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So, Syd;
What you're saying is that you know for a fact that
the tooling was gone, and regardless of the possibility of new tooling
they had to deal with "spring back" of the metal and then the milling. I
would think that would be part of building the spar during the extrusion and if
need be, re-engineering it. I'm not too sure that any manufacturer
(Univair is the manufacturer) must prove to the FAA that what they build meets
the original design. It may even be that if necessary (outside of the
normal inspections) it would not be in their best interests to attempt to prove
the design is better, but that stuff, even though it sounds logical, isn't the
way the feds think and I wouldn't expect anyone outside the industry to
understand that. Does the $9K include the center section or just the
spar? If it's an entire center section, it's a bargain.
What interests me is when you mentioned that they
reuse wing attachments. Although that move nominates the decision
maker for a Darwin award, what's the procedure? (Do they really put 60
year old stressed parts onto a new $9K part?) Do you send them the old
spar with fittings and they reinstall them? Regardless of how they
got to the manufacturing point, you're probably on target about the
loot invested IF they're doing it in-house and not farming it out, which hasn't
been mentioned. They'll probably see a return after about a dozen are
sold. I pretty much have faith that they'll do it within a few years,
especially when more and more of the problems arise. And as far as used
spars, well, I think in a few years they may not be desirable any
longer.
----- Original Message -----From: Sydney CohenSent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 9:15 PMSubject: Re: [COUPERS-TECH] Spars----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----Hartmut, I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses for them. I just would like to be realistic about it. First, they had to come up with new tooling to make the extrusions. Lots of reverse engineering, since the original tooling was gone years ago. Then the extrusions have to be bent to the proper "V." This is difficult, considering the spring back of the aluminum. The bent extrusions then have to be milled to the proper dimensions. Then they had to prove to the FAA that the new spars were equal to or better than the original ones. Believe me, this is very costly and time consuming. Besides all this, they have to pay quite a bit for liability insurance on the parts they manufacture and sell. Also included in the $9000 or so price is the cost of drilling out the rivets from your old wing attach fittings without damaging them, magnifluxing them to assure that they are ok, and setting the 5/16" rivets in them without upsetting the rivets. I'm sure that Univair invested far more than $100,000 to gear up for this production run, and it will be a long time before they see a cent of profit from the sales. I'm actually surprised that the spars are only about $9000 each.
Syd
Hartmut Beil wrote:
----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----Syd.Admitted I am exagurating a bit here, but How the heck do you explain the newly built 10k center spar?What are the costs involved?They've got the jig, the steel and aluminum pieces you need are worth max. $250. Now add the costs for a worker that rivets the stuff together. 4 hours of work @ 100 bucks an hour, add costs for shipping and other expenses - a center spar should not cost more than 1500 Dollars to produce.I really would like to know where the costs factor comes in here. What is up with this company? I am having the feeling they are overpricing us because some executives are working on their early retirement.Hartmut----- Original Message -----From: Sydney CohenSent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 10:31 PMSubject: Re: [COUPERS-TECH] Header Fuel Tank AD 55-22-02, part 2----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----Not true. I've been through their factory twice. They are producing many new parts. Not all of them, but many of them.
Syd
Hartmut Beil wrote:
Univair is just selling the parts left over from the 50 year old stock for ever rising prices.============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
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