Scudrunners

Why stainless?

Couple of points:

When ordering aircraft hardware and parts in Canada, I
tend to call Spruce and tell them at the start of the call
that I want it shipped out of Brantford.  No border hassle.

If you guys want, I can spend 10-15 minutes and put
together a Spruce parts order which would make you a
pretty nice hardware kit.  You need an assortment (#4
to #10) of sheet metal screws, machine screws (truss
heads) of various lengths, then fiber and metal stop nuts,
then washers (flat, fiber, star, split-ring lock), then cotter
pins.  Truth be known, you can get cotter pins at Canadian
Tire but they won't be anodized and pretty.

re: Stainless ... many people (myself included) use
stainless screws for [b]non-structural[/b] applications that
may be exposed to the elements, for corrosion resistance.

Basically, they look a hell of a lot better!!

re: Justin Trudeau

At the federal level, we have Hairdo Dolly.

At the provincial level, there is Kathleen Wynner.

At the local level, we have a retired DOT Inspector
called "Rotten Ronnie" (not my name for him - he
earned it years ago) that Enforcement fondly refers
to as their "eyes and ears at the airport".

Rotten Ronnie reports everything that happens in
the worst possible light, while contravening every
regulation himself, in the grand tradition of retired
fat southern sheriffs everywhere.  He has been
attacking pilots at my home airport for 30 years
now, and has done enormous damage to TC in
the process.  Not like they could give a flying
fuck at a donut.

Between Hairdo Dolly, that thing in Toronto,
and Rotten Ronnie locally, this country is fucked.

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=4290.msg11514#msg11514 date=1474809210]
that thing in Toronto,[/quote]

Don't worry, colonel, when Kellie Leitch wins the leadership, you can vote for her and we'll have a "thing" in Ottawa to go with the one in Toronto.

[img]http://d2x3wmakafwqf5.cloudfront.net/wo ... Leitch.jpg[/img]

Ain't she cute??

Well-stated restriction on where to use stainless hardware, Colonel. That was the point of my question.
Stainless hardware kits for various airframes include many machine-thread screws which would lead one to think it is okay to substitute them at all locations.
I certainly agree that a mirror-like shininess is more attractive than a rusty screw head and the extra thirty seconds that will be required to eventually remove it with a  reverse-twist drill bit that is combined with a left-hand screw-threaded bit, available at CT in a size that will snap into the bit holder bracket of any screwgun/drill.
Perhaps we should ask ourselves if it is a good idea to remove a fastener that is so visibly sacrificing itself at a junction that must have some sort of galvanic action occurring. Viewed from this perspective, the standard hardware can be considered to be similar in purpose to the sacrificial zincs seen on boat hulls and underwater fittings, shafts, propellors, etc. Unsightly in action but doing its job.
Although only a sample of one, when I stripped and repainted the 1968 Cardinal and followed it with a stainless-steel screw kit, there are a few of those "worm-track" corrosion lines under the paint leading away from stainless screws while there are none around the conventional screws.
But, as CS would say, WTH do I know? I've only been sticking my hands ( and dropping tools and parts) into airplane innards beginning with DHC-3's in my teen years in the Mid-Sixties, held my AME license since 1970, as long as I've been a licensed pilot.

+1 on the items mentions so far + I am very fond of the self bonding silicon tapes. You can wrap them around hoses etc. to stop a leak in an emergency and are very good for anti chafing purposes.


The tool however that I use most is a mag-light. I constantly shine it in all the different nooks and crannies of the plane looking for trouble and its amazing how many things I've found long before they become dangerous.