Diamond Quality

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rwtucker
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Diamond Quality

Post by rwtucker »

Many of us have commented on the quality of our Diamond from engineering, construction, fit and finish, or other quality perspectives. I have not been flying my 2008 XLS much in the past four years but am again spending time with it and have been working on upgrades. Yesterday, I was replacing my OEM Whelen right wingtip light with Whelen's LED. While I was in there admiring the wing inferior and removing dead weight, I decided to redesign the two harnesses to better suit my liking. The Molex connectors and TechFex were standard issue -- good enough -- but the grade of wire and multiple tiered layers of heat shrink were of higher quality than I expected based on what I see in other aircraft. And so was the workmanship, not a sloppy shield or crimp to be found. What I saw reminded me of the day I spent at the factory in 2008 watching all of the small, two-person teams working quietly on their Diamond in what appeared to be an unrushed and meticulous fashion. I was especially impressed with the harness shop. The manager of the shop showed me around and pointed out that his shop had won awards for their work.

Do those of you who flew and perhaps worked on Diamonds manufactured before Diamond was sold, and who now fly Diamonds manufactured a few years after Diamond was sold, have any observations on whether different aspects of quality have improved, stayed the same or declined?
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Steve
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Re: Diamond Quality

Post by Steve »

As one of the "Earliest Adopters", I can only comment on my assessment of the quality of my aircraft, and not on any trends. My airframe is serial number 40.049, built in 2001 in Austria. It was shipped to Canada, had a DME added, then flown to the US. I am quite familiar with the construction of the airframe, as I have always done the Annual Inspections with my A&P/IA, as well as all of the maintenance and upgrades under his supervision.

I was always impressed by the build quality. I have been to the London factory twice, and was impressed with their processes. I have noticed only a couple of items that I thought could have been done better (control rod bellows where they exit the fuselage, molding strip between the wing and fuselage wing root - although this was disassembled to ship the aircraft to Canada). There are some well known design issues that are recurring problems (control rod roller cracks, interior light fixtures, the nosegear crack inspections and "corking", etc.), but overall, it is really a well-designed, well-built aircraft. Otherwise I wouldn't have kept it for 22 years...
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rwtucker
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Re: Diamond Quality

Post by rwtucker »

The quality thing seems a well kept secret in some circles Steve. When I bought my hangar in the Phoenix east valley, I began looking for a new IA to develop a relationship with when I am in Arizona. I prefer to do most of my own mechanical work and have it checked by someone who has expertise in Diamond aircraft, in case I have a question that my first source (you guys) doesn't have an answer for. In the course of interviewing a bunch of IAs, I was a little surprised to learn how few knew much about Diamond's engineering or component quality. And for some reason, some mechanics thought Diamonds had a reputation for catching on fire???

Does Diamond or anyone have recent information on cracks in the aileron rollers? Are they a high time issue, a random walk, associated with certain models/years, or maybe just bad shoves of the too-large aileron rod to bend he brackets (weird). Can anyone with known cracks detect a change in the feel on the stick? And since one set of rollers can't be seen on inspection, even by those of us who have inspection holes, how does one learn of cracks until a major inspection? Looks like a design compromise, but I'm hard pressed to come up with a superior solution. I was never fond of the pulleys and cables in my turbocharged Dakota, although I never had a problem with them and the system seemed to offer less inertial mass than our DA40 system.
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Rich
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Re: Diamond Quality

Post by Rich »

I believe the problem with the aileron rollers is simply that certain plastics outgas and shrink with age. I also believe a single crack in the plastic portion of a roller does not in itself comprise a diminishing of its function. It's a consequence of relief of the stress of the shrinkage.
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Steve
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Re: Diamond Quality

Post by Steve »

Agree with Rich. I never was aware of any of the four roller cracks in my aircraft until I found them during the inspection. No change in control feel whatsoever. My four cracked rollers appeared at 11, 14 and 20 years calendar time in service. three were in the left wing, and one was for the elevator pushrod behind the rear cabin bulkhead.
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rwtucker
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Re: Diamond Quality

Post by rwtucker »

Thanks Rich and Steve. I keep an eye on mine and report if I see anything unusual. No lube requirements so I guess the rollers are sealed. Sorry about the topic creep.
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