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Control colum pushrod question F-665

jcarne

Well Known Member
Patron
Hello everyone, I was wondering, did your length come out anywhere close to the suggested length by Van's? I'm assuming the two control sticks need to be parallel. If I do this my connecting rod is significantly shorter than the Van's 18-7/8" on the drawing (my rod ends are almost bottomed out into the hex tube). Thanks!

question by Jereme Carne, on Flickr
 
Can you get the jam nuts on? Does the end of the hex rod and/or jam nuts stay clear of the stick weldment at full deflection?
If those answers are YES, you should be good to go.
 
Can you get the jam nuts on? Does the end of the hex rod and/or jam nuts stay clear of the stick weldment at full deflection?
If those answers are YES, you should be good to go.

Thank you good sir, I'll go ahead and check that. Just thought it was weird how far off from the recommended dimension it should be.
 
Thank you good sir, I'll go ahead and check that. Just thought it was weird how far off from the recommended dimension it should be.

Well, that is weird. This was not all that uncommon in the earlier kits, but you might double check with Vans. I was just at the weldment suppliers shop a few days ago having them weld up a hole I put in my boat. (Long stupid human story, me being that stupid human.)
The control weldments are made in a jig. They couldn?t vary. There was a whole stack of them getting finished up.
So, my guess is the plans are just a bit askew.
 
Well, that is weird. This was not all that uncommon in the earlier kits, but you might double check with Vans. I was just at the weldment suppliers shop a few days ago having them weld up a hole I put in my boat. (Long stupid human story, me being that stupid human.)
The control weldments are made in a jig. They couldn?t vary. There was a whole stack of them getting finished up.
So, my guess is the plans are just a bit askew.

Hi Jon, you?re right about the jig/fixture and it?s same fixture today that the first control column was built on for the first production RV-6, probably even the prototype, fixture has never been changed.
 
Well after looking at it a little closer and snugging things up I have found that the stop nuts still have threads past them and nothing seems to be interfering. At first I was thinking the different in measurements was on the edge of 1/2-3/4", turns out it is only 1/4". I think I can live with that unless someone thinks that I shouldn't, I see no reason why not.
 
Well after looking at it a little closer and snugging things up I have found that the stop nuts still have threads past them and nothing seems to be interfering. At first I was thinking the different in measurements was on the edge of 1/2-3/4", turns out it is only 1/4". I think I can live with that unless someone thinks that I shouldn't, I see no reason why not.

If you look very carefully at the bottom of WD-611 & 612 you will see the heat, hammer and anvil formed welded stampings that attach the aileron linkage to the sticks are not fit to the right and left stick in an exact mirror image (I know because I built them) this probably accounts for your ¼” more than anything else.

I think your fine, I might even go out on a limb and say all control linkage dimensions should be considered approximant and are adjustable to correct for any variances in the linkage system.
 
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