankly this person needs to go buy a Piper Cub and find another hobby but thats my feelings. And if he sees this email and has the stones to contact me we will have a discussion. Charles is a great asset in our community and we are very lucky to have him helping us.

Joe A

[Al Hatz]

Obviously the guy that complained never worked in the industry. I can't tell you how many spinners and backplates I've change that only have minimal hours on them. Only difference is Cessna, Piper or even Univair won't make much of an effort to help anyone out. They'll just sell you another one and let you hope this one doesn't crack in two years or fifty hours.
I'd also like to express my enjoyment in watching Charles work his craft on these boards and ask him to reconsider.

[MikeB]

Also, agree with the other posts. Craftsmen like Charles are far and few between.

MikeB

[Dennis]

You guys all said it very well. Charles is not only a craftman but also someone who is interested in helping others. We need more people like him.

Charles, don't let the actions of one jerk get you down. I appreciate your work and expertise.

Dennis

[seaheli]

Thank you for all of your support!!!

This issue affected two other people and it made me "upset"! If anyone has a complaint with me or an item deal with me directly!

Also my family is involved with these processes and I value their time and effort they put forward to the support of these spinner assemblies!

Yes, I am behind in the process of making spinners. I am fabricating new tooling and working 60 plus hours a week at the R&D shop. I have had 5 days off in 9 weeks.

All I ask for is "your patience", nothing else!

Charles

[seaheli]

I hand make all of my tools for this project, new spinning tool for constant material thickness in spinner domes.

[seaheli]

Obviously the guy that complained never worked in the industry. I can't tell you how many spinners and backplates I've change that only have minimal hours on them. Only difference is Cessna, Piper or even Univair won't make much of an effort to help anyone out. They'll just sell you another one and let you hope this one doesn't crack in two years or fifty hours.
I'd also like to express my enjoyment in watching Charles work his craft on these boards and ask him to reconsider.

Al,

I have researched and studied this problem for several years. Mass production is one of the major issues with the spinner problems today.

There is a process that can produce spinner domes without strain hardening the material as in mass production spinning. It is a lost trade (art), I have apprenticed and studied under the nations best tradesmen to provide a quality spinner assembly!

Most engineers and metal spinners do not understand the effects of grain growth in "annealing metals" if not once but twice in the spinning process. The spinning of the material smears the cracks on the outer surfaces of the dome, leaving an undetected crack to propagate under stress and vibration.

Charles

[joea]

Charles,

Great news and glad to hear it. Now lets move on and hope that the person involved buys a Piper product!

Joe A

[Paul Agaliotis]

Charles,
Don't let them get you down. People have to understand that you are doing this because you like to do it, if they get pushy tell them to take a hike.
You can't make any money at this, the market is just too small. I built a bunch of brackets for the McDowell and just gave them away. Some of the guys sent a contribution that I just bought more supplies with. If I had to charge for the items it would have been over 500 bucks. By giving them away I hope to have more of them in use,which is the right thing to do.
I'm sure people won't mind buying the spinners. I, like you, have a full time job. And if these spare time projects start to be another job, I'm just not interested.
Keep up the good work, and when you're done the Aeronca community will benefit from your expertise.
Paul

[seaheli]

Making good progress with the 11AC spinner bulkhead design, should have the first example finished next week! It has been a constant study of material combinations and design.


Also working on a spinner assembly for Chiefs, Scouts and Champs without the McDowell starter recess in the nose bowl.

Is this a pleasing shape?

[joea]

Nice looking!