Tip: Infinity Grip installation

[jmitchell]

Standard Kit ? RV8 but should apply to most other models:

It took me a while (way too long actually) to realize I needed to remove the powder coating on the end of the Vans front control stick in order to get the Infinity grip to close nice and tight.

I assumed I was just pinching a wire when closing the two halves.

See my build log entry for more details.

http://mykitlog.com/users/display_log.php?user=jmitchell&project=299&category=0&log=103818&row=1

Hope this saves someone the time I wasted on it.

 

[flickroll]

Infinity grips are really really, nice, but what a pain to install. Particularly since the PTT switch (and to a lesser degree the trim switch) are free hanging before the 2 halves are paired. Between that, pinched wires, etc. it can take a while to get the 2 halves together. Here's another tip: don't worry about having the PTT trigger in place while putting the halves together. Once the halves are married up, you can ever so slightly open up the top end and insert the trigger.

 

[Vmax]

Infinity Stick Grip

I would appreciate any tips on installing an Infinity stick grip on an RV-7. I'm particularly interested in how the wiring was routed out of the stick and into the panel

Thanks
Vmax

 

[Bevan]

A little hot glue or sticky-tac may be enough to hold the switches in place before the two halves come together.

I drilled a hole below the the pivot point to route the wires out. Fish the wires down the tube and through the hole. Then put a rubber gromit over the ends of the wire and work it into the hole in the stick. This is easier than trying to pull the wires through a gromit already installed.

Bevan

 

[clam]

Infinity grip install

Having install troubles... standard 1" dia stick for RV-8... Read above posts and removed powder coating. No joy. I have ~1/16" gap in grip halves when closed around stick. Grip closes completely at base and at top end, but area around the boss, where there is internal support around stick appears not to be 1" dia and causes a gap. See photo... will call infinity this week, but any ideas/solutions out there?

 

[Paul Tuttle]

I did it that way to, but...

I routed the wires for the infinity grip the same way.

I was looking around on some of the threads after the fact and found that it's not recommended to drill a hole in the stick close to the pivot point.
I contacted Van's and they were quite adamant that no holes should be drilled in the stick at all as it compromises the strength.
The idea of the stick breaking off in flight was more then I wanted to chance, so I ordered a replacement.

I reduced the size of the wire bundle from the grip by removing the heavy shield and drilled a much smaller hole just below the grip.
The smaller wire bundle now runs externally down the front of the stick. I wrapped the stick and bundle with a couple of layers of vinyl to secure it.
I added a wire tie just below the grip and another at the bottom to ensure it doesn't move. The wire is not visible, especially with the stick boot installed

My logic is, if the stick breaks just below the grip there should still be enough left to fly home with.

 

[clam]

closure problem, not wiring..

...I too routed wire bundle exiting at the top of the stick to avoid the exit hole near the pivot. However, my problem is with the grip closure as shown in the photo in previous post. There are no pinched wires, so I'm assuming that the grip is under sized. Just wondering if anyone else has seen this?

 

[RV7Ron]

...I too routed wire bundle exiting at the top of the stick to avoid the exit hole near the pivot. However, my problem is with the grip closure as shown in the photo in previous post. There are no pinched wires, so I'm assuming that the grip is under sized. Just wondering if anyone else has seen this?

Working on this right now...had exactly the same issue...which resulted in plenty of head scratching since I couldnt see any pinched wires. What I did...was open up just ONE of the holes in the stick with a rotary file in my dremel tool. I think what was happening was the hole wasnt drilled perfectly centered resulting in it not closing properly. It seemed to work, but full disclosure, I am not done yet so results are somewhat inconclusive right now.

And I agree with previous posts...these are a pain...also agree with a little hot glue to keep components and wires in place definitely helps.

 

[RVbySDI]

I routed the wires for the infinity grip the same way.

I was looking around on some of the threads after the fact and found that it's not recommended to drill a hole in the stick close to the pivot point.
I contacted Van's and they were quite adamant that no holes should be drilled in the stick at all as it compromises the strength.
The idea of the stick breaking off in flight was more then I wanted to chance, so I ordered a replacement.

