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RV14 Center Console Bracket

OneTwoTree

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Let me start off this post by clearly stating that the intent of this post is NOT to sell anything (at this time). I reached out to Doug 2 weeks ago to ask about selling or the cost to be an “advertiser” and have yet to receive anything back. My intent is to explain what I have to do on my 14 and its center console, the issues that all builders will run into (see YT video), so that they can make an informed decision. I still needed this for my 87 year old father and all the struggle was worth it for him! With that said I found there to be a MASSIVE disconnect between parts suppliers, with the biggest being the lack of a decent bracket. Not to mention no one, neither Aero Sport or McFarlane give you what you need to connect cables and controls. Aero Sport never replied to me and Randy and McFarlane guessed, but was wrong on what works. I intend to supply those items with with the bracket (see picture).

The intent of this website and all of us here is helping each other. With that as the intent of this post, here is my experence with the Aerosport center console: When you buy the console (with quadrant) from here https://www.aerosportproducts.com/product/rv-14-armrest-throttle-quadrant/ it comes with a bracket that does not work with anything 14 related. One of those pictures on Aero Sports site is from the youtuber called "Flight Chops" so I reached out to him twice through his own website asking how he made it work and what bracket was used, and got no responce back. Probably because he didn't know or because I'm not a "patreon" or whatever. SO then I contacted McFarlane and talked with Randy who is super great to deal with. He took his "best guess" but ultimately I got cables that needed tweaking. It's roughly $500 a cable and remaking them is just reordering a cable. This all gets REALLY EXPENSIVE, REALLY QUICK. Randy and I have worked together and now you can call McFarlane at 785-594-2741 EXT317 and ask to have MG cables (see attachments) made and they should fit my bracket. My bracket was made based on Randy's guess, and with that tweaked the brackets made now should work, however the first few people would be "testers" and just like I did for my self, if someone says it doesnt work, I would remake a bracket for them first before having to have cables made. Note: the holes in the bracket that mount to factory nutplates do not meet edge distance guidlines. I would suggest 2 pop rivets between the 3 holes. The edges are short so they dont rub against the console. Carbon fiber rusts aluminum. So the brackets can not rub against the bracket. The bracket is made out of 5052 H32 Aluminum and is .08 thick. Also here is an explination on how and where I mounted the controls:

Here is a video with a clear explination of the advantages and disadvantages of this setup. (note: the mixture stops short, but it would do that with a vernier control too, it's just not noticible on that type of control.

Now that you have watched the videos here are the things you need to know to progress further: I plan on fully supporting this bracket. I am an air traffic controller at DFW tower and have been scheduled 6 day work weeks since 2017 (minus 2020). Our new “shortage” is not new. To put it another way the FAA schedules me for 4 days off a month due to poor planning (Reagan firing everyone). So as far as this site goes, I don’t want to violate any terms. I’m also in a situation where becoming an advertiser seems unobtainable. With 4 days off a month I can’t start a business, nor do I want to. Both AeroSport and McFarlane should make more money off this, so they couldn’t possibly be mad. I have made youtube videos explaining the “gotchas” of every section because no one had, and I thought it would give back to the community. My channel is not monotized, and I’ve never received ANYTHING free or otherwise. For the brackets this would be supported by me. ALSO KNOW THAT I COULD BE WRONG AND THIS COULD COST YOU $500 PER CABLE TO HAVE THEM RE-MADE. I’m thousands in the hole (mostly due to CAD work and milling), but I hope to somewhat dig out of that hole (nevermind the 200K for building a 14). In the 2 years I’ve been researching this I’ve seen 2 other people complete it on a 14. MAYBE since I’ve completed the hardest part AeroSport and McFarlane will sell more, or maybe I’ll sell one bracket a year…… who knows. Furthermore more I don’t see much difference posting here VS classifieds.

AGAIN I’m just trying to make some money back. If you just have to have the center consol like I did, this is a cheaper option than the path I had to blaze. I taught myself CAD. I bought a 3D printer. I had a few brackets milled (stupid expensive). Once I realized that was not sustainible I had to teach myself tensile strength calculations so the bends actually rebounded to what I needed. My guess is, even if you steal my angles shown in my videos, you still shell out more money than what I would ask.

