Bonanza Gear Down Indicator Bezel Plus

thingiverse

The gear-down indicator bezel in my neighbor's Bonanza was in bad shape, and he asked if I could print a replacement. I was more than thankful when I found the original model by CarbonF33. I added a small lip to the original model, but ended up not using it and printing the original model by CarbonF33. If you want a replacement with a lip, this one here may help. It is otherwise identical to the original. My neighbor anticipated a lot of trouble in reassembling the indicator, so I made a small tool that will help attach the actuator wire to the indicator. When the indicator is positioned correctly with the wire attached, the lock nut can be tightened with the tool in place; the soft plastic won't interfere. I printed this in PLA. If you are gong to use this, print 3 or 4 at a time or really slow things down. You will get a better print at the top due to the longer layer time when printing multiple pieces per layer. My neighbor reported that the tool made it very easy to connect the wire to the indicator. I printed the bezel in ABS since that was the only suitable material I had. As I expected, the side panels were not as strong as they could have been (due to the print orientation) and they cracked when the mounting hardware was being attached. Being ABS, the cracks were easily fixed with Acetone and ABS. The side panels were glued to the inside of the bezel to boost the strength of the sides of the bezel. My neighbor chose to connect the indicator frame to the bezel with screws (with nuts epoxied to the frame) rather than rivets. After completion he said he thought this was a worthwhile change.