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Van's Air Force

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page 31-11, step 3

BillT

Member
In general I have found Van's instructions very good, although sometimes a bit short in detail. This step is an example. I have not found a good way to get the PTT wires through the gooseneck of the control stick. Everything get stuck either at the 90 degree angle at the bottom of the long curve or where the bushing sleeve goes through the bottom of the stick. I have tried safety wire, string, twine, 18 g electrical wire and fishing line with no success. I must be missing something! I would appreciate any suggestions as no one else in the forums seems to have had a problem with threading these wires through the stick.

Bill T
#120406
N947WT reserved
 
I intend to put a cotton ball on the end of a string, and apply air pressure to blow it on thru.
 
vacuum cleaner

Try sucking the string through with a vacuum cleaner. I was tempted to drill a little hole on the aft side of the control stick at the 90 turn. There is no reason for the wire to exit the bottom of the stick. It has to depart the stick near the pivot point. But I was afraid of weakening the stick and also not complying with rule to build exactly like the plans. So I kept trying until finally getting the fish line through. Fish line works better than string because it is smoother. The inside of the stick is rough with sharp edges that a string can get caught on. There is a flat plate welded inside of the stick at the 90 degree turn. There is not much room, so whatever you try to pull through needs to be small and smooth.
Joe Gores
 
Fishing for wires

Using two pieces of safety wire with a sharp loop at each end works also. Fish at the 90 degree corner and you can hook the longer piece and pull it through, connect the PTT wires and go on with your rat killin"

Doug Dahl ,RV 9A and working on the canopy on the 12
 
That is my afternoon project, I am going to try the "blow the cotton ball" trick first, then wires and snakes if that don't work well. I will report back as to what worked.
 
Well after a couple hours, I finally got them thru there. The cotton ball trick won't work at all, the place where the tube goes thru the handle is VERY TIGHT and the ball will not make it, no matter how you size it.
After trying several other tricks that did not work, finally got it by tying a simple knot in a chalk line and blowing (with air compressor)it thru from the top. Even the knot wanted to catch where the tube goes thru. If I were to do another one, I think poking the knot thru the small space from the bottom and then blowing it out the top might work better.
There is still a hard part, taping the wires to the string makes enough bulk that it don't want to make the corners well either.
 
You guys are making this way too complicated!

Take a piece of nylon string. Blow it through with your air hose. Pull the wires. Done. Get on with the build!:)
 
Success thanks to my wife

After fussing with this step for several hours (FYI - I tried the cotton ball with both vacuum and compressed air as well as a mix of other wire fishing line and string before posting the first note) my wife suggested heavy gauge sewing thread with a fishing sinker on the end. A 3/0 sinker flattened to fit through the narrowest area where the bushing sleeve goes through the lower stick worked great. Start from the bottom and let gravity take it through with a bit of help by shaking the pipe. Use the thread to pull fishing line through and then the wires. I was finished with both sticks in 30 minutes.
 
I used the vacuum method. Worked great. Just an ordinary thread type string, no cotton balls or anything just the thread. See link for a detailed description and a photo. Took 5 minutes to do.
 
Piece of cake

After fussing with this step for several hours (FYI - I tried the cotton ball with both vacuum and compressed air as well as a mix of other wire fishing line and string before posting the first note) my wife suggested heavy gauge sewing thread with a fishing sinker on the end. A 3/0 sinker flattened to fit through the narrowest area where the bushing sleeve goes through the lower stick worked great. Start from the bottom and let gravity take it through with a bit of help by shaking the pipe. Use the thread to pull fishing line through and then the wires. I was finished with both sticks in 30 minutes.

All my thanks to your wife Bill, except that I used a nylon fishing line that came out of my fishing box where I got the sinker too. I flattened the small sinker to allow it go around the bushing sleeve and the gravity did the rest: amazingly easy! I think that the key is to have a very light fishing line because the sinker has to be light to pass the sleve.
Thanks also to you guys who were humble enough to describe your failures, a great time saver as my first impulse was to do what you did that did not work.
Is this forum great of what?
 
Good. That was the whole reason for posting what did not work, to save someone else the time and trouble.
 
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