REFLECTOR: Dual Stick Control Installation

[Reiff Lorenz]

Bob,

I have the same side-stick instructions you do. I don't know of any that are better.

I did learn that there is a major step that is not mentioned in the directions. Your elevator torque tubes need to have attachment points welded on to them. These are added directly in front of the 2 side sticks so that the elevator pushrods have something to connect to. I sent my elevator back to Sebastian this week for that work to be done.

A couple of other things that may be helpful:

1. Some pilots that have flown with the side sticks think they are too far forward--you have to reach a little too much for them. For this reason, on the new Velocity Twin, the side sticks were set 1" - 1.5" aft (closer to the pilot) of the normal position. The elevator push rods need to be longer to accommodate this adjustment.

2. Another adjustment on the Twin was to eliminate the aileron torque tube in the keel. Instead, they made a bellcrank near the copilot's feet in the front that connects the side-stick torque tube to a push-pull cable that runs all the way to the back side of the firewall. (Of course, on the twin, there's no engine there.) When I saw the twin back in January, they had not yet decided where to install the roll trim or autopilot servo. The 2 options were behind the panel and on the back of the firewall. 

[I'm planning on doing something similar in my XL: eliminating the keel torque tube and whale-tail bellcrank in favor of a "simpler" system: side-sticks connected to push-pull cables running down each side of the fuselage and out the back.]

I know this doesn't answer your question about the size of the keel torque tube, but I thought you'd find it helpful, or at least interesting.

Reiff Lorenz, Dayton, OH
XL-RG, 30% complete
Heat-forming acrylic lenses for canard-tip landing lights.



-----Original Message-----
From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On Behalf Of Bob Huntingford
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 6:44 PM
To: reflector at tvbf.org
Subject: REFLECTOR: Dual Stick Control Installation

I am trying to install the dual stick controls into my XL-FG which does not have the cut down keel. Does anyone have a better set of instructions or suggestions on how to put together the controls. I was sent the article from Velocity titled "Velocity Side Stick Control Installation Guide" but all it has is a couple of small pictures of the overall assembly without any part numbers as to what goes where. Any clarification would be appreciated. Also I noticed that the instructions mentions 5/8" OD aileron torque tubes but the tube that came with my kit was 3/4". Needless to say the support bearings don't fit too well.

Bob Huntingford
XL-FG