SonexBuilders.net

I made these from 1.5 in extrusion and some 10 inch bolts for about $35. There is a company making something similar and I'm not trying to take away any business but if one can build a Sonex, these should be no problem. I'm sure that plenty of Mooney pilots will cough up $100.00 so as to not get their hands dirty... :lol:

nice. how much does the whole setup weigh?

It's about 4.5 lbs. The stakes are the bulk of it!

Nice job on the tie downs Kip. We used to use spiral screwing style dog tie downs with our C182. They worked great in grass, but not so good in gravel.

I have found that the dog tie downs are frowned upon ever since the Lakeland tornado. I was a bit embarassed to be using them at OSH and was even more embarassed when one broke while I was tightening it into the hard ground at OSH. I "rented" a set from EAA during the stay but now I have a real set... :)

structurespilot wrote:Nice job on the tie downs Kip. We used to use spiral screwing style dog tie downs with our C182. They worked great in grass, but not so good in gravel.

What happen at the lakeland tornado? Did planes flip over due to the dog ties?

Norm

Many airplanes were flipped and/or destroyed. It seems that nearly all tie-down sysytem types failed but the dog tie downs were the first to go. It makes sense. Would the desingers really engineer a multi-thousand pound pull force capability for dog security...?

structurespilot wrote:What happen at the lakeland tornado? Did planes flip over due to the dog ties?

Norm

I talked to the vendor at Airventure selling the design you used. He had a really good design but wanted $70 for his kit.
I guess he didn't realize that us home builders could do the same thing for $10 with spare material from our kits and a trip to Home Depot. Or like you said, was marketing to the Mooney guys who don't want to get their hands dirty.

However, it did get me thinking. I thought the steel spikes were excessively heavy. I have a source of titanium rod that will machine it to the size of the steel spikes. But I would need some commitment from enough builders to make them economical. Maybe around a $1 per spike if I order 1000 of them. Or just use aluminum rod as the shear force per rod would be minimal. I get enough folk, I'll make it happen.

I think I paid $1.32 per "spike" (10 inch bolt) so that price would be attractive...:)

fastj22 wrote:I have a source of titanium rod that will machine it to the size of the steel spikes. But I would need some commitment from enough builders to make them economical. Maybe around a $1 per spike if I order 1000 of them. Or just use aluminum rod as the shear force per rod would be minimal. I get enough folk, I'll make it happen.

I would love to believe that price, but unfortunately i must assume you have some figures incorrect given the price for titanium rod, even 3/16" diameter is about $10 per foot:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-titanium-rods/=itf7qp

what's your source?