Pictures and details of my stick
I didn't realize I'd get popular this fast
as I got many requests for pictures. To those folks sending regular e-mail addresses, you should have them by now. One of the guys offered to post them, so they may show up here. If not, below is a narrative of what I did.
The two pics of the wooden stick show a side shot of final one and the groove which allowed the Infinity cable to come out without having to remove it. It took me about 5 shots to get what I wanted, but the end result is exactly what I wanted.
To bend the tube, I used Aircraft Spruce 4130 tubing and hammers a wooden block in the end of about a two foot length (don't cut to size yet) of tubing. Fill with sand and tamp down (bounce up and down on the concrete floor). In the other end, hammer in about a foot long piece of broom handle or dowel or whatever - that's your handle. The sand will prevent collapse and will somewhat average the heat and help burn-through.
I used a cutting torch to get a lot of heat in fairly quickly, and neutral flame (no cutting oxygen). A MAPP torch may work - you just need to get it about red-hot and rotate the tube using the 'handle' When its hot allow around bend slowly and work the hot place up and down the tube (keep turning to heat the entire perimeter) until you get the bend to match the pattern. Let it cool and bang out the sand.
Use your pattern to drill the cross bearing hole and push in an appropriate sized piece of tubing (measure van's) - leave it a bit long and you don't have to worry about it shifting a little during welding. Bend a piece of 1/16" or so sheet stock to make the bottom piece that goes around the rod end bearing (I'll call this the "CR Attach"). Drill one side only - explanation later. Squeeze the end of the tube where the CR Attach goes; to flatten it a bit (look at Van's nice stick pattern he sent with the kit for all this) and check the CR Attach for fit. To weld this on, I cut a piece of 1" wide scrap and drilled it to match the CR attach piece, then used steel hose clamps to fasten this to the control stick. Cleco the CR attach to the scrap and you're good to weld. If you have problems with my explanation, I think I still have this in my scrap box and can take pics.
Weld it up; cut to length using your pattern and drill the other hole in the CR Attach (welding could shift it; this assures its square and where you want it. Sandblast the crud off and paint. Once I got the pattern made, it took me about a half day to make it. Had I not screwed around trying to have professional bend it, one shot would have done it. BTW - I did it by myself, but having a helping while bending would have been easier.
