[Christer]

I purchased the bent stick for my RV-8 from Mike here on the forum with the understanding that it is designed to work with the Infinity grips. In fitting the grips, the stick would have to be cut well into the bend to allow the grips to clear the panel. His photos shows it working, but I fail to see how. Has anyone else had this problem and what is a solution? I hope I did not throw away $120 on a bad stick.

Thanks,

 

[Low Pass]

After 3 stick iterations, 11.5 yrs, and 1350 hrs, I've found that you (I) don't want the stick to fit under the panel. Allowing stick to pass under the panel makes the overall length too short and you'll be flying around with your hand down between your legs and is generally not comfortable.

To allow the Infinity grip to be mounted on the stick, and maintain proper height/location relative to the pilot, you'll need to cut and weld the stick with a ~4" offset.

I don't have the dimensions handy, but the offset in the stick occurs maybe 1/2" below the bottom of the grip (top of tubing). Both miter joints are made at ~95-degs and extends the grip ~4" aft of the main stick vertical centerline. A much more pleasant flying airplane with the stick in this configuration.

Best wishes!

 

[tonyjohnson]

timely

This is a timely topic for me because I have on my checklist shortening the stick so that it will go under the panel. I am using the infinity grip. I had my stick bent a few years ago by someone from this forum, as lots of others did.

I was also concerned about how short the stick would have to be to fit under the panel.

Low pass seems to have actually had his stick welded, not bent.

Does anyone using a bent stick have any input on whether a bent stick should be shortened to go under the panel?

 

[Jeff A]

Hello everybody. I'm not sure if these photos will help, but I'll try. My stick was(is) the prototype. Mike and I worked together to try and come up with the perfect dimensions....there are limited options. You can see from the photos how the bent stick compares to the straight stick that I had already installed. Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures of the bent stick after it was cut, drilled, and slotted....but the lines drawn onto the stick are the same reference point for the grip. You can just barely see the reference line underneath the Infinity grip in the last picture. Yes, the grip does VERY slightly go into the upper bend. And yes, the grip DOES still require some trimming, filing, dremeling in order to fit. It's just the nature of a modification....one mod leads to another. I hope this helps a little.

This shows the amount of offset.

This is after the bent stick was cut, but before drilling and slotting.

Before the bent stick was cut.

 

[Bubblehead]

After 3 stick iterations, 11.5 yrs, and 1350 hrs, I've found that you (I) don't want the stick to fit under the panel.

Maybe I'm not understanding something but on my -8 the stick moves forward under the panel - it has to or I would not get full down elevator deflection, which I use during a wheel landing as the plane slows. Even if I didn't need full deflection, I still need more than I would have if the stick bumped against the panel.

I don't have the Infinity grip or a bent control stick. Just a stock stick with a Ray Allen 1-button grip. It's comfortable just the way it is.

 

[Bill Dicus]

RV-8 stick

Maybe I'm not understanding something but on my -8 the stick moves forward under the panel - it has to or I would not get full down elevator deflection, which I use during a wheel landing as the plane slows. Even if I didn't need full deflection, I still need more than I would have if the stick bumped against the panel.

I don't have the Infinity grip or a bent control stick. Just a stock stick with a Ray Allen 1-button grip. It's comfortable just the way it is.

Thanks for this input. This is reassuring since I have a straight stick with a Tosten grip that just clears the panel. Sittingin the plane it seems that it should work pretty well. Hopefully my eperience will be like yours!

 

[Guy Prevost]

Thanks for this input. This is reassuring since I have a straight stick with a Tosten grip that just clears the panel. Sittingin the plane it seems that it should work pretty well. Hopefully my eperience will be like yours!

In an 8 with a Tosten grip and a straight stick, the trim hat will be under the edge of the panel in level cruise. This is because of the forward tilt of the Tosten grip. This makes it difficult to make small trim adjustments. I eventually switched to a Ray Allen grip to alleviate this. It was a bummer though because I really preferred the Tosten grip except for that one issue.

Guy

 

[Christer]

Choices

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like I have two choices. Buy a new straight stick and use the Infinity grips without any modification, or cut the bent stick to length and file, cut/modify the stick grip base to fit the curve on the stick. I do need the stick to go under the panel for full elevator deflection. I think I will try and modify the grip to fit.

Thanks,

 

[Ironflight]

Christer -

I looked through my hard drive to see if I had the drawing for the bent stick I have - mine was done years ago (along with many others) by a fellow up in the Northwest, and they fit just fine under the panel with the Infinity grip. Unfortunately, I can't find the drawing anymore - used to be on line, but I wouldn't be surprised if the site is long gone. It must be different from the stick being bent these days.

There isn't much clearance - for instance, you can't have your thumb ON the coolie hat while trying to go under the panel (no room) - but it does fit. And yes, as Low Pass mentioned, the stck is sort of nestled down between your legs. A big person with large thighs would be affected more by this fit - I expect you'll be just fine!