My hope is that Doug, or someone reaches out and tells me where I would stand in the weird grey area. I contributed to VAF from 2019 to 2022. Everything stopped during the bankruptcy and getting held hostage on an engine, not to mentiong the LCP debacle. I hope to contrubute again, but would like to see where this stands. If I'm allowed to sell, I will post my contact info. This would be THE ONLY post I make about this item.
 

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I have had 2 people reach out to me and tell me that they had the “flight chops” cables made, only to find that they were didn’t fit. Both people said the reached out to Mr. Chops and got no response. (Join the club, we have jackets!) I also have a bracket made to fit those cables.

A few weeks ago Mr. Chops posted an instagram video of his “500 hour inspection” in it he inadvertently showed the bracket. Mr. Chops probably hasn’t answered anyone because he had a team building his plane and he probably didn’t even know what he had under the console. But the video shows quite the monstrosity! Attached is the bracket and the offsets I had to run on the cables to make those cables work.

To recap, I have solutions for both. Those (like me the F’ed up and bought the Chops cables) and those just starting the journey and don’t want to feel any of the pain.
 

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Marc--I'm not doing the center console mod but what you're doing here is fantastic for anyone considering it. Thanks for posting!
Honestly, on this site, that's what I hope to hear. I don't want to turn people away. But those thinking of this mod really need to understand what they are getting into!
 
Honestly, on this site, that's what I hope to hear. I don't want to turn people away. But those thinking of this mod really need to understand what they are getting into!
I plan to use a quadrant (as opposed to the push/pull knobs) in my 14 but have not made a final decision whether to go with the console or the panel mount location. I like how the console looks, but my biggest concern (beyond the initial design/installation headaches) is long-term maintainability. The tunnel area is already crowded, adding the control cables & bracket just makes it worse to get in there and do any future mx task that might be needed. Also the Aerosport console doesn't have any mounting mechanism designed into it, so that becomes another DIY project and some of the examples I've seen look like a pain to remove every annual (or any time the tunnel/floor under the seats needs to be accessed).

For these reasons I'm leaning toward the panel mounted quadrant which isn't quite as nice aesthetically IMO, but is way simpler to install and maintain.

But thanks to the OP for posting all of the helpful info about what you've learned in the process...
 
I plan to use a quadrant (as opposed to the push/pull knobs) in my 14 but have not made a final decision whether to go with the console or the panel mount location. I like how the console looks, but my biggest concern (beyond the initial design/installation headaches) is long-term maintainability. The tunnel area is already crowded, adding the control cables & bracket just makes it worse to get in there and do any future mx task that might be needed. Also the Aerosport console doesn't have any mounting mechanism designed into it, so that becomes another DIY project and some of the examples I've seen look like a pain to remove every annual (or any time the tunnel/floor under the seats needs to be accessed).

For these reasons I'm leaning toward the panel mounted quadrant which isn't quite as nice aesthetically IMO, but is way simpler to install and maintain.

But thanks to the OP for posting all of the helpful info about what you've learned in the process...
These are 100% valid concerns. With that said there is an adel clamp that gets installed near the rudder cable penetration into the tunnel. That cleans things up nicely for fuel pump access. However, I also can’t speak to the panel mounted install. Blazing the path on that maybe more painful than removing the center console for inspections every year!
 
These are 100% valid concerns. With that said there is an adel clamp that gets installed near the rudder cable penetration into the tunnel. That cleans things up nicely for fuel pump access. However, I also can’t speak to the panel mounted install. Blazing the path on that maybe more painful than removing the center console for inspections every year!
My buddy and I each put quadrants in our 14As. Installation was simple, only requiring a couple of nut plates for holes mostly existing. I understand Van’s had originally considered offering a quadrant option in the 14, but decided not to when some experienced creep in the prop cable. We did, too, but Hartzell fixed it with a weaker governor spring.
 
