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Conduit in Wings for Wiring

rockitdoc

Well Known Member
Sponsor
I am wiring my wings. It seems like having conduit between all the ribs would make current and future wiring simpler. I have seen the Van's corrugated conduit but it is too big to fit into the 3/8" ID grommets already installed in the wings.

Anybody ever put some conduit with 3/8" OD between the grommets so feeding wire is simpler?

Got a source?
 
Conduit

3/8" isn't much. The Dynon Roll Servo cable will take a large chunk of that. Might be difficult to run the cable out to the lights. :D
 
Remove the snap bushings. The rib hole allows for a perfect fit of 1/2”ID plastic water pipe from Lowes.

If you need more room (like for pitot and AOA lines) you can enlarge the rib hole to 3/4” and use black irrigation tubing from Lowes.

Both of these can be installed after the wing is complete.

Carl
 
I am wiring my wings. It seems like having conduit between all the ribs would make current and future wiring simpler. I have seen the Van's corrugated conduit but it is too big to fit into the 3/8" ID grommets already installed in the wings.

Anybody ever put some conduit with 3/8" OD between the grommets so feeding wire is simpler?

Got a source?

If you leave a pull wire in there, the grommets work very well. Even without a pull wire, you can fairly easily fish a wire through the grommets.

Just $0.02 from someone who thinks conduit makes pulling wires harder, not easier.
 
Saving weight

If you leave a pull wire in there, the grommets work very well. Even without a pull wire, you can fairly easily fish a wire through the grommets.

Just $0.02 from someone who thinks conduit makes pulling wires harder, not easier.

I also think the snap bushing grommets work just fine, there's less tendency to jam than in conduit, plus they weigh less than conduit.
 
There are several ways of accomplishing a pathway for wires in our wings. On my lates(and last) build, I just used snap bushings, 1/2” ID, 9/16” drilled hole - drilled with a step drill bit ground down to the 9/16 step in a 4’ long extension that I made. These holes were drilled through existing tooling holes in the ribs. Then I pulled a 1/2” wiring sheath through these bushings to provide the pathway for the wires. I bought this sheathing from a local automotive electric company here in Cincinnati. It is not closed, but is a wrap. I could push 18awg wire through it from wingtip to root all by itself. I have a 16awg pull wire left in each wing, but the wires pull, or push through easily if they are not too small, like 22-20 awg. In that case, I will use the pull wire. Since it isn’t closed, I can pull a couple wires mid wing for my OAT probe (GRT).

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I also think the snap bushing grommets work just fine, there's less tendency to jam than in conduit, plus they weigh less than conduit.

I agree with Kyle and Paul. I spent a lot of time installing conduit thinking that this was going to be a really big problem, but it wasn't. Next time snap bushings.
 
On a finished plane how do I drill through the ribs at the wing root ?

The rest of the path has access panels.

Max
 
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