Magnetic Chip Detectors

[8pointroll]

Thank you to everyone on the Sonex and Aerovee forums for all the experience and knowledge you have shared and how much I have learned and benefitted from your posts.

In an earlier life I was heavily involved in turbine engine development and am now working on my Aerovee FWF and got to thinking about magnetic chip detectors. I like the thought of having one that trips a warning light when chips have accumulated (better than the low oil light in the old VW beetles that came on to tell you you just ruined the engine--ask me how I know) or just a safety wired magnetic drain plug. Without an oil filter to cut up and examine, the Aerovee oil screen is only going to catch relatively large pieces of junk in the oil and will not tell you if something inside is starting to wear away.

Any thoughts on this? What are you guys doing?

Thanks for your input.

Stuart
Sonex 1106

[Bryan Cotton]

Stuart,
My recollection of chip detectors in the helicopters was they were big and heavy, and we had false positives when the gearboxes were new. I would put in a filter before a chip detector. A hangar mate had a C172 with a filter and chip detector. It was also big and heavy. He was an IA and a helicopter mechanic.

A lot of bugs made a lot of miles without filters or chip detectors! It is not a guarantee but the odds are good. My aerovee will just have the screen.