These past 2 weeks I had some trouble coming up with design for the center control stick. I had many ideas on this, from rack/pinion style as well as using a D-profile or Keyed shaft before settling on this one. I measured the maximum amount of linear travel needed on the aileron pushrod to be 3 inches. I then used some trigonometry to solve for the height of this paralellagram style control stick such that with 25 degrees of rotation I could achieve this and came up 3"/(2*tan(25 deg)) = 3 1/4". The linear bushing is just some over sized tubing. All the main tubing is 3/8" The buttom is solid 3/8" round bar. Before welding I used my lathe to drill and tap the ends for the elevator control hardware. The UHMW blocks allow the conrol stick to slide smoothly while at the same time it is strong enough that I can lift the front end of the glider off the ground from the control stick Keep in mind I am only logging the physical labor, not all the hours I spend dreaming this stuff up.
