Tweet
I've been flying and enjoying the Patrol, but I wasn't totally thrilled with the position of the pilot's control stick. It just felt a bit too far forward for me. No design flaw here, just a personal comfort thing. The fore/aft pivot mechanism (-4 bolt through a bushing) also produced more lateral free play than I wanted. Sooo, I set about to think of how I might be able to change that. I decided not to modify the existing stick, so I could just put the old one back in, if I screwed up the "improved one".
I decided my pivot point had to be precision bearings. I ordered 2 ea DPP4-FS464 bearings from Aircraft Spruce. These are double row, sealed ball bearings. I got a piece of 1" x .058" 4130 and opened up the ID enough for nice press fit of the bearings. I welded a bottom piece of 7/8" x .035" to replicate the lower end of the original stick. For the top, I welded a stub of 1 x .062". With the 1" stub on top, I can experiment with different stick shapes and angles. The 7/8" upper stick is a tight fit in the stub and is pinned with a AN3 bolt. Pics attached. I thought I had a shot with the bearings pressed in, but none.
I bent the new stick back about as far as possible. All clearance is good. Flaring into a 3 point landing, the grip is on my belt buckle, which is just about identical to my old Husky... only the stick force in the Patrol is MUCH LIGHTER than the Husky - which has a bungee spring trim system. With 2 double row ball bearings at the pivot point, there is absolutely no lateral play! I like this better. Just for giggles, though, I just might make a couple different sticks, to try longer or shorter or straighter or whatever. The MANUFACTURER (me) has no objections.
Bill
I decided my pivot point had to be precision bearings. I ordered 2 ea DPP4-FS464 bearings from Aircraft Spruce. These are double row, sealed ball bearings. I got a piece of 1" x .058" 4130 and opened up the ID enough for nice press fit of the bearings. I welded a bottom piece of 7/8" x .035" to replicate the lower end of the original stick. For the top, I welded a stub of 1 x .062". With the 1" stub on top, I can experiment with different stick shapes and angles. The 7/8" upper stick is a tight fit in the stub and is pinned with a AN3 bolt. Pics attached. I thought I had a shot with the bearings pressed in, but none.
I bent the new stick back about as far as possible. All clearance is good. Flaring into a 3 point landing, the grip is on my belt buckle, which is just about identical to my old Husky... only the stick force in the Patrol is MUCH LIGHTER than the Husky - which has a bungee spring trim system. With 2 double row ball bearings at the pivot point, there is absolutely no lateral play! I like this better. Just for giggles, though, I just might make a couple different sticks, to try longer or shorter or straighter or whatever. The MANUFACTURER (me) has no objections.
Bill