Header tank valve

[astjp2]

I am still working on getting a replacement valve for the header tank, they wound up costing more than I though to make, if someone needs one bad, I have one sample valve that someone could install and give me feedback. I am going to change one little thing on the next design before I continue with the STC. I am not trying to sell it but I do need to cover what I have invested in it. Your mechanic will have to install it under a field approval. PM me if intersted

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Header tank vavle

I have been making a new valve from a brass and stainless ball valve. The lever is being filed from a slab of metal. It will be up to my IA if I can put it in the plane.
Do you have pictures of what you are making? If there will be a STC it would cause a lot less blood blisters than making mine! I hope to have mine done this weekend and will try and post pictures and let all know what my IA says.
Hank

[Mark Julicher]

Re: Header tank vavle

Please keep working on the STC. I'll be glad to buy two or three of your STCs when you get there!

[VictorBravo]

Re: Header tank vavle

Someone bring the rest of us up to speed: How come there is no existing stock Apollo or other teflon stainless valve that can be used at this location? Why does one have to be made from scratch here???

[Len Petterson]

Re: Header tank vavle

In the aircraft Spruce catalog page 167 is a fuelvalve J3 fuelvalve Looks like a regular ballvalve but is PMA approved part # 05- 00848. @ $133.95
Did you try lapp in the old one?

[mulwyk]

Re: Header tank vavle

You can use the $30 Apollo 76-101 stainless ball valve (see Aviat Service Bulletin #11) as a substitute for the no-longer-available Imperial valve, but the handle that comes with the Apollo valve is at the wrong angle for the T-Craft header tank shutoff. Apollo may very well make a 45 degree handle, but you can make your own (like Hank is doing) with nothing more than a drill and a file. The picture shows a Apollo 76 with the stock handle and the owner produced T-Craft shutoff handle.

RANT! That Imperial POS is, at best, 19th century technology.(maybe even older, Roman engineers used a tapered plug valve for their water systems that looks like a big wooden Imperial valve. That would make the Imperial design at least 2000 years old) And they're dangerous. They leak, drip and seep gas inside the cockpit around your feet or down your shoulder and then if you don't use them for awhile they'll freeze up (usually in the open position so if you have a engine fire you can't shut off the fuel). Get rid of those things.

[astjp2]

Re: Header tank vavle

Well the valve handle in the pic above does not have a positive stop and the valve is a female/female which does not match the originals, the direction for open and close does not meet a ball valve spec per the federal ball valve specification. It turns the opposite direction when used in a taylorcraft. Some people dont know that Teflon asorbs water and the seals need to be tested. Mine have been soaking in gas since June 2008. I should pull them out and measure them with my dial caliper. They did grow about .002 after the first week but didnt any more after a month.

[Len Petterson]

Re: Header tank vavle

Yes ballvalves has a positive stop It is the little tap ( bent down in the picture) on the handle.
If you rig up your control vire it can also limeting the stroke.
Pull for open: it can only be pulled so far. Push to close: Fully closed is all the way in and it can go no further.
Len

[astjp2]

Re: Header tank vavle

The handle that is being made, doesnt have the stop, and you must push for on and pull for off to be airworthy. This is the oppsite direction for valve manufactured per WW-V-35C federal ball valve specification. There is also an AD that the aircraft must have a cover over the fuel shut off valve knob to prevent it from being pulled off in fllight accidently. Tim

[astjp2]

Re: Header tank vavle

Here is a pic of my replacement valve compared to an original. The final assembly has the pin welded in. Tim

[mulwyk]

Re: Header tank vavle

That handle is a real work of art, Tim. Just Beautiful.

How'd you make the square hole?

[barnstmr]

Re: Header tank vavle

Tim,
Is it possible to make the same thing in 3/8 inch size, to accommodate greater fuel flow... for O-200?

[astjp2]

Re: Header tank vavle

Both valves are possible, the 3/8" and 1/4" are the same basic valve with different threads. The internal hole is the same for both. I have the handles manufactured in a speciality shop and they punch the hole. The square hole is not the correct shape, it was a test piece that I experimented with. The new design uses a double D back to back. I had to buy the tooling to punch the double D and I am making a few minor changes to some dimentions. Eventually the handle would be plated for corrision and I may have to laser engrave the part number and FAA PMA informaiton but that is still in the works. The laser engraver is about 3k to buy. Tim

[VictorBravo]

Re: Header tank vavle

Both valves are possible, the 3/8" and 1/4" are the same basic valve with different threads. The internal hole is the same for both. I have the handles manufactured in a speciality shop and they punch the hole. The square hole is not the correct shape, it was a test piece that I experimented with. The new design uses a double D back to back. I had to buy the tooling to punch the double D and I am making a few minor changes to some dimentions. Eventually the handle would be plated for corrision and I may have to laser engrave the part number and FAA PMA informaiton but that is still in the works. The laser engraver is about 3k to buy. Tim

IMHO you are crazy to buy a $3K macihne to engrave the PMA number. Take it to a laser shop and pay the $2 to have it done 10 or 20 valve bodies at a time. While you are making the flat steel handle, have THAT part engraved instead, either by CNC or laser or whatever, and you can save even more money.

[astjp2]

Re: Header tank vavle

I am planning on just engraving the handle. Most shops that have the equipment charge a 50.00 minimum for plating and engraving. I will still have to apply for a PMA and write a quality control manual once I have the STC. The STC is the easy part, its the PMA that is a PIA to get. Tim