Cirrus cup holder replacement linkage

[Blake Spurgeon]

Hi everyone,

I work as an A&P mechanic and find many many Cirrus planes that come in with a cup holder that does not close properly. This all stems from a single linkage that breaks or pops off and goes missing. I 3d printed several new parts and checked fitment and function, this could be an alternate solution instead of replacing those expensive cup holders.

Would anyone be interested in a 3d printed linkage that will fix your Cirrus cup holders?

 

[Tantalum]

Have you asked on COPA?

Also, this is great. For an otherwise "high end" plane the budget West Marine cupholders were exceedingly flimsy

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

Have you asked on COPA?

Also, this is great. For an otherwise "high end" plane the budget West Marine cupholders were exceedingly flimsy

I will post on COPA too!

Thanks

 

[MtPJimB]

1st world problems - Cirrus cupholders not working.

 

[benyflyguy]

1st world problems - Cirrus cupholders not working.

That seems to belittle what I consider my 1st world problems. Sigh...

 

[GRG55]

1st world problems - Cirrus cupholders not working.

1st world 1%er problem, LOL.

Appreciate the OP has a good solution to the problem, and don't want to belittle that.
But I must admit when I first read the thread title I thought it was something from The Onion...

 

[flyingron]

Does it render the plane unairworthy?

 

[NordicDave]

Call the guy who’s making the raptor airplane. He seems to be able to fix anything on that plane with angle irons. Bet he could craft something pretty stout.

 

[MuseChaser]

My jury is still out...is this really a real thing?

 

[iamtheari]

Does it render the plane unairworthy?

I don’t think that having a mechanical cupholder necessarily makes a plane unairworthy. Maybe a maintenance hog or object of ridicule, but not technically unairworthy unless a broken cupholder linkage interferes with the red handle linkage. Maybe it’s a shared linkage?

More seriously, can one of you rich folk share a picture or video of how your Cirrus’s cupholder linkage works and what failure modes exist? I didn’t know my life was missing this thread but now I can’t live another day without seeing it.

 

[dwalt]

This is the cup holder and I can confirm it is a genuine POS. Not sure where to get replacement parts...from what I’ve read on COPA, you’ve got to replace the whole thing most likely.


https://www.ultimatecupholders.com/fischercupholder.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PaulS]

My jury is still out...is this really a real thing?

Yup, the cup holders are in a spot where they can be easily stepped on upon entry. I try to make sure it's closed. This guy can save a lot of people a lot of money. We should support him.

 

[dwalt]

Also, answer to YOUR actual question, OP: yes I’d be interested. My issue is that the linkage on the pilot’s side cup holder seems to have failed and I lost the spring that sits somewhere in the cup holder, so what happens is that, when opened, the cup holder doesn’t pop up and it stays sunken in the middle where the joint is. Would this fix that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

Does it render the plane unairworthy?

It's not a major alteration and the cup holder is a simple accessory held on by Christmas tree fasteners (push mount), so it's not a life or death product. In the eyes of the FAA, the legality of selling a 3d printed part is what makes me nervous. The real question is, would I need a PMA or specific form to sell these to aircraft owners.

https://www.faa.gov/aircraft/air_cert/design_approvals/pma/pma_des/pma_des_examples/
"An aircraft owner or operator may produce articles for installation on their own product without a Parts Manufacturer Approval. The installation of those articles must comply with 14 CFR part 43. If an owner or operator intends to sell these articles for installation in another's product, then the producing owner or operator requires a Parts Manufacturer Approval."

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

Call the guy who’s making the raptor airplane. He seems to be able to fix anything on that plane with angle irons. Bet he could craft something pretty stout.

The cause for the linkage failure could be due to clearance, tolerance, or possibly the angle at which it slides/rotates. If you install a metal linkage, you have a good chance of breaking a more critical piece down the line. Which will cause you to replace the entire thing.

 

[NordicDave]

The cause for the linkage failure could be due to clearance, tolerance, or possibly the angle at which it slides/rotates. If you install a metal linkage, you have a good chance of breaking a more critical piece down the line. Which will cause you to replace the entire thing.

True. It was a joke actually. Some of us following the Raptor repairs by welding heavy metal to things has gotten over the top.