Paul

 

[Tim Fitzpatrick]

Bent Stick for us short folks

Christer,

I am 5 foot 7 (8 on good days) and I sat in a what I would call a stock RV-8 when I was building mine. The stick had been cut down to fit under the panel and it would not have been comfortable for me to fly it for long periods because of my tiny arms. So what I did while I was building was take a piece of conduit bend it to what I wanted, put my infinity grip on it to make sure it fit like I wanted. I then sat in the cockpit and got into my pilot slouch and found that I needed to move my throttle back along with bending the stick. Since I went with the Dynon Skyview I had some space at the bottom of my panel and I ended up cutting out about 1 inch from the panel. This helped to give me clearance, and in fact the stick just barely reaches the panel due to the bend. It comes back with full aft stick and is just about in my belly (I am 172 pounds). I now have 82 hours on my RV since mid June and it flies great and in fact just got back from a long trip (Ohio to Texas). Sorry I do not have any pics and I am on the road however let me know if you want to see some pics. Take care and you are on the right track, build it to fit you, take care

Tim

 

[81270]

Christer -

I looked through my hard drive to see if I had the drawing for the bent stick I have - mine was done years ago (along with many others) by a fellow up in the Northwest, and they fit just fine under the panel with the Infinity grip. Unfortunately, I can't find the drawing anymore - used to be on line, but I wouldn't be surprised if the site is long gone.
Paul

The drawing is still viewable on www.rvwoody.com ... legible enough to get the dimensions

 

[William Slaughter]

The drawing is still viewable on www.rvwoody.com ... legible enough to get the dimensions

Just fitted my stick/Infinity grip combo 2 weeks ago. My stick was bent by the rvwoody folks mentioned above, and I had to get the bottom of the grip right down to the top of the bend. If the s-bend had been performed even a half inch higher, I would not have been able to clear the panel. Clearance is now minimal, but workable.

 

[tonyjohnson]

too short?

Just fitted my stick/Infinity grip combo 2 weeks ago. My stick was bent by the rvwoody folks mentioned above, and I had to get the bottom of the grip right down to the top of the bend. If the s-bend had been performed even a half inch higher, I would not have been able to clear the panel. Clearance is now minimal, but workable.

William (or others with experience in this) ,

Did the bent stick with the infinity grip turn out to be too short when cut to go under the panel?

 

[benamyava]

The bent stick turned into a big project. Two weeks of work.

My first attempt at a bent stick did not work out. As you can see the muffler shop kinked the tubing.

The second attempt is being used in the aft seat position. The radius of bend was not enough for the front seat put perfect for the back seat.

The third attempt cut the top of the stick off at the base and was welded back on. I then machined a plug out of aluminum rod stock, got a radius metal tube, welded a straight portion on top after a 45 degree cut, primed it and painted it.

The Infinity grip requires a hole cut to the 64th! After three hours of fussing with it I finally got it on. What a chore!

The grip does not touch the instrument panel because the rod ends were adjusted to prevent it from doing so. The aft stop does not touch the seat pan. The front seat floor pan needed to be cut back.

I do not have a profile view of the stick. It would show the issue more clearly.

Nothing was ultimately wasted but it was a big project.

The most important part of the project is not creating any slop in the grip or stick plug. It is very exacting work and needs to fit perfectly to prevent an play in the controls being felt.

 

[Low Pass]

Maybe I'm not understanding something but on my -8 the stick moves forward under the panel - it has to or I would not get full down elevator deflection, which I use during a wheel landing as the plane slows. Even if I didn't need full deflection, I still need more than I would have if the stick bumped against the panel.

I don't have the Infinity grip or a bent control stick. Just a stock stick with a Ray Allen 1-button grip. It's comfortable just the way it is.

I know the discussion is about bent sticks, but I never liked the short stick (straight or bent) that passed under the panel. Hence my latest stick version mentioned above.

Here's a picture to show another idea (mitered joint offset) with the Infinity grip.

 

[William Slaughter]

William (or others with experience in this) ,

Did the bent stick with the infinity grip turn out to be too short when cut to go under the panel?

Not flying yet, so can't say definitively, but doesn't seem so. I guess the question is really whether the stick should be able to clear the panel with or without the Infinity stick grip. The offset in mine doesn't move the grip back all that far (never measured the exact offset), so it just seemed that clearing the panel would likely be necessary. I don't know exactly where the stick is going to end up when I hit the yet-to-be-installed control stops.

 

[Christer]

After some tense moments of filing, cutting, and fitting I was able to modify the inside of the Infinity grip to handle the slightly curved portion of the stick. It is now very solid and clears the bottom of the panel with about ? inch to spare. I also managed to clock the grip slightly counterclockwise to match my natural wrist position. Thanks everyone for all the input.

 

[wera710]

I'd like to add one thing to this conversation that no one seems to have metioned in the past.

IF (and this does not apply to many of you) you plan on using a SEAT BACK type parachute for any of your RV adventures, you will want to think long and hard before you bend that sticks. Most of the seat back types are about 2.5 to 3.5 inches thick and will most likely cause you issues if you move the stick aft using a bend or cut and weld.

I am using a grip out of an F-4 phantom (yeah, I know, Infinity is lighter but who gives a #$%^ and besides, it only cost me $60) and with the standard stick, all I had to do was cut the stick to allow the top of the cooly hat to clear the bottom of the panel, and make a shim for the I.D. of stick to grip. I did not bend the stick. The end result was that with seat cushion out of plane and parachute in, the grip falls right to hand in a very comfortable position. In otherwords, its no longer too far away. Not that it ever really was in level flight. I am only 5' 10" @ 200. So about average height and arm length

I've not seen this mentioned before as most folks are using the birds for X-country most of the time. But if chutes are in your future, you will want to consider this because a bent stick might mean your belly and chute will not allow full aft travel.

One other note, you will definitely need to bend the passenger stick if you are using a curved grip in the back. I'd recommend bending it just enough to clear the pilot seat back, as in maybe a 1/16th clearance, otherwise you again cut into available space for fat passengers or parachute use. I used carboard templates to get the bend right and used the bare minimum bend to clear. Using a simple P-80 grip in the back but its about the same curvature as the Infinity.