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wiring tosten grip

S

simatos

Well Known Member
Putting in Tosten grip, need to run wires through the stick and looks like i need a hole to thread the wires out of the stick near the pivot point. Wonder what others may have done placing a wire exit hole keeping in mind dont want to weaken the structure of the stick-pivot. Looks like also need to shorten the stick quite a bit also. Look forward to hearing ideas and approaches other have used.
Cheers Gary
 
I ran my wires outside, down the aft side of the stick, cable tied. You can cover the whole assembly with a leather or cloth jacket if you want it to look pretty.
I had to cut nearly the entire top 'handle' of the stick off to get the assembly the right length.
 
Start by cutting the length of the Tosten grip off the metal stick provided by Vans.That will get you close unless you are customising the panel height. You may have to cut it again after checking for interference with all controls in all positions. I had to nip off another half inch after finding an interferance with the throttle control. BTW, your stick boot may cover the entire metal portion. Mine does.

I am not a fan of cutting holes in the stick anywhere near the pivot. In my case, I ran my Tosten wires all the way out the bottom of the stick and looped them back towards the pivot and on to their destination. In my case the wire bundle may have been smaller than some since I did not choose the control my espresso machine from the grip.
 
Wiring Grips

There used to be a fellow on here, that will remain nameless, that documented his work very well.

He says he spoke with Tom (Green?) at Van's and received a no objection answer on drilling a hole as long as it was no larger the 3/8.


20030625_wire_exit.jpg
 
Vans has a new stick to replace the one that came with the kit. It is bent at a different angle and doesn't need to be cut. I believe that it is predrilled for the wires. Check with Van's or Tosten. We ran the wires through the hole with no problems. I give the credit to Nathan Rigaud of 2 Bums Aircraft.
 
Thank you guys, while we are talking Tosten grip, my plan now is pitch trim and PTT. The grip has power and ground wires and there is also a relay also asking for power and ground. So is it correct that both will need power and ground if I just have these 2 functions. I guess I'm wondering since relay is doing the work, why power the grip?

Also relay asks for trim in and trim out. I'm thinking trim in is from grip.? And trim out is to the autopilot servo end of things? Sound reasonable?

Thx G
 
simatos said:
Thank you guys,

Also relay asks for trim in and trim out. I'm thinking trim in is from grip.? And trim out is to the autopilot servo end of things? Sound reasonable?

Thx G
Click to expand...

I cannot comment without seeing a schematic, but this does not sound right. Since you can have trim up, trim down, or trim off, it's hard to handle all three with just one relay. If you have a box with multiple relays I'd look for a pair of trim inputs from the autopilot, an up and a down input from each stick, and a pair of outputs to the trim motor.
 
Louavul said:
He says he spoke with Tom (Green?) at Van's and received a no objection answer on drilling a hole as long as it was no larger the 3/8.
Click to expand...

As a rule-o-thumb, a hole is a 3x stress concentration, so when you add an unfilled hole, you're betting the original design had more than three times the necessary strength in that location. True or not would depend greatly on the stick arrangement and location of the hole.

If you want to drill a hole in the stick, and don't have a specific approval from someone who can do the load analysis, the conservative approach is to weld on a small reinforcement patch:

 
Louavul said:
There used to be a fellow on here, that will remain nameless, that documented his work very well.

He says he spoke with Tom (Green?) at Van's and received a no objection answer on drilling a hole as long as it was no larger the 3/8.


20030625_wire_exit.jpg
Click to expand...

Note that this hole is below the elevator attachment, and is on the neutral axis for tensile stresses for the aileron forces. This is where I out mine too. then spent a lot of time locating the wire attachment points to ensure that during full range of stick motion the bending of the wires are minimized, and does not rub. Adel on one end and taped to the stick. Like DanH says, it is your decision, so gather your data from the most direct sources.
 
pick the LEAST stressed area

We can all agree that the lower area of the stick is sometimes highly stressed..so let's drill that hole where we know the stresses are less.

Wouldn't that be near the top of the stick? So drill the hole near the top and run the wires outside to the bottom. It's probably best to drill the hole in the side as opposed to the front or back...

There are many ways to cover this wire bundle that would look professional.

Carry on!
Mark
 
Thanks again you guys. Mike I have looked over the Tosten relay schematic again and I think I understand how to go ahead with the wiring. Last bonehead question for the weekend:
With elevator in Neutral position, what position would be best for control stick??
In the straight vertical position seems to me to be a bit forward and tilted a little back seems better but I wonder what others have done. I dont seea recomended position in the plans. Thanks for all your great suggestions and clarifications. Cheers G
 
I have the Tosten grips. I went straight thru and out the bottom of the stick. I tied the wires to the pushrod between the sticks and exited them off at the center tunnel. I purchased tefzel wire with the same colors as that on the sticks to keep things a little clearer in the future if I ever need to tear into it. I'm using the VP-X so I ran home runs of wire from the stick all the way to the VP-X. It turned out much cleaner than my original plan to install a terminal strip between the floor ribs not to mention the limited space to work in. As an added bonus, it all worked electrically too! :D Just keep in mind that where you have movement/flex in your wiring to perform exits and loops so that the wire is flexed more longitudinally rather than laterally. Better for the wire to be twisted down its length if it has to move.
 
I used the Tosten grips and had the wiring just come straight out of the bottom. I did a couple of modifications on the passenger stick to make it plug in and be easily removable. Stick buttons I used are the Hat for trim, trigger for PTT, small button under PTT for AP disconnect. The left and right buttons under the hat switch are for flaps up/down. The VP-X limits the flap operation to speeds below 78 Knots for the RV-9A, so no problem accidentally hitting them during cruise, since they are basically disabled.

My build log for the wiring is here.
 
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