Skybeacon

Mog · Post by **Mog** » Sun May 19, 2019 4:51 pm

1.45hrs and I will have a mock-up to try on my M4. I drew it per the Uavionix PDF. Itâ€™s not 100% perfect, but it will be more than close enough to make sure it fits.

Akafrank · Post by **Akafrank** » Sun May 19, 2019 5:10 pm

I'm sure once you try to put it in, you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

Ralph

Mog · Post by **Mog** » Sun May 19, 2019 6:51 pm

Score 1 for the M4 models!!

I handed the mock-up off to Andrew who has an M5. He will try to test fit tomorrow.

Andy Young · Post by **Andy Young** » Sun May 19, 2019 10:31 pm

Stinger wrote:
Christine wrote:Unfortunately I bought my Skybeacon the day after the rebates ran out....Now I am hoping for an expired rebate to become avialbel and am installing my skybeacon.
Does anyone know where I can find the 6 digit ICAO number of a MX-7-180?
I am filling in the paperwork for my mechanic.
Thanks
FAA N-Number registry for your airplane. It should be the Mode S code in hexadecimal.

I didnâ€™t initially see what was meant by this answer, so Iâ€™ll re-state in case others are as slow as I am.

Go to the FAA N-number registry online, and put in your N number. Itâ€™s one of the pieces of information on that page.

Akafrank · Post by **Akafrank** » Mon May 20, 2019 4:26 am

I'm jealous, yes, score one for the M-4!

I'll be waiting for the mockup to be tried in an M-5. The tail beacon is an excellent solution so I'm not giving up yet.

Ralph
akafrank

Mog · Post by **Mog** » Mon May 20, 2019 11:49 am

Here is a 1979 M5.

Akafrank · Post by **Akafrank** » Mon May 20, 2019 1:50 pm

OK, that sound you hear is me scratching my head. That is exactly what my installation looks like. I even scaled your picture and the opening is what I have. The distance between screws is 1.787, the unit needs 1.142 to slide in. The unit can't possibility fit because the opening scales about 1 inch.

My wooden mockup won't fit. I'm doing something wrong. Would you measure your vertical opening for me please?

Thanks,

Ralph
akafrank

Mog · Post by **Mog** » Mon May 20, 2019 4:14 pm

The opening in the mounting plate for the Beacon is 1.142â€. But the Beacon itself is right at or just under 1â€ I believe. But I would need to verify on my cad file. I will also go grab the mock-up and measure. It came out fractionally bigger though when I printed it.

Mog · Post by **Mog** » Mon May 20, 2019 5:04 pm

Here it is as I drew and printed. My printer reliably prints to scale and has mocked up plenty of engine parts. So...Iâ€™m not sure where the discrepancy lies.

Akafrank · Post by **Akafrank** » Tue May 21, 2019 3:33 am

The 1.13 dimension is the problem. By all means, keep us posted, you've got my hopes up.

Ralph
akafrank

Mog · Post by **Mog** » Tue May 21, 2019 6:37 am

1.142 is the opening in the plate, the Beacon itself is slightly smaller. My mock-up easily fit with some slip in the M4. I did no personally fit the M5 example. He did say he started fitting it sideways at first because of this thread (thinking it wouldnâ€™t fit). But he found it went in easily in any direction. I will ask him if it was a sloppy fit or tight.

AndrewK · Post by **AndrewK** » Tue May 21, 2019 10:36 am

Mog wrote:1.142 is the opening in the plate, the Beacon itself is slightly smaller. My mock-up easily fit with some slip in the M4. I did no personally fit the M5 example. He did say he started fitting it sideways at first because of this thread (thinking it wouldnâ€™t fit). But he found it went in easily in any direction. I will ask him if it was a sloppy fit or tight.

It was snug and there wasn't much if any play but I did not have to force it. It was just a very slight interference fit and may have been due to some of the fabric wrapped around the top of the hole which gave a little as I slid the unit in.

Akafrank · Post by **Akafrank** » Tue May 21, 2019 10:52 am

I just talked at length to the manufacturer and although he didn't have a unit to measure, he did say the light it replaces is 1.06 +/-.03 so it should fit as it cannot be larger then the existing nav light. Why the drawing scales different, no one knows.

TSO is taking forever, just because, they are not happy about how long the FAA is taking.

One interesting thing, you cannot rely on the rudder hinges for a ground, the unit will not work. You must go back to a hard frame ground. That means getting a wire thru the rudder into the fuselage. Let the fun begin!

I'm still having some tapered spacers made and if necessary will gladly share the CAD drawing.

Ralph
akafrank

Mog · Post by **Mog** » Tue May 21, 2019 12:43 pm

Keep in mind that the measurement you are quoting is for the mounting flange not the actual unit that slips into the rudder. The Beacon unit is two piece, not one as I printed. The Beacon itself could not be the same size as the hole in the mounting flange 1.142â€. At no point in time did I see a measurement for the actual Beacon itself and the number I used was a guesstimate based on the drawing provided by Uavionix.

Rezrider · Post by **Rezrider** » Tue May 21, 2019 2:58 pm

Does it sound like they will get approval for the M-5?

Skybeacon

Re: Does anyone know where I can find the 6 digit ICAO numbe

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