"Mining Precious Metals"...Well, Actually, Sorting Glow Plugs/Glow Heads

Kim Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:45 pm

So, for any of my buds who might have feared that the recent activity of Electron Eating Planes might portend the abandonment of my beloved Castor Slingers, I submit the following in my defense:

Once again, I've taken on the impossible mission of sorting and tagging all the glow plug/heads, scattered across several field boxes. I want to get them in order of brand, size, type (idle bar/non-idle bar), and used/new.

The battle between my OCD and Energy Level has been long and ugly...but I'm still trying....and have created a debris field to prove it.

I really like the plastic boxes that CCI uses for their .22 rounds, and have sized many of my field box drawers to accept them. With a little modification, the plugs are safely suspended in the tray meant for the .22's.

The side support posts get ground down to lower the tray and allow space for the tops of the glow plugs when the lid is slid into place.

Because the boxes have a slight taper to their sides, the tray needs it's sides ground down a bit.

Then a drill is used to run a glow plug size tap through the holes and the plugs are threaded in.

The glow heads will be stored in the same type boxes, layered between the sheets of foam that protect my E-Planes' batteries during shipment.

Hopefully, a side-benefit of all this will be in my marksmanship improving, as I'm gonna need several more empty ammo boxes.

For me, this one of those things that will be really great...when it's over!

Yabby Sat Feb 04, 2023 7:00 pm

Hey Kim, thats a great way to sort and store glow plugs, sure beats them rattling around in a box getting damaged. Especially given how cheap they are getting.
Weird how we all end up with so many glow plugs and glow heads that are working ones. Must be because we think a head/plug is causing a problem so we get a new one(s) snf then the plugs later on seem to re-animate into good working ones again. Good luck with your shooting practice. Thumbs Up

Mind you this only means your tidying up, doesnt mean your going to fly your Castor slingers again instead of those blasphemous electron powered contraptions that will never catch on. lol!

GaryB
'Yabby'

Kim Sat Feb 04, 2023 7:49 pm

Yabby wrote:Hey Kim, thats a great way to sort and store glow plugs, sure beats them rattling around in a box getting damaged. Especially given how cheap they are getting.
Weird how we all end up with so many glow plugs and glow heads that are working ones. Must be because we think a head/plug is causing a problem so we get a new one(s) snf then the plugs later on seem to re-animate into good working ones again. Good luck with your shooting practice.

Mind you this only means your tidying up, doesnt mean your going to fly your Castor slingers again instead of those blasphemous electron powered contraptions that will never catch on.

GaryB
'Yabby'

Yeah, I half-expected to get jumped by one of my buds, "You NEVER reuse old glow plugs! They're just aggravation waiting to happen!" And maybe true, but my programing just won't allow it.

Back in the day, my buddy Neal replaced and chucked his glows plugs after EVERY flying session with his Byron Ducted Fan F-16...and these were the fancy kind! He reasoned that it was still cheaper than losing the jet to a flame out, but whew!

I've ended up with a lot of loose plugs from trouble shooting, and then not putting them back if the trouble was found to be something else.

Well, we'll see how the year develops...I want to get several projects going, and all are various forms of castor slingers, including a freak'n monster from an estate donation that I should have said "NO!" to.

Yep...we'll see...

Yabby Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:31 pm

Excellent

Im lookin foward to seeing the monster from the Estate lift into the air from one of your multi camera view setups. Thumbs Up

Yes, I have a box of troubleshooting plugs. plugs/heads that were used to troubleshoot or part of a problem, but I tend to never use them as Im always concerned they will test ok at home and then let me down at the field when actually wanting to fly not just test. Its sometimes hard to prove the plug again, to be convinced. So the collection grows and grows of probably 99% all first rate plugs. Laughing

GaryB
'Yabby'

andrew Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:55 pm

An interesting and innovative use for your CCI shell boxes -- if your side of the creek is like ours, it's getting to the point that plugs and shells are running neck in neck in price (if you can find them).

a--

Kim Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:54 am

Yabby wrote:

Yes, I have a box of troubleshooting plugs. plugs/heads that were used to troubleshoot or part of a problem, but I tend to never use them as Im always concerned they will test ok at home and then let me down at the field when actually wanting to fly not just test. Its sometimes hard to prove the plug again, to be convinced. So the collection grows and grows of probably 99% all first rate plugs.

GaryB
'Yabby'

Yep...there I am! It wasn't quite as big a deal back in the day, but now that they cost so much, and brands that I trusted are considered "junk" nowadays, I want to hang onto all of them. Even those known to be burned out are saved to "plug the hole" in stored and displayed engines whose good plugs have transferred to the runners.

So, the box of "Questionables" is still goes along.

andrew wrote:An interesting and innovative use for your CCI shell boxes -- if your side of the creek is like ours, it's getting to the point that plugs and shells are running neck in neck in price (if you can find them).

a--

Well, most of the standard .22's have returned over here, but for the "CB Caps" that I used to dispatch starlings. These "short, shorts" make a greater sound at impact than when leaving the long barrel of my old Springfield bolt rifle, and I really like them.

Where the glowplugs are concerned, I keep forgetting how old I am, and at 69 years, I've probably already got more than a "lifetime supply"!

getback Sun Feb 05, 2023 7:27 am

Very ingenious Kim I like the way you went to the trouble to thread the holes so they want bee coming out on there on . Yea i got a few glows here and there too LOL There is a guy on here looking for some burnt out glows for chroming and display Smile

andrew Sun Feb 05, 2023 9:14 am

Kim wrote:
Where the glowplugs are concerned, I keep forgetting how old I am, and at 69 years, I've probably already got more than a "lifetime supply"!

LOL - that's become painfully clear in recent years. I now fully understand the saying, "Old people don't buy green bananas!" Shocked

rsv1cox Sun Feb 05, 2023 9:38 am

andrew wrote:
Kim wrote:
Where the glowplugs are concerned, I keep forgetting how old I am, and at 69 years, I've probably already got more than a "lifetime supply"!

LOL - that's become painfully clear in recent years. I now fully understand the saying, "Old people don't buy green bananas!"

Ah (grumpy old man sound here) youse guys are still just kids........................................

crankbndr Fri Mar 31, 2023 7:25 am

nevermind

HalfaDave Fri Mar 31, 2023 8:03 am

Hi crankbndr,
I bet,
If we all get together,
We will have fun,
Dave

P.S. I was a CD at a scale combat match, we had fun ! Spectators made us make a spectable... Smile

GallopingGhostler Fri Mar 31, 2023 9:46 am

rsv1cox wrote:
andrew wrote:
Kim wrote:Where the glowplugs are concerned, I keep forgetting how old I am, and at 69 years, I've probably already got more than a "lifetime supply"!
LOL - that's become painfully clear in recent years. I now fully understand the saying, "Old people don't buy green bananas!"
Ah (grumpy old man sound here) youse guys are still just kids........................................

Kim, Andrew, Bob, horder? Huh...