I had to remove about 1/16 inch from the four spacers that hold the throttle quadrant to the left side of the fuselage area in order to allow the control cables to get a little more clearance and getting them centered within the quadrant itself.
By shortening the spacer I needed to modify the armrest panel that fits around the quad. I removed about .075 on the panel that fits along the left side of the throttle in order for the section of the panel that fits between the quad and the spar cap cover. The process was a band saw and needle file operation that came out well in the end.
I removed the nut that holds the throttle levers together and made some measurrements for replacing the nyloc nut with a round knurled knob that I will make in the shop. Having gotten an idea of the dimensions for making the knob I decided to place a piece of aluminum in the lathe and practice knurling since I probably haven't done one since trade school!
A knurling tool uses two rollers with serrations having opposing angles. The tool is brought into the piece and a slow feed speed is used to feed the tool down the piece to the length of knurl desired. Pressure is placed on the part for the knurl pattern to be embossed into the part. A good knurl procuces a "diamond" pattern in the part which gives good gripping to the surface in this case to turn the knob without the fingers slipping on the surface of the metal. My practice session went well.....ready to make the part.
