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Debate: Should avionics techs handle their own wiring repairs or leave it to the sheet metal guys?
I was talking to a lead tech in Tucson last week and he said letting the sheet metal crew fix our chafed wiring bundles is a disaster waiting to happen since they don't think about signal interference. But another old timer in our hangar swears they do cleaner work on tough panel rebuilds than we do because they deal with corrosion all day. I've seen both sides, but for something like a 12-volt power feed that keeps tripping the breaker on a 737, who should call the shots? What's your take on where the line between trades should be?
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sarah_brown2d ago
That sheet metal guy's right about corrosion work being more thorough.
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Has anyone actually watched a sheet metal guy try to trace a signal path when the chafe is hidden behind a bulkhead? I had a similar situation last year with a power feed in a King Air, and the lead let the sheet metal crew rebuild the whole panel, but they missed a cracked pin in the connector because they didn't check continuity, which @sarah_brown called out in a post I read later. So for something like that 737 breaker, I'd say let the avionics guys handle the wiring repair, but have the sheet metal crew inspect the panel for corrosion first.
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