FFS. I need a new hobby.

Got ahold of an actual lawyer this morning after a couple failed attempts. He was very sympathetic but basically said there's not enough there to be worth pursuing legally. So that's that. His suggestion was to make a report to the FAA.

That is my intention, although this thread: https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/filing-a-complaint-with-local-fsdo.140293/ and a very, very similar one on BT (that @SCCutler commented on) give me pause. According to the great majority of posters, making a report like this to the FSDO triggers a rectal exam for the aircraft owner as well. I'm pretty fastidious about maintaining my airplane, and I'm certain my logbooks are in order, but I also realize that they will find SOMETHING if they dig deep enough. In the end, I think it's still something I have to do as I don't want this guy to do this to someone else.

Unsure if I should call the AL FSDO directly or submit a report via the FAA reporting "hotline" website.
Sounds to me like a Service Difficulty Report, but I’m not 100% sure what that entails…but maybe ask your mechanic for the appropriate venue to submit it.
 
That almost looks like someone attempted to weld it themselves. But it doesn't look like it was machined or ground. Fugly nonetheless.
My old one has some similar weirdness in the same area, but not to that extreme. Divco said that it's an area where aluminum flows in from two directions during casting, which usually leaves a line, but in this case looks like it wasn't hot enough to completely fuse/fill out the mold.
 
Sounds to me like a Service Difficulty Report, but I’m not 100% sure what that entails…but maybe ask your mechanic for the appropriate venue to submit it.

That could be appropriate especially considering the P/N on the most recent part shipped wasn’t what the P/N on the bag said it was.
 
The set screw is supposed to be an AN565B1032H5. That breaks down like this:

AN565-military designation for a setscrew
B-conical point
1032-10/32"
H5-length 5/16"

What was in the bag, which according to the 8130 came from Mother Lycoming herself, is an AN565D1032H5. It's a cupped point, not a conical point, and would barely engage the hole in the idler shaft, if at all. Both the bag and 8130 label it as a "B" conical point. $5.31, BTW:
NOW imagine that WAS NOT AN AN565 part number but some dumbass Continental or Lycoming part number like LW-12345 or STD-12345, I haven't read the SB relating to this but who would catch this screw-up?
 
I read the SI... just wow. There should be actual pictures of the setscrews and warning about how to verify correct parts.
 
EAA benefit used to be Solidworks, now it's SolidEdge... Which is why I'm not gonna depend on EAA to make CAD affordable enough. I don't want to have to learn a new one when they change sponsors.

Personally, I'm learning Fusion360 (which I think they're rebranding to just "Fusion" now). It seems to be one of the most popular ones in the online 3D printing communities I'm part of, there's a ton of resources for learning it, it's parametric and cross platform... OnShape seems to be the next-most popular, but there are a lot of options out there.

I got started on Fusion360 a few years go - I even paid the ?$70? for a short-term subscription. Then I jumped to OnShape (can't remember why), which is free (with the caveat that your designs are available to other OnShape users). Now I'm trying to get back into OnShape - mostly because I can run it on my Samsung S7+ tablet. I haven't tried Fusion360's mobile app yet, so can't comment on its performance requirements. They both worked well for the limited use I was doing - mostly designing furniture type stuff at that time.
 
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I read the SI... just wow. There should be actual pictures of the setscrews and warning about how to verify correct parts.
That's a great point. To that end, I called Lyco tech support (for the third time in two weeks). He seemed concerned and asked me to send photos, which I did. Maybe I'll get my very own service bulletin.
 
My old one has some similar weirdness in the same area, but not to that extreme. Divco said that it's an area where aluminum flows in from two directions during casting, which usually leaves a line, but in this case looks like it wasn't hot enough to completely fuse/fill out the mold.

If it's anything like the Continental 3d models I worked on about 10 years ago to have new casting molds made, the molds were worn out 30 years ago and have been repaired to hell and back and have needed to be replaced for 20.
 
That's a great point. To that end, I called Lyco tech support (for the third time in two weeks). He seemed concerned and asked me to send photos, which I did. Maybe I'll get my very own service bulletin.
20 years as an A&P and I can see myself getting bit here. This is a mess. Getting the correct parts and being able to verify you have the correct parts should a simple task, and sometimes it is not.

I just finished assembling an O320 in April, an engine that was new in 1968, the new parts manuals don't even cover that generation of engine. Mine doesn't use body-fit through bolts and has doweled main bearing saddles.
 
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