My buddy and I each put quadrants in our 14As. Installation was simple, only requiring a couple of nut plates for holes mostly existing. I understand Van’s had originally considered offering a quadrant option in the 14, but decided not to when some experienced creep in the prop cable. We did, too, but Hartzell fixed it with a weaker governor spring.
Interesting. Out of curiosity was this on the dash mounted quadrant? (Not that it particularly matters)
 
Interested as well, do you have some pictures? Which throttle assembly did you use? Thanks
This is the throttle quadrant Van’s sells/sold for use in the RV10. We bought them from Van’s. It installs on the underside of the panel.
 

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Hi guys,

I went through this fabrication / installation and have detailed pics and videos here:

Nice! I’m surprised you were able to get the cable angles to work well. I found that they needed to drop into the tunnel in order to not bind too much.

The reason for my specialized bracket was so that I didn’t have to purchase more extra cables and necessary. That’s an expensive endeavor! I’m sorry you had to go down that path!
 
Nice! I’m surprised you were able to get the cable angles to work well. I found that they needed to drop into the tunnel in order to not bind too much.

The reason for my specialized bracket was so that I didn’t have to purchase more extra cables and necessary. That’s an expensive endeavor! I’m sorry you had to go down that path!
It worked well for me! I had to fabricate the bracket too but saved the money on another set of custom McFarlane control cables :)
 
Hi guys,

I went through this fabrication / installation and have detailed pics and videos here:

Estevanb, what all do you remove for annual inspection? It appears you have to first remove the friction adjustment wheel (or lever?) on the right side of the quadrant, then the horizontal screws in the lower sides of the console, then you can remove the screws that hold the tunnel cover in place, but you can't remove that cover without removing the quadrant as well. Is it possible to slide the seat floor panels outboard far enough (especially with upholstery side panels) to remove them from under the tunnel cover without removing the quadrant?

1770688435396.png
 
Estevanb, what all do you remove for annual inspection? It appears you have to first remove the friction adjustment wheel (or lever?) on the right side of the quadrant, then the horizontal screws in the lower sides of the console, then you can remove the screws that hold the tunnel cover in place, but you can't remove that cover without removing the quadrant as well. Is it possible to slide the seat floor panels outboard far enough (especially with upholstery side panels) to remove them from under the tunnel cover without removing the quadrant?

View attachment 109570
It is a bit painful process. I remove everything for annual inspection but the throttle quadrant remains assembled. I just remove the screws in the base to be able to remove all cover panels. the carpet is clamped by the center console forward part to give a better look..

And yes, first step is to remove the friction lock, followed by the center console itself.

After a couple of times, this all goes apart in less than 30min.
 
I have had 2 people reach out to me and tell me that they had the “flight chops” cables made, only to find that they were didn’t fit. Both people said the reached out to Mr. Chops and got no response. (Join the club, we have jackets!) I also have a bracket made to fit those cables.

A few weeks ago Mr. Chops posted an instagram video of his “500 hour inspection” in it he inadvertently showed the bracket. Mr. Chops probably hasn’t answered anyone because he had a team building his plane and he probably didn’t even know what he had under the console. But the video shows quite the monstrosity! Attached is the bracket and the offsets I had to run on the cables to make those cables work.

To recap, I have solutions for both. Those (like me the F’ed up and bought the Chops cables) and those just starting the journey and don’t want to feel any of the pain.
I try REALLY hard to be a positive force in the aviation community. Really. Hard.
I never refuse to respond to a message (that I receive) because I don't know an answer, I do my best to either get the info the person needs, or send them to a source that should have it. But I can't stay on top of every individual request...
There is no one helping me manage emails and DMs, so yeah, I miss messages sometimes.
The irony is that your snarky comment about likely having a better chance at getting my attention via Patreon is correct; however, it is not because I ignore the wider community, but rather that it is a super small group of supporters there helping create the free to view content that is not cheap to produce - I get dozens of messages there VS hundreds across other platforms.

