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RV-8 Stick Bending

8MikeXray

Well Known Member
I can bend your new, full length RV-8 front stick as pictured below.

Send me a PM for the address.

I will bend sticks as my time permits.

$120 includes shipping

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This brings up the obvious question for those of you who have flown behind a straight stick vs a bent stick. what are the advantages to the bent stick? is the a certain body type that works better with a bent stick (tall, short,etc) it would appear to be a more natural resting striaght and level position to have the stick closer in. is there any problem with getting the stick short enough to fit under the panel with the infinity stick grip?

I just received my infinity grip last week, and the seats were shipped form flightline interiors yesterday, so timing is great to make the decision.
 
Reason for S Bending RV-8 Front Control Stick

The S Bend allows for a more ergonomic arm position when your hand is resting on the stick. It allows most people with normal arm length the luxury of having their elbow resting close to 90 degrees when hand flying. It greatly reduces arm fatigue.

The pictures show the s bend made as short as possible. The setup in the picture works great in the RV-8 and allows enough room above the s bend to install an Infinity grip with 1/2" clearance to the panel bottom at full down elevator deflection.

Hope this helps,

Mike
 
stick bending

Just got my stick back from him and looks nice. Will install it later as I need a reason to disassemble the seat pans to do the install. If it gives me some of the stick I cut off the more the merrier.
 
Stick Bent

Got mine back the other day. Nice job. Thanks.

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Finishing
San Ramon, CA
 
Stick bending

Need a stick bent. Sent a pm last week and have had no response. Just wondering if I'm doing something wrong?
 
Stick bending

Got my stick back in less than 2 weeks. Looks great. Thanks Mike for a job well done.
 
More info on bending your stick

FYI

You need to send a full length uncut front stick.

If the stick is cut or has holes drilled in it for wires I cannot bend it.

I can bend the stock powder coated stick and not crack the powder coat.

There will be some small marks in the powder coat from the bending process.

If I bend a primered stick the primer will yield and will need to be re primed.

I cannot bend the rear stick because it is a smaller diameter and will not
work in my die.

I can change the angle of the bend but not the position of the bend.

Thanks for your interest

Mike
 
Nice Piece of Work

Mike did an excellent job and his turnaround time exceeded expectations. I'm a happy camper.

--
Joe
 
DWebster

Mike bent my stick and it looks great and the service was excellent.
Trying to talk Mike into bending rear sticks for the Infinity grip so it won't hit the rear seat back. Stay tuned.
 
Happy Customer

Just got mine back today. :D
Of course I put it in right away. It will still need a little trimming at the top to clear the bottom of my panel. No suprise there.
Now...what kind of grip??? :rolleyes:
 
stick bending

:) Just received my stick back from Mike. It looks great, didn't even scratch the
paint. Only took eight days from the time I sent it get it back.
 
stick bending

Got mine back promptly and in perfect condition. No scratches or cracks in powder coat.

Mike, you excellent work. Thanks!
 
More info on bending your stick

The offset was determined by the seat ramp hight and the Infinity grip location.

The offset is approximately 1 3/4" aft. That is the maximum limit of the bend radius. Please see the photo's.

It leaves enough room to clear the seat ramp with full up elevator with the ailerons in the neutral position and allow the Infinity grip to fit with 1/2" clearance from the bottom of the panel with full down elevator.

You will need to remove a small amount of material from the Infinity grip where it contacts the inside of the upper bend to allow it to drop down and give the 1/2" panel clearance.

Hope this information helps,
 
Stick Bending

Got mine last week. It took longer for the US Postal service to get it to Mike than it did for Mike to bend it and get it back to me.
Very pleased with the final product.
It was reassuring that, when I asked, Mike took the time to explain his process....sand packing/lead plug/custom die...all the right techniques for thin wall tubing.
 
Rocket stick

Just another quick plug for Mike. I sent my stick to him last friday and got it back today (thursday) less than a week. I wanted a little more panel clearance and wanted the stick a little closer to me. Very nice work with no damage to the powder coat. Nice Job Mike!
Ryan
 
Another outstanding report for Mike. Work was perform as advertised, and turn around time was OUTSTANDING! I couldn't be happier! Thank you!
 
Stick bend Infinity Conflict

Hi all,

I received a well bent stick some months ago but was just today trying to get the infinity grip on. With the stick cut down to the length necessary to clear the instrument panel, the bend is just starting to enter the Infinity. After a couple of hours of trimming and fiddle-farting, I cannot get the grip to close around the stick. Anyone else run into this issue? Any suggestions?

Regards,

Michael Wynn
RV 8 Wiring
San Ramon, CA
 
Stick bend Infinity Conflict

I received a well bent stick some months ago but was just today trying to get the infinity grip on. With the stick cut down to the length necessary to clear the instrument panel, the bend is just starting to enter the Infinity. After a couple of hours of trimming and fiddle-farting, I cannot get the grip to close around the stick. Anyone else run into this issue? Any suggestions?