 

[Tantalum]

It's a remarkably over-engineered cup holder.. reminisce over those goofy Transformers cup holders in older BMWs and Volkswagens that popped out of the dashboard

It's a piece of crap, even if you don't step on it if you close it too quick some linkage binds and snaps

for some reason though these cup holders always suck, the ones on boats always seem to be broken too

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

Also, answer to YOUR actual question, OP: yes I’d be interested. My issue is that the linkage on the pilot’s side cup holder seems to have failed and I lost the spring that sits somewhere in the cup holder, so what happens is that, when opened, the cup holder doesn’t pop up and it stays sunken in the middle where the joint is. Would this fix that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The linkage is used to swing the folding halves into the shell when being closed, you would need the spring when opening for it to "pop" out. I don't believe it would help with sagging.

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

True. It was a joke actually. Some of us following the Raptor repairs by welding heavy metal to things has gotten over the top.

Haha sorry, I'm new to this forum and well, that one "flew" right over my head.

 

[PaulS]

It's a remarkably over-engineered cup holder.. reminisce over those goofy Transformers cup holders in older BMWs and Volkswagens that popped out of the dashboard

It's a piece of crap, even if you don't step on it if you close it too quick some linkage binds and snaps

for some reason though these cup holders always suck, the ones on boats always seem to be broken too

The Precision oxygen (?) people had a pretty neat prototype replacement last year, don't know if it made it to production, but it looked pretty durable.

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

It's a remarkably over-engineered cup holder.. reminisce over those goofy Transformers cup holders in older BMWs and Volkswagens that popped out of the dashboard

It's a piece of crap, even if you don't step on it if you close it too quick some linkage binds and snaps

for some reason though these cup holders always suck, the ones on boats always seem to be broken too

Precise Flight just released a new cup holder (SafeLock) that is also over engineered and WAY over priced ($259.00). I would imagine it is better than the current set up!

 

[NordicDave]

Haha sorry, I'm new to this forum and well, that one "flew" right over my head.

Welcome to POA Blake!

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

I don’t think that having a mechanical cupholder necessarily makes a plane unairworthy. Maybe a maintenance hog or object of ridicule, but not technically unairworthy unless a broken cupholder linkage interferes with the red handle linkage. Maybe it’s a shared linkage?

More seriously, can one of you rich folk share a picture or video of how your Cirrus’s cupholder linkage works and what failure modes exist? I didn’t know my life was missing this thread but now I can’t live another day without seeing it.

This is the linkage that goes missing.

 

[Tantalum]

Precise Flight just released a new cup holder (SafeLock) that is also over engineered and WAY over priced ($259.00). I would imagine it is better than the current set up!

Cool, thanks, and welcome to the forum!

I'm sure as you've seen here the term "Cirrus" tends to be a bit of a trigger for some of the posters here! I think it comes down to raging levels of jealousy disguised by the "real pilots don't need X" prophylactic. Magenta lines in G1000 Moonies, digital climate controls in the TTx, and the $1M price tag of a new Bonanza (where that money goes for something that's been basically unchanged for decades goes is beyond me.. but I guess with Textron selling ~7 per year they need to pad the margin heavily)

..I'll go have a Snickers now

 

[Tantalum]

This is the linkage that goes missing.

Thanks Blake.. as you can see @iamtheari not only is it ridiculously over engineered, it is also shamefully cheap looking and of very low overall build quality. It's also flimsy.. if you put a standard bottle of water in there it starts bending. Nevermind a steel thermos, might as well just rip the cup holder out of the plane and toss in in the trash at that point. I highly doubt this cup holder, when open and occupied, could actually survive the 3.8G certified load limit - plane probably needs a placard somewhere or at least a POH line item "max load limit reduced to 1.000001 G when cup holder(s) in use"

-I still love the plane, and the cup holders are a nice "WOW" factor for people on their first flight. Which is honestly, sort of sad, that being able to store your water bottle somewhere other than thrown randomly in the back seat or rolling around on the floor is "1%" and high end stuff

 

[PaulS]

Precise Flight just released a new cup holder (SafeLock) that is also over engineered and WAY over priced ($259.00). I would imagine it is better than the current set up!

Precise flight, they don't mention Cirrus in their literature though, but the holder was pretty cool.

 

[Blake Spurgeon]

Precise flight, they don't mention Cirrus in their literature though, but the holder was pretty cool.

It was at CX in Orlando this past January. I am almost positive it is in the Cirrus AMM, I'll double check tomorrow.