Anyway... I'm honestly not stoked to engage with you based on your tone here, but if you'd like help sharing your solution please email it to flightchops at gmail dot com with the subject "RV-14 center console cable and bracket specs" and I'll file it and do what I can to pass it along to others.
That said, each set up is unique to some extent, and of course this is assuming the engine / fuel servo is the same as what I have for the the EXP119 (237 actually) version of the 390 Thunderbolt.
Regardless, I thought McFarlane had the final correct measurements; we went through two versions of throttle and mixture, but managed to make the first prop cable work by adding a second rail to the "monstrosity" that seems otherwise the same as your bracket?), and I didn't keep track of whatever the final cable measurements were, so that is why my general reply to people asking about this is to follow up with McFarlane to make sure they get it right.
 
I try REALLY hard to be a positive force in the aviation community. Really. Hard.
I never refuse to respond to a message (that I receive) because I don't know an answer, I do my best to either get the info the person needs, or send them to a source that should have it. But I can't stay on top of every individual request...
There is no one helping me manage emails and DMs, so yeah, I miss messages sometimes.
The irony is that your snarky comment about likely having a better chance at getting my attention via Patreon is correct; however, it is not because I ignore the wider community, but rather that it is a super small group of supporters there helping create the free to view content that is not cheap to produce - I get dozens of messages there VS hundreds across other platforms.

Anyway... I'm honestly not stoked to engage with you based on your tone here, but if you'd like help sharing your solution please email it to flightchops at gmail dot com with the subject "RV-14 center console cable and bracket specs" and I'll file it and do what I can to pass it along to others.
That said, each set up is unique to some extent, and of course this is assuming the engine / fuel servo is the same as what I have for the the EXP119 (237 actually) version of the 390 Thunderbolt.
Regardless, I thought McFarlane had the final correct measurements; we went through two versions of throttle and mixture, but managed to make the first prop cable work by adding a second rail to the "monstrosity" that seems otherwise the same as your bracket?), and I didn't keep track of whatever the final cable measurements were, so that is why my general reply to people asking about this is to follow up with McFarlane to make sure they get it right.
Yep,
I went a bit hard. I apologize for that. It’s frustrating to send 2 emails get nothing. Reach out to the supplier of the console, get nothing, and then get cables that should be re-made. I used your contact me on your website. So I figured that would be the most direct way.

I loved your building videos since I was doing the exact same, just a bit behind. Getting wrapped up in LCP’s, and bankruptcy that cost me another 16 grand, because no one knew where my engine money went has all put a very sour taste in my mouth. Having a company that advertises something that looks great but then makes you guess, is frustrating too. That boiled over to you I apologize for that.

McFarlane has measurements that don’t really work.
 
Yep,
I went a bit hard. I apologize for that. It’s frustrating to send 2 emails get nothing. Reach out to the supplier of the console, get nothing, and then get cables that should be re-made. I used your contact me on your website. So I figured that would be the most direct way.

I loved your building videos since I was doing the exact same, just a bit behind. Getting wrapped up in LCP’s, and bankruptcy that cost me another 16 grand, because no one knew where my engine money went has all put a very sour taste in my mouth. Having a company that advertises something that looks great but then makes you guess, is frustrating too. That boiled over to you I apologize for that.

McFarlane has measurements that don’t really work.
Ok thanks for clarifying and I'm SO sorry to hear what you and many other builders went through.
It was gut wrenching to watch that all play out and feel helpless after I'd been advocating so hard for Van's.

And let's get this issue with McFarlane recommending the wrong control cable details fixed!
I'll watch for the email if you send directly, and then I'll get ahold of them to see if I can push them to update on their end.
The website contact form does unfortunately end up in a pile that has a bit of a signal to noise ratio issue.
 
Ok thanks for clarifying and I'm SO sorry to hear what you and many other builders went through.
It was gut wrenching to watch that all play out and feel helpless after I'd been advocating so hard for Van's.

And let's get this issue with McFarlane recommending the wrong control cable details fixed!
I'll watch for the email if you send directly, and then I'll get ahold of them to see if I can push them to update on their end.
The website contact form does unfortunately end up in a pile that has a bit of a signal to noise ratio issue.
Yah there is really no need now. Randy has reworked the cables to my bracket. Essentially they are a hybrid that is right in between yours (as best he could tell) and Mark Wright’s (a user on the RV14 FB page) I had ordered your and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I couldn’t make the prop work. Then a video from your 500 hour inspection revealed the bracket and it unlocked all the issues I was having. I found a way to make it work. Cables order under my (operator initials) MG will fit my bracket. Thanks for offering to help. I do appreciate it.
 
