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Stick/throttle interference

S

springcanyon

Member
I just clamped my throttle bracket to the bottom of my panel, with the throttle dead center. It appears that with full nose down and right aileron the top of the stick will hit the throttle. I can't imgine getting into that condition, but still I wonder if that is something to be concerned about? I have already cut a 2-3" off the sticks. I'm using Ray Allen grips that do add some height to the sticks. It would be a major pain to unwire both sticks to cut more off! :mad:

I would welcome some oninions on this.

Thanks much
Don Owens
 
Exact same thing I went through. I did not want to unwire the ray allan sticks so what I did was to use a small grinder with a ceramic tile blade. It is about 4" in diameter and about 1/8" thick. Diamond impregnated.

I used this grinder to carefully cut a circle 1 inch down all the way around the stick and then I made a vertical cut in that piece so I could wedge it apart to clear the wires and then slid the grip back down on the stick.

I like the shorter sticks anyway. Did not change the feel.
 
Make sure you have your controls all connected & rigged before you conclude there's legit interference. You probably already do have everything rigged, but if not, all bets are off until then...
 
Dan's comment is right on, but if you really do have interference, after trimming, like i did (I put my carb heat and cabin heat controls on the throttle bracket too) -- you can build a small "splice plate" that essentially relocates the controls about 1" forward. Make it from 063 plate and it'll be plenty rigid, place nutplates to mate with the existing panel holes and holes to mate with the throttle bracket.

I can post pictures if that's not clear.
 
If you want, you can try putting in a small column down from the center of the panel, and arrange the engine controls vertically. That's what we did for our -6; from the top it runs throttle, prop, mixture, trim. Apparently it's unusual; a lot of people comment on it. Personally, I like it, since it makes those controls equally accessible from either seat, and it's a good visual reminder of the correct order to operate them in (esp. when first learning how to handle a c/s prop). Does cut out a bit of knee room, though.

I realize it's probably too late for this kind of change, and that it's up to personal preference... but just wanted to throw it out.
 
Floor panels

Make sure your floor panels are in the plane and then see if the stick hits the throttle bracket. I thought there might be a problem hitting until we placed the floor panels in and this stops the stick just shy of the bracket.

Then cut to length according to need or personal preference.

Pat Garboden
Ozark, MO
 
gorbak said:
Make sure your floor panels are in the plane and then see if the stick hits the throttle bracket. I thought there might be a problem hitting until we placed the floor panels in and this stops the stick just shy of the bracket.
Click to expand...

I think it's much preferred if your sticks stop moving when the control stops are hit, not the floor panel...
 
rmartingt said:
If you want, you can try putting in a small column down from the center of the panel, and arrange the engine controls vertically. That's what we did for our -6; from the top it runs throttle, prop, mixture, trim. Apparently it's unusual; a lot of people comment on it. Personally, I like it, since it makes those controls equally accessible from either seat, and it's a good visual reminder of the correct order to operate them in (esp. when first learning how to handle a c/s prop). Does cut out a bit of knee room, though.

I realize it's probably too late for this kind of change, and that it's up to personal preference... but just wanted to throw it out.
Click to expand...

This sounds interesting, do you have a picture?
 
rmartingt said:
If you want, you can try putting in a small column down from the center of the panel, and arrange the engine controls vertically. ...
Click to expand...
This is what is in the plans for the 6. Most people went away from it because it makes it much harder to work under the panel. Also, as noted, it decreases knee room.
 
morlino said:
This sounds interesting, do you have a picture?
Click to expand...

It's a little outdated (we've cleaned it up a bit), but overall the layout hasn't changed. Very utilitarian. And yes, that's a toy E-2 hanging where an attitude indicator would go.
 
I like the sticks 2 1/2" shorter with the Allen grip, and I also moved the controls subpanel toward the pilot ~2" to give my pax (wife) more knee wiggle room in cruise when the mixture is pulled out significantly. Whatever your final arrangement, the critical issue isn't bumping against something (although it shows a certain lack of foresight), but a combination that allows the stick to sneak under the throttle shaft or knob and get hung up.

John Siebold
Boise, ID
 
My stick cleared the panel by 1/3" as installed, but had the question about left/right throw in the end. As cut, it did interfere with the throttle w/o the ailerons connected. I checked the throw on a flying -7, and decided to cut down the stick about 2" .. plenty of clearance all around now.
 
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