Michael, I'm in exactly the same boat. Received the stick months ago, just tried to fit the Infinity grip this week. With the China hat trim switch on top of the grip just clearing the bottom of the instrument panel, the bottom of the stick grip is on the curved portion of the bend and will not reassemble.

I've enlarged the grip bushings' clearance holes in the stick to 0.500" in hopes it would relieve the fit enough to get the two halves together but no soap. The bend in the stick is definitely interfering with the bottom of the grip. The real solution seems to be to move the grip upward but that's not practical at this point (stick is cut, drilled, and slotted) and then it wouldn't clear the bottom of the panel anyway.

Have you solved your fit problem and if so, what did you do. Thought I'd ask before I perform Dremel surgery on the inside of the grip :-(
 
Cingari STick bend has big creases.

Well Mike, the stick I received from you looked nothing like the photo you posted. There were huge creases in each bend, and we ended up throwing it away and having a new one made. Just thought folks should know.
 
RV8 stick bend

I just received my stick from Mike and couldn't be happier. The bend and angles are great and having the stick even a little further aft makes it so much more compfortable. Thanks a bunch!!! Very nice work.
 
Anyone remember the part number of the RV8 front stick? I want to order a new stick to send it to bend. Thank you

Pablo Fern?ndez
RV8 LV-X418
Argentina
 
Hmmmm

This isn't a slag, it's just an FYI for those looking at getting their sticks bent. I sent my stick off to Mike for bending and here is the result:

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Both bends have creases. I sent Mike an email asking about the creases as it's not what I expected after viewing the pictures of the nice bends. I'm not going to replace my stick, but Mike offered an explanation for this happening.

"The stick hardness and wall thickness varies with the age of the sticks. Some of the sticks I have done have more compression on the inside of the bend radius then others.

They all get bent using the same process. Some bend better than others"

So if you're good with creases like this that are cosmetic in nature, Mike has a very speedy turn around. If you're not, beware of the stick you get that may have different wall thicknesses and hardness that could result in this happening.

Cheers,


Don
 
Age of stick

Which sticks bend better, old sticks or newer sticks?

Don....When was your stick purchased from Vans?
 
February 2013

My fuse kit was picked up February 2013, so it's a new stick. The wall thickness is 0.039 in.

Don
 
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creases

Just got my stick back from Mike a couple weeks ago (with fast turnaround). My stick is 13 years old and did end up with the creases, however, I don't view them as a big deal at all, almost unnoticeable when mounted, and a small compromise considering the new more comfortable stick geometry. In spite of the creases, the powdercoat remained undisturbed. Thanks, Mike!
 
Just got my stick back from Mike a couple weeks ago (with fast turnaround). My stick is 13 years old and did end up with the creases, however, I don't view them as a big deal at all, almost unnoticeable when mounted, and a small compromise considering the new more comfortable stick geometry. In spite of the creases, the powdercoat remained undisturbed. Thanks, Mike!

+1

My grip pretty much covers the crease.
 
Anyone know if Mike is still offering to bend the stick? If not, or he isn't, is there anyone out there still offering the service?
 
He done mine a couple months ago, however he told me that it would be a favor to me because of the complaints of creases. It's the metal, not his teqnique or dies. I told him it didn't matter too me if it had creases, only then did he say he would do it.

Bird
 
He done mine a couple months ago, however he told me that it would be a favor to me because of the complaints of creases. It's the metal, not his teqnique or dies. I told him it didn't matter too me if it had creases, only then did he say he would do it.

Bird
Bird,
Do you have a good contact for Mike? I sent him an email and never got a response. Any help would be great.

Thanks,
 
Heat first?

It's going to be sometime before my -8 is ready to fly, but I'm thinking I might want my stick bent too. I was wondering if you could get a stick that wasn't powder coated from Van's and then have Mike heat (red hot) the stick where it was to be bent, if that would eleminate the crease. I wonder if this has been tried? Thanks
 
Mike bent my front stick a while back. It has the creases as others have reported, but I'm fine with it.

I also needed to bend the rear stick, which Mike doesn't have the tooling for. I bought a piece of tubing and had a local metal shop do the bend- they heated it and bent it and ended up with just about exactly the same creases.
 
RV8 front stick bend service.
Is this service still available?

Apparently not from "MCingari" mentioned above. I sent an email out and he replied saying he's not in that business any more.

Sure wish I could find someone who did this because it would make installing an Infinity or any other tall grip much easier with regard to panel clearance.
 
RV8 front stick bend service.
Is this service still available?

Apparently not from "MCingari" mentioned above. I sent an email out and he replied saying he's not in that business any more.

Sure wish I could find someone who did this because it would make installing an Infinity or any other tall grip much easier with regard to panel clearance.

There is a market for the service if someone with the skills and time wants to setup a service to do this. There are three right here right now that would pay for the RV-8 stick bending service.
 
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