I reduced the size of the wire bundle from the grip by removing the heavy shield and drilled a much smaller hole just below the grip.
The smaller wire bundle now runs externally down the front of the stick. I wrapped the stick and bundle with a couple of layers of vinyl to secure it.
I added a wire tie just below the grip and another at the bottom to ensure it doesn't move. The wire is not visible, especially with the stick boot installed

My logic is, if the stick breaks just below the grip there should still be enough left to fly home with.

Not quite sure why everyone is drilling holes into their stick to get the Infinity wires out. The stick already comes with a very nice hole on the bottom that is more than adequate to run the wire through. There is no drilling, no risk and easy to do. Just run the wire out the bottom of the stick, provide a service loop secure it all and run it out to the panel or where ever else you need it to go. My wires are running directly out the bottom of the stick in just such a fashion. I have 235 hours flying time now with no chafing, no problems and no worries that some day the stick will break off in my hand.

 

[Capflyer]

I had no issues with the two Infinity sticks I put into my RV7 with the two halves coming together and I routed the wires from both out the bottom. On my RV4 I wasn't so lucky. IIRC I shaved out some of the molding inside to get it to fit, I had taken my stick down to bare metal so it was not the powder coat. There was not enough room to run the wires out the bottom so I had to drill a hole in the lower part of the stick. I can't imagine the stick breaking, there is just not enough force being put on the shortened stick to cause it to have a catastrophic failure but of course I am not an engineer.

Has anyone done a test to see how much force needs to be applied to the stick to get it to snap or even bend from a small hole drilled in it? If so I would like to see how much it took.

 

[clam]

no holes in my stick either...

...i have not drilled any holes in my stick either. But my stick is also fully closed at the bottom (RV-8) so you could not run wires out the bottom. This is the reason many folks drill an exit hole near the bottom somewhere. I have chosen to run the wires out the slot that infinity recommends cutting in the top of the stick, and then my wires run externally down the stick to a dsub for quick disconnect.

Its getting the mid-portion of the grip to fully close that's got me stuck.

 

[Allan Stern]

Infinity Stick

I was going to put the Infinity Grip on a pre bent 8 stick. I made a mistake on the initial measurement for stick and after putting the grip on, found I needed to lower it another 1/4". Was hitting bottom of instrument panel. So rather than doing that I bought another straight stick from Van's and put the grip on it. Worked fine after removing powder coating.

On putting the grip on the bent 8 sticks I was told you have to grind out part of the plastic handle to make it fit on the top bend so it will go together. Again something I did not want to do so kept the straight stick.

 

[Paul Tuttle]

Not mine.

Not quite sure why everyone is drilling holes into their stick to get the Infinity wires out. The stick already comes with a very nice hole on the bottom that is more than adequate to run the wire through.

There were no holes in my stick other then the top end of the tube. The may be different on other models.

 

[RVbySDI]

There were no holes in my stick other then the top end of the tube. The may be different on other models.

That appears to be the case Paul. My side by side sticks both were just tubes welded to attachments at the bottom. The bottom of the tubes were open. I guess the 8 sticks are configured differently. However, even if the bottom is solid it seems to me that as long as there is clearance underneath the bottom of the stick you could drill out that bottom and avoid any concerns about weakening the integrity of the stick. I am not familiar with how the 8 stick works so I could be totally off base with that idea. Good luck.

 

[flyboy1963]

wire routing for a retrofit......

so can this all be done with the stick in the plane? ( -9 slider) or is that just crazy?
.....at the grip, if I unsheathe the wires, will half fit around each side of the centre boss hole/screw plug. ( what the heck DO you call that thing?)
Then I could run out the bottom of the stick as others have suggested?
trying to avoid a lot of drilling.

So far, looks like the steps are:

-duct tape to the stick in approximate position
-ensure it clears dash
-determine 'clock' orientation
-cut off top of stick with pipe cutter
-test fit grip; remove paint as needed to depth of grip insertion
-re-check clocking, drill 15/32" hole for main screw retainer.
-clean up all the drill shards that have fallen into inaccessible places behind the spar
- fish wires down the stick and around the lower bolt somehow
- ensure freedom of travel, no pinching etc.
-attempt to lower grip onto stick while holding 37 tiny wires clear of the centre screw boss thingy.

