MikeTurner’s Side Sticks
I built the side sticks in order to possibly gain a little
extra control by having the arm rests to use as a more stable platform rather
than resting my elbow/arm on my knee with the joysticks. But also to get the control
sticks or center stick out of my way when it comes to getting in and out of the
KR. And I don't have to have a hole in the seats.
The basic construction begins with putting a rod, I used a 3/4 inch 7075 alum rod threaded about 1 inch up on one end. (This is over kill could be a torque tube to save weight) The rod runs under the arm rest and needs to be ran as much as possible parallel to the center line of the boat. The upper end of the rods has the control sticks made of 6061 x 1 inch x 1/8 inch alum. On each side of a bracket on each rod. The bracket is there to support a pulley (I think which is 1 1/4 inch pulley) far enough forward of the pivot point where the rod intersect the bottom of the sticks to allow control movement but not so far forward as to interfere with the aircraft structure. The rod must be placed far enough under the arm at the upper portion of the arm to allow the up elevator control cable to clear any of the structure of the armrest. The father down the more control you have-- due to leverage-- but the farther you will have to move the stick for a given control input. But again don't get so low that movement of the control sticks and associated hardware interfere with aircraft structure. (This is a tight fit) The other end of the rod needs to be just above the rear spars to allow the placement of a 3" bellcrank facing down so you can control the ailerons with the aileron control which was moved from just behind the front spar to just in front of the rear spar. Because the boat tapers together as it go back toward the tail the rods go from inside the truss at the top then proceeds down between the old and new truss members. they exit out side of the old skin and mostly under/inside the new skin. Keep the lower end of the rod high enough so it can be removed by sliding out above the trailing edge of the wings. I also put in a piece of 3/4 inch pvc just as a guide so I could pull the rods and replace if any maintenance was required.
Now that we have the rod business out of the way I would like to say something about the control cable and how it works with the pulley setup. I based control cable movements on the given that all bell cranks are 3 inches from pivot point to outer position of the bell cranks so therefore I place the pivot point of the control sticks 3 inches above the center line of the rod. I just ran a continues cable from the up elevator horn through 2 sets of redirecting pulleys to the lower end of the rods under the armrests but over the rods up to the pivot point between the sticks over the pulley in (front of the sticks) and back down just above the rods but below the arm rests back through 2 more sets of redirecting pulleys and back to the down portion of the elevator bell crank.
I should point out that the lower portion of the rods are partially exposed just out side of the new skin just above the rear spars but can be covered with fairing between the new sides and the top of the wing. The rear portion of this fairing needs to also act as an access panel.
This mod was made possible because I widened the boat which gave me the extra room to do it and made it possible to some what align the rods with the center line of the boat. (See widening the boat)
Before anyone jumps in and starts cutting and slicing I want to point out that this system has not been tested in the air yet. I do have the controls hooked up and everything appears to be working fine with proper control movements but only actual testing will tell the success or failure of this endeavor.
Anyone attempting to do this much to a boat might want to think about just starting from scratch. It might save a lot of time in the long run. It would also be a great benefit to have some concept of what it takes to replace all of those components that are being cut so that a unit when finished can be as strong or stronger than when the cutting first began. Keep in mind you are gaining weight so make it strong but don't over do it!!
Tip: Instead of sleeping for the next 6 months to a year just lay in bed at night and think about every cut you are going to make and how you are going to build it back then think about every cut and every build back and then think about what every cut and every build back is going to cause you to have to do something or change something else which leads to something which ...well you get the picture!!
Proceed at your own risk!!!!
Mike Turner
Jackson, Missouri
Swing the prop and light the fire,
dance among the stars.........N642MC
