Hatz Biplane Association

No rush here either.
Thanks,
Amit.

PS - on a totally unrelated subject, I see Bill Rusk just posted his Mehlin Smith Warner 145 equipped Hatz on Barnstormers. I had the pleasure of flying with Bill in Brodhead this year in this airplane. Wow.

Has anyone heard from Carl or received the terminals as yet that got in on the group order?

I decided a while back to start pushing for these and I received mine about two weeks ago. I held off on reporting it to the group because Carl wanted me to look them over first and, while overall the work is very nice, there are some burs on the threads from the cutting process. I've been exchanging email with Carl on this to see if anything could be done and he has been working to see if it can be dealt with. He told me he has tried three different cutting tools all with the same results. The burs are small, but noticeable. They do not seem to interfere with threading them onto their fittings as I could screw them into the threaded plugs I made with no trouble at all and no slop or play. They are probably fine, but I've asked him to see if he can eliminate them.

His shop is busy, so I would suggest that maybe others should contact him for a status if we want to move this along.

Sorry for the giant pics.

Update:
I heard from Carl again yesterday and he has solved the problem of the burs on the threads. Apparently Ron has been in contact with him as well and he has committed to finishing these by Christmas.

Doug and all,
I've been reading your posts and something caught my eye.... "from the cutting process".
In the perfect world, a rolled thread is perferrable to a cut thread but if cut is what you get then please look very carefully at where the cutting process ends. Rolling the threads uses tooling that turns the shaft and squeezes things so the material actually flows to make the threads. Cutting actually removes material to form the threads and a stress point is created at the end of the last thread. You need to take a small file and dress the end of this cut so there is a smooth transition to the original material diameter which reduces the stress point.

Hope I explained this well enough.

Jeff Moore

dougm wrote:Update:
I heard from Carl again yesterday and he has solved the problem of the burs on the threads. Apparently Ron has been in contact with him as well and he has committed to finishing these by Christmas.

I don't know which Christmas that was, but I still have not received my order as of end of January 2013.
Has anyone else received theirs?

Carl says he has 12 ready to go now so if someone needs them right away he should be able to ship them.

Below is my email exchange with Carl.....

=====================================================

Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:44:38 -0600
From: carlj@comptech-edm.com
To: mowryd@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Hatz Classic Forks - Re-run of a past parts order

Sounds good!

On 1/17/2013 10:34 AM, Doug Mowry wrote:
HI Carl,

Thanks for the update. If we are that close to completing them then I'd say let's just press on and get it done. I don't know if anyone is in dire need of them at this point... I think they'd just like to know a realistic completion date. So if you think they'll be done by the end of the month then I'm going to keep quiet for now and wait for word from you. If it doesn't look like the end of the month will happen, then I'll contact the group and see who wants the first batch.

Thanks,
Doug.
________________________________________
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:04:16 -0600
From: carlj@comptech-edm.com
To: mowryd@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Hatz Classic Forks - Re-run of a past parts order

Doug,

I told Jeff to do just a partial order so if someone needed them right away, they could be in the mail immediately. So, he will have 12 done today and he is still pressing on with them. He tells me he will have them done by the end of the month, but I wouldn't hold my breath!

So, would you like for us to mail out your 6 replacements, or should we just hold on to them here, until someone says "I need them now"? Again, they are done and could be mailed immediately.

Would you like to contact the crew and see if anyone is in urgent need of them? Again, they might all be done by the end of the month, so maybe we should just keep our mouths shut!

By the way, they look absolutely great - I am so glad we decided to single point them!

Carl

On 1/8/2013 8:54 AM, Doug Mowry wrote:
Hi Carl,
Thanks for the info. I guess just keep pressing ahead. I wouldn't ask you to do a partial set if you are already working the entire order.

Thanks,
Doug.
________________________________________
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2013 16:54:55 -0600
From: carlj@comptech-edm.com
To: mowryd@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Hatz Classic Forks - Re-run of a past parts order

Hi Doug,

I am not sure what happened to your note. I never remove notes from my inbox until after they have been handled, but it is gone, and I don't remember answering it!

Jeff is working on the parts daily, but can't give me a firm ETA. Right now, he doesn't have any other major work to do, but that can change in a hurry.

To let you know what his process is:
1) He cut all of the material into 6" pieces.
2) Then he is turning the major diameter and the cone shape on both ends, so he will get two parts out of each of the 6".
3) Then he will single point the threads on each end.
4) After that, he will part the parts off and turn the ball on them.
5) Then he will put them in the EDM machine to do the slots and the width.
6) He then puts them into a fixture and drills the hole.

So, he is basically going to be done with all of them at the same time. To do a partial set, like 6 or 12, he would be tearing down and redoing setups all the time, and that takes time.

If anyone would need them in a hurry, I would certainly have him do that!

If I were to guess an ETA, I can't imagine it going into February.

One other thing, we do not consider you small potatoes at all! You guys all combined become one large potato, and we consider your order very important.

Shoulder is doing fine. It has been 3 weeks now and I have been off pain meds for about half of that time - I hate taking pain meds. Right now, my other shoulder
(right one) hurts more. Surgery on that one is scheduled for Feb 25. The worst part about the surgery is that I have to have my arm in a sling 24/7 for the first 6 weeks!
It is very confining to do anything with it in the sling. Anyway, the sling comes off on Jan 21 - so I'll have about 5 weeks of being partially normal. Oh, and I can't
drive during that 6 weeks either. I am thinking that by the end of March, middle of April, I will be almost normal and ready for motorcycling!

Have a Happy New Year,

Carl

Thanks for the update. February would be just fine.

orchardair wrote:Thanks for the update. February would be just fine.

I would agree, however I'm concerned that Feb. could come & go as the previous targets have. At this point I would encourage others to contact Carl for an update. Maybe if more than just myself are looking for getting this finished we might actually get it done by the end of Feb.!

Carl has been very helpful and nice to deal with, however I'm getting frustrated... seven months is a tad long to wait.

Hi Doug,

I emailed Carl this morning, I will keep you posted of his response. I'm sure it's just a matter of getting them finished and actually glad that his shop is that busy. Knowing that we would not have resources such as Carl and his shop at our disposal unless his shop had plenty of other work to keep him in business is reassuring.