Or do you just pull the stick and do most of the stuff on the bench at home????

really would appreciate some words of wisdom from you experts/guinea pigs!

 

[Bevan]

HI Perry,

I did mine on the bench. Cut to length first, maybe several times being conservative remembering you can cut many times and it will still be too short. Once it's the right length, work on the clock angle.

To fish the wires out the bottom, start with a piece of scrap wire (or coat hanger) much smaller than the bundle you need to fish through. With electrical tape, tightly make a transition from the bulky set of wire to the "fish wire". The fish wire will go through much easier and then pull ther bulky wires through.

Getting the many wires around the center screw thingy is a challenge and it seems like there is only one way that will work. You may consider some small (1/8") zip ties or lacing string to gently hold the wires correctly.

Good luck.

Bevan

 

[Snowflake]

Or do you just pull the stick and do most of the stuff on the bench at home????

When I installed my Tosten grips (I like the functionality of the Infinity grips, but the military look/feel felt out of place for my airplane... Tosten grips give almost the same functionality with a more civilian look) I took the sticks out and did them on the bench, but not until I had figured out what length I wanted them cut to first.

I also drilled a hole in each stick for the wires. The base of the stick runs very close to the belly skins in the -6 and I didn't want wires hanging up or abrading on the skin over time.

In the (in my opinion) exceedingly unlikely event that my stick fails, I'll reach over and fly it from the passenger stick.

 

[flyboy1963]

running out the bottom....more details?

Ok Steve and Mike, I'd like to run out the bottom, but the wire bundle is about 3/8", and the space 'out the bottom' between the 2 ball-ends is more like 3/16", maybe pushing a 1/4", but possibly chokes a bit with full aileron deflection.
did you guys slit the bundle sleeve, and just lace the wires?
There seems to be the same space above the left and right pushrod ends, in fact that's where my current PTT wire runs, but I also see potential to pinch there, so don 't think its as good as hanging out the bottom.

some feedback appreciated.

 

[DaveO]

I too ran the wires down and out at the bottom of the stick. then on to the panel. No problems either.
Dave RV7A

 

[RVbySDI]

Ok Steve and Mike, I'd like to run out the bottom, but the wire bundle is about 3/8", and the space 'out the bottom' between the 2 ball-ends is more like 3/16", maybe pushing a 1/4", but possibly chokes a bit with full aileron deflection.
did you guys slit the bundle sleeve, and just lace the wires?
There seems to be the same space above the left and right pushrod ends, in fact that's where my current PTT wire runs, but I also see potential to pinch there, so don 't think its as good as hanging out the bottom.

some feedback appreciated.

I did not modify the blue sleeve at all on my installation. The blue bundle of wires was tight but it did go through the bottom. If you think about the movement of the stick down at that point there should be no problem of wires being pinched or abraded. They will be moving in sync with the surrounding stick movement. However, one thing to pay attention to is the routing of the wire as it exits the stick. Make sure to provide a service loop in the wire as it exits outside the bottom of the stick. Allow for enough wire movement in order to avoid the wires rubbing or catching on any obstructions during full deflection in all directions. In my installation I ran the blue bundle out the bottom of the stick over to the pilot side wall then through grommets in holes drilled through the spar carry through, up the floorboard/sidewall to the first vertical rib that the panel is mounted to. From there I ran behind the panel to terminal blocks I have mounted on the sub panel where all of my electrical connections were made.

This is a picture behind the panel during construction. I looked for a pic of the wires coming out of the bottom of the stick. I thought I had taken some but cannot find them. If I come across them I will post them here. Regardless, you can see the stick installed in this pic. The wires run out the bottom to the left and through the grommets in the spar carry through I mentioned. The wires run up the vertical rib just under the sub panel to panel brace you can see in the pic. Then over to the terminal blocks you can see in the picture. Hope this helps. I will try to find pics of the wires running out of the stick if I can.