Ok thanks for clarifying and I'm SO sorry to hear what you and many other builders went through.
It was gut wrenching to watch that all play out and feel helpless after I'd been advocating so hard for Van's.

And let's get this issue with McFarlane recommending the wrong control cable details fixed!
I'll watch for the email if you send directly, and then I'll get ahold of them to see if I can push them to update on their end.
The website contact form does unfortunately end up in a pile that has a bit of a signal to noise ratio issue.
Hey Steve,

I was one of the guys who reached out to you to ask for the cable details and when I did that, I knew it was ultimately my responsibility to make it work and decide if I would use what you share for my specific build or not.

I am glad you are so open and accessible. Please keep it that way :) The custom cable in my case was a bit to long for the prop control, but hey, I made it work. A little extra bend on the path was all it needed. I would feel ashamed to complaint about someone I went for help in the first place.

Don't feel responsible for decisions other people make. You were brave to pioneer the custom order. Other people could do that or take their chances...

Best regards!
 
Hey Steve,

I was one of the guys who reached out to you to ask for the cable details and when I did that, I knew it was ultimately my responsibility to make it work and decide if I would use what you share for my specific build or not.

I am glad you are so open and accessible. Please keep it that way :) The custom cable in my case was a bit to long for the prop control, but hey, I made it work. A little extra bend on the path was all it needed. I would feel ashamed to complaint about someone I went for help in the first place.

Don't feel responsible for decisions other people make. You were brave to pioneer the custom order. Other people could do that or take their chances...

Best regards!
Ashamed is not my feeling. I went a bit hard and I apologized for that. I’ve had 3 people ask for a bracket that works with the FC cables. Ultimately what was going to happen, we were going to keep buying cables that didn’t quite work / needed tweaking. That’s ultimately where my frustration lies. Not one entity deserves blame. Just frustration all around.

Not to mention, if the cables bracket doesn’t go slightly into the tunnel like FC double bracket does, and mine does, then I can guarantee it is putting too much force on the ball joint of the cable (it sound like yours does that, it just took a long time to figure that out).
 
Ashamed is not my feeling. I went a bit hard and I apologized for that. I’ve had 3 people ask for a bracket that works with the FC cables. Ultimately what was going to happen, we were going to keep buying cables that didn’t quite work / needed tweaking. That’s ultimately where my frustration lies. Not one entity deserves blame. Just frustration all around.

Not to mention, if the cables bracket doesn’t go slightly into the tunnel like FC double bracket does, and mine does, then I can guarantee it is putting too much force on the ball joint of the cable (it sound like yours does that, it just took a long time to figure that out).
Don't be frustrated :) it is part of the process. Sometimes we just have to compromise on some things. But glad you figured out your setup.

Mine is 98% of what I desired but I will live with that. :)
 
For those of you following along, I’m still fine tuning. The brackets that I have sold will always be supported. Those that have already purchased and have yet to buy cables will be blazing the path with me. This is just another step in making a better product! Hopefully it’s also informational to those thinking about doing this center consul mod. It’s not easy!
 
Hey Marc, thanks again for the bracket and hardware and I will keep you updated on the install. Just a further thought about the difficulty of accessing the friction lock. When i contact Classic Aero for my interior I will ask them to make a slight curve ( sort of like a small cut out for my hand) in the copilot seat where the friction lock is, to make access a little easier to reach it. Just a thought. John Z
 
Hey Marc, thanks again for the bracket and hardware and I will keep you updated on the install. Just a further thought about the difficulty of accessing the friction lock. When i contact Classic Aero for my interior I will ask them to make a slight curve ( sort of like a small cut out for my hand) in the copilot seat where the friction lock is, to make access a little easier to reach it. Just a thought. John Z
Yep. That the entire point of the video's, a more informed decision and a better install! I have to send carpet back to them, I may ask for the same!
 
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