 

[iamtheari]

Thanks Blake.. as you can see @iamtheari not only is it ridiculously over engineered, it is also shamefully cheap looking and of very low overall build quality. It's also flimsy.. if you put a standard bottle of water in there it starts bending. Nevermind a steel thermos, might as well just rip the cup holder out of the plane and toss in in the trash at that point. I highly doubt this cup holder, when open and occupied, could actually survive the 3.8G certified load limit - plane probably needs a placard somewhere or at least a POH line item "max load limit reduced to 1.000001 G when cup holder(s) in use"

-I still love the plane, and the cup holders are a nice "WOW" factor for people on their first flight. Which is honestly, sort of sad, that being able to store your water bottle somewhere other than thrown randomly in the back seat or rolling around on the floor is "1%" and high end stuff

Most GA pilots drink tap water for free. Only a 1%er Cirrus elitist would actually buy water, in a bottle no less.

 

[PaulS]

Most GA pilots drink tap water for free. Only a 1%er Cirrus elitist would actually buy water, in a bottle no less.

Tap water is far from free, it's only free if your mom and dad pay for it.

 

[Tantalum]

Plus Fiji Water tastes better anyway. Voss is the best but those thick glass bottles have no place on those little cheap cup holders

 

[NoHeat]

My cupholder is black plastic. It's positioned inches from the floor and inches from the door, so it's easy to step on. I broke it by leaving it open, and then stepping on it the next time I got in the plane.

The shop replaced it at a surprisingly low cost -- Cirrus used a cheap part from a boating supply or something like that, and the labor wasn't much either. So the cost of the repair wasn't much of a bother, but just the same, I've never used mine since.

 

[Tantalum]

My cupholder is black plastic. It's positioned inches from the floor and inches from the door, so it's easy to step on. I broke it by leaving it open, and then stepping on it the next time I got in the plane.

The shop replaced it at a surprisingly low cost -- Cirrus used a cheap part from a boating supply or something like that, and the labor wasn't much either. So the cost of the repair wasn't much of a bother, but just the same, I've never used mine since.

to that end I've been using the one in the backseat. Just reach my hand around to it

 

[GRG55]

Most GA pilots drink tap water for free. Only a 1%er Cirrus elitist would actually buy water, in a bottle no less.
...

BUY bottled water? Cirrus owners don't have to buy their Fiji water. It's always waiting for them at boarding time, on the red carpet.
The FBO staff won't put it the airplane however. They don't want to risk the liability of breaking the flimsy cup holders.

 

[Tantalum]

BUY bottled water? Cirrus owners don't have to buy their Fiji water. It's always waiting for them at boarding time, on the red carpet.
The FBO staff won't put it the airplane however. They don't want to risk the liability of breaking the flimsy cup holders.

This is 100% true. They'll sometimes even leave a towel on the wingwalk folded up in the shape of Cirrus

 

[GRG55]

...it is also shamefully cheap looking and of very low overall build quality. It's also flimsy.. if you put a standard bottle of water in there it starts bending. Nevermind a steel thermos, might as well just rip the cup holder out of the plane and toss in in the trash at that point. I highly doubt this cup holder, when open and occupied, could actually survive the 3.8G certified load limit - plane probably needs a placard somewhere or at least a POH line item "max load limit reduced to 1.000001 G when cup holder(s) in use"

...

Cirrus had to leave something noticeable to improve for the Generation X version. How else ya gonna get dem fine owe-ners to trade up?

 

[Tantalum]

Cirrus had to leave something noticeable to improve for the Generation X version. How else ya gonna get dem fine owe-ners to trade up?

Oh man.. I can picture the marketing for the G7 now, replete with sexy zoomed in shots of carbon fiber cup holders with titanium trim

 

[iamtheari]

Oh man.. I can picture the marketing for the G7 now, replete with sexy zoomed in shots of carbon fiber cup holders with titanium trim

Leaked engineering documents show that they are working on a patent for an active self-leveling cup holder that will prevent spills during a BRS descent, but it won’t be ready until the G8 models.

 

[GRG55]

Leaked engineering documents show that they are working on a patent for an active self-leveling cup holder that will prevent spills during a BRS descent, but it won’t be ready until the G8 models.

Oh man.. I can picture the marketing for the G7 now, replete with sexy zoomed in shots of carbon fiber cup holders with titanium trim

I heard there's going to be embedded led lights that change color depending on the temp of the beverage in the cup holder.

 

[Tantalum]

^that would actually be kind of cool..

 

[PaulS]

I hear there is going to be a thermoelectric cooler that will keep cold beverages cold or hot beverages hot.


Oh and the free, cold bottled water is one of the best perks of renting. Especially when you need to shut down and get out of that air conditioned cabin on a hot summer day.