novel ame 15 prop stud

Had a very minor accident with my Norvel AME-15 over the weekend. Plane OK, prop OK, but the prop stud on the engine broke up inside the nut. Anybody have any suggestions for getting the piece of stud out of the nut? I've tried drilling the piece of stud, and it's way to hard for a small bit. Tried gluing the piece back in with JB-Weld and that also didn't work. I suspect if I send it to SIG, they will just replace the crank, which would be OK, except this means replacing the crank, crankcase and all the bearings, which I suspect would cost more than a whole new engine. Any suggestions.

How far into the shaft did it break? I was able to turn mine out with an ice pick, just lucky I guess. Can you put a small slot in the stud with a Dremel? If you can just back it out with a small screwdriver, See Ya Neal

Thanks for the suggestions guys. The prop stud broke about a 1/16 of an inch inside the shaft. I've tried cutting a small hole with my rototool in the piece of shaft still in the nut, thinking that I might be able to back the piece of stud out with an ice pick. NO LUCK! Could it be there is a broken piece of shaft jamming the treads?

Thought maybe one of the auto machine shops could get it out, but they weren't very hopeful and both wanted 50 bucks to try.

From my replys it looks like this is not an unusual occurance with these engines. Too bad these engines are so delicate since mine at least ran great.

I'll call around and see if I can find someone with a wire EDM machine, but I suspect this plus the cost of parts is going to be more than the cost of a whole new engine.

>Had a very minor accident with my Norvel AME-15 over the
>weekend. Plane OK, prop OK, but the prop stud on the engine
>broke up inside the nut. Anybody have any suggestions for
>getting the piece of stud out of the nut? I've tried
>drilling the piece of stud, and it's way to hard for a small
>bit. Tried gluing the piece back in with JB-Weld and that
>also didn't work. I suspect if I send it to SIG, they will
>just replace the crank, which would be OK, except this means
>replacing the crank, crankcase and all the bearings, which I
>suspect would cost more than a whole new engine. Any
>suggestions.:(

Ron B.
F4Fguy

Richard:

I'm not quite sure from your post.Is it broken off in the shaft,or in the nut?If it's in the nut, simply toss the nut and get a new stud and nut.You can probably find them at any good hardware store,and certainly at a motorcycle shop.

If it's in the shaft,call around to your local machine shops and find one with a wire EDM(electrical discharge machining)setup and get them to "burn" it out.

These are last resorts.I've broken a bunch of these teaching kids to fly,and usually you can turn it out with a sharp scriber or pick.When you replace it be sure to put the short threaded end in the shaft.the shaft is threaded deeper than that end and the stud can't bottom out and stick in the shaft.

Good Luck,