MS24694-S69 drilled

[thomasjones42]

Onex plans call out the above screws (drilled) for assembly of the control stick and the long aileron rods. I have plenty of the above undrilled but am unable to find the drilled version. Anyone know of a source or an alternate part number I should be looking into?

Tom Jones
ONEX kit #133

[Don_P]

This is a two-year-old post, but thought I'd respond to it anyway, as there may still be builders who've encountered this problem. MS24696-S69 drilled screws are not generally available from any of the aircraft hardware vendors. However it's fairly easy to drill your own. Snug down the castle nut and mark approximately where the cotter pin is to go. In this case, about 5/32" from the end of the screw. File a small flat spot at this location, hold the screw in a drill press vice, and drill the hole with a #51 drill bit, dabbing on a little cutting fluid as you go. If the drill bit starts to cut a little off center, remove the screw from the vice, rotate it so that the "dimple" faces up, and continue drilling. This should produce a perfect cotter pin hole every time.

[JohnH]

An alternative approach to this problem is to take a sacrifice standard Nyloc nut, place it on a drill press and drill straight through. Then place it onto the screw with the hole placed where you need the cotter pin, and drill through the screw using the holes in the nut to guide it. Result, perfect cotter pin hole, no slippage or misalignment.