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How did you? Going with electric trim& Tosten grips

ron sterba

Well Known Member
Decided to go with electric elevator trim and a Tosten grip and hat trim button on my RV9a nearing completion.How did you come out the bottom of the stick?drill the side or straight out the bottom of the stick. Then did u tie wrap the wire bundle to the push rod and route wires to a sub D or molex connector. I will put the AP disconnect on a grip switch too. My thoughts are about the flexing of the wire bundle leaving the pushrods to go to a connection point in between the floor ribs. I'll take your thoughts and photos if you have them. Merry Christmas and have a happy New Years.
Ron in oregon
 
Ron, plenty of discusion with in these forums whether to drill or not to drill the base of the stick and route the wires through the opening
after inserting a rubber anti-chaffe grommet. On a 7, it's pretty tight going out the bottom, trying to clear the bearings.
FYI, I drilled.
 
Hey Ron,

I just finished mine a while back. I'm also using electric trim and Tosten grips. I went straight out the bottom. After much experimenting and checking it all out, it's very easy and workable! I'm away from my main computer at the moment, but I'll try to get some pictures uploaded in the next day or two. Course... you're welcome to come by if you're up this way, too! I'm really happy with how it all turned out. :)

I should add, my passenger stick is easily removable, too. I imbedded some d-sub connectors inside the stick and it all comes apart easily. I'll show you that, too.
 
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Thanks Lorne

Ron, plenty of discusion with in these forums whether to drill or not to drill the base of the stick and route the wires through the opening
after inserting a rubber anti-chaffe grommet. On a 7, it's pretty tight going out the bottom, trying to clear the bearings.
FYI, I drilled.

couldn't get into SEARCH for the subject yesterday Lorne. Good info . appreciate the thought.

Ron
 
Thanks Bruce for letting me visit. I like how you ran the the wire bundle straight out the bottom of the stick and along the connecting rod between the two sticks then to the Sub D connectors. Appreciate the help and have a happy New Years! If anyone has pictures they would like to post feel free. As lorne has said its a topic that goes on and on but many builders are just getting to that stage or at least around the corner from it. They also know there is a tunnel somewhere in their life of the RV build that WILL HAVE A LIGHT IN IT! So I say to the finished builders lets keep this forum question alive for all the new comers.

Ron in Oregon RV9A
 
Thanks Bruce for letting me visit. I like how you ran the the wire bundle straight out the bottom of the stick and along the connecting rod between the two sticks then to the Sub D connectors. Appreciate the help and have a happy New Years! If anyone has pictures they would like to post feel free. As lorne has said its a topic that goes on and on but many builders are just getting to that stage or at least around the corner from it. They also know there is a tunnel somewhere in their life of the RV build that WILL HAVE A LIGHT IN IT! So I say to the finished builders lets keep this forum question alive for all the new comers.

Ron in Oregon RV9A

Thanks, Ron, it was great seeing you when you stopped by!

For anyone interested, here's what I showed Ron. This is how I did mine. I haven't flown it yet, but I'm confident that this will carry me safely for many years.

First, I experimented just running the wire bundle out the bottom of the stick to see if there was room enough without binding or chafing problems. The Tosten grips I'm using have a 10-wire bundle coming down the stick. I encased the bundle in some heat-shrink tubing. I also grabbed my aileron pushrod and inserted the rod-end bearing in place, to make sure that with both bearings in place, I still had the clearance I was looking for. This pic was taken with my inspection mirror sitting on the floor of the fuselage, looking up at the bottom of the stick. Clearance is no problem, there's plenty of wiggle room.

P1010187%20(Medium).JPG


Here's another shot, taken on the bench. By this time, I encased the wire bundle in some snake-skin and more heat-shrink tubing:

P1010206%20(Medium).JPG


There's a lot of movement going on at the bottom of the stick as you fly the plane. I thought about it a lot, and realized that perhaps the best way to minimize friction and potential chafing would be to secure the wire bundle here and relocate the "movement zone" over to the side. So I secured the wire bundle to the connecting rod between the two sticks with some 3/4" heat shrink tubing. I put the stick through all possible motions it will encounter, and the wire bundle barely moves at the bottom of the stick in this position. So far, so good!

P1010208%20(Medium).JPG


Here's a shot of my setup after doing the other side. Depending on which bay you want the wire bundles to go into, you shorten or lengthen the heat-shrink needed on each side. This is how mine turned out. Also, as I thought about it, I wanted to protect the wire bundle from any possible cracking or splitting of the heat shrink tubing, over time. So I secured each end with some white wire-tie lacing for added strength. Overkill, perhaps. But I feel confident about it never failing. Also, by this time, I added some spiral wrap on the zone of most movement, and I crimped on some pins and installed a d-sub connector.

P1010547%20(Medium).JPG


Here's the complete setup, ready to install back in the fuselage.

P1010550%20(Medium).JPG


The two d-sub connectors plug into this board that I bought on eBay. I fastened it to the seat rib, then a single wire bundle goes forward from here up behind the panel to complete all the wiring. So both sticks are fully functional. The passenger stick is easily removable by simply pushing a spring button and pulling it out. I imbedded d-sub connectors in the passenger stick which plug and unplug as you put the stick in or take it out.

P1010552%20(Medium).JPG


All the movement of the stick translates into these wire bundles moving side-to-side in the bay you route the wire bundles into. The snake-skin, heat-shrink, and spiral wrap will protect the wire bundle from any harm. I figure it should last thousands of hours before any wear or tear becomes noticeable.

P1010242%20(Medium).JPG


Any questions or comments are greatly appreciated. :)
 
Nicely done, Bruce! I drilled the hole, but kept it small as possible. No grommet, so I taped it well so there would be no movement. The loop goes to the front side for pivot. It is located as close to the pivot point as possible to limit the motion. The rib connection and loop were determined by moving the stick around until the location presented a minimal movement. 26ga wires that come with the RayAllen grips were used. I was going to use a tie base for the final solid cable connection to the rib, but decided use the more robust adel clamp.

IMG_0699.JPG


I discarded the "out the bottom" approach too soon it seems. I really like your RS232 connector board!

Many fine ways to to this job I suppose.
 
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