Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / May 2004

A ball con is good, I hate drilling out trottle arms too.  Clevis will work
fine, Z bend the servo end.
I did a throttle today with a Z bend at each end, not fun but hey, it works.
mk

Not Mickey Mouse at all, provided the clevis has the correct
orientation to the throttle arm and the linkage isn't trying to bend
the clevis at an angle to the pin.
Cheers,
Fred McClellan
The House Of Balsa Dust
home.mindspring.com/~the-plumber

That's what I use on all my airplanes, sort of.  DuBro makes a deal with a
metal ball and plastic socket.  The metal ball has a threaded stud and is
attached to the throttle arm with a tiny nut.

As a matter of fact, I flew my Kyosho Sensation 1400 around the field at
full throttle for 13 minutes today when the tiny nut came off the ball and
the whole works came off the throttle arm.  :-)

I usually don't use Loc-Tite...  I use thin CA.  Must have missed this one.

Good flying,
Bob Scott

On 5/17/2004 8:27 PM Ted shuffled out of his cave and grunted these
great (and sometimes not so great) words of knowledge:

The clevis is not really "Mickey Mouse".  It works quite well and is
less expensive than a ball connector. The Sullivan ball connector you
have will work just as well as the clevis though.  Make sure you have
adequate clearance for the locking sleeve.

Nothing Mickey Mouse about it.  It's been done that way for years.  Use a "Z"
bend at the servo end, and a nylon (what you call plastic) clevis at the
carburetor.  You can use a ball link, but unless your throttle linkage makes
some unusual angle to the throttle arm, why bother?
Dr.1 Driver
"There's a Hun in the sun!"

DuBro makes a metal ball and plastic socket setup that would be perfect.
From the Tower Hobbies website:
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXD900&P=0
As they say, "These are ideal for use on carb throttle arms."

In the many years I've been flying, I've not had a clevis failure at all. It
is a tried and true method of hooking up control surfaces and the throttle.
However, that being said, if you don't feel comfortable with the clevis on
the throttle, by all means, use the ball connector. It will work just fine.
Drilling our the throttle arm (within reason of course) won't hurt anything.
That is the great thing about our hobby, you get to engineer stuff to your
own liking. As long as it is safe, you are free to connect things anyway you
see fit. The dual z bend works too but is limited in that there is absolutly
no adjustment of the pushrod if you run out of end point adjustment on your
radio.  Just my .02

Jim W.

  HI, i was told the plastic throttle arm connectors are plastic, because of
static
  build up from linkage, causing radio woes, i could be wrong though

Rule of thumb is to avoid any metal on metal contact in the throttle
linkage.  The engine can generate radio noise which can be passed down the
metal rod to the radio.  Modern radios have probably negated this to some
extent but, I'd rather let the other guy prove this with his plane!

Use a ball and socket, readily available at the hobby shops around Oakville.
They come in 2 shaft sizes...either one will work.  Don't worry about
drilling the hole out 'cause you will probably use the same set up on the
next plane.  A Z bend is also good but not so easy to do without the proper
tool.  I don't generally use a clevis as it does not always provide the
range of motion without binding on the throttle arm.
Gord Schindler
MAAC6694